9 Best Sights in Downtown, Atlanta

This 21-acre swath of green was the central venue for the 1996 Summer Olympics. The benches at the Fountain of Rings allow you to enjoy the water and music spectacle—four times a day, tunes are timed to coincide with water displays that shoot sprays 15 feet to 30 feet high. The All Children's Playground is designed to be accessible to kids with disabilities. Nearby is the world's largest aquarium and Imagine It! Children's Museum. The park also has a café, restrooms, and a playground, and typically offers ice-skating in winter.

Don't miss seeing Centennial Olympic Park at night, when eight 65-foot-tall lighting towers set off the beauty of the park. They represent the markers that led ancient Greeks to public events.

With more than 10 million gallons of water, this wildly popular attraction is the nation's largest aquarium. The 604,000-square-foot building, an architectural marvel resembling the bow of a ship, has tanks of various sizes filled with more than 100,000 animals, representing 500 species. The aquarium's 6.3-million-gallon Ocean Voyager Gallery is the world's largest indoor marine exhibit, with 4,574 square feet of viewing windows. But not everything has gills: there are also penguins, sea lions, sea otters, river otters, sea turtles, and giant octopuses. The 84,000-square-foot Dolphins in Depth exhibit includes a 25-minute show (reservations required). Hordes of kids—and many adults—can always be found around the touch tanks. Admission includes entry to all public exhibits, shows, and galleries. Forty-five-minute behind-the-scenes tours start at $15. There are often huge crowds, so arrive early or late for the best chance of getting a close-up view of the exhibits.

Try to buy your tickets at least a week ahead. Online ticketing is best, with discounted rates and digital tickets you can print out at home.

This three-level, 43,000-square-foot, hands-on museum offers visitors a multisensory immersion into both the U.S. civil rights movement and global human rights efforts. Each exhibit is a force of its own: the quiet and vicarious look at handwritten journals and personal items from Martin Luther King Jr.; the jolting sensation of sitting in at a lunch counter, hearing the threats and slurs that young protesters would have; or the mirrorlike effect of one-on-one stories told by those who’ve suffered human rights violations—and the workers whose mission it is to triumph over them. The Rolls Down Like Water exhibit is superb, bearing the mark of its curator, award-winning playwright and film director George C. Wolfe. The center hosts one of the biggest celebrations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the world each December. And the building, itself a work of art reminiscent of folding hands, is steps away from parking and a brief walk to World of Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium.

In this colorful and joyfully noisy museum for children ages eight and younger, kids can build sandcastles, watch themselves perform on closed-circuit TV, operate a giant ball-moving machine, and get inside an imaginary waterfall (after donning raincoats, of course). Other exhibits rotate every few months.

The capitol, a Renaissance-style edifice, was dedicated on July 4, 1889. The gold leaf on its dome was mined in nearby Dahlonega. Inside, the Georgia Capitol Museum houses exhibits on its history. On the grounds, state historical markers commemorate the 1864 Battle of Atlanta, which destroyed nearly the entire city. Statues memorialize a 19th-century Georgia governor and his wife (Joseph and Elizabeth Brown), a Confederate general (John B. Gordon), and a former senator (Richard B. Russell). Former governor and president Jimmy Carter is depicted with his sleeves rolled up, a man at work. Visit the website for tour information and group reservations.

The handsome Eastlake Victorian house that belonged to Dr. Otis Thrash Hammonds is the focal point of this museum, as well as his fine collection of paintings and Victorian furnishings. The permanent and visiting exhibitions are devoted chiefly to works by African American artists, although art from anywhere in the African-influenced world can be a focus.

Take a seat in one of the Ferris wheel’s 42 climate-controlled cars perched 20 stories above Downtown for spectacular views of Centennial Olympic Park and miles beyond. The ride lasts 15 minutes. The wheel comes alive at night with an ever-changing display of colors outlining its rim and spokes powered by the same lighting system as the Eiffel Tower. In true Atlanta fashion, there’s a VIP experience that lets you skip long lines and sit privately with your group in a gondola outfitted with Ferrari leather seats and a glass floor for a longer ride. Discount parking is available in nearby lots.

This shrine to the brown soda's image, products, and marketing is, at 62,000 square feet, twice the size of its previous building and features more than 1,200 artifacts never before displayed to the public. You can sip samples of 100 different Coca-Cola products from around the world and peruse more than a century's worth of memorabilia from the corporate archives. The gift shop sells everything from refrigerator magnets to handbags.