Just had a long weekend in Atlanta (school, live)

[bornjacksonian]

Downtown Atlanta can be dead as hell at times, and oh how I wish Peachtree Street was a prime stretch compared to Market Street in San Francisco ( File:San Francisco Market Street between 4th and 5th St.jpg - Wikimedia Commons). I love it here, and we have so much more potential. Peachtree Street downtown (http://kootation.com/uploads/atlanta...Ambassador.jpg) and all around around Centennial Park (Marietta Street) should be flourished with people all day long. I just speaking on downtown Atl; Midtown continues to take a hike in foot traffic.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by chrharris

IIt seems that Atlanta is a suburban city. Everything is away from the uptown area. Which does make it not a tourist city. It makes it a place where people live.

FYI, we were not looking for sports bars. If anyone is going to suggest beer joints.

So what exactly were you looking for?

Atlanta isn't a suburban city in the sense that you're talking about. Mostly all of the attractions, amenities, nightlife, etc. will be found in downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, or one of the several in-town neighborhood districts. But none of those individual areas will have everything.

[atlantamoi]

Trip Advisor + Trip Advisor + Trip Advisor + Yelp. Okay, not every review is going to be perfect, but you can gain so much by doing some planning ahead of time. We just took a 24 hour trip to Chattanooga last week for the first time in over 10 years (first time with kids). Studying my options ahead of time saved me money, headaches and a lot of wasted time. The OP makes valid points, but expecatations could have been held in check with a bit more prep.

[Newsboy]

Last time I was in Mint Hill, it was VERY boring ....

[AtlJan]

Doh, What were you thinking? When going to a new city, I frankly fly through the tourist areas quickly and try to find the "real" parts of the city. Since we've got a NYC analogy going--let's see...if I'd wanted a Greenwich village experience in Atlanta, I would have headed to Virginia Highlands or Decatur. If I'd wanted a Central Park stroll, I would have hit Piedmont Park. If I'd wanted a Coney Island fun day, I would have seen Stone Mountain. If I'd wanted to ogle at mansions & amazing landscapes, I would have driven through the boulevards of old Buckhead. All you'd have had to do was come on here and describe what you were looking for. But instead you flew blind. Sorry...

[Cameron H]

One time I visited L.A. and all I saw was Skid Row and a bunch of office buildings. No Hollywood, no Venice Beach, no Santa Monica or Malibu, no Disneyland. It's definitely not a tourist town like NY or Chicago.

[testa50]

I'm in Rio de Janeiro and took a ride through Centro in a taxi last night. It was a dangerous ghost town. Rio is definitely not a tourist town like NY or Chicago.

[ANDS!]

. . .I think what people are trying to say is that Downtown is not a fair representation of what there is to do in the city. I don't find Atlanta to be some tourist trap like NYC or SF. Why would it be? Those cities are rare occurrences in terms of American cities and not the norm. As "aware. . ." as this country is of Atlanta, that doesn't mean it has the tourist amenities to match the social awareness factor.

That being said, it really is your fault if you were searching for Atlanta adventure and didn't find it. I didn't know the layout of the city before I got here, and within the first week I could tell (by my own exploration) that Downtown was not Atlanta's "downtown section. . ."

[AnsleyPark]

One of the better "what to do" sites: Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau

[JPD]

Originally Posted by chrharris

You are correct, our expectations was big city, like NY. They were to high of expectations.

Why did you think Atlanta would be like NYC?