Things to do in Atlanta

Nature · Old Fourth Ward to Piedmont Park

A former rail corridor turned linear park, lined with murals, breweries and the Ponce City Market food hall.

Local tip: Start at Krog Street Market and walk north to Ponce City Market, then up to the Skyline Park on the roof. The Westside Trail is quieter and shows a different, less gentrified Atlanta.

Culture · Sweet Auburn

Dr King's birth home, Ebenezer Baptist Church, and the tomb he shares with Coretta Scott King, all free.

Local tip: The birth home requires a free timed ticket from the visitor centre and they go early. Ebenezer's original sanctuary, with the recording of Dr King's voice, is the part that stays with people.

Nature · Midtown

The city's central park with the best skyline view, and a botanical garden with a canopy walk through the trees.

Local tip: The view from the Oak Hill meadow is the postcard shot. The Botanical Garden's winter light installation sells out — book weeks ahead if you want to go.

Food · Downtown

A 1918 municipal market that has fed the city through segregation and renewal, now a mix of butchers, Caribbean kitchens and new stalls.

Local tip: Grindhouse Killer Burgers and the Jamaican counter are the reliable picks. It is a working market rather than a food hall, and it is a short walk from the King historic site.

Food · North-east, outside the Perimeter

Miles of strip malls holding the best Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Mexican and Ethiopian food in the south-east.

Local tip: This is the single best eating in Atlanta and almost none of it is in a guidebook. You need a car. Plaza Fiesta and the Chinatown mall are the anchors — go hungry and follow the queues.

Nature · South-west Atlanta

120 acres of forest, a waterfall and the stone ruins of a 19th-century spa, plus Civil War earthworks, inside the city.

Local tip: In a city where everyone goes to Piedmont Park, this has a genuine waterfall and almost nobody on the trails. Free, open daily, and ten minutes from downtown.