Things to Do in Atlanta After Breakfast

Snooze, an A.M. Eatery near Piedmont Park gives you a convenient place to start before heading into Midtown, downtown or another part of Atlanta.

Share a Pancake Flight, order one of Snooze's Bennys or choose something savory before a day with plenty of walking. Coffee works with every plan. Mimosas work particularly well when breakfast is allowed to take its time.

The Piedmont Park location is on Monroe Drive and offers online ordering and a waitlist through the Snooze website. From there, Atlanta has plenty to fill the day, including major museums, historic sites, gardens, trails and some surprisingly large stretches of green space.

Spend Some Time in Piedmont Park

Piedmont Park covers more than 200 acres in Midtown Atlanta, with open lawns, walking and running paths, sports facilities and Lake Clara Meer. Atlanta's skyline rises behind the park, giving even a simple walk a distinctly urban backdrop.

The park has also been part of Atlanta life for more than a century. It hosted the Cotton States and International Exposition in 1895, when Atlanta was working to establish itself as an important commercial city in the post-Civil War South.

Today, Piedmont Park is used for everything from festivals and organized sports to an afternoon walk around the lake. The Atlanta BeltLine connects with the park, and the Atlanta Botanical Garden sits along its western edge.

That makes Piedmont Park easy to enjoy on its own or alongside another Midtown stop.

Walk Through the Atlanta Botanical Garden

The Atlanta Botanical Garden sits beside Piedmont Park and brings together outdoor gardens, indoor plant collections and conservation work.

The Fuqua Conservatory houses tropical and subtropical plants, while the Fuqua Orchid Center contains an extensive collection of orchids from around the world. Outside, different sections of the garden focus on plants ranging from hydrangeas and roses to species native to the Southeast.

There's also a strong conservation component. The garden works with rare and endangered plants, including native species threatened by habitat loss.

You don't need to know much about plants before visiting. The range of landscapes is part of what keeps the garden interesting, and seasonal displays can make the same paths look very different at another time of year.

See What's on Display at the High Museum of Art

The High Museum of Art holds more than 20,000 works and is the largest visual arts museum in the Southeast.

Its collections include American, African and European art along with photography, decorative arts and design, folk and self-taught art, and modern and contemporary work. That range makes it easy to concentrate on the galleries that interest you rather than trying to cover the entire museum.

Photography has been an important part of the High's collection for decades, and the museum also has substantial holdings in American art and work connected to the South.

The buildings are part of the experience too. The museum's main Richard Meier-designed building and later additions by Renzo Piano give the Woodruff Arts Center a look that stands out in Midtown before you even enter a gallery.

Visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta in 1929 and spent the first 12 years of his life in the neighborhood now preserved as part of Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park.

The park includes his Birth Home, Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church and other sites connected to his family, childhood and work in the Civil Rights Movement.

Ebenezer Baptist Church is particularly significant. Dr. King served there as co-pastor with his father, continuing a family connection to the church that stretched back to his grandfather.

Walking through the district helps put Dr. King's life into a physical setting. These were the streets, homes, churches and businesses that surrounded him before his work became known around the world.

The park also tells a larger story about Atlanta's Black community and the institutions that helped make the city an important center of the Civil Rights Movement.

Walk or Ride Part of the Atlanta BeltLine

The Atlanta BeltLine is being built along former railroad corridors that once circled the city.

The project combines trails, parks, public art, transportation plans and neighborhood connections. The Eastside Trail was the first completed section and runs between the edge of Piedmont Park and Reynoldstown.

Along the way, the trail passes murals, parks, restored industrial buildings, residential areas and businesses. Walking gives you time to look at the public art, while cycling lets you cover a larger section.

The BeltLine has also changed how many Atlantans use areas that were once divided by old rail infrastructure. Former industrial properties now sit beside parks, apartments, shops and gathering places.

You don't need to cover a huge distance for the BeltLine to be worthwhile. Even a relatively short section gives you a good look at a part of modern Atlanta that has changed dramatically over the past couple of decades.

Look Around Ponce City Market

Ponce City Market occupies a massive former Sears, Roebuck & Co. building on Ponce de Leon Avenue.

Sears opened the complex in the 1920s as a regional retail store, warehouse and distribution center. After Sears left, the City of Atlanta used the building for years before it was redeveloped into the mixed-use property that stands there today.

The building now contains shops, restaurants, offices and public spaces, with the Atlanta BeltLine running directly beside it. The old industrial scale is still easy to see, particularly in the large interior spaces.

You can browse the shops, explore the market or head to the rooftop attractions. Ponce City Market is also an interesting example of how Atlanta has reused some of its large industrial buildings rather than simply replacing them.

Spend a Few Hours at Georgia Aquarium

Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta holds more than 11 million gallons of water and is one of the city's largest family attractions.

Its exhibits include sharks, rays, beluga whales, sea lions and animals from freshwater and marine environments around the world. Some of the largest tanks are designed to give visitors a broad underwater view rather than looking into a traditional aquarium display.

The aquarium also conducts research, rescue and conservation work involving marine animals and aquatic ecosystems.

There's enough here to spend several hours without trying to add another major attraction immediately afterward. Families can focus on favorite animals, while adults interested in marine biology will find plenty of information about habitats, behavior and conservation.

Combine Dinosaurs and Nature at Fernbank Museum

Fernbank Museum of Natural History combines indoor museum exhibits with 75 acres of outdoor nature experiences.

Inside, dinosaurs are among the biggest draws. Large fossil displays introduce prehistoric animals while other exhibitions cover natural history, science, cultures and changing topics.

Outside, WildWoods and Fernbank Forest give visitors access to trails, native plants and woodland environments. Fernbank Forest preserves old-growth Piedmont forest, providing a look at the kind of landscape that once covered much more of the Atlanta region.

The combination is useful because the museum doesn't require you to spend the entire visit indoors. You can move from fossils and exhibits into a forest without leaving the property.

Fernbank also includes a giant-screen theater showing films focused largely on science and the natural world.

Learn More About Atlanta at the Atlanta History Center

The Atlanta History Center in Buckhead uses museum exhibits, historic buildings and 33 acres of gardens and trails to tell the city's story.

Its collections cover subjects including the Civil War era, Atlanta's development, regional culture and the people who have shaped the city. Historic properties on the grounds add another way to explore that history beyond museum cases and wall displays.

One of the center's best-known objects is the enormous cyclorama painting depicting the Battle of Atlanta. The painting dates to the 1880s and is displayed alongside an interpretation that examines both the battle and the way Civil War history has been remembered over time.

The grounds also include gardens and wooded areas, so the visit moves between galleries, historic structures and outdoor spaces.

Atlanta has grown from a railroad town into one of the largest metropolitan centers in the South. The History Center is a useful place to understand some of the events and communities behind that change.

Come Back to Snooze for Your Next Atlanta Morning

There's plenty in Atlanta to justify another day out, which also means another breakfast. Snooze offers Pancake Flights for sharing, Bennys and breakfast burritos when something savory sounds better, along with omelets, plant-based and lighter choices. Add coffee when the day starts early or mimosas when breakfast deserves a little more time. Find the Snooze location that works with your plans, join the waitlist and decide what part of Atlanta gets the next morning.