AirTran Airways Flights from Washington (DCA) to Atlanta (ATL)
Orbitz is pleased to offer airline tickets on AirTran Airways, which operates 6 regularly scheduled daily non-stop flights from Washington (DCA) to Atlanta (ATL), departing between 6:30am and 6:49pm. Usually a Boeing 717 or Boeing 737-700 is flown for this route. The average travel time from Washington, DC to Atlanta, GA is 1 hour and 51 minutes.
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During your Atlanta vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
Underground Atlanta
In 1969, a group of Atlanta businesspeople decided to create an underground entertainment complex of restaurants, shops, and bars in the historic hub of the city, centered on the Zero Milepost that marked the terminus of the Western & Atlantic Railroad in the 1800s. The area had flourished until the early 1900s, until it became so congested that permanent concrete viaducts were constructed over it, elevating the street system and routing traffic over a maze of railroad tracks. Merchants moved their operations up to the new level, using the lower level for storage space. For most of the 20th century, it remained a deserted catacomb.The 1969 entertainment development idea was great, but unfortunately the complex declined and closed after a little over a decade. In 1989 -- after a public-private infusion of $142 million -- a larger, livelier Underground reopened to much fanfare, becoming once again an entertainment mecca and urban marketplace. Local civic leaders pinned their hopes for downtown revival on the complex, and for some time it looked as if the concept would work. But, beset by lease disputes, financial problems, and changes of management, Underground has failed to sustain its early promise, although the most recent management company may be making some progress. Occupying 12 acres in the center of downtown, Underground Atlanta sports oscillating searchlights emanating from a 138-foot light tower, an outdoor staging area used for performances and concerts, and the cascading waters of Peachtree Fountain Plaza. Underground offers nearly 100 retail operations and restaurants, many of them national chains. Markers throughout the complex indicate historic sites. Their origins are fascinating, so be sure to pick up an information sheet at the visitors booth and take your own self-guided tour. Humbug Square -- where street vendors and con artists flourished in the early 1900s -- has a colorful market with turn-of-the-century pushcarts and wagons displaying offbeat wares. The complex is still worth a look if you're in the downtown area, but keep in mind that it's mostly a tourist attraction at this point. It's still struggling to find its place in the urban mix, perhaps because locals prefer the shopping and entertainment areas in Buckhead and Virginia-Highland.The Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau (tel. 404/222-6688) operates its most comprehensive center in Underground Atlanta, at 65 Upper Alabama St. Open Monday to Saturday 10am to 6pm, and Sunday noon to 6pm, it includes displays and interactive exhibits depicting the city's rich history. There's also AtlanTIX!, a ticket booth where visitors can purchase day-of-show half-price tickets to theater, dance events, and other live performances throughout the metro area.
Fernbank Museum of Natural History
The largest museum of natural sciences in the Southeast, this architecturally stunning facility borders 65 acres of pristine forest. Architect Graham Gund has achieved a marvelous integration of interior/exterior space The building, which nearly eclipses the attractions inside, centers on a soaring three-story, sky-lit Great Hall -- an Italianate brick atrium with spiral staircases, lofty columns, and windows revealing the woodlands beyond. Look closely at the museum floors, where ancient fossil remains from the late Jurassic period are embedded.When the Great Hall was designed, it was meant to one day be the home of a large-scale permanent dinosaur exhibition, and in 2000, Fernbank became the only place in the world to display a complete mounted skeleton of Argentinosaurus, the largest dinosaur ever found. The dramatic permanent exhibit, "Giants of the Mesozoic," features the 90-foot-long plant-eater as it defends its nest of eggs against the 45-foot-long Giganotosaurus, the largest meat-eater ever classified. Hovering above in the 86-foot-tall hall are two flying pterosaurs. Dinosaurs just don't get any bigger than this, and it's a little hair-raising to walk into the hall and see these beasts towering over the tiny humans below.There are several other permanent exhibits, including "A Walk Through Time in Georgia," which uses the state as a microcosm to tell the story of the earth's development through time and the chronology of life upon it. Visitors travel back 15 billion years to experience the origins of the universe (the Big Bang) and the formation of galaxies and solar systems, and into the future to consider the fate of our planet. Eighteen galleries re-create landform regions from the rolling pine-forested foothills of the Piedmont Plateau to the mossy Okefenokee Swamp, from the Cumberland Plateau (where you can walk through a typical "limestone cavern") to the marshy Coast and Barrier Islands. Exhibits are enhanced by creative films and videos, informational audiophones, interactive computers, sound effects, and old-fashioned field guides -- not to mention more than 1,500 fabricated plants and mounted specimens of birds and animals."Sensing Nature" tantalizes your senses with hands-on exhibits that explore how we experience the natural world. The room swims with computers, colored lights, and mirrors, and you can step into a life-size kaleidoscope, play with perspective, gaze into infinity, see physical evidence of sound waves, and mix colors on a computer.The "Children's Discovery Room," open daily June through August and on a limited basis during the school year, includes Fantasy Forest, a colorful play area designed for preschoolers (ages 3-5), where kids can become bees and pollinate flowers, climb a treehouse, walk through a swamp, and play at being farmers. The state-shaped Georgia Adventure is a similar discovery room for ages 6 to 10.While you're here, be sure to catch a stunning IMAX film (buy tickets as soon as you enter the museum; they sometimes sell out). The immense IMAX screen -- 5 stories high and 72 feet wide -- puts you right in the middle of all the action.Other museum attractions include a wetlands exhibit, a dramatically colorful living coral reef aquarium, a unique shell display, a gemstone collection, and the McClatchey Collection of jewelry and textiles from the old Silk Road countries. A museum store is stocked with entertaining and educational gifts and books, and there's a restaurant with arched windows overlooking Fernbank Forest and outdoor patio seating.
Georgia's Stone Mountain Park
A monolithic gray granite outcropping (the world's largest) carved with a massive monument to the Confederacy, Stone Mountain is a distinctive landmark on Atlanta's horizon and the focal point of its major recreation area, which includes 3,200 acres of lakes and beautiful wooded parkland. It's Georgia's number-one tourist attraction, and one of the ten most-visited paid attractions in the United States.Stone Mountain itself was formed about 300 million years ago, when intense heat and pressure caused molten material just below the earth's surface to push upward. That material cooled slowly (it took 100 million years) and formed compact, uniform crystals. Initially, a 2-mile-thick overlay of the earth's surface covered the hardened granite, but over the next 200 million years, that layer eroded, exposing the mountain we see today. The dome-shaped rock rises 1,683 feet above sea level and covers 583 acres. Half of Georgia and part of North Carolina rest on the mountain's base.Although the best view of the mountain is from below, the vistas from the top are spectacular. Visitors who are part mountain goat can take the walking trail up and down its moss-covered slopes, especially lovely in spring when they're blanketed in wildflowers. The trial is 1.3 miles each way. Or you can ride the Skylift cable car to the top, where you'll find an incredible view of Atlanta and the Appalachian Mountains. The best approach is to take the cable car up, and then walk back down. For a different perspective, check out the park from onboard a World War II amphibious vehicle-the park's new Ride the Ducks Adventure is a 40-minute tour that moves from the land into the waters of Stone Mountain Lake. Tours run from 11am daily. Tickets are $9 ages 3 and up for individual tickets, and $6 ages 3 and up when added to the One-Day All-Attraction Pass. Duck Tours are included on the One-Day Pass on "Limited Attraction Days" (Mon-Thurs in the fall) at no additional charge.A highlight at Stone Mountain is the Lasershow Spectacular, an astonishing display of laser lights and fireworks with animation and music. The brilliant laser beams are projected on the mountain's north face, a natural one million-square-foot screen. Shows are presented Saturdays at 8:30pm from March 1 to Memorial Day and from the day after Labor Day through October. From Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day, shows takes place each night at 9:30pm. Bring a picnic supper and arrive early to get a good spot on the lawn at the base of the mountain. Shows are free with park admission.It's a good idea to make your first stop the Discovering Stone Mountain Museum to get some perspective on the mountain's history. Exhibits take you through an intriguing chronological journey from the area's past into its present.Other major park attractions include the Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad, an open-air train that chugs around the 5-mile base of Stone Mountain. The ride takes 40 minutes and includes a live "train robbery" skit. Trains depart from Railroad Depot, an old-fashioned train station, where there's a restaurant with all the fixings for a fried chicken picnic, just in case you forgot to bring your own.The Scarlett O'Hara, a paddlewheel riverboat, cruises the 363-acre Stone Mountain Lake.The Antique Car and Treasure Museum is a jumble of old radios, jukeboxes, working nickelodeons, pianos, Lionel trains, carousel horses, and clocks, along with classic cars.Visitors can now travel back in time thanks to a new $30 million attraction at the park called Crossroads. At Crossroads, you can explore an 1870s rural Southern town, complete with a cast of authentically costumed characters who sing, play instruments, tell stories, and demonstrate crafts such as glass blowing, candle-making and blacksmithing. In addition to the town's quirky and talented characters, other special treats include a gristmill and bakery, and a general store with candy and ice cream production facilities. A boarding-house restaurant offers up tasty Southern cuisine, from chicken and dumplings to fried catfish. If you plan to eat, you might want to stop by and add your name to the list before you explore the town, as there is often a wait.Another part of the Crossroads attraction is The Great Barn, a hit with children and adults. Join in the fun as you help "harvest" fruits and vegetables throughout this multi-level foam factory to rack up points for your team. Just added to Crossroads is the Treehouse Challenge, a one-of-a-kind outdoor adventure that pits boys against girls to control balls on a large track that links the two treehouses (sort of a life-size pinball game). The town's centerpiece is the Tall Tales of the South theater, where visitors use special glasses to view a 3-D film with 4-D (yes, 4) special effects. The frog's tongue, which stretches into the movie audience from its perch on a swamp log, is just one of the surprises the experience offers. Small children might not enjoy the film, as some of the effects are a bit unnerving.The 19-building Antebellum Plantation offers self-guided tours assisted by hosts in period dress at each structure. Highlights include an authentic 1830s country store; the 1845 Kingston House (it represents a typical overseer's house); the clapboard slave cabins; the 1790s Thornton House, elegant home of a large landowner; the smokehouse and well; a doctor's office; a barn, a coach house, and crop-storage cribs; a privy; a cook house; and the 1850 neoclassical Tara-like Dickey House. The grounds also contain formal gardens and a kitchen garden. It takes at least an hour to tour the entire complex. Often (especially in summer), there are Civil War re-enactments, craft and cooking demonstrations, storytellers, and balladeers on the premises. Children will enjoy getting up close and personal with the critters at Grandpa's Farm at The Plantation, featuring domesticated farm animals including pigs and goats.Additional activities: golf (on top-rated courses designed by Robert Trent Jones and John LaFoy), miniature golf, 15 tennis courts, a sizable stretch of sandy lakefront beach with 4 water slides, carillon concerts, rowboats and paddleboats, bicycle rental, fishing, hiking, picnicking, and more.Stone Mountain is one of the most beautiful parks in the nation. Consider spending a few days of your trip here; it's a great place for a romantic getaway or a family vacation. On-site accommodations are detailed in chapter 5. If you can only spare a day, it's an easy drive (about 30 min.) from downtown.The Face of a Mountain--Over half a century in the making, Stone Mountain's neoclassic carving -- 90 feet high and 190 feet wide -- is the world's largest bas-relief sculpture. Originally conceived by Gutzon Borglum, it depicts Confederate leaders Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson galloping on horseback throughout eternity. Borglum started work on the mountain sculpture in 1923 but abandoned it after 10 years due to insurmountable technical problems and rifts with its sponsors. (He went on to South Dakota, where he gained fame carving Mount Rushmore.) No sign of his work remains at Stone Mountain, but it was his vision that inspired the project. Augustus Lukeman took over in 1925, but 3 years later, the work still far from complete, the family that owned the mountain lost patience and reclaimed the property. It wasn't until 1963, after the state purchased the mountain and surrounding property for a park, that work resumed under Walter Kirtland Hancock and Roy Faulkner. It was completed in 1970.
Stone Mountain Park Campground
Nestled in the woods, this large campground with sections for pop-ups, RVs, and tents is a great place to stay. The area has many sites overlooking the lake, especially in the tent section. All sites have barbecue grills, and picnic tables are scattered throughout the area. Public facilities include a dining pavilion, playgrounds, laundries, and showers. The park's beach is close by, and the swimming pool is brand new. Pets are permitted if kept on a leash. This is a popular place, so be sure to call ahead. You may reserve a spot up to 90 days before you stay; all reservations must be made at least 1 week in advance.
Marriott Marquis
A dramatic downtown landmark, the Marriott Marquis is a first-class megahotel designed by Atlanta's John Portman, who also designed the Hyatt Regency . Fronted by a vast fountain that looks like a flying saucer, the hotel has a 50-story atrium lobby that is said to be the largest in the southeast. The rooms are attractively decorated in a contemporary style, and the spiffy bathrooms have hair dryers and upscale complimentary toilet articles. Forty-two rooms are wheelchair accessible. The Marriott is connected by covered walkway to shops in the Peachtree Center mall.
Homewood Suites Hotel
This well-run suite hotel is an excellent value, perfect for an extended business stay or a long weekend. The spacious and homey one- and two-bedroom apartment-style suites offer pull-out sofas and large kitchen areas that include full-size appliances, coffeemakers, dishwashers, and toasters. The bathrooms are fairly standard. Some of the two-bedroom suites can easily sleep eight people, making these a great option for large families. The hotel is set back from a busy street, so all the rooms are quiet. Ask for one of the rooms overlooking the pool and patio.Although you won't be within walking distance of most of the Buckhead attractions or the MARTA station, there is a courtesy van that will take you anywhere within a 3-mile radius. Four suites are accessible to travelers with disabilities. Pets are allowed with a $75 nonrefundable deposit.In addition to a complimentary deluxe continental breakfast, there is an evening social Monday to Thursday with complimentary beer, wine, and light snacks or meals. About once a week, the social moves out to the patio for a cookout. If you're in the mood, you can even cook out yourself. There's no restaurant or room service, but delivery is available from several restaurants.
Need help booking your trip?
Book online or call
1-800-504-3248(toll free)
Need help booking your trip?
Book online or call
1-800-504-3248(toll free)
Need help booking your trip?
Book online or call
1-800-504-3248(toll free)
Need help booking your trip?
Book online or call
1-800-504-3248(toll free)
Other direct flights to Atlanta (ATL) on AirTran Airways
