Georgia - Atlanta

Stone Mountain, Atlanta © Atlanta DeKalb Convention & Visitors Bureau

Back in 1837 Atlanta was little more than a hamlet existing to serve as a railway terminus; then came the Civil War that saw the town burned to the ground. Undaunted, 135 years later Atlanta swarms with more than three million people, and has been chosen by numerous leading international companies as the home of their corporate or regional headquarters. The lively, thriving city styles itself as the capital of the ‘New South', and its dramatic skyline is littered with gleaming skyscrapers. In the spirit of its most famous sons, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ted Turner (who founded CNN in the city in 1980) Atlanta's pioneering energy continues to fuel its evolution and development.

Atlanta is promoted as a desirable location for conventions and additionally boasts a plethora of cultural attractions; visitors arriving here for business or pleasure are hard put to see it all. When sightseeing palls, there is always shopping, and Atlanta will not let visitors rest in that respect either. The Peachtree Centre ‘pedestrian village’ downtown covers 14 city blocks and includes 200,000 feet (60,960m) of retail space together with its three mega hotels, numerous restaurants and massive office towers.

Spanning a vast area, Atlanta is a world-class city that has become the economic and cultural centre of America's South. But despite the changes brought by urban sprawl and a more cosmopolitan lifestyle the city has not strayed from its historical roots: to best enjoy this great city stroll around the charming residential neighbourhoods and relish in the Southern hospitality that has given the city its well deserved reputation as a genteel metropolis.

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