Buckhead Atlanta Shopping

     The area immediately surrounding the Five Points intersection downtown is a modern bazaar. To the north is the Peachtree Center. In between is a mix of old and new buildings housing retail stores and other commercial enterprises.
     The convenience of MARTA rapid rail and the addition of Peachtree Center's multilevel mall have further enhanced downtown shopping, blending modern elegance with the renovated romance of late 19th-century buildings.
     One of the city's novelty shopping areas is somewhat of a misnomer--two of Underground Atlanta's three levels are actually above ground, offering the wares of more than 130 prominent national and local merchants. The underground portion of the nearly 12-acre urban marketplace has existed since before the Civil War, when streets were built above railroad tracks that converged at the heart of Terminus, as Atlanta was then called.
     Authentic storefronts and historic buildings below and above the streets have been carefully restored. Visitors can dine in one of eight varied restaurants, stroll down landscaped pedestrian promenades, or relax on park benches while being entertained by street performers.
     At night the district is an entertainment center with nightclubs featuring bluegrass, comedy, Dixieland, rock and jazz. Lying between Peachtree Street and Central Avenue at Alabama Street, Underground Atlanta is next to the Five Points MARTA Station and has some 1,200 parking spaces.
     Atlanta is not all big-city glitter; the sophistication of downtown's Five Points has a more casual counterpart in Little Five Points, 3 miles away in Inman Park at the intersection of Moreland and Euclid avenues. This residential Victorian enclave also has a mix of shops, boutiques, restaurants and clubs catering to the young and trendy.
     Another shopping area worth exploring is fashionable Buckhead, noted for its antique shops and galleries as well as its malls, spacious Lenox Square and upscale Phipps Plaza.
     Atlanta also has a number of malls studding its perimeter--Cumberland Mall, the Galleria, North Point Mall and Town Center to the northwest; Outlet Square and Perimeter Mall to the north; Gwinnett Place and Northlake Mall to the northeast; Southlake Mall to the southeast; and Arbor Place Mall to the west. An alternative to the mall environment is the 146-acre Atlanta State Farmers Market, popular for both its seasonal selection of fruits and vegetables and its cafeteria.
     Bass Pro Shops in Discover Mills Mall in Lawrenceville features wildlife exhibits and sporting demonstrations.

Atlanta Attractions
     Cheer on the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field, which served as the Olympic Stadium for the Centennial Olympic games.
Stroll through the trendy Virginia-Highland neighborhood, stopping at a café or one of many eclectic shops housed in circa 1900 bungalows (Virginia Street meets Highland Street just northeast of downtown).
     Take an Atlanta Preservation Society-sponsored architectural tour of the 1920s Moorish, Egyptian-style Fox Theatre. Saved from demolition by dedicated locals, the palace features onion domes, minarets and decorative tile work.
     Visit Roswell's Archibald Smith Plantation Home, which preserves Antebellum history through docent tours that explore the house (complete with original furnishings) and outbuildings. Take the elevator to the revolving 73rd floor of the Westin Peachtree Plaza for panoramic views of downtown; while there, sip a peach-flavored daiquiri.
     Enjoy views of the Atlanta skyline and Appalachian Mountains from Stone Mountain via the skyride, a cable car that lets you off atop the giant Confederate memorial carving. Join a walking tour of the Sweet Auburn National Historic District to see the boyhood home of assassinated Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., his crypt, the church where he preached and the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.
     Frolic in the Fountain of the Rings in downtown's Centennial Olympic Park and perhaps enjoy a picnic on the lawn. Attend an outdoor concert at the Chastain Park amphitheater, where locals arrive bedecked in heels and carrying picnic baskets filled with table linens, floral centerpieces and candles. Check out the Victorian architecture in the city's bohemian-style Little Five Points neighborhood, at the junction of Euclid and Moreland avenues.