Holiday Lights at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Photo courtesy of Lindsay T via Flickr.
Atlanta is a city that loves glitz and glamour and there’s no other holiday that gets the star treatment like Christmas. With millions of lights illuminating the city, special events at Atlanta’s premier venues and plenty of opportunities to dress up, Christmas in Atlanta is one of the highlights of the holiday season.
For spectacular displays of lights, there are several options that are sure to put you in the holiday spirit. The Atlanta Botanical Garden strings more than a million lights for its ‘Garden Lights, Holiday Nights’ show. With more than 30 acres of spectacular flora, the Garden creates a variety of attractions like ‘Liquid Lights’ and the Van Gogh inspired ‘Starry Night Walk,’ allowing guests to wander the extensive area and discover each unique space at their own pace.
Even though Atlanta doesn’t experience extremely cold temperatures like other parts of the country, there are still opportunities to partake in winter activities like ice skating. Centennial Olympic Park transforms from fountains in the summer to Atlanta’s only outdoor skating rink in the winter. For Christmas, the Park hosts the Holiday in Lights display, where you can skate and twirl under millions of twinkling lights in an iconic park.
History aficionados will want to put a visit to Callanwolde on their to-do list. This 27,000 square foot mansion is decorated for the holidays, featuring the vision of Atlanta’s top interior and floral designers. This designer show house embodies the spirit of the season and will inspire you to take your own holiday decorating to the next level. Another historic property, the Swan House at the Atlanta History Center, also decorates for the holidays with an impressive tree; step into the past with daily tours that allow visitors to experience the holidays as antebellum Atlantans would have celebrated.
Nothing says Christmas quite like Santa…in a speedo. The Atlanta Santa Speedo Run is an annual event that raises money for a different charity each year. With almost 200 runners clad in speedos, Santa hats, reindeer horns and little else, this fun and festive event is almost as entertaining for the runners as it is for spectators.
Stone Mountain Park knows how to put on a party and Christmas is one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the year. With more than two million lights decorating the park, a nightly Christmas parade, a festive train ride with Christmas tunes, special attractions at the Antebellum Plantation and more, it might take several visits to fully absorb all of the sights and sounds of Christmas at Stone Mountain.
Though ‘Hotlanta’ might be short on snow, there’s certainly not a shortage of holiday spirit. If visiting the main attractions in Atlanta to experience the lights and decorations is on your list, consider purchasing an Atlanta CityPass, which gives you access to the Botanical Gardens, World of Coca-Cola and more.
–Katie Coakley
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