Atlanta

Built around Ocean Voyager, one of the world's largest tanks, where whale sharks and manta rays glide past a 30-metre tunnel, with beluga whales, sea otters, penguins and dolphins in the other galleries.

💡 The price changes with the day: book a dated ticket online, on a weekday if possible, and arrive at opening time, before the school groups. Keep Ocean Voyager for the end, when the crowd has spread out into the other galleries. Price: from $54.99, about €47, for a dated ticket; $69.99, about €60, for a ticket valid on any day; free for under-2s.

A museum linking the American civil rights movement to today's human rights struggles, with a gripping recreated lunch counter from the 1960 sit-ins and documents from Martin Luther King's papers.

💡 The museum is closed on Mondays; it opens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, last entry at 4 p.m. Start with the King national park in the morning, then come here in the afternoon to connect the two stories. Price: $26, about €22, with date and time booked online; $28, about €24, for an open ticket, plus tax.

Michael Barera / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

The museum of the soft drink invented in Atlanta in 1886, with 140 years of posters and bottles, the vault of the secret recipe and a tasting room of more than a hundred drinks.

💡 Come on a weekday in the early afternoon, when the morning groups have left, and save room for the tasting at the end of the visit. The site shares the square with the aquarium and the civil rights museum, so you can combine two visits. Price: about $25-28 depending on the date, or €21-24.

Warren LeMay from Cincinnati, OH, United States / CC0 (Wikimedia Commons)

A 12-hectare garden beside Piedmont Park with a 180-metre canopy walkway through the treetops, one of the country's largest orchid collections and glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly.

💡 The garden is closed on Mondays. Come on a weekday morning, when it is cheaper and quieter, then walk across Piedmont Park to the High Museum. Price: $27.95, about €24, Tuesday to Friday and $32.95, about €28, at weekends, bought online with a $5 fee per order; $2 more at the ticket office.

David Berkowitz from New York, NY, USA / CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Atlanta's great art museum, in a white Richard Meier building extended by Renzo Piano, strong in Southern folk and self-taught art and in photographs of the civil rights movement.

💡 The museum is closed on Mondays; it opens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, last ticket one hour before closing. Come by metro, as Arts Center station is next door; parking costs $18-25. Price: $23.50, about €20, plus fees; free for under-5s.

Marc Merlin / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

A granite dome rising about 250 metres above the forest east of the city, with a trail to the summit and the world's largest high relief, a Confederate memorial with a heavy history.

💡 Climb the Walk-Up Trail early in the morning, as it is steep and slippery after rain, then come down on the Summit Skyride cable car if you have bought the attractions ticket. The rest of the park, the lake, trails and covered bridge, is included in the parking fee. Price: parking $25, about €22, per vehicle per day; free entry on foot or by bike.

Diego Delso / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)