Travel Guide to Blue Ridge, GA

by The Backseat View

Georgia’s Blue Ridge mountains provide the perfect ESCAPE from REALITY to explore in this Blue Ridge Travel Guide.

Watching the flowing creek as the leaves dance to the ground defines the peace in Blue Ridge that keeps drawing me back to the cabins in the woods. The quiet hikes through the spectacular mountains are perfectly balanced with small-town charm. Spend the day strolling the upscale stores for handmade clothing, original paintings, and unique wood furniture. When it’s time for food, Blue Ridge delivers Southern cooking, fine dining, and burger bars. Fall MAGIC brings the most visitors to the apple orchards in this colorful mountain town. Join the family tradition to fire the apple cannons, pet the animals, and eat apple cider donuts while strolling the orchards.

After a morning hike, hop on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway for train rides through the country. Return to town to wander the extravagant window displays, buy old-fashioned candy at Huck’s General Store, and play the antique machines at Vertigo Pinball. Then, walk to dinner at Chester’s, Southern Charm, or Harvest on Main, with dessert at Three Sisters Fudge. After a memory-filled day, return to your cabin porch and watch those leaves drift in the crisp mountain air. My family loves this small town, and Blue Ridge can be a tradition for anyone in the Southeast, being centrally located and an hour and a half from Atlanta. Since time moves slowly here, call for dinner reservations because they might close to go fishing.

Let’s Plan Your Escape to relax, hike, and play in the north Georgia mountains with my Blue Ridge Travel Guide!

Lodging

• The Hampton Inn is ideally located downtown, ranging from $300- $400 for fall and Christmas events.
• Most people rent cabins in the woods on the river with VRBO, Air B&B, Escape to Blue Ridge, or Blue Sky Cabin Rentals. Most rentals claim to be on the river, translating to a mile walk with river access, so read the reviews.
• Loft apartments, condos, and houses are for rent downtown at VRBO.
• Blue Ridge Inn Bed & Breakfast is a classic 1890s Victorian downtown home.

• Cast and Blast Inn is four rooms over the fly-fishing shop for adults.
• Aska Lodge is a 4-room Bed & Breakfast 3 miles from downtown for adults.
• Ellijay (16 miles) outside Blue Ridge has cheaper hotel lodging near the orchards.
• Morganton Point Recreation Area for camping on Lake Blue Ridge.

Food – make reservations

• We come for the Apple Cider Doughnuts made by Our Daily Bread Bakery in Ellijay, also sold at the orchards and on Etsy.

• Chester Brunnenmeyer’s Bar & Grill for burgers, sandwiches, and ribs environment. Join the waitlist to avoid a long downtown wait.

• Southern Charm for the fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, biscuits, and apple butter. They don’t take reservations and are on West Main.
• Harvest on Main is farm-to-table with halibut and steaks, expensive and delicious. The daily menu is posted outside, and it’s a gorgeous building.

• Fightingtown Tavern is my guy’s favorite for the Rock-n-Roll theme, burgers, and TVs. It’s with the downtown shops, so join their waitlist.
• The Black Sheep Restaurant is famous for brunch and downtown outdoor patio dining under a 200-year-old oak tree.
• Cucina Rustica for old-fashioned, award-winning Italian food 5 miles from downtown.
• Cantaberry for homemade soups, sandwiches, and salads.
• Masseria Kitchen & Bar for pizza and pasta.
• Carroll’s Barbeque is the best barbeque 5 minutes from downtown.
• The Pasta Market Café is flatbread and charcuterie boards.
• Jolly Roger Seafood is a fish market and fish fry restaurant.
• Rum Cake Lady Cuban Food Café for award-winning bunt cakes and sandwiches.
• Three Sisters Fudge is made fresh daily and is a delicious tradition.
• The Sweet Shoppe for cupcakes, featured on Cupcake Wars.
• Das Kaffee Haus is the coffee shop.
• Grumpy Old Men Brewery serves beer and hotdogs.
• The Trailer at the Swan Drive Inn serves burgers and chicken during movies.
• Lake Blue Ridge Marina Boat Dock Bar and Grill for wings with a lake view during April-October.

Endless Activities

• Downtown Blue Ridge is my favorite activity to stroll the charming town with ice cream in hand. I love the Blue Ridge Cotton Company and Vertigo Pinball, which lets you play by the hour.

• The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway stops downtown for 2-hour or 4-hour train rides The 4-hour trip includes a stop at McCaysville, GA, for shopping and lunch. There’s a popular, hour long, Christmas Train Ride. Tickets are sold in advance with prices ranging from $40 to $75.

• Mercier Orchards is family-owned, with U-Pick weekend events for strawberries, blueberries, peaches, and apples. The Bakery has apple bread and Fried Pies. The orchard grows, ferments, and bottles its cider. Go relax and eat a pie!

• Project Chimp requires planning to visit. During Discovery Days in May and in October, they open the 230-acre sanctuary to guests to observe the over 100 chimpanzees. Discovery Day tickets sale five months in advance and average $35 for adults and $15 for kids. Private sanctuary tours run $500.
• Swan Drive-In is a natural 50’s drive-in movie theater. Y’all know this is the perfect way to end a day with funnel cakes, floats, and fried Oreos. It’s a couple blocks from downtown and $10 for adults and $5 for kids.

• Morgantown Point Recreation Area sits on the shores of Lake Blue Ridge. It offers camping, tubing, kayaking, paddle boarding, swimming and fishing. There’s a $5 cash fee to enter. Relaxing on the lake is my idea of heaven.
• Blue Ridge Mountain Trail Rides offer one to two-hour horseback riding options with mountain views. The tours start at Hell’s Hollow Adventure Outpost, 30 minutes from downtown Blue Ridge, for ages eight and up. Tickets start at $39.
• Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association and Arts Center in downtown Blue Ridge offers exhibits, classes, and an art camp for kids in the summer.
• The Toccoa River Canoe Trail is over 10 miles (2 hours) of kayaking, canoeing, or tubing with only a few rapids. Jon Ron Toccoa River Outfitters and Toccoa River Tubing Company can rent you equipment.
• Cohutta Cove Mini Golf is 18 holes, perfect for small children for around $10/person. They have a gem mining station and only 2 miles from downtown. Address is 64 Dunbarton Farm Road, Blue Ridge
• Baugh House Museum offers a free walk through the past with clothing, antiques, and historic items in the downtown home.
• Expedition: Bigfoot Museum is an hour-long, self-guided, $8 tour with evidence proving his existence. Drive seven miles to view the footprint casts and the Bigfoot research vehicle. Address:1934 Highway 515, Blue Ridge

• The Lily Pad Village is eight miles from Blue Ridge, with gem mining, fishing, and nine-hole mini golf. Address: 24 Adelaide Drive, Blue Ridge
• Zipline Canopy Tours is six miles from downtown, offering over 20 zip lines, and an aerial challenging course. Address: 891 Old Cashes Valley Road, Blue Ridge
• White Water Rafting the Ocoee River is a fantastic summer activity an hour away.
• Golf at Old Toccoa Farm, a 10-minute drive from Blue Ridge and a beautiful mountain course. Old Toccoa Farm’s natural beauty meets sophistication with gorgeous cottages and outdoor activities.
• Tank Town is 10 minutes from Blue Ridge in Morganton. Drive a tank, crush a car, or shoot a M-1919 machine gun. These are pricey activities with age restrictions. Address: 10408 Appalachian Hwy, Morganton, GA 30560

• Bear Claw Vineyards is a 10-minute drive from Blue Ridge. Saturday tours of the vineyard include seven wine tastings with cheese and crackers. They rent a treehouse on the property for overnight stays. Several Vineyards are located nearby if you want a day of wine tasting.

Trout Fishing Capital of Georgia

• Pack your tackle box for trout season running March through October.
• There are over 100 miles of trout streams in Blue Ridge and Fannin County.
• Toccoa River, Rock Creek, Cooper Creek, and Noontootla Creek are the most popular.
• Booking a cabin on the Toccoa River to fish is extremely popular.
• Buy a license, review the laws and catch limits, then hire a Trout fishing guide.
• Noontootla Creek is 20 miles southeast of Blue Ridge for catch and release.
• Noontootla Creek Farms offers guided fly-fishing excursions, quail hunting, and clay shooting on their 1,000-acre farm. They also have a four-bedroom farmhouse for rent. This is where my guys would prefer to spend their day!

• Oyster Bamboo Fly Rods downtown is famous, and people travel worldwide to build their rods.
• Blue Ridge Lake is a 3,290-acre lake with 60 miles of natural shoreline. Lake Blue Ridge Marina rents boats and paddle boards. Boat Dock Bar and Grill for lunch.

Hiking

• rarely have cell service, download a map

• There are 16 tumbling waterfall trails.
• The Toccoa River Swinging Bridge is the most popular 2.3-mile total, easy hike. The road is gravel to the parking lot. The 270-foot-long bridge is the longest swinging bridge east of the Mississippi. The trail is located 21 miles outside of downtown Blue Ridge.
• Toccoa Riverside Restaurant is near the bridge for steaks and seafood. People tube, canoe, and kayak the Toccoa River. The Toccoa Valley Campground rents tubes. The Benton McKaye Trail has markers to extend your hiking trip.

• Long Creek Falls is about a mile in and a mile out, two easy miles. Gravel road for 5 miles to reach the parking lot. After reaching the falls, add another 1.5 miles of moderate hiking to a beautiful 10-acre meadow on the Benton McKaye Trail. This is the trailhead for the Springer mountain hike if you want to do both.
• Fall Branch Falls is on the Benton MacKaye Trail, about 30 minutes round trip.

• Springer Mountain is the starting point of the Appalachian Trail, with various trails. There’s a 2-mile round trip to the summit and back or a 15.5-mile hike to Amicalola Falls.
• Lake Blue Ridge Loop is a 0.8 miles, leisurely walk around the lake.
• Lake Blue Ridge Campground Trail is an 1.1-mile easy trail.
• Long Branch Loop Trail- 2.2 mile, easy loop. Go right to get the hills over with first. It is used as a mountain bike trail, too.
• Flat Creek Loop- 5.4-mile loop with moderate to challenging rating with 1,000ft elevation change and used as a mountain bike trail.

Fall Apple Orchards

• The apple orchards get CRAZY busy on fall weekends, so arrive early.
• Most orchards charge an admission fee and additional fees to pick apples, tour corn mazes, and shoot apple cannons.

• Mercier Orchards is beautiful and located in Blue Ridge.
• Ellijay is the neighboring town (16 miles away) with orchards: BJ Reece Orchards, Panorama Orchards, Hillcrest Orchards, and the Red Apple Barn.

• BJ Reece Orchards was our favorite. We picked apples, shot apple cannons, and ate delicious fried apple pies and cinnamon apple donuts. There is a petting zoo, pig races, a corn maze, and lots of activities for small children. The orchards are beautiful, and we enjoyed a peaceful stroll amongst the apple trees. They are open Memorial Day through Columbus Day for farm fun.

• I love pumpkin patches, so we visited the pumpkin patch and orchard at Red Apple Barn in Ellijay. They are open mainly for fall.
• Dawsonville, GA, is 20 miles from Ellijay (40 miles from Blue Ridge), with Burt’s Farm for the giant pumpkin patch. The North Georgia Premium Outlets are also near Dawsonville.

• Ellijay hosts the Georgia Apple Festival in October, a 50-plus-year tradition. Imagine 300 vendors at the Fair Grounds with crafts and snacks.
• The Georgia Apple Blossom Festival in May and is smaller, with about 70 vendors.

Christmas – Light Up Blue Ridge

• Always the weekend after Thanksgiving

• Blue Friday has a musical stage with the Symphony playing while shopping.
• The Gingerbread Village opens at noon on Friday through the middle of December at the Arts Center to admire gingerbread houses.
• Blue Ridge Mountain Arts Association hosts a Holiday gift show.
• Carolers stroll the streets.
• On Saturday the tree lighting is 7pm and the Christmas parade is 5:30.
• Santa arrives at the gazebo in the park.
• The Santa Express departs daily aboard the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway.
• The Blue Ridge Community Theater runs a holiday show all month.
• Helen, GA, and Dahlonega are great day trips for Christmas shopping. Their holiday events also kick off the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

• Blairsville, GA, is smaller and less crowded with Old Christmas Celebrations.

Day Trips

• Ocoee White Water rafting an hour away.
• Helen, GA (50 miles away) for a Bavarian-style town and an entire weekend of activities
• Cleveland has the North Georgia Wildlife & Safari Park and BabyLand General Hospital for Cabbage Patch Kid lovers an hour from Blue Ridge.

While Blue Ridge is definitely on the travel scene, the crowds are nothing like Gatlinburg. Thanks for checking out my Blue Ridge Travel Guide for all the options to complete your family’s relaxing mountain vacation.

The Great Smoky Mountains hold peaceful magic that refreshes your soul. My Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge Travel Guide explore the endless entertainment options.