Attractions & Things to Do

Helen punches well above its weight for a town of 500 people. Packed into a one-square-mile Bavarian village — painted facades, flower boxes, cobblestone sidewalks, the works — are tubing outfitters, gem flumes, mini-golf, shops selling everything from German sausage to hand-thrown pottery, and a calendar full of festivals. Step across the bridge and you are on the Chattahoochee River. Drive five minutes in any direction and you hit a trailhead.

In town, tubing the Chattahoochee is the signature summer activity. Outfitters on Main Street rent tubes for $15–$20 including a shuttle, and the float from the upper launch back to town takes one to two hours. For families with younger kids, the gem mining flumes along the strip give everyone something to do for an hour — buckets of rough material run $10–$25 depending on size. The Bavarian architecture itself is worth a slow walk: Uhuburg Castle sits on the hillside above town and is visible from the main street, though the castle itself is private property.

Just outside town, Anna Ruby Falls is the most-visited attraction in the region for good reason. The 0.4-mile paved trail ($5/person) ends at a platform where two waterfalls drop side by side — 153 feet and 50 feet — into the same pool. Go before 10 AM on summer weekends if you want the place to yourself. Two miles from the village, Unicoi State Park offers a 53-acre lake, zip lines, barrel cabin rentals, and a 12-mile trail network for $5 day-use parking. Smithgall Woods State Park is quieter and less commercial — it protects 5,664 acres around Dukes Creek, one of the best catch-and-release trout fisheries in the state. Reservations are recommended on weekends because the park caps daily visitation.

The Nacoochee Valley a mile south of town holds two stops worth an hour of your time. Hardman Farm Historic Site is an 1870s plantation at the base of the Cherokee-era Nacoochee Mound — the white gazebo on top of the mound is one of the most-photographed spots in Georgia. A quarter mile down the road, Nora Mill Granary has been water-powered since 1876. The tour is free, the millstones are original, and the stone-ground grits make an excellent souvenir.

Farther out, Brasstown Bald (Georgia's high point at 4,784 feet) is a 45-minute drive southwest and a logical half-day addition if you want a panoramic payoff. On a clear day the summit observation deck takes in four states. Combine it with the GA-180 Spur scenic drive for one of the better ridge-road experiences in the southern Appalachians.

A practical note on pacing: free and low-cost attractions mix easily with paid ones here. A full day could run tubing ($20) + Anna Ruby Falls ($5 parking + $5 entry) + Hardman Farm (free grounds) + a Nora Mill stop (free) for well under $40 per person before food. If you are staying overnight — and many of these parks and forests reward an early morning start — check availability below.

The sections below break the full list of attractions into categories — waterfalls, state parks, historic sites, family activities, and more — so you can plan by interest rather than trying to see everything at once.