Map of Blue Ridge

Browse by what it is

Each of these opens the attractions directory filtered to that type — a plain link, so it works without JavaScript and can be bookmarked.

• Water features7
• Entertainment5
• Neighbourhoods4
• Trails3
• Landmarks2
• Nature preserves2
• Parks2
• Historic site1
• Marina1
• Museum1

Getting to Blue Ridge

• Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International AirportATL

  110 mi · about 135 min by road

  The airport nearly everyone uses, and the reason this county fills up on Friday afternoons. Blue Ridge sits about ninety miles north of Atlanta itself, and ATL is on the far south side of the metro, so budget well over two hours and considerably more if you land between three and seven on a weekday. The route is I-75 or I-285 to I-575, then GA 515 the whole way up. Rental cars are cheaper and more plentiful here than anywhere closer, which usually decides it.

• Chattanooga Metropolitan AirportCHA

  85 mi · about 110 min by road

  The closer option, and often the calmer one, at the cost of fewer flights and higher fares. The drive comes in from the northwest through the Tennessee Valley, and the scenic version follows US 64 through the Ocoee gorge past the whitewater centre before dropping to the state line at Copperhill. That road is beautiful and slow, with no passing to speak of, so take it on the way in rather than on the way to a flight.

• McGhee Tyson Airport, KnoxvilleTYS

  115 mi · about 145 min by road

  Worth a look if you are combining Blue Ridge with the Smokies, because the drive down runs through Tennessee's mountain country rather than Atlanta's traffic. On fares alone it rarely beats ATL. Check the weather in winter: the routes south from Knoxville cross high ground that gets ice when Blue Ridge only gets rain.

• Asheville Regional AirportAVL

  145 mi · about 175 min by road

  Included because visitors ask, and because it is the airport people book when they have confused this town with the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is a long, winding drive southwest through the mountains, close to three hours in good conditions. Fly here only if Asheville is genuinely part of the trip.

• GA 515 — Zell Miller Mountain Parkway

  The front door. GA 515 is a four-lane highway on Corridor A of the Appalachian Development Highway System, running about seventy-six miles from I-575 near Nelson up through Ellijay and Blue Ridge and on toward the North Carolina line. It carries GA 5 south of town and US 76 from East Ellijay, which is why the same stretch of tarmac has three numbers on it. It is the last fast road you will be on: everything after you leave it is two-lane, and often a good deal narrower than that.

• US 64 through the Ocoee Gorge

  The approach from Chattanooga and Cleveland, Tennessee, following the Ocoee upstream through its gorge to the twin towns and the Georgia line. It is the prettiest way into the county and the slowest, with tight curves, rafting buses in summer and pull-offs full of people watching the river. On release days traffic through the gorge is genuinely heavy. Not a route to take when you are already late.

• Blue Ridge depot (Georgia Northeastern Railroad line)

  The rails through downtown are real and in daily use, but not for getting here. The line is freight track owned by the Georgia Northeastern Railroad, and the passenger service running on it is the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway excursion to McCaysville and Copperhill and back. There is no scheduled train to Blue Ridge from Atlanta, Chattanooga or anywhere else, and there has not been for decades. If you have found a timetable that looks like one, it is the excursion.

Distances and drive times are typical, not promised — see today's conditions before you plan a tight connection.