Whether you have one day or a week to spend in Georgia’s Blue Ridge, you’ll find yourself surrounded by water, forests, quaint small towns and beautiful scenery. We’ve put together some suggested itineraries for visitors who want to spend a relaxing vacation taking in the sights in an unhurried way. And, for the more adventurous activities, we’ve added in a range of outdoor activities in the mountains and wilderness that surround us. Stop by the Fannin County Welcome Center for information, brochures and tips from locals. It’s right behind United Community Bank on Hwy 515 (706-632-5680).

Day One – Shopping, Sightseeing & Relaxing

Ice cream is a popular treat in Blue Ridge whether you are shopping, sightseeing or relaxing

Start off on Main Street in downtown Blue Ridge and spend some time shopping for antiques and uniques. Take a break and sit a spell on the rockers and benches along the way. Be sure to get the great shopping map put out by the Blue Ridge Business Association, available at the Visitors Center and most shops in town. For a homemade and handmade taste of Blue Ridge, have lunch at one of the small eateries in town.

Then go for a drive out Highway 5 and pick up homemade pies and jams at Mercier Orchards, a roadside market with a bakery that offers the perfect fried peach or apple pie. There are lots of great shops at Mercier’s, or you may want to seek out some of the area’s local artisans to shop for handmade pottery, furniture and art.

For a relaxing afternoon, treat yourself to a spa experience at Serenity in the Mountains or BodyCures. And to prepare for a quiet dinner at the cabin, shop for gourmet foods at Enchanted Mountain Trout and Gourmet Meats, Buck’s Fancy Meat and Cheese or Indigo Hills Market and Catering. After dinner, don’t miss the best show in town – the stars!

Here are some links to Shopping Maps & Guides:
Downtown Blue Ridge Shopping Map
McCaysville/Copperhill Shopping Map
Handmade & Homemade Self-Guided Tour
Antiques & Uniques Self-Guided Tour

Day Two - Water Water Everywhere

Georgia’s Blue Ridge is surrounded by natural beauty and plenty of scenic water spots. Whether you want to just relax with a lake or riverside picnic, go whitewater rafting or dip a line into trophy trout waters there’s plenty to choose from. Lake Blue Ridge has 100 miles of shoreline, 80% of which is National Forest. Morganton Point Recreation Area offers a beach area for swimming, picnic tables, boat ramp, canoe and jet ski rentals. You can also rent a pontoon or a jet ski for a half or full day at the Lake Blue Ridge Marina.

The Toccoa and Ocoee Rivers are beautiful cascading mountain rivers. The Toccoa rapids on Aska Road and Sandy Bottom are good spots. Want to actually get into the waters and forests that surround us? For a leisurely float, try tubing the Toccoa River from Toccoa Valley Campground to Shallowford Bridge. For more excitement, the Ocoee River is a whitewater paddlers’ dream, with guided rafting trips and plenty of challenges for experienced kayakers. The Ocoee Whitewater Center also has a network of mountain biking and hiking trails.

Looking for the perfect spot to drop a line or have a family picnic? Two local parks have great access to the Toccoa River for fishing, picnicking and playing. Tammen Park, located on the Toccoa River below the Lake Blue Ridge Dam, is a popular place for trout fishing, with covered picnic pavilions, playgrounds and ballfields for the family. Horseshoe Bend Park, another favorite spot for trout fishermen, is a beautiful setting on the river in McCaysville, with lots of space and amenities for family outings.

Toccoa River & Lake Blue Ridge
Upper Toccoa River & Ocoee River

Day Three – Historic Discovery Self-Guided Tour

Georgia’s Blue Ridge has plenty of Appalachian heritage and historic areas to discover. The town of Blue Ridge was founded in 1886, when the Marietta and Northern Railroad came to Fannin County. The rail line at Blue Ridge, with an altitude of 1,751 feet, was reported to be the highest in Georgia at that time; Fannin County was called “the Switzerland of the South” in promotional brochures.

Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad in downtown Blue Ridge, Georgia

In the early days, tourists would ride the train to town and take a leisurely walk to the Blue Ridge Hotel for dinner. Today, you can still ride the train and leisurely walk along Main Street. Begin your day with coffee at L & L Beanery in a restored historic bank building right across from the depot. Learn about historic buildings in Downtown Blue Ridge by following our Historic Discovery map guide.

Board the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway mid-morning and experience first hand what passenger rail service was like in the old days. The train operates with period railroad engines and cars, following the Toccoa River as it winds its way to McCaysville.

Here you disembark and have lunch, do a little shopping and see the GA/TN line marker where the towns of McCaysville, Ga. and Copperhill, Tenn. meet. You can stand with one foot in Georgia and the other foot in Tennessee at the same time!

For an old-time fun evening, go to Blue Ridge’s Swan Drive-In, one of the last remaining drive-in theaters in Georgia. Or take a picnic to Horseshoe Bend Park and enjoy some foot tappin’ Appalachian bluegrass music at Pickin’ in the Park on Thursday nights. Another choice is to have dinner beside the river at the rustic Toccoa Riverside Restaurant, on Aska Road. Try some fresh mountain trout and homemade blackberry cobbler for dessert.

Historic Discovery - Blue Ridge Self-Guided Tour
Historic Discovery - Communities Self-Guided Tour

Day Four – Rural Sightseeing

Georgia’s Blue Ridge has miles and miles of roads to explore. There are lots of scenic drives through the forests, beautiful valleys and pastoral rolling farmland around here. Start off with a loop down Aska Road around to Highway 60, which can take two to five hours, depending on the length of your stops.

You will see the Toccoa River rapids and historic Shallowford Bridge just up the road.

Continue on to Dial, Fannin County’s original settlement. It’s an historic and scenic Appalachian farm community along the Toccoa River with many of the original farms and buildings still standing. On the way stop, at the old Dial Bridge and look upstream where you can see an authentic V-shaped Cherokee Indian fish trap in the river.

Another choice is to discover the authentic mountain towns in Fannin County by beginning in Blue Ridge and following Highway 5 north to Epworth and McCaysville. Then turn right onto Highway 60 to the quaint communities of Mineral Bluff and Morganton. In Mineral Bluff, be sure and take the time to stop and see the historic Mineral Bluff Depot, which is being restored to become the new home of the Tri-State Model Railroad Club.

For another really gorgeous scenic drive, take Highway 64 north of McCaysville/Copperhill, on a National Scenic Byway through the Ocoee River Gorge. To experience the history of copper mining in the area, you can take a side trip to the Ducktown Museum and Burra-Burra Mine in Ducktown, Tenn. Also stop at the Ocoee Whitewater Center, home of the 1996 Olympic Whitewater competition.

Rural Sightseeing - Aska Road & Highway 60 Loop Self-Guided Tour
Toccoa River & Lake Blue Ridge Self-Guided Tour
Upper Toccoa River & Ocoee River Self-Guided Tour
Historic Discovery - Communities Self-Guided Tour

Day Five – More Outdoor Adventures

The Blue Ridge and the Cohuttas Mountains are stunning during the fall season

If you have the time, there are lots more adventures here in Georgia’s Blue Ridge. You can take short or long hikes (and mountain bikes) in the Aska Trails area, and visit Fall Branch Falls, reached by a short trail. To explore the beginnings of the Appalachian Trail in Fannin County, hike to Long Creek Falls, a 2-mile round trip hike on the Benton MacKaye/Appalachian Trail. For an easy wilderness experience, the Swinging Bridge across the Toccoa River is reached by a 4-mile (bumpy) drive on a gravel road, then a 5 minute hike through the woods.

For horse lovers, you can go for a trail ride in beautiful Cashes Valley at one of several excellent riding stables. For adventurous scenic drives into the wild (note: only if you can handle rough gravel forest service roads), the Cohutta/Big Frog Wilderness is the largest combined wilderness area in the eastern US. Miles of pristine hiking trails make for great adventures for experienced hikers. Jacks River Falls is an awesome waterfall reached by a round trip 7 mile hike through rough wilderness.

Outdoor Adventures Hiking
Cohutta Wilderness Self-Guided Driving Tour

Ask the Experts about Georgia’s Blue Ridge

Need more information? Stop by the Fannin County Welcome Center for information and tips from locals. It’s right behind United Community Bank on Hwy 515 (706-632-5680).