Sights—Centennial Olympic Park; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site; an Atlanta Braves baseball game at Turner Field; CNN Center; The World of Coca-Cola; Margaret Mitchell House and Museum; Stone Mountain Park; Atlanta Botanical Garden.

Museums—The High Museum of Art at the Woodruff Arts Center; Atlanta History Center; Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum on Freedom Parkway; Fernbank Science Center, and its planetarium; Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University.

Memorable Meals—The breathtakingly elegant eight-course chef's menu at Seeger's; roasted pork belly appetizer at Restaurant Eugene; spaghetti alla bottarga at Sotto Sotto; homemade potato chips with melted Maytag cheese at Buckhead Diner; a chili-cheese dog at the 78-year-old Varsity drive-in near the campus of Georgia Tech; breakfast at the Flying Biscuit Cafe.

Late Night—Relaxed socializing at Manuel's Tavern; martinis at The Mark; live music at Smith's Olde Bar.

Walks—A shopping, eating and drinking expedition through Virginia-Highland; a nature walk in the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area or through Fernbank Forest.

Especially for Kids—Georgia Aquarium; Fernbank Natural History Museum; Center for Puppetry Arts; Grant Park's Zoo Atlanta and the Atlanta Cyclorama; Wren's Nest—the Victorian-style home of Joel Chandler Harris, creator of the Uncle Remus stories; Imagine It! The Children's Museum of Atlanta; children's garden at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

Atlanta's phenomenal growth in the past 30 years—in the age of suburbs and superhighways—has created urban sprawl. One example is Lake Lanier. Once a weekend getaway 40 mi/64 km north of Atlanta, it now is part of the city's northern suburbs. Southern suburbs, likewise, now stretch 40 mi/64 km south to Lake Jackson in Butts County, formerly a rural community. Still, recent years have seen a trend back toward the center, with much redevelopment and new construction downtown and in the in-town districts that encircle it.

Rather than a single city center, Atlanta has several pockets of development. Downtown occupies a large area that begins at the intersection of Interstate 20 and I-75/85 and extends north for about 3 mi/5 km. Two smaller districts of note are nearby: Little Five Points—a quirky mix of outlandish shops, galleries, restaurants and bars to the east of downtown—is surrounded by the vibrant old residential neighborhoods of Inman Park, Candler Park and Poncey-Highland. West End, a short distance southwest of the central downtown area and close to the intersection of I-20 and West Whitehead Street, is the location of the Atlanta University Center, a consortium of five historically African-American colleges.

Immediately north of downtown is Midtown (the two areas can be roughly separated by Ponce de Leon Avenue—Highway 78/278). West of Midtown, across I-75/85, is Atlantic Station (the country's largest brownfield redevelopment project) with retail and entertainment, offices, residences and a hotel, all newly built on the site of a former steel mill. Virginia-Highland adjoins Midtown to the east (east of Piedmont Park) and is a sought-after residential neighborhood with a concentration of sophisticated boutiques and restaurants.

About 2 mi/3 km north of Midtown is another major area: Buckhead, known for its beautiful homes, thriving restaurants and clubs, high-rise business towers and upscale shopping malls.

Atlantans often describe locations as being inside or outside of the Perimeter—I-285, which encircles the city. Most suburbs lie outside of it.

Atlanta's future would have been hard to predict in 1830, when the town, in its earliest incarnation, was known simply as Terminus—the final stop on a rail line that ran from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Trains became the engine for growth. By the mid-1840s, the city, with a new name, was situated at the crossroads of several rail lines running through the southeastern U.S. Then came air travel: Again, Atlanta was poised to expand its role as a transportation hub. Today it sits at the center of a web of interstate highways and international flight patterns. That's the reason that southerners like to joke, "You may be going straight to hell, but you're still going to have to pass through Atlanta first."

As a transportation and manufacturing center, Atlanta was vitally important to the Confederacy during the Civil War. As such, it was targeted by the Union army under Gen. William T. Sherman. He captured the town in 1864, burned about 90% of its structures and destroyed the rail system. Following the war, Atlanta worked quickly to rebuild. It became the capital of Georgia in 1868. Atlanta's rapidly growing population in the late 1800s included a large number of African Americans, many of them former slaves who were educated by missionaries in freedmen's schools. These institutions contributed to Atlanta's eventual role as a leader in African-American higher education. The city also became important in the Civil Rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born and educated in Atlanta and, like his father, preached at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Today, the city's growth continues. It is the home of such prominent companies as Coca-Cola, CNN, BellSouth and Georgia-Pacific. Politics keep Atlantans on their toes: Shirley Franklin is the city's first black female mayor, and Gov. Sonny Perdue is the first Republican elected as governor of Georgia since Reconstruction.

Atlanta is Coca-Cola country, fondly called "Co-Cola" by native Atlantans. Don't even think of ordering Pepsi there.

The plural of y'all is all y'all. Yet 50% of Atlanta residents are from somewhere other than Atlanta, so y'all is becoming heard less frequently.

OTP and ITP refer to your location in reference to Interstate 285. OTP (outside the perimeter) typically implies suburban anything. ITP refers to in-town anything. Some people who live ITP make it a point of pride never to go OTP.

Little Five Points is sometimes referred to as L5P, but don't confuse it with (big) Five Points downtown, the original crossroads from which the city grew.

Expect hospitality and be sure to return it with a smile; even horn honking is friendly down there.

A naked dog is not a hairless mutt; it's a plain hot dog at The Varsity restaurant.

Grits, a southern staple made from ground corn, are traditionally eaten with butter, salt and pepper, or with sauteed shrimp. (Think polenta but without the Italian accent.) Many Atlanta restaurants now offer updated versions of classic Southern dishes, and grits can appear on the menus of the most upscale eateries.

Atlanta is ranked as one of the top five convention cities in the country: It hosts more than 3,000 conventions annually.

When you see Peachtree on a street sign, you know you're in Atlanta. More than 100 streets there have the word as part of their name.

Atlanta is the only city in North America that has been destroyed by fire in an act of war.

Atlanta's original name was Marthasville—it was changed because it was too long to fit on train schedules.