Content Produced in Partnership with Georgia Office of Tourism 
With mild winters, long summers, and a landscape as diverse as the people who call it home, Georgia is a great place to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors. Experiences range from the extreme to the sublime. Whether you want to soak in the sun and splash in the sea on one of the state’s coastal islands or crash through the forest on the world’s longest and largest zip wire canopy tour at Historic Banning Mills, you’re sure to find an adventure that suits your style.
The state takes providing and promoting these opportunities seriously. Among the landmarks, parks, and pastoral settings set aside as protected areas are the waterfall-rich Cloudland Canyon State Park and the deep, sweeping canyons and gorges of Providence Canyon State Park, home to Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon. Other treasures are the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests, which occupy a huge swathe in North Georgia and include the Cohutta Wilderness and the river-cut Tallulah Gorge State Park—both of which feature world-renowned hiking, rafting, and off-road mountain biking opportunities.
Okefenokee Swamp
Although well-known for its mountains, Georgia also boasts 100 miles of coastline as well as a variety of rivers, lakes, and swamps such as the Okefenokee Swamp. The south-eastern swamp is teaming with wildlife, which includes more than 200 types of birds and the American alligator. Being in Georgia means never straying too far from water. Fish on Lake Oconee in central Georgia; paddle along the Altamaha River Canoe Trail, which stretches all the way to the Atlantic; or shoot the rapids in Columbus on the world’s longest urban whitewater rafting course at Chattahoochee Whitewater Park.
Walasi-Yi Center
Maybe you prefer to hike? If so, you’re in luck because the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail—a more than 2,000-mile (3,219-kilometre) route that runs up the East Coast—is in northern Georgia at Springer Mountain. The state also has the only covered portion of the trail, through the Mountain Crossing outdoor equipment store at the Walasi-Yi Center.
Cumberland Island
Travelers weary of overdeveloped beaches will find the perfect remedy on Georgia’s Atlantic coast. Whether your destination is one of Georgia’s famous Golden Isles, a windswept national seashore or the diverse experience that is Tybee Island, there’s a place where the shore is calm and uncrowded. Cumberland Island National Seashore, accessible only by a twice-daily ferry, features unspoiled beaches and winding trails leading through forests, marshes, and historic ruins. The diverse experience that is Tybee Island is a further gem along the 170 kilometers of coastline, and Georgia’s famous Golden Isles include unique and unmarred beauty from the private beach on Little St. Simons Island to the secluded Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island, named for the captivating wooden giants preserved in time that speckle the coast.
