4-Day & 3-Night Road Trip Guide to Symmes Chapel

For my graduation trip, I chose Symmes Chapel—known as the "Chapel Closest to Heaven" 💒. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking! Since there are relatively few accommodation and attraction options near the chapel, I’m sharing our itinerary with you all~ DAY 1️⃣ New York ✈️ AtlantaAfter arriving, take the airport SkyTrain to the rental car center (we chose Fox; the total cost for 3 days, including all fees, was $380) → Georgia Aquarium→ Drive to a hotel near the chapel after dinner (approx. 2.5hrs). We picked the chain hotel Hampton Inn for better safety 🏨. DAY 2️⃣ Symmes Chapel → Helen TownWe woke up around 4:30 AM to catch the sunrise! It’s a 50-minute drive from the hotel, and there are many winding mountain roads—stay safe 🥺. Navigate directly to "Symmes Chapel," but important note: Always check the opening hours on the official website first (if it only opens at 9 AM, you won’t see the sunrise!). In the afternoon, we drove to Helen Town and stayed there for the night 🏡. Things to do here: Mountain roller coasters 🎢 + German cuisine There’s also white-water rafting in summer! Since the town is quite small, you can also add a horseback riding trip at a nearby ranch if you want 🐎. DAY 3️⃣ Atlantic Safari Zoo → Georgia Institute of TechnologyAfter checking out of the town hotel, it’s a 1.5-hour drive to Atlantic Safari Zoo—you can drive through the zoo and feed the animals with your windows down ! Most of the animals there are alpacas, though 🦙. Then it’s a 1-hour drive back to downtown Atlanta. Since most attractions close in the evening, we opted to visit the university campus 🏫. DAY 4️⃣ World of Coca-Cola → Return to New YorkI included a map of the entire itinerary in the last photo! Hope this helps you all~ #SymmesChapel #StudyAbroadInUSA #BucketList #OffTheBeatenPathTravel