Things to do in Helen Georgia
Here’s a list of things to do, where to shop, and where to eat in Helen, Georgia. This is compiled from our research when we visited this Bavarian-lookalike town in the north part of Georgia. It is a touristy, kitschy town where one can feel like one’s in Bavaria without leaving the country.
This is a part of our Helen, GA series, which you can read below:
Contents
To start, we traveled with a baby to Helen. Unless we specifically mention otherwise, we did said activity with a baby. Second, for restaurants, our family mostly did takeaway, since it is tough to sit down and enjoy a meal with a tot. See traveling with a baby for more information on how we travel with our little one.
You’re in a new place, so what do you do? Here’s our list of things to do in Helen based on our experience. Hopefully this will help you plan your next trip to this town.
Located inside Unicoi State Park, this double waterfall is beautiful! It is easily accessible by a 30 minute hike on a paved trail from the parking lot.
The hike is stroller friendly, but you will have to push the stroller uphill and control the stroller equally when going down. The last part of the trail requires going up a flight of stairs, so if you are traveling with a baby, you will need to carry the baby from the stroller. You can also opt to use a carrier (not for us since our baby is 20lbs and he was sleepy/sleeping on the hike).
There are plenty of spots to take photos on, and the best time to visit is as soon as they open, 9AM, on a weekday, as there are less people around. The less people, the better, as you can have great photos of the falls.
There is a $3 fee per person when entering the park, cash only, collected when you drive in through a gatehouse. Babies are free of charge.
Bring a jacket for the adults and a blanket for the baby as it can get chilly. Our family visited in October, when the leaves are just starting to change colors.
We spent around 2 hours enjoying and hiking to the waterfalls and back. There were no toilets available when we went, but they had portable toilets located in the parking lot.
Anna Ruby Falls is located within its own gate inside Unicoi State Park. That means you will have to pay the entrance fee to Unicoi State Park and Anna Ruby Falls when visiting.
Unicoi is mostly a spot for cabin rentals. There are multiple trails available, the most scenic around a lake. They’re not paved so they’re not really suitable for babies unless they’re carried around.
Our family had a lot of fun taking photos by the playground and walking over a bridge over a stream of water. The baby practiced walking around and enjoyed being outdoors a lot.
The downtown area is very touristy. They’re full of tourist shops and other stores with knick-knacks but you know what? We like it. We loved strolling through the buildings that were made to look like Bavaria. We like the mom and pop feel of all the stores and restaurants. Nothing is a chain restaurant, as far as we have seen.
We enjoyed strolling around and eating our way through the restaurants that we like. We liked popping our heads inside the souvenir stores and maybe even coming out with a knick-knack or two. There’s even a European grocery store which we sadly did not get to visit since most places close early and we can’t visit everything.
Hardman Farm is one of the newer historic sites located just a 10 minute drive south of downtown Helen, Georgia. Tours are held every hour, where you can go inside the house, walk around the dairy farm, and see the grounds.
Across the street, there’s an Indian mound with a gazebo up top, with lots of pasture and cows surrounding it.
We visited after going to Anna Ruby Falls. It was a bit odd that the parking lot is located on top of the farm itself, so you’ll have to go down flights of steps (or a really long winding ramp), to get to the entrance/ticket building.
Children under 2 are free, and as long as there’s an adult supervising the kid, they don’t mind if the kid wants to walk around the house.
This is one of the newest historical sites in Georgia, so not many people visit yet. It’s still a hidden gem located within 10 mins from Helen.
You did wine tasting with a baby? Yeah, why not? The baby was safely in his stroller at all times, just looking around, while mom and dad enjoyed the wine tasting at Habersham Winery. We paid the extra $2 per person so we can go home with souvenir wine glasses after the wine tasting. A perfect souvenir for the trip.
With the wine tasting, you get 5 small glasses of wine to try, a lot of them are available locally. My favorite is the sparkling rose, it is quite great. If you want to take a few things home, you can buy bottles from the store.
Across the street and within walking distance from Habersham winery is a small local coffee shop, a grit shop, and even an antique store. Plenty of things to do even if you are not a fan of wine.
Located in the heart of downtown, a mountain coaster is exactly that – a roller coaster for one person which goes down the mountain. It can go very fast so they conveniently put in brakes so you can control how fast (or slow) you want to go down the mountain.
For $15 per ride, it is a bit steep. We skipped this activity since my husband already went on one in Gatlinburg, TN. I skipped that activity too since at the time, I was pregnant. This time, we had the baby in tow. We will go back when the tot is bigger so he can experience it.
A peaceful park located in the heart of downtown. Marked by a fountain/waterfall at the bottom and a gazebo at the top, there’s a few walking trails for those who want to walk around. If you’re heading to Polly’s Toys and Hofer’s Restaurant, you will pass the park. If you walked past to the windmill then you’ve gone too far!
Raven Falls was on our list, but the hike of 5 miles while carrying a 20lb baby was not exactly appealing to us so we skipped this experience.
The ranger who helped us at Anna Ruby did say that the waterfall was nice, but Anna Ruby is better. There are more facilities in the latter, and of course, more baby friendly.
Great for those who want to walk/hike in the outdoors or for those who have the stamina to hike/carry a baby.
As an ’80s kid, I was one of those who got caught up in Cabbage Patch mania in the ’90s. That was the peak of this doll craze and I wanted to have one of them.
However, the price point of the Cabbage Patch dolls made it a bit out of reach for most kids (or parents) so I never owned one. Fast forward to 2020!
Babyland General Hospital is where the Cabbage Patch Kids are born. It is housed in a unique building, which looks like a manor house from the street.
When you go in, you will see famous people on the walls – autographed photos of people who have visited or are fans of the dolls.
Any dolls or toys on display can be adopted, and every single room is unique. I could probably spend hours there, much to the annoyance of the baby boy and the husband.
I could not recommend this place enough for toy and doll collectors or just Cabbage Patch Dolls fans alike. It is also a good place to visit if looking for souvenirs for a kid!
A zoo located within 25 minutes from Helen. This was on our list of things to do but with the pandemic and our lack of time, we didn’t get to visit. It is one of the bigger zoos located in the South USA, and I believe they also do have drive-thru for those who are more cautious.
Gutted we didn’t get to visit as it seems like an ideal place to go when traveling with children.
20 minutes from Helen, Consolidated Gold Man is located in a town called Dahlonega. It is a disused gold mine, and is open for visitors to learn and see how gold was mined.
We brought our then 11 month old baby inside and he behaved perfectly. We had to carry him since the initial descent involved a lot of slippery stairs and ramps. Once in the tunnel, the paths are still slippery but can be walked easily by toddlers (with supervision).
The tunnel is cold, so bring jackets and other warm weather wear for children and the parents alike. The guide will tell a lot of history, and at one point, one part of the tunnel’s lights will be turned off so you can feel how it was like in the early days when a bulb will go off and you’re in complete darkness.
Tours leave on the hour, and your tour group is based on the ticket color they give you when you purchase. Tours are announced on the loudspeaker so one can pan for gold while waiting.
Panning for gold and other small precious gems is included in the entrance fee. Additional fees apply if you want to pan for bigger pieces of semi-precious stones.
Panning for gold was tough, and the baby wasn’t making it easy as he just wanted to walk around and explore. We had to take turns and a guide helped us out a lot with the panning.
This place has a cheaper lunch menu, so woohoo, we headed over for lunch when the baby was napping. Alas, 15 minutes into our meal, the kiddo woke up and decided to wreck havoc so we had to take turns looking after him while gobbling up our food as quickly as we can.
I ordered a bratwurst combo, while my husband ordered a schnitzel. It’s been ages since I’ve had a beer so I got a non-alcoholic beer, while my husband got
The food is pretty good, and is comparable to what we had when we were in Munich. The lunch prices are pretty good and there was plenty of seats located inside the restaurant.
Hands down my husband’s favorite place to eat in Helen. He is a bit partial as he is Slovak and loves eating Czech food. We actually ate here twice during out stay.
Favorites include the fried cheese and the schnitzel. There’s also a café that offers coffee and other sweet treats but we did not manage to try that. Mullers closes early, last call for eating in is at 5pm and anything after that will be to-go orders. Food prices can be a bit pricey but the portions are big.
One of my husband’s favorite places in Helen. Part bakery, part souvenir store, part café, one can go back again and again to go through their display of yummy desserts. It took us 3 days to finish all the things we picked up from the bakery!
The prices are decent, and the bakery has a decent sized following. Usually there would be a long line to order the baked goods, but since we arrived an hour before closing, we just had to get whatever was left available.
The souvenir store in the back of the bakery had decent German-themed items, and I found the prices were cheaper by $1-2 as compared to the other shops we browsed in.
Outdoor seating is available, but they are closer to the street so if there is traffic then it may get a little loud. The entrance to the bakery had stairs with no ramps so we had to take turns going in the bakery while the other parent was looking after the baby in the stroller by the outdoor seating area.
Since having a baby, our family likes to go to indie toy stores and see what they have. Polly’s Toys definitely has something for everyone. Their associates can recommend a toy for all ages.
We ended up getting a German costumed plush (to match with one we got from Munich) and a wooden toy tank for the baby. The prices are decent and the toys are unique.
Like Polly’s Toys, Tim’s Wooden Toys is an indie shop specializing in wooden toys. We tend to invest in wooden toys since they last longer and make for amazing keepsakes after the kid is done playing with them.
We got some wooden tops and a personalized wooden plaque that has a travel theme to hang in our house. The prices are also pretty decent, but some of the toy items are not as unique. We do like the personalized wooden signs, and would recommend getting one if you’re in the area.
Artisan glass creations abound in this shop. You can watch some of their artisans at work and end up grabbing one of their many creations in the shop.
The prices are a bit on the high end, but if you want to risk it and don’t mind which glass creation you end up with, they do have blind boxes. The blind boxes are 50-75% off the retail price, which are from previous collections and the store just wants to clear them out to make way for newer items.
We gave it a try and ended up with a Christmas ornament (in October) which our baby promptly dropped after he got his hands on it and nearly broke a few days later. It wasn’t completely ruined and we managed to salvage the ornament.
Babyland is a good shopping trip, especially for people who love dolls, collect toys, or have little ones they’re traveling with that they want to treat.
Back in the ’90s, Cabbage Patch Kids was all the rage. The problem was, I was a little kid and I could not afford these toys! Now that I’m older and have my own disposable income, I bought myself one of these dolls and went home happy.
If you do want to buy something from the store, make sure you get an exclusive doll to Babyland. These are only available from the General Hospital (or online), and would make a good souvenir from your trip up in North Georgia.
Helen is a great weekend trip for those who want to get out of the city. There’s plenty to do if you crave fresh air and the outdoors, and the distinctive small town charm is everywhere.
It could get a bit touristy, but isn’t that why we travel? To see different places? If you have not been outside the country, this is a good opportunity to try and get an Americanized sense of what Bavaria is.
You can even include this trip if you are doing a few days in Atlanta, and a few days in Athens, Ga.
Did we miss any great places on this list? If so, please feel free to list them out in the comments below. We would love to visit them the next time we go back to Helen, Ga.
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