🥾 ActiveWeekend · from Atlanta, GA
Tallulah Gorge & Highlands Waterfall Country
Plunge into one of the deepest gorges east of the Rockies at Tallulah — where the Tallulah River has carved a 1,000-foot chasm through billion-year-old quartzite and a swinging suspension bridge puts you 80 feet above the river — before continuing north into the Southern Appalachians to the waterfalls cascading through the Cullasaja Gorge above Highlands, North Carolina. On day two, walk directly behind the thundering curtain of Dry Falls in the Nantahala National Forest and peer through the natural archway of Bridal Veil Falls, two of the most dramatic and accessible waterfalls in the Southeast, all framed by the staggering biodiversity of the world's northernmost temperate rainforest. The charming village of Highlands, perched at 4,118 feet atop one of the highest plateaus in the eastern United States, provides a refined mountain base with acclaimed dining, galleries, and crisp mountain air.
Day 1 — Tallulah Gorge, GADay 2 — Highlands, NC
Day 1 — Tallulah Gorge
Day 1 — Tallulah Gorge
🚗 2 hr 45 min driving📍 7 stops
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Morning
🚗
Drive
Atlanta, GA → Tallulah Gorge State Park, GA
2 hr8:00 AM → 10:00 AM
Tallulah Gorge North Rim Trail & Overlooks
★ 4.8Tallulah Gorge is a 1,000-foot deep, 2-mile long chasm carved through billion-year-old quartzite and schist by the Tallulah River — one of the deepest gorges east of the Rockies, a place so spectacular it attracted tourists by railroad as early as the 1880s. The Tallulah River was dammed in 1913 by Georgia Power, converting the legendary natural waterfall sequence into a regulated hydroelectric system, but periodic controlled releases restore the gorge's wild roar. Daredevil Karl Wallenda tightrope-walked 1,000 feet across the gorge in 1970 before an audience of 30,000 people. The North Rim Trail stretches 1.6 miles along the canyon edge, passing Hurricane Falls overlook (one of the most vertigo-inducing viewpoints in Georgia), the Jane Withers Overlook, and a vantage over the gorge's Bridal Veil Falls — all providing heart-stopping aerial views down into the rock-walled chasm below.
10:00 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
Jane Withers Suspension Bridge & Gorge Floor
A permit — limited to just 100 people per day and obtained at the park office on a first-come basis — grants access to the swinging suspension bridge that spans the gorge 80 feet above the Tallulah River, bouncing gently underfoot while the chasm yawns beneath you. From the bridge, hikers descend via metal stairs to the gorge floor, where billion-year-old Tallulah Falls schist rises in polished walls on both sides and the bouldered riverbed leads to viewpoints of both Tempesta Falls and L'Eau d'Or Falls ("water of gold"). The scramble across river boulders to reach the falls views is demanding but the close-up perspective of the gorge walls — some of the oldest exposed rock in the eastern United States — is geologically extraordinary.
11:00 AM📍 See location
🍽️ Lunch12:00 PM
LaPrades Restaurant on Lake Burton
A historic lakeside restaurant and marina on Lake Burton, LaPrades has served fishermen, campers, and mountain travelers for decades with straightforward American and Southern cooking in a relaxed waterfront atmosphere.
3 options · tap to switch
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Afternoon
South Rim Trail & Tempesta Falls Overlook
★ 5The South Rim Trail offers a contrasting perspective across the gorge from the north, with Tempesta Falls — the largest active waterfall in the gorge during controlled water releases — thundering against the far wall. The companion L'Eau d'Or Falls ("water of gold") catches afternoon light on the quartzite face. Combined with the morning's North Rim Trail, the full circuit covers 4-plus miles of rim hiking with continuously changing views into the gorge depths.
1:00 PM📍 See location
Tallulah Lake & Dam
★ 4.9The 1913 Georgia Power dam impounded the Tallulah River to create Tallulah Lake, ending the era of the gorge's legendary natural waterfalls that had drawn Victorian tourists from across the South. A lakefront viewpoint and historic Georgia Power interpretation panels explain the hydroelectric system that still controls water releases into the gorge today, providing context for the dramatic interplay between industrial infrastructure and wild landscape that defines this place.
2:00 PM📍 See location
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Evening
🚗
Drive
Tallulah Gorge State Park, GA → Highlands, NC
45 min5:00 PM → 5:45 PM
Highlands, NC — Downtown Evening Stroll
Highlands' compact downtown exudes the relaxed elegance of a mountain resort town that has attracted wealthy Lowcountry families since the 1880s — art galleries, boutique shops, wine bars, and fine dining restaurants line the few blocks of Main Street. Evening in Highlands has a quieter, more sophisticated character than most mountain tourist towns, with the Old Edwards Inn anchoring the social scene.
5:45 PM📍 See location
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Lodging in Highlands, NC
Old Edwards Inn & Spa is a luxurious historic inn in the heart of Highlands with acclaimed fine dining, a full spa, and beautifully appointed rooms — one of the finest boutique hotels in the Southern Appalachians. Mountain High Lodge and several charming B&Bs and inns throughout the town provide alternatives at various price points.
Day 2 — Highlands, NC — Waterfall Loop
Day 2 — Highlands, NC — Waterfall Loop
🚗 2 hr 35 min driving📍 5 stops
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Morning
🚗
Drive
Highlands, NC lodging → Dry Falls, Nantahala National Forest
5 min8:00 AM → 8:05 AM
Dry Falls — Nantahala National Forest
★ 4.9Dry Falls on the Cullasaja River in the Nantahala National Forest is a 75-foot waterfall where the water sheet arcs dramatically outward over a carved rock alcove, allowing visitors to walk on a paved path directly behind the curtain of falling water without getting wet — hence the name "Dry" Falls. The experience of standing in the rock cavity while thousands of gallons per minute plunge past the opening just feet away is one of the most visceral waterfall encounters in the eastern United States. The Cullasaja River plunges through one of the most dramatic and narrow gorges in the Southern Appalachians between Highlands and Franklin, NC — US-64 through the Cullasaja Gorge is cut into sheer cliff walls with minimal guardrails providing terrifying and beautiful views for 10 miles, making the drive itself one of the great scenic corridors of the Southeast.
8:05 AM📍 See location
Bridal Veil Falls — Drive-Behind Waterfall
★ 4.7Bridal Veil Falls on US-64 is a 120-foot waterfall that formerly allowed visitors to drive their cars behind the falls through a natural tunnel carved by the water — one of the most famous roadside attractions in the Appalachians. The vehicle drive-through has been closed for safety but a pedestrian path still allows walking directly behind the falls through a natural archway. The falls create a dramatic natural curtain framing the valley below, with the paved Old US-64 loop road still intact as a walking path.
9:05 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
🍽️ Lunch10:05 AM
Madison's Restaurant at Old Edwards Inn
Madison's is the acclaimed fine dining flagship of the Old Edwards Inn, serving New American cuisine that showcases regional ingredients with sophisticated technique — one of the most consistently praised restaurants in Western North Carolina.
3 options · tap to switch
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Afternoon
Lake Sequoyah, Highlands
Lake Sequoyah sits at the edge of the Highlands Plateau, formed by a small dam on the Cullasaja River, with a pleasant walking path circling the lake and mountain views on all sides. The Highlands area occupies a 4,118-foot plateau — the highest incorporated town in the eastern United States — producing a remarkably cool and temperate climate that draws over 80 inches of annual rainfall and supports one of the richest temperate plant communities in the world. This extraordinary biodiversity, rivaling the species diversity of tropical rainforests in some taxonomic groups, is what attracted botanists and naturalists to Highlands beginning in the late 19th century and continues to make the surrounding Nantahala National Forest a globally significant ecological region.
12:00 PM📍 See location
Highlands Nature Center & Botanical Garden
★ 4.7The Highlands Biological Station's Nature Center and Botanical Garden is a non-profit research and education facility on the Highlands Plateau, with native plant collections, interpretive hiking trails, and environmental education exhibits focused on the surrounding temperate rainforest ecosystem. The botanical garden showcases the extraordinary native flora of the Southern Appalachians, including species found nowhere else on Earth, in a setting adjacent to old-growth hemlock and hardwood forest.
1:00 PM📍 See location
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Evening
🚗
Drive
Highlands, NC → Atlanta, GA
2 hr 30 min5:00 PM → 7:30 PM
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