Ryan just loves all things German, so when I heard about Helen, Georgia I knew we had to go! Helen is a little town that sits North East of Atlanta that is themed like a Bavarian town. We decided to make our trip into a full weekend getaway and see a few towns outside of Atlanta.
We chose to go for Oktoberfest in September, and it was so fun! The town is a little touristy, but it’s cute to spend the day (I wouldn’t plan to spend more than a day as it’s small).
We went to Helen on a Saturday morning and spent the day in town. We started by walking around town, doing the mountain coaster (so much fun, although slightly terrifying!) and exploring the shops. We had lunch overlooking the Chattooga River at Cafe International, and decided we needed to “shoot the hooch” ourselves! We chose Cool River Tubing, which was cheap and very convenient- they pick you up and drop you off right on the river.
An afternoon floating on the river was a great way to spend a hot September day- it was so relaxing. Be prepared to paddle a bit if the water is low, though. We had to jump out of our tubes to get over rocks a few times. The tubing place offered a push stick to buy, but I’m glad I didn’t have something to carry and walking around the rocks was pretty easy.
In the afternoon, we went to the Habersham Vineyards and Winery and tried their frozen wine. It was so good, and we got to keep our glasses which was a fun souvenir. We went back into town Saturday night, and actually skipped the Oktoberfest festivities! But, we finished our day in Helen with a wonderful German dinner in town at the Old Bavaria Inn- their sauerbraten was amazing! Then, we walked around and got ice cream- it was the perfect summer night.
We finished our weekend in Ellijay, which is the apple capital of Georgia. We went to Hillcrest Orchards, which is famous for their goats, which you can pet. There are a lot of orchards around, but once I heard about the goats, I was sold. We picked a bushel of apples, and got frozen apple cider and apple cider donuts (my favorite!). Then, we went to the animal section- they have baby chicks that you can hold, goats, and cows. It was so fun!
7 thoughts on “Oktoberfest and Apple Picking”