Day Trip to Helen and Anna Ruby Falls — Roaming with the Robertsons

In front of The Heidelberg restaurant in the town of Helen, Georgia.

Would you believe me if I told you that you don’t have to travel all the way to Germany to experience a (relatively) authentic Bavarian town? For anyone living in the United States (especially those living in the southeastern states), the Alpine town of Helen, GA serves as an awesome domestic destination for a unique experience. And Helen can also be a cool day trip for those visiting Atlanta. Right outside of Helen is a state park that includes two gorgeous waterfalls. This blog will share everything you need to know about planning your trip to Helen (even when it’s Oktoberfest), so read on!

The Chattahoochee River that runs through the center of Helen. Visitors enjoy the view while dining.

Helen and Anna Ruby Falls: The Basics

Helen is a lovely and quaint town located in northeastern Georgia mountains. Without major traffic, it’s just a two hour drive from Atlanta (an hour and a half if you like to speed). Helen is known for its Bavarian German architecture and culture, but Helen offers so much more than just that. There are activities to do in Helen year-round. In the spring and summer, visitors flock to Helen to river tube and raft, camp in the nearby parks, and have fun in the numerous attractions the town offers, such as mini-golf and the Georgia Mountain Coaster. Anna Ruby Falls actually consists of a pair of waterfalls located in Unicoi State Park (which also offers a load of activities), which is just a 10 minute drive from Helen. Overall, Helen is family-friendly and offers an adventurous day filled with activities, food, and drink. I think it’s a welcome change of scenery from urban sprawl of Atlanta, if I do say so myself.

The location of Helen positioned in the general Southeastern United States.

A Brief History of Helen

Contrary to what you might believe, Helen was not found by Germans who immigrated to the U.S. Helen is a small town with a history similar to many other American towns. A quick summary of its history:

1800s: Area inhabited by people of the Cherokee Nation. European settlers came to the area and worked with the Cherokees to build roads and other infrastructure. A gold rush hit town and brought many more settlers to the area.
Early-Mid 1900s: Helen transitioned into a logging town. Logging was was its main economy until the 50’s and 60’s, when the demand for lumber declined and lead to the overall decline of the town.
1968: City Council leaders met and came up with a plan to revitalize Helen as a tourist town by redesigning everything into a Bavarian theme. The plan worked, and Helen has been the 3rd most-visited town in GA (after Atlanta and Savannah) since the 70s.
Click here for a more detailed history.

Our Day Trip Itinerary

I visited Helen with Abraham and his brother on October 15th to celebrate Oktoberfest. Interestingly enough, Helen organizes programming for Oktoberfest from September-November, so if you’re unable to make it in October, don’t fret! Anyways, Helen carries a festive spirit no matter the time of year. For information on Helen’s programs throughout the year, click here.

Once we arrived in Helen, we parked our car at the public lot at the end of Edelweiss Strasse. There’s no free parking in Helen, but the public lot we used only charged a $5 fee for the entire day! The machine accepts cards and it’s one of the ones where you enter your license plate number; leaving the receipt on the dashboard isn’t necessary.

The red marker is where the parking lot is located. You can’t miss it!

It was my husband’s and brother-in-law’s first time in Helen, so I wanted to start off the day by walking around Helen so they can take in the sights and sounds (I’ve been to Helen a few times before with family and friends). The main strip is S Main Street, and this is where you should start your day. Walk along the strip and appreciate the Bavarian architecture (and don’t forge to take photos). There are a number of side streets that branch off of S Main Street and it’s worth walking down those to see what you can discover. But just so you know, Helen is pretty tiny. One can walk around the entire thing in less than 20 minutes.

After arriving on the main street, we sat on some beaches at a small outdoor theater to watch a man perform German songs on an accordion. Gotta get in the Oktoberfest spirit, right? Next to the theater is public restrooms, so I made a stop there while Abraham and Jhaldir continued to watch the performer (isn’t it nice when public restrooms are available? More tourist towns should offer them). Afterwards, we decided to walk down a side street and came across a lovely crystal shop (which I’m a huge sucker for) called Wildewood. My eyes were set on a number of huge pieces of citrine and amethyst, but they were too expensive. For a tourist town, I was surprised at how nice the selection of items were. They also offered clothing, souvenirs, household goods, (really pretty) wind chimes, and other goods.

Now we were ready for some food. There are loads of different restaurants in Helen serving different cuisines — some of the ones I saw include pizza, Thai, and Indian. But we came for Oktoberfest, so we had to have German food, of course, and that’s one thing Helen does not lack.

The most picturesque German restaurant is located right on the main strip and is called The Heidelberg (fun fact: that city is where my sister attended law school in Germany). We tried going here first, but the wait was 90 minutes and they don’t have the technology to give you a buzzer or send a text when the table was ready. We decided to try somewhere else where the wait was shorter (and in retrospect, The Heidelberg didn’t have plant-based entrees so I would have had to eat sides). Right outside of The Heidelberg is the King Ludwig Biergarten, an open-air restaurant where long wooden tables are set under tents. Instead of being waited on, you just go to the counter to order your food and drink and find a spot at one of the tables. This setup is way more authentically Oktoberfest and we saved a bunch of time. What’s even better is that this restaurant offers a number of vegan options, including a vegan sausage! It turned out to be a great decision. I had the vegan sausage meal and a pretzel (I love German pretzels and devour a ton whenever I visit Germany), Abraham had a Ruben sandwich, and Jhaldir ordered a classic wurst. They had a number of beers on tap and we enjoyed the most delicious grapefruit beer.

After that delightful lunch, we decided to grab some dessert. Helen has a number of those candy-making shops (which I love because I love sweets, to my chagrin). We stopped at what’s arguably the most popular one, Hansel & Gretel Candy Kitchen. I love fudge, pralines, candy apples, and chocolate covered Oreos. I ended up buying a couple Oreos and pralines. Abraham and Jhaldir wanted icecream, so we went a couple stores down to Mountain Delights, which serves 36 flavors of ice cream along with other snacks. Afterwards, we walked down the rest of the strip and went into a couple of stores. The first was a comic/pop culture store called Jester’s Magic Dragon. They offered a ton of cool novelty items for folks into anime, Marvel, DC, Harry Potter, and others. I personally loved the store and walked out with a Naruto Shippuden laptop sleeve, a Naruto keychain, and an Avatar the Last Airbender tote. The place was a dream. The coolest part is the display in the back where they sell a ton of swords (like, knight -in-shining armor swords), as well as the temporary tattoos that they offer. Our next stop was The Helen Hat Company, which sells every hat you can imagine (including top hats) and is a fun place to walk around and try on hats.

Goodies on display at Hansel & Gretel Candy Kitchen.

By that time, there wasn’t much else to see or do in Helen. We walked back to the car in the other direction in order to see every bit of Helen. The nice atmosphere was enough. We went to the Festhalle to see if there were any events taking place, but the building was closed (my dad went to Helen with his wife later that month and I saw him in the Festhalle; I suppose it opened later in the day).

Our last stop was Anna Ruby Falls, located just a 10 minute drive away from Helen. GPS can be used, but since strong service is scant in this area, we just followed the many signs navigating us to Unicoi State Park. At the park entrance, a gate attendance asks if you’re heading to Anna Ruby Falls or elsewhere. This is because entering the park is free, but seeing the waterfall comes with a fee. We told the attendant that we were heading to the waterfall and she pointed us in the right direction. About 6 minutes later, we arrived at a second gate where we paid a $5 fee per person (15 years and under are free). There is ample parking and a visitor center that includes large bathrooms, water fountains, and vending machines. The signs point you to the direction of the trail, which is just an easy 0.5 miles to the waterfall (1 mile roundtrip). There is a little bit of elevation going up, but nothing that a child or older person can’t do. The biggest thing to be mindful of is parts where the trail is slippery from the water.

Once you make it to the waterfall, there are two different sizable lookout spots. They include benches where visitors can sit to take in the view and reflect. I’ve been to some impressive waterfalls around the world, and Anna Ruby falls (at 154 feet) does not underwhelm! It truly is a beautiful sight to see.

After that, we geared up for the two hour drive to Atlanta. We ended the day getting dinner at Twin Peaks in Buckhead — the veggie burger with avocado was delightful.

I hope you found this blog helpful! Let me know if you have any questions while you plan your trip, or if you’ve already been to Helen and have other suggestions to offer. And of course, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel!