Helen
Heritage Village · Helen, Georgia
A dying north Georgia logging town that in 1969 agreed to rebuild its shopfronts as a Bavarian alpine village, on the reasoning that it had nothing else left to try. It worked completely: Helen is now among the most visited places in the state, a few hundred metres of gingerbread facades and beer halls in a mountain valley on the Chattahoochee. It is entirely artificial and it does not pretend otherwise, and the surrounding country — Unicoi, Anna Ruby Falls, the wine trail — is the reason to stay more than an afternoon.
726 Bruckenstrasse, Helen, Georgia, 30545, United States
The village is open at all hours; shops generally run late morning to early evening with the beer halls later, and hours extend during Oktoberfest and the Christmas season. Tubing operators run in summer only. Anna Ruby Falls is in the Chattahoochee National Forest with its own gate hours and a small day-use fee. Parking throughout the village is paid and fills at weekends.