Is Helen, GA worth visiting? A bavarian town in the Blue Ridge Mountains!

Waiting in line for the Georgia Mountain Coaster.

After hiking down into Tallulah Gorge we drove over to Helen, Georgia for our type 2 fun reward. Helen is a bavarian style town, much like Leavenworth, and is almost entirely designed around tourism. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing to be clear.

We started our visit with the Georgia Mountain Coaster which is where you are pulled to the top of a mountain in a sled-like contraption and then you descend the mountain on a roller coaster rail and you get to decide how fast you go! It was a bunch of fun, but I imagine in peak times the line must go forever. We were there in March which is the off-season and we still waited over an hour. If the line isn’t too long, it’s definitely worth a go!

After we’d raced down the mountain, we set off into the town to explore and of course started with coffee. We were drawn in to the Mason Jar Shoppe by the giant Adirondack chair outside that was the perfect photo opportunity. Thankfully the coffee was actually pretty good so we didn’t feel too duped. I had a blue(berry) mountain latte and Tim had an oatmeal cookie latte. We got our coffee to go and set out to walk around the town.

This was where the town sort of let us down because there really isn’t much to do except eat and drink (which makes sense for a bavarian themed town) but we' weren’t hungry and we already had coffee. There were a few gift shops that sold trinkets based on the town but there was sadly no bookstores for me to peruse. We walked up one side of the town and back down the other and then headed home.

I think the town would have much more charm at winter time if it was snow covered but in March it just felt like an overpriced tourist trap sadly.