Atlanta is a big, busy city but, with a bit of forward planning, driving in and around it can be straightforward. Don’t forget that you’ll be driving on the right-hand side of the road throughout America, and therefore overtaking on the left. Beyond that, many of the main driving rules and restrictions are familiar – mobile phone use while driving is illegal, and everyone must wear seatbelts at all times.

Speed limits vary by the type of road, with the highest speeds – 70mph – on rural interstate highways. These often dip when going through urban areas, usually to 65mph and below. In the city, the limit is largely 35mph, although this drops further in downtown – just follow the signs to be on the safe side.

The city is divided by some major interstate roads, the ideal way to navigate your way around. The I-85 runs from the south through downtown and midtown before heading north-east through Georgia. The I-20 bisects it in the heart of the town, running from west to east. Follow any of these far enough and you’ll soon be crossing state lines, perfect for a road trip. In many ways, the I-285 acts as a ring road encircling the city for nearly 64 miles – ‘The Perimeter’, as the locals know it, can get very busy in rush hour.

Both midtown and downtown have a largely grid-based road system, which makes finding where you’re going relatively simple, the city divided into clear blocks. Like many major cities, there can be heavy traffic at peak times, so it’s best to travel the major arteries outside of commuting hours.

In Atlanta, there are so many different facets of American life to explore and discover that it can be hard to know where to start. It’s a place where you can learn about the world’s most popular carbonated drink in the morning and mosey around the Olympic Park in the afternoon.

The civil rights trail

One of the city’s most famous sons, Martin Luther King Jr. is synonymous with Atlanta and his life is honoured in numerous ways. On Auburn Avenue, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site has a visitor centre which will provide you with a map to the local area and the sites to look out for. Elsewhere, the New Ebenezer Baptist Church is where King Jr. and his father both preached, and you can also arrange – via the Visitor Centre – to take a guided tour of his birthplace and the house he grew up in.

Olympic legacy

Atlanta hosted the Olympic Games in 1996 and the Centennial Olympic Park was built as part of it. It retains a key place in the city’s life, both as a meeting and mingling place – it’s packed with grassy zones and fountains – but also as a cultural hub. It’s a great place to stay, with grand hotels boasting commanding views but you can also check out the superb Center for Civil & Human Rights. There’s even more here, with the brilliant Georgia Aquarium (once the world’s largest and still truly impressive) and World of Coca-Cola close by.  The latter is an interactive museum which does a good job of adding mystique to a soft drink.

Gone with the Wind

Fans of the Margaret Mitchell novel – and the arguably much more famous film it spawned – can visit her home in Atlanta. In reality, she was Peggy Marsh and something of a character – something the museum here doesn’t shy away from. She only had an apartment in the building, but the others have been opened up to include photographs and a guided tour. There are other linked locations all across the city, from the Gone with the Wind museum to her grave in Oakland cemetery. The Georgian Terrace Hotel – where you can stay – is where the stars of the film slept when in town for the premiere, and its also where she handed over the novel’s manuscript.

This is just scraping the surface of all there is to see and do in Atlanta. Don’t hesitate to find out more about the peerless music scene here or the city’s countless restaurants serving up local cuisine. And with car hire in Atlanta you can cram in as much of the city as possible before you leave.