Places to stay near attractions in Blue Ridge / Aska Adventure Area

Blue Ridge, Georgia sits in Fannin County at the southern edge of the Chattahoochee National Forest, roughly 90 miles north of Atlanta and 90 miles south of Knoxville. Founded in 1886 as a railroad town along the Marietta & North Georgia Railway, its restored 1905 depot still anchors downtown as the home of the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway — a 26-mile round-trip excursion along the Toccoa River that runs from spring wildflowers through fall color and into the Santa Express holiday season.

The Aska Adventure Area east of town packs more than 17 miles of hiking and mountain bike trails between Aska Road, Deep Gap, and Stanley Gap, with easy access to Fall Branch Falls, Long Creek Falls near the Appalachian Trail, and the mile-long Toccoa Swinging Bridge — the longest swinging bridge east of the Mississippi. Lake Blue Ridge and the tailwater Toccoa River bring boating, trout fishing, kayaking, and the popular Toccoa River float trip put in at Curtis Switch.

Downtown Blue Ridge fills a walkable four-block stretch with wine tasting rooms, the Blue Ridge Brewery, farm-to-table restaurants, mercantile shops, and galleries. It is one of North Georgia's most-searched cabin rental destinations, and travelers use it as a base for day trips to Mercier Orchards, the Ocoee River, McCaysville / Copperhill, and Ellijay's apple country.