All You Need is 24 Hours in Helen, Georgia

I was in the middle of trying to figure out where to stop on my road trip back home, and my mom came up with this town. She always has a European- inspired anything when it comes to travel. First it was Solvang in California, which is Denmark inspired. Then it was where I’m actually having my wedding at, *surprise* Quebec City in Canada; which is French inspired. And now Helen in Georgia, as a German inspired town. Honestly, my mom has a gift at this point.

As of 2021, there are about 545 population/ persons. When we came in Nov 2022, we’d ask workers where they were from… and none were natives. They were all pretty much from neighboring towns. They would say this is a town of airbnb’s and hotels, so essentially tourism. Everyone comes to pit stop here for about one to three days and enjoy the mountains in Georgia. This quaint German inspired town is a must do!

To give you a snippet of our one-day stop at Helen, we stayed at the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson. We’re also trying to gather up those hotel.com points for that 10th stay. (Disclaimer: not an ad at all, just helping you out! It’s an app in which you gather affordable one to two night stays. Your 10th one is free).

Exploring the town was first on the list! While we can’t eat all day, we wanted to do some research on the must do’s of each item we want to digest. Coffee is a must for me! I can’t survive without sugar and energy.

We walked through some shops and headed to The Mason Jar Coffee & Gelato. Based on the google review recommendations, the absolute MUST HAVE was the butter beer frappe. IT IS THE BEST COFFEE, for whatever the contents were, THAT I HAVE EVER HAD! It was like going to Harry Potter world and turning the butter beer into a coffee; like both had a baby. To the point that if you don’t want to stop in the cutie town, just do yourself a favor and stop by this coffee shop for the coffee.

We walked around the Bavarian Haus shops. Everything in the town was pretty much in the same area. You could park by the hotel we stayed at or around town. Some might require a payment to park, but they use it as a credit if you ate at their restaurant. Pretty smart if you ask me!

Why go to a German inspired town and not experience actual German foods? We headed to Hofbrauhaus Restaurant & Pub. Mostly because google told me it was pet friendly. It’s also the oldest quaint vintage restaurant across town. We had the meat and cheese platter to share with a small pretzel.

After a long day and some walking, we wanted a big, juicy burger. We mostly didn’t want to walk too far. Bigg Daddy’s Restaurant & Tavern is across the street from our hotel and they were still celebrating Oktoberfest! The menu items were the most exciting to me because I had the sweet Melissa burger, *ha! get it?* and the pint of Oktoberfest beer with my dad. They were also souvenir cups, so we brought those to take straight home and into our future house bar that we don’t have.

Im case you had an interest to other places in town, I wanted to recommend a few other places I looked at going to, but we didn’t have a chance to stop by because they were either closed or we just chose a different driving route.

• Hofer’s of Helen Bakery & Cafe (award winning cafe, closed on Thursdays)
• Bodensee Restaurant (carries German beers and wines as well as spaetzle, goulash and wursts)
• The Troll Tavern (just like the story book, Troll)
• Cowboys & Angels (Helen’s riverside steakhouse with a touch of Southern hospitality)

I hope you enjoy Helen as much as we did. It’s such a cute town and worth the stop. Even if you stayed another night, they have a few hike trails and outdoorsy activities to do. European inspired towns are just what you need to escape the normal day to day life!