The Visitor Centre today is ... World of Coca-Cola
- JULIE WHITE
- May 8, 2025
- 22 min read
Updated: May 8
From secret formulas to global flavours, the World of Coca-Cola takes you on a journey through bubbles, branding, and American Pop Culture.
When I think of Coca-Cola, I am instantly transported back to the late 1970s. Not to the dreary, rain-soaked England of my childhood, but to the sun-drenched coast of Spain. For a kid on holiday, there was nothing quite as glamorous or refreshing as being handed an icy, condensation-covered glass bottle of Coke, with a thick slice of lemon wedged firmly into the neck. It felt exotic. It felt grown-up. And, no matter how hard we tried, it simply never tasted quite as good when we got back home.
Back in England, our soft drinks came from the Corona and Alpine popman, a van that would rumble round our housing estate, dispensing bottles of orangeade, limeade, cola, and, of course, the great Dandelion and Burdock, to anyone with the right change in their pocket. It was perfectly fine. But it was not Coca-Cola in Spain. Years later, in a nightclub, one bloke's opening chat up line to me was that he worked in the pop industry. I thought: Simon Cowell, or his 1980s equivalent. No. Alpine van driver.
The empty bottles, mind you, were a different matter entirely. You took those back to the corner shop and got a penny a piece for them. A better form of recycling than anything we have managed to come up with since, if you ask me.
Somewhere around the age of seventeen, fizzy drinks and I quietly parted ways. My gut hates bubbles. Which makes me, perhaps, a slightly unlikely person to be standing in the middle of Atlanta, surrounded by giant illuminated Coke bottles, writing a guide to the world's most famous fizzy drink. And yet, there I was.
On 8 May 1886, a pharmacist named Dr John Pemberton served the very first glass of Coca-Cola at Jacobs' Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia. What began as a simple syrup mixed with carbonated water has since blossomed into one of the most recognisable products ever created, consumed an astonishing 1.9 billion times a day in more than 200 countries. Even the mere silhouette of the bottle is instantly recognisable. That alone probably justifies a museum.
But head, as we did, to the balmy, bustling streets of Atlanta, and you will find that the World of Coca-Cola is not really a museum in the traditional sense. It is something altogether more American than that. Bigger. Shinier. Delightfully theatrical. Less interested in quiet reflection and far more invested in the art of storytelling.
And, strangely enough, part of that story begins right here in Britain. Yes, Cola fans, you owe us big time. I will tell you exactly how, and why, shortly. But, suffice to say, that once we were inside, it felt slightly surreal to discover just how far back the origins of this drink can actually be traced, and how close to home they really are.
How America got addicted to fizz
The story of Coca-Cola, it turns out, does not just begin in Atlanta. It kind of begins above a brewery in Leeds, England.
Back in the 1760s, a remarkable circle of inventors, industrialists, and scientific thinkers, known as the Lunar Society, were quietly reshaping the world. Despite sounding like something plucked straight from a Harry Potter book, these were very real men with very big ideas, among them Josiah Wedgwood (founder of the famous ceramics firm I have written about), James Watt, and one Joseph Priestley. They genuinely believed that manufacturing and design could transform everyday life. As it turned out, they were right.
Priestley became utterly fascinated by the strange gases rising from fermenting beer vats. Curious to see what would happen, he began experimenting with infusing water with the gas. The result was given the rather un-catchy name of "impregnated water." You and I know it simply as - soda water.
He shared his discovery with his good friend Benjamin Franklin. (Americans, you might just have heard of him?) Priestley and Franklin shared a deep fascination with electricity and experimentation, and their friendship is often celebrated as one of the great transatlantic intellectual bonds of the Enlightenment. Franklin was instantly intrigued by the health and refreshment potential of this sparkling water, and eagerly spread the word back home.
By the time the 19th century rolled around, soda water was no longer a scientific curiosity, it was a format. A base liquid just waiting to be flavoured, mixed, and sold. And, in the hands of some rather enterprising Americans, it sparked the beginning of a full-blown soda fountain revolution, laying the perfect groundwork for what would eventually become Coca-Cola.
So yes, Cola fans. You really do owe us.
Brand history
In 1886, just steps from where the World of Coca-Cola stands today, a local pharmacist named Dr John Stith Pemberton quietly served up something new.
His fizzy drink, created in a small lab at the Pemberton Chemical Company and sold at Jacobs' Pharmacy, was blended fresh at the soda fountain and priced at just five cents a glass. Not bad for something that would go on to conquer the world.
Like so many tonic-style drinks of the time, Coca-Cola was not originally poured for pleasure, it was sold as a medicine, marketed as a sort of wonder-cure for just about anything that ailed you, from headaches and indigestion to a general lack of energy. Its ingredients perfectly reflected the rather bold health trends of the era: coca leaves, which famously contained trace amounts of cocaine, and kola nuts, a robust natural source of caffeine. This intriguing combination created a mildly stimulating effect and a flavour quite unlike anything else on the market.
Don't worry, that original hint of cocaine is long gone. Today, Coca-Cola's unique taste is based on a closely guarded recipe known as "Merchandise 7X," and you do actually get to see it at the World of Coca-Cola. (Well, the vault it's kept in, at least. More on that shortly.)
Coca-Cola was not alone on the soda scene in those early days, sharing the market with other soon-to-be household names like 7UP, Dr Pepper, and Pepsi. Dr Pepper actually predates Coca-Cola by a year, first appearing in 1885 in Waco, Texas, and if you ever find yourself there, the Dr Pepper Museum is a great day out (guide coming soon).
In 1892, entrepreneur Asa Candler formally incorporated the Coca-Cola Company, securing the rights to the formula and launching a brand that would go on to dominate the beverage industry for more than a century.
He was a marketing man at heart, plastering the logo onto trays, clocks, cups, anything he thought would keep the brand front of mind. It worked rather well.
By the early 20th century, Coca-Cola had become far more than a popular refreshment. It was a symbol of American innovation. The now-iconic contour glass bottle arrived in 1915, designed to be so distinctive it could be recognised in the dark, or even broken on the ground. That is a design brief I rather admire.
Today, the Coca-Cola Company owns more than 400 beverage brands: Fanta, Sprite, Schweppes, Dasani, Minute Maid, and sells its products in over 200 countries. With a reported market value of $300B+, its reach is truly global, but Atlanta remains its home, in both spirit and in fact, with the corporate headquarters and visitor centre still based in the city where it all began.
Visiting the World of Coca-Cola: What to Expect
The old World of Coca-Cola
The brand's original 45,000-square-foot brand home, World of Coca-Cola, opened in 1991 in downtown Atlanta, adjacent to the Underground Atlanta shopping and entertainment district, near the Five Points MARTA underground station.
With over a million pieces of Coca-Cola memorabilia and exhibits tracing the brand’s rise to fame, plus a tasting room offering samples of Coca-Cola drinks from around the world, the original World of Coca-Cola quickly became one of Atlanta’s most beloved attractions. It was welcoming around one million visitors a year in the 1990s, more than double what the brand had anticipated, and claimed the title of Atlanta’s most visited indoor attraction. Roughly 60% of visitors were tourists, with the rest coming from the Atlanta area, many of them repeat visitors or convention-goers.
In 2007, the original building closed its doors. Coca-Cola had decided to reimagine the experience. They wanted a more modern and interactive facility, a space that could better handle the crowds and reflect the evolution of the brand.
Whispers of an upgrade had been circulating since at least 2001, as Atlanta’s booming convention scene continued to grow. The long queues to enter had become a sticking point for visitors attending events at the nearby Georgia World Congress Center, one of the largest convention centres in the USA. Atlanta’s central location, expansive transport links, and deep ties to Coca-Cola made it the obvious home base for the new visitor centre and the brand’s global HQ, so a big move wasn't on the cards. It must have been quite the thing in its day.
The new World of Coca-Cola
Construction of the new $97 million visitor experience started in 2005. With 60,000 sq. ft. of public space, the all new World of Coca-Cola is triple the size of the old facility and was integral to an ambitious plan to rejuvenate downtown Atlanta. The company had amassed over 20 acres of land and contributed portions of this to a National Centre for Civil and Human Rights (opened in 2014) and the Georgia Aquarium (opened 2005).
Designed by architecture firm Jerde, the new World of Coca-Cola experience opened in May 2007, and was predicted to draw in about 1.2 million visitors in its first year. It featured 3 theatres, a bottling line and a tasting room with 70 product dispensers. At night, the building's signature feature really comes into its own: a 27-foot-tall fibreglass replica of a Coca-Cola bottle illuminates a 90-foot tower of tempered, laminated glass, designed to look like a giant block of ice. It is bold, unabashed branding on a monumental scale, and frankly, it works.
Architectural plans were well underway by the time exhibit designers Jack Rouse Associates (now part of RWS Global) came on board. I've visited their work at the Louisville Slugger Museum, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, Kodak, and the Jack Daniel's distillery tour plus many more, so I know how good they are at delivering a brand story.
Although some of the areas seem similar to the original, apparently only 60 artefacts in the new museum were brought over from the old building, and more than 1,100 Coke-related items were exhibited for the first time.
Over the years, and especially recently, exhibits and galleries have been refreshed, to stop the experience from becoming stale. I'll tell you about some of the changes as we go.
Entrance
Queues were blissfully short when we arrived, just as the doors opened at 10 am on a hot July morning in Atlanta. With our tickets booked online, entry was seamless. A quick scan of the QR code on our phones, and we were in, ready to explore.
We were corralled into a foyer by a host in red sequins who gave it everything, delivering full showman energy. Think Disney greeter meets cruise ship entertainer, and you’re close. He set the tone early: bold, theatrical, and unapologetically fun. It is also worth noting that many of the hosts speak numerous languages, which makes international visitors feel genuinely at home from the off.
Before moving on, we paused to take in a colourful display of commemorative giant bottles.
The Loft
The Loft is the kind of room you want to linger in. Nearly 200 artefacts spanning more than 135 years of Coca-Cola history, pulled from over 30 countries: France, Korea, Zimbabwe and everywhere in between.
There is an original 1896 syrup urn, vintage branded merchandise, and some of the brand's most memorable adverts. I would happily have spent twice as long in here.
We're told that Coca-Cola was the first to invent the coupon and the six-pack, which are on show.
Moments of Happiness
Time for the obligatory brand video. Take your seats in the Coca-Cola Theatre for the 6-minute introductory film, 'Moments of Happiness.' It premiered back in 2014, so how does it hold up over ten years later? It is something we cannot obviously record, but a trailer is available on YouTube if you want to see some of it.
Blimey, that was strangely powerful, even bringing tears to the eyes of many, including us. Whether it was sentimentality or simply the moment, a staff member confirmed it touches countless visitors in the same way. Created by BRC Imagination Arts, the film offers a joyful opening, celebrates diverse cultures and life’s milestones, and pulls deeply at the heartstrings. And the finale, the Theatre screen swings open onto the striking Grand Foyer, and you're free to explore at your leisure.
Milestones of Refreshment
Much of Pemberton's story you will already know from the brand history above, but this gallery brings it to life in a way that no amount of reading quite manages.
The recreation of the pharmacy soda fountain is genuinely charming. There is something rather lovely about standing in front of it and imagining that first five-cent glass being handed across the counter.
The logo origin story is one of the highlights. Pemberton's bookkeeper and business partner, Frank M. Robinson, chose the name for the drink, inspired by its two key ingredients, coca and kola, and simply liked the way two C's looked side by side. He then invented the now world-famous script, written in elegant Spencerian hand.
Visitors can have a go at recreating it themselves on touchscreen displays. I will tell you now, it is considerably harder than it looks.
From there, the gallery opens up into a broader sweep of the brand's commercial history.
History buffs could easily spend an hour in here alone, working through vintage delivery trucks, historic packaging, and dispensers spanning decades. There is even a Coke dispenser that flew into space on the Discovery shuttle, which is exactly the kind of detail that stops you in your tracks.
And for anyone with an eye for typography, and I absolutely do, the vintage typefaces on display are a quiet delight.
Coca-Cola and the Olympic Games have been inseparable since 1928, making theirs the longest-running sponsorship in Olympic history. The gallery gives it proper space, including a display of Olympic torches, among them, several from the 1996 Atlanta Games, which feels especially fitting given where you are standing.
The Vault
In 2011 an exhibit called Vault of the Secret Formula opened. The Vault is exactly as dramatic as it sounds. And yes, this is the real thing.
Before you get to the vault, the gallery entertains with plenty of fascinating historic information and interactive exhibits and you can even try your hand at mixing the formula for yourself using the virtual Taste Makers.
There's even a display on Myths and Legends surrounding the secret formula. Because of all the interaction, a queue formed, but it was managed well.
After all that game playing, it's time to enter...the Vault, or at least look at it. The Coca-Cola formula passed from Pemberton to Candler, then to Ernest Woodruff and a group of investors. It was not committed to paper until 1919, when it served as collateral for the loan Woodruff and his colleagues secured to purchase the company. The formula stayed locked in a vault at Guaranty Bank in New York until the loan was repaid in 1925, after which it was moved to the Trust Company Bank, now known as SunTrust.
And the actual vault, all lit up with red neon, looks like something straight out of a movie, complete with a palm scanner, a numerical keypad, and a massive steel door.
Inside the vault’s walls is another safe box, equipped with even more security features. Within that lies a metal case holding what the company calls “the most guarded trade secret in the world," the piece of paper containing, according to Coca-Cola, the original recipe.
Search for the Secret Formula in 3D
Next up for us was an eight-minute 3D film about the secret formula. I have to admit, I’m not great with 3D films, the glasses never seem to work for me, and sometimes the visuals make me a bit queasy.
No photos or recordings were allowed, and the film was an odd mix of over-the-top children’s TV-style acting and heavy-handed brand shots of Coca-Cola being delivered around the world. Watching a scene where Coke bottles floated down what looked like the Amazon River, you can’t help but question the ethics behind it. Did the indigenous people really need fizzy drinks? And what about the environmental and health impacts?
This felt like a missed chance for the brand to push its sustainability efforts. Instead of marketing fluff, it could have shown what they’re actually doing to go greener, reducing sugar, recycling bottles, and so on. That would have been far more interesting. There are plenty of reviews online that agreed and there's no mention of it on the website for the attraction now, so hopefully this is another area that has had a refresh.
Bottle works
What you cannot miss is the ribbon of coca-cola bottles that often appears above your head, rattling past you, filling the air with clinking glass sounds and the whirr of machinery. This is part of Bottle works, a scaled-down, working production line exhibit that also includes displays on how Coca-Cola is bottled throughout the world. I discovered, during my research, that this mini bottling plant used to produce commemorative 8-ounce bottles of Coca-Cola Classic. A robotic delivery system sent the bottles to the "Taste It!" exhibit, where guests would retrieve them as they exited the museum. During an average visit to the World of Coca-Cola, Bottle Works would fill 2,400 bottles. That would have been a fun added extra and a great souvenir. Pity this isn't still offered.
Scent Discovery - Put your nose to the test
Scent Discovery opened in September 2020 and is an immersive area for guests to explore the connection between smell, taste and memory. It has recently been reimagined, thankfully, as this area was a major letdown when we visited.
We arrived with high expectations, as we've enjoyed scent and flavour interactive exhibits all over the world, mainly at the visitor experiences of drinks and perfume brands. However, most of the scent dispensers had little to no smell, or were broken, and the host in the room looked completely bored and didn't interact with anyone.
I was excited to learn that in December 2023, the redesigned Scent Discovery opened, so we only just missed it. The redesigned space looks far more promising than what we encountered, and the ambition behind it is clear.
"World of Coca-Cola's Scent Discovery offers guests the opportunity to experience the attraction — and the world — in an entirely new way..." — Michelle Moorehead, VP Global Licensing, Retail and Attractions, The Coca-Cola Company.
You start in the Scentscapes room, where you are encouraged, through a game designed by Scholar, to identify each aroma correctly as you travel through the seasons. There's a lot of watching screens and furiously pressing buttons, and, as you do, glowing landscapes bloom to life, drawing playful connections between memory, place, and flavour.
Then you move into the Scent Library, where you explore the 5 scent categories: citrus, fruity, floral, woody, and spicy. You smell, then rotate the displays, to learn about the aroma profiles of Coca-Cola drinks from around the world.
Beverage Lab
The new Beverage Lab area was designed by Studio Cassells and Solomon Group, and opened in December 2023. Hailed as 'the most immersive exhibit yet', it's designed to highlight the imagination and invention that goes into each drink in the brand's portfolio.
It's a sleek, hands-on experience designed to encourage interaction and curiosity.
The lab features cutting-edge AV displays, glass vessels, and, for those, like me, who appreciate a good bit of visitor centre joinery, a standout wooden slat wall made from over four miles of timber.
Guests can even taste something too, as they try their hand at "carbonating" their own soda, with the interactive Carbonation Station, where bubbles respond to gesture-controlled movement. Sounds fun!
You can even sample iconic drinks, along with discontinued versions, including the famously divisive New Coke, launched in 1985 to public outcry, and Tab, the pink pioneer that holds the title as Coca-Cola’s first diet beverage. There are also a few mysterious offerings, still in development, giving a rare glimpse into the company’s future flavour thinking. That’s product development front and centre. Who needs a taste panel when you’ve got curious visitors on tap? This new lab exhibition also signals a clear shift towards a more refined, luxurious aesthetic within the World of Coca-Cola. It’s quite the repositioning.
“World of Coca-Cola’s Scent Discovery offers guests the opportunity to experience the attraction – and the world – in an entirely new way, to create new scent-based memories, while infusing fresh insight into existing memories and emotions.” (Michelle Moorehead, Vice President, Global Licensing, Retail and Attractions for The Coca-Cola Company.)
Icons
This new area wasn't in operation when I visited either, but looks like a combination of the old Pop Culture gallery, with an added Polar Bear meet and greet opportunity. Now I'm a sucker for a selfie with a brand character, being a big kid after all, so I would have queued up for this for sure.
Coca-Cola’s polar bear first appeared in a 1922 French ad but became a global icon in 1993 with the Northern Lights commercial, where animated bears sipped Coke under the aurora. Warm, playful, and instantly recognisable, the bear embodies the brand’s themes of joy and togetherness, making it a winter marketing staple and a star attraction at the World of Coca-Cola.
The previous Pop Culture gallery was extremely busy when we visited and we missed out on many of the interactive exhibits, as they were being monopolised by younger visitors. They were less interested in the nostalgia hit and more concerned with getting in their gaming fix.
A standout moment though was the section devoted to the 1931 artwork that defined Coca-Cola’s Christmas campaigns. Created by Swedish artist Haddon Sundblom, it shows Santa in red and white, mirroring the brand’s colours.
While many believe Coca-Cola invented this look, the truth is Sundblom drew on historic depictions of St Nicholas from around the world. His warm, jovial Santa graced the company’s holiday ads for three decades, embedding itself in festive tradition.
I even have a Santa Bauble that graces my tree featuring one of Sundblom's designs.
Luckily these artworks remain on show in the reimagined Icons gallery, designed by Entro, alongside the original museum entrance sign, iconic Contour bottle, and famous taglines used throughout the years.
I'll have to pay a return visit to check this out.
Taste It
Certainly the busiest part of the visitor centre, Taste It is where you get to sample the brand's products from all over the world, as bottles of Coke rattle above your head in a nod to the bottling line.
What to choose? Each station is different and arranged by continent. Fanta Melon Frosty from Thailand? Perhaps Vegibeta from Japan? Or Krest Ginger Ale from Mozambique? It's all self-service, so you can take as much, or as little, as you like.
We certainly found flavours that were unexpected and some that we wish we could get back home. Some were much less sweet and it shows how people in different parts of the world have a different palate. A QR code on the stations gives you a link to more information.
The cups are fully recyclable and made with PlantBottle Technology™. Enjoy the taste, skip the waste was signposted on each station. It was a hit!
The store
Want anything, literally anything, branded with Coca-Cola? This is the place for you.
Coke golf balls, Coke oven mitts, Coke handbags, coke dog treats, coke hair clips, you can get absolutely everything.
I will not tell you everything I bought. Suffice to say the bag was heavier leaving than arriving.
Outside - grab that selfie
The bottle cap selfie station outside is simple, fun, and absolutely mobbed. We joined the queue without a second thought. No shame whatsoever. You won't see me in the picture below though, as I was photo bombed by a group of school children on a field trip. Kids will be kids!
Coca-Cola Stories - brand new
And since updating our guide a few months ago, World of Coca-Cola have added the Stories gallery, which takes some of the content from the original Milestones of Refreshment gallery and puts a whole new spin on it.
A blend of street scenes and playful interaction, this area looks great. The 1939 delivery truck I enjoyed sits beside interactive mirrors, magic billboards, and soda fountain servers, all designed to deepen understanding of the brand’s history. Well done.
Other Coca-Cola brand locations
In true Vegas fashion, Coca-Cola went big, opening a flashy, four-storey visitor experience on the Strip in the late '90s, complete with a 110-foot-tall Coke-bottle elevator that quickly became a photo-op magnet. Despite the spectacle, the Las Vegas attraction closed just two years later in 2000, with the company choosing to retain only the retail space as the flagship Coca-Cola Las Vegas store, adding another location, Coca-Cola Disney Springs in Orlando, in 2016. Both are smaller in scale than the Atlanta brand home, but still offer global tastings and brand storytelling.
In conclusion
A few hours at the World of Coca-Cola will do something quietly unexpected to you. You will arrive thinking you know this brand, you have been looking at it your whole life, after all, and you will leave having genuinely learned something. That is not as easy to pull off as it sounds.
The experience is not perfect, and it was not on our visit. Not every message landed, and there were moments where the storytelling felt like it was pulling its punches. But many of those gaps appear to have been addressed since, and the newer galleries in particular suggest the whole experience is moving in a more confident, more considered direction.
What it does have in abundance is archive. The breadth of what Coca-Cola has accumulated over 135 years, the artefacts, the advertising, the cultural moments, is genuinely extraordinary, and the galleries do it justice without feeling too repetitive. For anyone with a love of brand history, design, or just a healthy dose of nostalgia, there is plenty to reward a proper look.
Where I would push them harder is on sustainability. Coca-Cola has a real story to tell here, and they are not telling it. The building itself exceeds energy efficiency standards by 30 percent, uses 40 percent less water than a typical structure of its size, and holds a LEED Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. None of that was highlighted on our visit. In a world where visitors increasingly want to know that the brands they love are taking responsibility, that feels like a significant missed opportunity.
The absence of an on-site café also puzzled me, and I say that as someone who thinks about visitor flow for a living. The Bottle Cap Café sits across the plaza, but nobody pointed us towards it, and after a couple of hours on your feet in Atlanta's July heat, you want somewhere to sit down and have a drink, ideally something cold, ideally in a glass that looks like a souvenir. A classic soda fountain café, tucked inside the building, serving exclusive bottles and branded glassware, would be an absolute natural fit. It would extend the visit, increase spend, and add a layer of charm the experience currently lacks. Seating inside the galleries is limited, and families with young children would surely appreciate a welcoming place to snack, sip juice, or enjoy branded activities like colouring or tablet games. And, as a truly global brand, Coca-Cola could also do more to celebrate the diversity of flavours and brands in its Taste It gallery. Including these in the shop or café, or hosting themed events celebrating the cultures behind the drinks, would add richness and cultural depth.
One surprising omission was the lack of emphasis on Coca-Cola’s links to Christmas and Santa Claus. The iconic Christmas truck adverts and original artwork remain highly recognisable worldwide. Offering guests a way to connect with Santa, even virtually, would bring magic to the visit. A video call from the North Pole workshop, reminding children that even Santa enjoys a Coke break, would be truly unforgettable.
But these are the observations of someone who cares about getting it right, and the World of Coca-Cola clearly does too, given how much it has evolved. I left having learned a great deal, and with a renewed appreciation for a brand whose products are so familiar we barely notice them anymore. From now on, I will never look at a Coca-Cola bottle quite the same way again. Even if I cannot really drink what's inside it.
How long was the visit?
We were there for 2 and a half hours. The brand website recommends 2 hours, so we spent a little longer and this did not include time in the café.
How much are tickets?
Check out the website for up to date prices.
We paid full price and this was not part of any advertising.
Adults: $23-$26
Child 3-12: $19-$22
Under 3s: Free
Check out their birthday, City pass and military discount options, to see if you can save there. You can sometimes find discount coupons that include admission to both the World of Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium.
Tour options
There is a new, optional hour-long guided tour, where an ambassador takes you through the most popular areas, and offers a skip-the-line photo opportunity with the World of Coca-Cola Polar Bear, plus some more unique photo ops.
We decided to do the regular self-guided tour and explore the areas at our leisure, without being hampered by a time limit.
Opening times
It's always worth checking with the venue for their current opening times, as they can vary. We visited in the summer when they were open from 10 am until 7 pm.
Anything else worth mentioning
Access for wheelchairs was pretty good all round. No braille obvious on displays. Check with the venue for any accessibility needs.
On site parking that fills up fast is mentioned in many online reviews.
Address: 121 Baker St. NW, Atlanta, GA 30313
Website: World of Coca Cola
Where we stayed:
World of Coca-Cola partners with several hotels in the downtown Atlanta area. You can find out which hotels via their website. We stayed in the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, mainly as it was 7 minutes from the World of Coca-Cola and had valet parking for our hire car.
We had found that Atlanta was pretty much fully booked when we booked a few weeks before our trip. Must have been those darned convention goers. The hotel is enormous and had some great architecture and a quiet room on a high floor as we requested, as we had just gotten off a long-haul flight from Amsterdam. Our friendly waitress gave us a free drink at the bar during our dinner, as we were so jet-lagged. The Southern hospitality rumours appeared to be true.
The manager of the restaurant at breakfast the next morning, asked us about their new buffet offer. We gave our positive feedback and she proceeded to make us feel even more welcome, by not charging us for our meal. We told her she didn't have to, but she insisted. Southern hospitality is amazing.
The hotel certainly has a lot of facilities, but one tip is not to bring an electric car, as they don't have many spaces for them. When we were picking up our hire car the next morning from their underground lot, there were a few disgruntled guests who had electric cars that couldn't get charged as the spaces were already full.
Getting here:
We were on a 3-week road trip travelling from Atlanta to Detroit, with lots of stops planned along the route. We travelled from Scotland with Delta via Amsterdam to Atlanta and picked up a hire car and parked at the hotel and walked to the World of Coca-Cola. It was a breeze. The Delta cabin crew were great and we paid extra for Premium Economy for a bit of extra legroom, which was well worth it.
What else is there to see close by:
On the same campus as the World of Coca-Cola is the Georgia Aquarium. A very popular attraction in Atlanta it is one of the largest aquariums in the world. Some of the most popular exhibits include the Ocean Voyager exhibit, which features a massive acrylic tunnel that allows visitors to walk through a 6.3-million-gallon tank filled with whale sharks and other sea creatures.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent and Social Change, or The King Center, was established in 1968 by Coretta Scott King and is the official memorial dedicated to the advancement of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who was from Atlanta.
Feeling in need of more inspiration? Why not head to The National Center for Civil and Human Rights, a museum that connects the U.S. Civil Rights Movement to current human rights challenges.
Opened in April 2023 is the LEGO Discovery Center Atlanta at Phipps Plaza, following a $5 million renovation project, adding a host of new areas including DUPLO Park (with the oversized bricks for younger builders), a spaceship-building station, and a racing VR experience.
There are also art galleries, food markets and sports stadiums if you're not stuck in one of the many conferences held in the city.
Further reading
Food and beverage fans, if you liked this article then check out our guide to Pez, Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Chicago, and Lavazza. More food and beverage related visitor guides coming soon.
Please note - I'm real
I visit every brand visitor centre and experience myself. My feedback is real, based on a single visit, but informed by years of experience designing and exploring brand experiences all over the world.
I love writing my own reflections, diving into a brand's history, doing the research and looking at spaces through the eyes of a commercial interior designer. With over 30 years of working with customers, I also enjoy watching how guests interact with guides, displays and spaces. Everything I share is honest, personal and entirely human, not AI generated.
That authenticity is important to me, and if it's important to you and you want to work with me, or share your experiences or want to suggest others, then I am happy to be contacted via this website.
Photographs: ©Julie White unless noted otherwise
Disclaimer - The views and opinions expressed are solely my own. I paid for the tours in full and any comments reflect my personal experiences on that day. Please visit and garner your own thoughts and feel free to research the brand and the visitor centre in question.
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