Waterfalls in Georgia: 10 falls worth the trip

Amicalola Falls

Amicalola Falls drops 729 feet in a series of cascades, the tallest cascading waterfall in the southeastern United States and the best-known stop on this list. A paved lower overlook trail reaches partway up, while a steeper upper trail with several hundred stairs leads hikers past nearly the full height of the falls. Access: Georgia state park, public land, $10 per vehicle parking fee. Amicalola also marks the approach trail to the Appalachian Trail's southern start on Springer Mountain, so expect thru-hiker traffic at the trailhead every spring. Flow holds up better than most Georgia waterfalls on this list, since the watershed above it is large, though it thins out in a dry summer.

Anna Ruby Falls

Anna Ruby Falls is really two waterfalls side by side, Curtis Creek dropping 153 feet and York Creek dropping 50 feet, meeting at a single viewing platform reached by a paved 0.4-mile trail. The site sits inside Chattahoochee National Forest but is operated under a Forest Service lease by the nonprofit FIND Outdoors, which is why it charges its own $6-per-person fee for visitors 16 and older rather than a standard forest parking pass. Access: public land (USFS lease to a nonprofit operator), fee required, no permit. The paved trail and handrails make this one of the easier walks in this guide, though it's a steady uphill grade rather than flat.

Dukes Creek Falls

Dukes Creek Falls is reached by a roughly 1.25-mile trail from the Dukes Creek Falls Recreation Area to an observation deck overlooking the cascade, inside Chattahoochee National Forest near Helen. The trailhead charges a $4 day-use fee, paid at a fee station near the trailhead restrooms or in advance through Recreation.gov, and state park annual passes aren't accepted here since it's Forest Service land, not a state park. Access: public land, U.S. Forest Service, $4 day-use fee, no permit. The return hike climbs back out of the gorge, described in trail reports as the harder half, so it suits visitors comfortable with a sustained moderate climb better than a flat stroll.

Helton Creek Falls

Helton Creek Falls is a double waterfall on Helton Creek, reached from a small pullout parking area off a gravel Forest Service road roughly 2.2 miles from US-19/129 near Vogel State Park. The trail from the parking area is about 0.3 miles. Access: public land, Chattahoochee National Forest, no posted fee, no permit. Unlike Anna Ruby and Dukes Creek, there's no paved surface or observation deck here, just a dirt path to the base of both drops, making it the more rustic of the Helen-area waterfalls.

High Shoals Falls and Blue Hole Falls

The High Shoals Falls Trail is a roughly 2.5-mile round trip in Chattahoochee National Forest that passes two named waterfalls: Blue Hole Falls, which drops into a deep, clear pool used for summer swimming, and High Shoals Falls itself, a 50-foot drop farther along. Access: public land, U.S. Forest Service, no posted fee, no permit. The final approach road to the trailhead is a narrow, rough gravel stretch that trail reports describe as slow going for standard passenger cars, so allow extra time. Because the trail reaches a swimming pool before the main falls, this is one of the better warm-weather stops in north Georgia if cooling off matters as much as photos.

Raven Cliff Falls

Raven Cliff Falls is an unusual double cascade: a 60-foot drop, a 20-foot drop into a pool, and a final 20-foot cascade, all flowing through a fissure in a granite outcrop in the Raven Cliffs Wilderness. The trail runs close to 5 miles round trip along Dodd Creek, with a free gravel parking lot at the trailhead. Access: public land, U.S. Forest Service wilderness area, no fee, no permit. It's a longer commitment than most falls here, so plan a half day rather than a quick stop, and expect a full lot on clear-weather weekends.

Long Creek Falls

Long Creek Falls is a stair-stepping cascade on the Appalachian Trail about 4 miles from Springer Mountain, the trail's southern terminus, reached by a roughly 1.9-mile hike on the Appalachian and Benton MacKaye trails. Access: public land, U.S. Forest Service, no fee, no permit. Trail reports describe the falls holding a fuller flow through summer than many of the seasonal drops elsewhere in north Georgia, since it's fed by a year-round mountain stream. Because the trailhead sits right at the start of the Appalachian Trail, spring visits often overlap with thru-hikers setting out for Maine.

Tallulah Gorge waterfalls

Tallulah Gorge State Park's two-mile-long, nearly 1,000-foot-deep canyon holds six named waterfalls, including L'Eau d'Or, Tempesta and Hurricane Falls, most visible for free from more than ten overlooks along the North and South Rim trails. Reaching the gorge floor itself requires a free same-day permit from the Interpretive Center, limited to 100 per day and unavailable on scheduled whitewater release days; the floor trail descends a long metal-and-stone staircase of several hundred steps each way. Access: Georgia state park, public land, free rim views, free permit required for the gorge floor. No other stop in Georgia lets you see this many named waterfalls from one trail system in an afternoon.

Toccoa Falls

Toccoa Falls drops 186 feet in a single free fall, among the taller waterfalls east of the Mississippi, on the campus of Toccoa Falls College. It's private property, but the college opens the falls to the public for a $2 fee paid at the gift shop, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and shorter hours on weekends; hours can change around campus events. Access: private property, open to the public for a fee during posted hours only. Do not enter outside those hours. The 100-yard graveled path from the gift shop is flat and wheelchair accessible, the shortest walk to any major waterfall on this list.

Cherokee Falls and Hemlock Falls (Cloudland Canyon)

Cloudland Canyon State Park's Waterfalls Trail reaches two falls on the canyon floor: Cherokee Falls, about a half mile down from the trailhead, and the steeper, taller Hemlock Falls another half mile beyond it. Access: Georgia state park, public land, $10 per vehicle daily ParkPass (Georgia State Parks, August 2026). The return climb out of the canyon is the steepest stretch on the trail, described in trail reports as the hardest part of an otherwise moderate hike. Cloudland Canyon sits in the state's far northwest corner near Chattanooga, well apart from the north Georgia cluster that holds the rest of this guide.

These are the closest stops on this list if you're starting from Atlanta, all reachable in under two hours in normal traffic:

• Amicalola Falls: about 75 miles north, roughly a 1 hour 15 minute drive via GA-400.
• Dukes Creek Falls: about 90 miles north via the GA-400/GA-75 corridor through Helen, roughly 1 hour 40 minutes.
• Anna Ruby Falls: about 95 miles north, roughly 1 hour 45 minutes, past Helen on GA-75.
• Helton Creek Falls: about 100 miles north near Blairsville, roughly 2 hours.
• High Shoals Falls and Blue Hole Falls: about 100 miles north near Hiawassee, roughly 2 hours, the last stretch on gravel.

• Blue Hole Falls (Towns County, off the High Shoals Falls Trail in Chattahoochee National Forest): a deep, clear pool at the base of a 25-foot drop; trail reports describe a rope swing at the site. U.S. Forest Service land, no fee, no permit, not lifeguarded.
• Tallulah Gorge State Park's gorge-floor pools: reachable only with the state park's free daily permit (100 issued per day, unavailable during scheduled whitewater releases). State park public land, managed access.
• Sea Creek Falls (Cooper Creek Wildlife Management Area, Chattahoochee National Forest, near Suches): unofficial swim spot on public land; the access route is not a maintained Forest Service system trail, so conditions and access can change without notice. Check with the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest before visiting.

This guide was compiled from public land-manager sources (the Georgia Department of Natural Resources' state park division, the U.S. Forest Service's Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, and Toccoa Falls College for the one privately owned site on this list), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, and published trail reports. We haven't visited these sites ourselves. Fees, access rules and conditions change; every listing draws on its primary source, last checked August 2026. Verify with the land manager before you go.