Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Atlanta handles more passengers than any airport on earth, and it manages that on a layout that is easier to read than its numbers suggest. Everything hangs off one spine: a single underground people-mover, the Plane Train, that runs the length of the airport and stops at each concourse in turn. Learn that one fact and ATL stops being intimidating.

The layout in one sentence

There are two terminals for check-in and bags — Domestic (north/south) and International (Concourse F, on the east end) — but airside it is really seven concourses in a row: T, A, B, C, D, E, and F. The Plane Train links all of them below the shops and food. You can also walk the parallel pedestrian tunnel if you have time and want the exercise; the moving walkways make it quick enough.

Getting to and from the city

The best-kept non-secret is MARTA, Atlanta’s rail system. The Red and Gold lines terminate right at the Domestic Terminal, and the ride to Five Points in the center of downtown takes about 20 minutes with no traffic to fight. For anyone staying downtown or in Midtown, it beats a cab most times of day.

By road, the airport sits roughly 10 miles south of downtown off I-85. A taxi or rideshare runs 20 to 40 minutes depending on the hour — and rush hour here earns its reputation. Rideshare pickup is on the sky-level of the parking decks, not the curb, which trips up first-timers.

If you are connecting

Give yourself more than the printed minimum if you are changing between the far ends, say Concourse A to Concourse F for an international flight. The train is frequent, but the walk from the platform up to a gate, plus any recheck, adds up. Domestic-to-domestic connections, on the other hand, are genuinely fast. International arrivals clear customs at Concourse F and can re-drop bags there before heading back through security.

Concourse F handles the international departures; the ATL Skytrain (a separate airside/landside train) links the terminal to the rental cars and the Georgia International Convention Center if you need it.