The 100 Best Places to Drink and Stay in Atlanta

Twin curved staircases and chandelier-lit rooms that read more like a private club greet you at this Forbes Five Star hotel in Buckhead. Macassar ebony beds, white marble bathrooms, and Juliette balconies are standard; the Empire Suite runs to 3,000 square feet with its own kitchen and gym. The resident restaurant displays original Picassos. Butler service handles the unpacking, because apparently that's a thing you can outsource.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
2. AAA Five Diamonds
3. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

Multicolored lights, mismatched vintage stools, and enough rum cocktails to stock a small ship set the mood at this funky cocktail bar and dining den inside Krog Street Market. The food leans creative but unfussy, with global touches and most plates meant for sharing. It holds a spot on North America's 50 Best Bars and was a James Beard Outstanding Hospitality nominee, which tracks: the room has that rare quality of feeling genuinely cared for without trying to make you notice.

1. Punch Industry Icon
2. The 50 #85 · North America's 50 Best Bars
3. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Outstanding Hospitality

A neoclassical tower in the middle of Midtown, half a mile from the Renzo Piano-designed High Museum and a short walk from Piedmont Park. Rooms run to leather headboards, velvet sitting chairs, and original work by Atlanta painter Caroline Bullock. Bar Margot, named after the Wes Anderson character, pulls in DJ nights on weekends. The spa's weekday happy hour treatment menu suggests someone had fun with the concept.

1. AAA Five Diamonds
2. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended
3. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

Housed in a renovated rail depot, Kimball House is a seafood restaurant and serious cocktail bar with tufted leather booths, a carved mahogany bar, and a raw bar menu running past twenty oyster varieties, complete with tasting notes so you don't have to guess. Esquire named the Kimball House martini among America's finest, which should tell you something. The kitchen runs seasonal, and dessert regularly steals the table's attention. A Michelin Selected restaurant.

1. Esquire Kimball House Martini · The Best Martinis in America
2. Punch Best New Bartenders · Jakob McCabe-Johnston
3. James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurant

The wine list has a dedicated section for aged Madeira, which tells you something about the seriousness of the operation. This moody Poncey-Highland wine bar holds a Michelin selection and landed on Bon Appétit's best new bars list, but the kitchen pulls its own weight with snacks, shareable plates, and evening mains that feel seasonal without being precious. A James Beard semifinalist for Best New Bar, it draws the kind of crowd that actually reads the back label.

1. Bon Appétit America's Best New Bars
2. Wine Enthusiast Top 50 New Restaurants
3. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

The Robert A.M. Stern limestone tower rises 42 stories over Peachtree Road, though you'd almost miss it tucked behind the Del Frisco's out front. This is a full-service luxury hotel in Buckhead, which means Lenox Square is walkable and the indoor pool, three-floor spa, and English courtyard gardens are waiting when you're done. A Forbes Four Star property, it earns its keep with personal concierge service and a marble lobby that feels genuinely unhurried.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
2. AAA Four Diamonds

Buckhead was never going to be the neighborhood for reclaimed-wood cocktail bars, and the InterContinental leans fully into that logic. This is classic luxury-hotel territory: marble bathrooms, a spa, an Italian steakhouse called The Americano, and staff who apparently remember how you take your coffee without being asked. Business travelers and Southern-charm seekers will find nothing surprising here, which seems to be precisely the point.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended
3. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. Esquire The Best Bars in America
2. The Infatuation The 18 Best Bars In Atlanta

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

Floor-to-ceiling windows frame the Midtown skyline from rooms that got a serious refresh, with local art on the walls and furniture that no longer suggests a corporate retreat. This is a contemporary hotel on Peachtree Street, polished and spacious, with a lobby full of comfortable couches that actually invites lingering. The bar next door pulls in the neighborhood crowd, which in Midtown means you'll never feel like you wandered into an airport Marriott.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended

Named for Lucian Freud, this 40-seat wine restaurant and bookshop in Buckhead stocks art and fashion volumes alongside a list serious enough to earn a James Beard semifinalist nod for its beverage program. The seasonal American menu runs to ricotta gnudi and caviar-topped omelets, the kind of food that pairs naturally with whatever the wine director opens next. Shelves full of books for sale make lingering feel practically obligatory.

1. Esquire Martini · The Best Martinis in America
2. Wine Enthusiast Forward 50 Restaurants
3. The New York Times The Restaurant List

1. Huckberry The 50 Best Dive Bars in America
2. The Infatuation The 18 Best Bars In Atlanta

A fleet of complimentary bikes parked out front sets the tone at this mid-century modernist-inspired hotel in Midtown, a neighborhood that packs in more museums, music venues, and performing arts than it has any right to. Rooms lean boutique rather than business-casual Hilton, and a modern Southern restaurant and bar keeps things from feeling like a conference layover. The Michelin Guide includes it among its selected hotels.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

Midtown Atlanta's creative district gets a hotel that leans into the neighborhood's energy rather than ignoring it, with art and modernist design running through the whole property. Kimpton The Shane keeps the brand's signature warmth, the kind where staff remember your name, while staying genuinely plugged into the local art, music, and restaurant scenes. A solid base if you'd rather stay somewhere with a point of view.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

You check in at the bar, which sets the tone for everything else at this lively Marriott sub-brand hotel in Midtown, Atlanta's arts-heavy neighborhood. Rooms are affordable and compact, the ground floor handles all three meals, and the real graduation is reaching High Note, the rooftop bar, by evening. The kind of place that makes you feel like you planned your trip well, even if you mostly just got lucky with the neighborhood.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A Romanesque Revival house on Piedmont Avenue, Stonehurst Place is a Midtown B&B where eight rooms sit inside a building that has been around forever, with two tucked into the carriage house out back. Rooms range from cozy attic retreats to suite-sized quarters with spa bathrooms. A screened porch handles the slow-morning reading crowd, and a sleeping porch moonlights as a TV lounge. Gourmet breakfast is included. It holds a Michelin Key and AAA Four Diamonds.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide 1 Key

A boutique hotel in Buckhead that takes its design cues from Hong Kong rather than the usual Atlanta playbook of marble lobbies and monogrammed robes. Rooms are stylish without being fussy, the restaurant runs wood-fired Mediterranean, and the cocktail bar, Mr. B, plays a convincing modern riff on old-school glamour. If you were expecting another legacy luxury chain on Piedmont Road, this one will catch you off guard.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A Hard Rock offshoot that actually leans into the music rather than just hanging a guitar on the wall, this boutique-leaning hotel sits in the Downtown entertainment district, a short walk from Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The lobby shifts from café to bar as the day moves, the rooftop lounge handles sunsets, and a dedicated performance space runs live acts several nights a week. CeeLo Green and Big Boi contributed to the city guides, which is a flex most hotels can't pull off.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. Esquire Martini · The Best Martinis in America
2. Esquire Bar Blanc Martini · The Best Martinis in America

The Beaux Arts bones of this Peachtree Street tower have been around forever, and the restoration leans into that, pairing grand marble public spaces with rooms that nod to the South without going full plantation-house about it. It's a full-service hotel in the Curio Collection, so the comforts are reliable without being anonymous. By George, the in-house restaurant, handles the split well too: modernist furniture, imposing columns, nobody seems confused.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A Jittery Joe's outpost in a Ritz-Carlton lobby says something about Atlanta's particular relationship with this hotel: formal enough for marble bathrooms and rain showers, loose enough for live music and contemporary art on the walls. The rooms run lavish and quietly high-tech, the fitness center stocks Peloton bikes with personalized programs, and the steakhouse and cocktail bar draw locals who aren't staying the night.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

Rooms decorated like a maximalist's mood board sit at the center of Midtown Atlanta's arts district, which is either a coincidence or very good planning. The Starling is a boutique hotel with graphic prints and bold color accents throughout, toned-down rooms included. A rooftop pool, spa, and a sprawling indoor-outdoor bar with a wraparound counter round things out for guests who'd rather not leave the building.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. Wildsam The 50 Most Essential Bars in America
2. The Infatuation The 12 Best Coffee Shops In Atlanta

Little Five Points' go-to soccer bar, Brewhouse draws Atlanta United faithful and international match crowds to a room that takes cricket and rugby as seriously as the Premier League. The beer list runs deep across local, domestic, and imported options, and the Painkiller cocktail comes in three levels of commitment. Wings, nachos, and fish and chips keep things grounded. Wear whatever you'd wear to the match.

1. Eater The Best Sports Bars in Atlanta for Watching the World Cup and More
2. The Infatuation The 18 Best Bars In Atlanta

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. The Infatuation The 18 Best Bars In Atlanta
2. Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. East
3. Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. East

Art deco bones and a sparkling wine list longer than most bars have wines: Marietta Proper is a wine bar on the historic square that also does cocktails, whiskeys, coffee, and a short food menu of sandwiches and pastries. The team behind it includes a sommelier, which shows. A James Beard semifinalist for Best New Bar in 2025, it draws the kind of crowd that knows the difference between pét-nat and Champagne and orders both.

1. James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar
2. Eater 15 Best Wine Bars and Tasting Rooms Around Atlanta

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

A sleek, AAA Three Diamond hotel a short walk from downtown Atlanta's convention halls and concert venues, which either thrills you or doesn't depending on why you're here. The compact rooms keep things minimal, platform beds, clutter-free desks loaded with charging points, and nearly all bathrooms are shower-only. The lobby bar runs tapas and craft cocktails, and there's a seasonal outdoor pool with terrace seating when the weather cooperates.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The 47-story atrium is so vertiginously tall that John Portman's neo-futuristic design has moonlighted as a movie set for decades. This downtown convention hotel connects to Peachtree Center by skybridge and runs multiple restaurants, from a coffee shop to a steakhouse. Rooms are clean and functional, with low platform beds and a proper desk. The glass elevators alone will make you feel like you're in a film, which, statistically, you sort of are.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The Fox Theatre is literally across the street, which makes this Marriott Courtyard a practical choice for anyone coming to Atlanta for a show or using Peachtree Street as a home base. It's a mid-range hotel with 158 rooms, soft lighting, plush beds, and a lobby big enough to spread out in. The attached restaurant leans into Southern comfort food, chicken and waffles among them.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The bones go back to 1913, but a thorough renovation means the lobby reads contemporary rather than musty. This downtown Atlanta hotel keeps rooms compact and practical, with a proper desk and a modern bath, and some king rooms add a sofa if you need the breathing room. The lobby coffee counter pulls double duty as a morning café and evening bar. Peachtree Center MARTA is a short walk south, and dozens of restaurants surround it.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. Michelin Guide 1 Key

Lion-head door knockers greet you at every guest room in this boutique hotel, which leans hard into its self-appointed "pride of Atlanta" identity, right down to stone lions carved into the facade. Rooms are compact but dressed in layered patterns that feel intentional rather than cramped, and the rooftop lounge has city views through windows that open when Atlanta cooperates and close when it doesn't, which is often.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

A converted vintage office building in the middle of downtown Atlanta, this Hampton Inn puts every major sports venue and attraction within walking distance, which matters more than you'd think on a game night. Rooms are compact and stylish, with an oversize TV and a proper desk, though "seating" often means the desk chair. Suites add a living room with a pull-out sofa. Hot breakfast is included daily.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

Three wings of rooms orbit a central elevator bank in this retro-futuristic high-rise hotel downtown, which at 28 stories and 1,249 rooms is less a hotel than a small municipality. Skybridges connect it to neighboring hotels and the conference center, so conventioneers can spend three days entirely indoors if the Atlanta summer has anything to say about it. Fourth-floor rooms open onto a terrace with a jogging track and pickleball courts.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

Across the street from Georgia Tech, this 12-story Hilton Garden Inn sits in Midtown with MARTA access and a handful of good restaurants within walking distance, which takes real pressure off the planning. Rooms run colorful and tidy, some with proper living areas if a standard footprint feels tight. The outdoor pool deck has grilling stations and a fire pit, which is a nicer amenity mix than the category usually delivers.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The rooftop radio tower sign still blinks over Ponce de Leon, and the Clermont Lounge still does its thing in the basement, which means this 94-room boutique hotel exists, rather perfectly, as the respectable middle of a very Atlanta sandwich. The red-brick building has been around forever and renovated thoroughly, with a restaurant by a celebrated local chef and a Michelin Key to its name.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Key

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The atrium here was John Portman's original experiment in the form: a cavernous open void with a skylight ceiling and glass elevators gliding up the walls, and it still stops people mid-stride. This conference-scale hotel spreads across three towers, from standard king rooms to the Radius, a glass cylinder with compact quarters and mosaic-tile showers that feel like a set from a 1970s sci-fi film. Polaris, the revolving rooftop restaurant under a blue dome, completes the retro-futurist mood.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The painted coffered ceiling in the lobby is original to the 1929 office building, and it sets expectations the rest of this extended-stay Marriott hotel doesn't quite match, in the best possible way to stay calibrated. Most suites come with a full kitchen setup for actual cooking. Complimentary hot breakfast runs daily, the Peachtree Center MARTA stop is right outside, and the fitness center looks straight down onto the street below.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The breeze-block bones of the original 1962 structure are still visible near the pool, a quiet reminder that this downtown Atlanta hotel was the city's first integrated hotel, which is a genuinely significant thing to just be staying next to. The midcentury modern furnishings and retro mini-fridges lean into that history rather than papering over it. Every major sports venue downtown is walkable, which either thrills you or doesn't.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

A 1929 brick building on Ponce de Leon, now a boutique hotel where a sleek modern addition tucks in beside the original without much fuss. The basement once housed a storied gathering place in Atlanta's LGBTQ+ history, and the hotel wears that legacy with genuine intention. Rooms are compact and well considered, with plump bedding and luggage stashed in cubbies under the bed. The second-floor terrace and lobby sunroom give you somewhere to land after a day in Midtown.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

A conference hotel on the Emory University campus that somehow has a private bowling alley for events, which is either the best or strangest detail depending on your meeting planner. Rooms overlook a genuine forest canopy, and the CDC is a short drive away, so the clientele skews toward people with lanyards. It's polished and quiet, with smart TVs and wireless charging, and Candler Park is a short walk when you need to remember where you are.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

A mid-rise hotel off I-75 where mature trees and a courtyard pool do a lot of the heavy lifting on first impressions. Inside, older bones meet contemporary updates without too much friction. Tower rooms get the better views; garden wing rooms get more quiet. The meeting spaces lean large, and there's a fitness center with a cycling studio for guests who feel guilty about the airport bar. Solid Cobb County business travel territory.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

Resistance bands and a yoga mat come standard in every room, which tells you exactly who this hotel is for. The EVEN is a fitness-focused mid-range hotel near Cobb Galleria, and it leans into the concept hard, with an expansive gym, hydration stations on every floor, and walk-in showers built for people who actually used them. The on-site cafe handles light meals and cocktails. EV chargers are in the garage, if the car also has a wellness routine.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

A courtyard waterfall and hot tub in the middle of a Vinings office corridor feels mildly surreal, but here we are. This AAA Three Diamond hotel plays the country-meets-contemporary card with wood tones, walk-in showers, and balconied rooms that overlook the pool. The Public House handles breakfast and dinner on-site, so you're not scrambling for eggs. Quieter and leafier than Buckhead proper, with EV chargers if you need them.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

Extended-stay hotel near Cumberland Mall and the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, with room options that run from standard guestrooms up to two-bedroom suites with full kitchens. The outdoor patio with a gas fireplace and BBQ grills gives the place a slightly more residential feel than the average airport-adjacent chain. Quiet location, EV chargers in the lot, and a AAA Three Diamond rating for guests who like a baseline guarantee.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

Extended-stay hotel in Perimeter Center where the suites come with a two-burner cooktop, dishwasher, and enough counter space to actually cook dinner, which you probably won't because complimentary hot breakfast arrives every morning and the lobby bar handles evenings. The fourth-floor rooftop pool runs heated year-round, a small mercy for Atlanta's three weeks of actual winter. A AAA Three Diamond property, sensible and comfortable without asking you to think too hard about it.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

A skybridge from the fifth floor drops you directly onto the Dunwoody MARTA platform, which makes this nine-story hotel far more useful than its spot between two parking garages suggests. Rooms run to oversized TVs and pull-out sofas, and the complimentary hot breakfast each morning is a genuine buffer against Atlanta hotel prices. Shower-only bathrooms are the default, so call ahead if a tub matters to you.

1. AAA Three Diamonds