The Best Places to Eat and Stay in Downtown

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

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

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. The Infatuation Where To Eat When You’re Visiting Atlanta

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

A seafood tower announces itself before dinner even starts, which sets the tone nicely for this polished hotel steakhouse on the second floor above Peachtree Street. Steaks and chops anchor the menu, with sides served à la carte for the table. The room has an old-world feel that business-casual Atlanta takes to with enthusiasm. AAA Four Diamonds. Reservations are the move, and the dress code is business casual or better.

1. AAA Four Diamonds

The round glass tower still dominates the Atlanta skyline, and rooms start on the 15th floor, so the city views aren't incidental. This is a large downtown convention hotel with a AAA Four Diamond rating, an 11th-floor pool under a retractable glass roof, and a fine-dining restaurant at the top. Conference crowds keep the lobby in motion, but sports venues and a serious stretch of restaurants are all a short walk out the door.

1. AAA Four Diamonds

A glass high-rise across from the stadium, Hotel Phoenix Atlanta is a downtown hotel that puts Centennial Olympic Park, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and the aquarium within easy walking distance. The public spaces run art by Georgia natives throughout, and the rooms are compact but dressed in bold color and pattern with floor-to-ceiling city views. Pack light: the standard king offers a two-seat bench and not much else for sitting. It holds a AAA Four Diamond rating.

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Three Diamonds

On the 71st floor of a round Peachtree tower, this steakhouse rotates slowly enough that you won't notice until Stone Mountain has quietly switched sides. The menu is tight: steaks, chops, braised short ribs, roasted chicken, and a minimum spend per adult that keeps things honest. Business casual, reservations required. The bar two floors up lets you trade a full dinner for a cocktail and a small plate with the same view and fewer expectations.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The elevator opens and wood smoke hits you before the tiki art does, drifting up from the massive open-flame grills below. This Polynesian lounge has been tucked under the Hilton Downtown forever, all bamboo and novelty glassware and rum drinks served in bowls the size of a small birdbath. Staff in Hawaiian shirts keep things unhurried. Order widely and let the table become the buffet it was always meant to be.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Approved

1. The Infatuation Where To Eat When You’re Visiting Atlanta