If you’re an Atlanta resident, you may want to turn away for the next sentence. This year will bring a lot more visitors to the already-congested city. With a 2025 calendar filled with big sporting events (January’s College Football Championship, July’s MLB All-Star Game), major cultural moments (one of Kendrick Lamar’s only Southern dates on his Grand National Tour) and steady overall growth — in early 2024, Atlanta’s metro area became the sixth biggest in the U.S., surpassing Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., in the process — there will be no way to avoid the glut of tourists at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and on area highways over the coming months.
But rather than pout about the pending traffic, Forbes Travel Guide wants you to have a good time in all the fuss. To ensure that happens, we’ve put together a list of the best places to eat, play and stay for out-of-towners and locals who are willing to brave an extra 30 minutes in I-75 congestion.
Where To Stay
Buckhead, the ritzy neighborhood where Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star The St. Regis Atlanta sits, has gotten decidedly quieter over the past few years. Where popular bars and nightclubs once thrived now you’ll find boutiques and hushed sushi counters.
The more subdued nature suits the St. Regis perfectly. When you step into the lobby, you don’t hear much of anything besides a soft welcome at the door and the loud call of elegance from spiraled staircases and extravagant chandeliers. Inside the rooms, there’s a subtle clamoring for your attention — do you look at the iPad room controls, turn toward the white marble bath or stare at the camping tent and movie treats set up for the new Family Traditions Experience? The answer is “all of the above,” but the hotel encourages you to take your time doing any of it.
Not that clocks aren’t needed at the property, though. Witnessing the 6 o’clock nightly champagne sabering is a must. So, too, is your 7:30 p.m. dinner reservation at Atlas Buckhead, the Four-Star eatery where every dish is a work of art. And whatever you do, don’t forget about the Four-Star The St. Regis Atlanta Spa. With unique treatments like the gold- and citrus-enhanced Buckhead Escape on the menu, you’d hate to miss your appointment.
Where To Eat
The only thing popping up in Atlanta with a higher frequency than condominium towers is restaurants. Look any direction around the city and there’s something new cooking. Within walking distance of the St. Regis is one of our new favorites, Delbar. A longtime pick for Persian and North African food lovers in Inman Park and Alpharetta, Delbar just opened its Buckhead location in December. During a recent visit, the place was packed and plates of labneh (yogurt cheese), sabzi polo (Persian rice with a browned crust) and chicken kebabs were plentiful.
Down the road from Delbar is Lucian. While this spot has poured glasses of wine; cooked light, seasonally inspired cuisine; and sold art books for a few years, things have never felt fresher. The food (scrumptious scallops) is amazing, the restaurant draws a crowd (Ludacris’ wife was dining in a corner when we last visited) and the mood is dignified but not detached.
Brasserie Margot is the newly opened French eatery at Four-Star Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta. Anyone who’s visited the Midtown hotel knows its Bar Margot is an essential stop for creative cocktails and colorful conversations. Consider Brasserie the more subdued older sibling that allows pendant lights, plush banquettes and comforting dishes such as the côte de boeuf (a massive bone-in ribeye) and a mussels vol au vent (a creamy, pot pie-like dish) do all the talking.
Where To Play
Painted Hospitality literally trademarked the term “compeatery” with the success of its two date-night addresses, Painted Pin and Painted Duck. It merely cements its position as the city’s go-to for games and grub with its latest entries, Painted Pickle and Painted Park. The former capitalizes on pickleball’s popularity by offering cushioned, regulation-sized courts, equipment rentals and a 12-seat bar on one side of the building and lawn games (cornhole, a putting green) and a full kitchen that impressively dishes out everything from popcorn rock shrimp to sashimi cucumber rolls on the other.
Sister spot Painted Park debuted this past October in Inman Park. A gathering place for those strolling along the Beltline trail, Painted Park is great for a cold beer on the patio or a hotly competitive round of pingpong in the gaming parlor. Whatever your motivation is to stop by, make sure to try the chicken and cheese sandwich and tunnel cake (its tasty take on a county fair funnel cake) before you leave.
Not all the fun around town involves a fork, of course. The High Museum of Art has been on a tremendous run with its temporary exhibits lately. While “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys” may have wrapped up its colorful show, the museum keeps the cultural train humming along with “Georgia O’Keeffe: My New Yorks” (through February 16), “Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind: The Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection” featuring postwar American drawings (through May 25), as well as solo spring shows for Ryoji Ikeda, Kim Chong Hak and Ezrom Legae.
And that’s on top of a calendar already packed with monthly programs (Family Saturdays), live music (Malcolm-Jamal Warner, February 21) and special workshops (cocktail-making class, March 22).
Where To Escape
We haven’t forgotten about the traffic. There are ways to avoid it. When it comes to steering clear of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport commotion, for example, we’ve long sung the praises of the PS private luxury terminal. But just when we thought no-wait TSA lines and personal suites were as good as it could get, PS chefs Matt Roman and Morgan Heller’s new seasonally governed menu amps it up. With items like party wings tossed in a Georgia peach and habanero sauce and juicy roasted hen with collard greens paired with timely tipples such as The First Snow (spiced rum, hazelnut liqueur, double spiced chai tea, cinnamon and heavy cream), travel day is downright tranquil.
But for the ultimate respite, look about 30 minutes south of the airport to Serenbe. While full-time residents and savvy weekenders make up most of the traffic in the idyllic farm community, there’s plenty of room for day trippers. There’s a full-scale spa, a farm animal village and a robust arts scene. Still, it’s the epicurean options that keep us coming back — even during the week. Complementing the Farmhouse’s stellar breakfast and the Hill’s consistent dinner is the just-opened Austin’s, a 1920s-styled cocktail bar that not only mixes incredible pours (like the bourbon- and honey-doused Front Porch Swing), but it serves a flavor-packed short rib and a scallion- and sage-topped halibut, too.
