Atlanta, a historic mecca of art and culture in the South, has always had its fair share of adventure and charm. However, a recent wave of creative attention has lit a fire within the city’s innovators. Now packed with even more things to see, Atlanta ranks up there with some of America’s best cities. But, if you only had 24 hours, what would you choose to see now and save for later? Should you stay in a modern high-rise or a historic bed and breakfast? Would you find the best dinner at an old, homegrown restaurant or a brand new culinary venture?
At TripExpert, we have the answer to the most Atlanta-filled trip you could have in one day. The experts know best and we’ve brought together reviews from the most trusted names in travel to create a score for each city’s most worthwhile attractions. With this score and some insider knowledge of Atlanta, we’ve figured out where to go and what to do for your next day trip to Atlanta.
So where should we start the best 24-hour trip to Atlanta possible?
Stonehurst Place, Piedmont Park and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens
One of Atlanta’s nicknames is Dogwood City, and we say skip the towering, modern hotels for Atlanta’s highest rated bed and breakfast: Stonehurst Place. “[Fusing] art, history, and high-tech amenities” (Jetsetter), Stonehurst Place exemplifies a modernized “Southern charm.”. Housed in a renovated 19th-century home, this charming bed and breakfast looks out onto a quiet street in midtown within walking distance of many shops, restaurants, and attractions. Oyster.com loves “the affability of the owners” and highlights its “relaxing atmosphere.” The property features a heated porch and each room has free Wi-Fi. Individually decorated rooms start from $199 per night.
Since check-in doesn’t start until 4pm, drop off your luggage at Stonehurst Place and take three-minute stroll up Piedmont Avenue. There, you’ll find one of Atlanta’s beloved breakfast spots, The Flying Biscuit Café. Known for their modern Southern food and fluffy biscuits, this café is also a great spot to fuel up before exploring the shops and attractions nearby.
Sprawling out behind The Flying Biscuit Café is Atlanta’s biggest park. Dubbed “Atlanta’s answer to Central Park” by Not For Tourists, Piedmont Park. Stroll around Lake Clara Meer and take in the broad Atlanta skyline reflecting in the lake’s still waters. Or walk along the edges of the park, stopping to peer into the other cafes and shops right at your fingertips. As well, when planning your trip, try to visit during one of the many arts and culture festivals held here such as Music Midtown or The Atlanta Arts Festival. Finally, before moving on, make friends with a friendly group of ATLiens hosting a picnic in the park’s green, picturesque fields.
On the north side of the park within walking distance is another highly rated attraction: The Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Perfect for the green thumb within all of us, the Botanical Gardens contains the Fuqua Conservatory, a collection of “unusual flora from tropical and desert climates,” according to Fodor’s. There you can also find the award-winning Fuqua Orchid Center where you can see (you guessed it!) an extensive collection of orchids from around the world. Entry to the gardens will cost you $18.95 and prearranged tours are available at $15.95 (self-guided) or $19.95 (guided).
By now, you’ve probably worked up a good appetite from walking all over Piedmont Park and the Botanical Gardens. Rest your legs by grabbing a $6 Uber ride to Mary Mac’s Tea Room: One of Atlanta’s most historic Southern cooking establishments. Zagat describes Mary Mac’s menu as “old-fashioned Southern comfort food for the soul…with all the fixin’s” and they ain’t just pullin’ your leg. Fried chicken, sweet tea, and enough cheesy grits to go around will leave you stuffed and yet wanting more. Each delicious entrée will set you back between $11 and $23.
From food for the soul to food for the mind, grab yourself another $6 Uber ride to the High Museum of Art. With admission priced well at about $20 per adult, the High’s collections are “a little bit Met, a little bit MoMA, and a little bit Southern” (Frommer’s). While the museum’s exhibits often include some of art’s biggest names such as Pablo Picasso and Frida Kahlo, their permanent collection spans several genres from local artists to African-American to decorative with 11,000 pieces always in view. However, the beauty doesn’t stop there. “Covered in white porcelain-enameled steel” (Michelin Guide), the 135,000-sq.-ft. mansion is a “destination as much for its architecture as its world-class exhibits” (Lonely Planet). You’ll easily find yourself wandering its halls for several hours and it’ll be time to check-in before you know it.
Head back to Stonehurst Place for $6, check-in, and take a moment to enjoy your cozy room. Cuddle up in a plush bathrobe and enjoy some homemade, complimentary snacks. Don’t take too long – you’ve got a reservation at Atlanta’s finest restaurant: Bacchanalia. Uber it over to west midtown for $7 and prepare for an all-organic masterpiece with an outstanding TripExpert Score. For over 20 years, Atlanta has held Bacchanalia as the city’s best restaurant and it’s no surprise with its dining room’s “vaulted ceiling” and “exposed brick-trimmed windows,” its “low-lit sexy bar,” and its “vibrant, seasonal American” five course pre-fixe menu (Forbes Travel Guide). Bacchanalia’s chefs Anne Quantrano and Clifford Harrison often pull ingredients from their own farm at home or from other small farms to ensure the highest quality for their dishes. Their pre-fixe may set you back $85 per person (not including any caviar service), but when in Atlanta, do as the Atlantans: try the Gulf Crab Fritters and Braised Short Ribs.
Since Atlanta is the artist mecca of the South, we couldn’t forget to go to the theater while you’re there. While the Fox Theater houses touring Broadway shows, we’re actually going to send you to the Alliance Theater to see a show directed, acted, and produced by Atlanta’s finest. A $7 Uber ride away from dinner, the Alliance Theater boasts world-class productions and vows to honor the work from the most diverse group of artists possible. From original works to pieces once performed on Broadway, their shows cost between $20 and $45, a good price considering the caliber of their artists.
With a piece of Atlanta’s performing arts under your belt, it’s probably time to call it a night. Your last Uber for the night will cost you $6 to get back to Stonehurst Place. Once you’re back, you can take in the night air on their front porch or enjoy some quiet in their cozy sitting room. If you’re feeling a tad restless, you could grab a nightcap at one of several restaurants/lounges near your hotel such as 10th and Piedmont. In addition to a vibrant night scene, this area is known for the many bars catering to the LGBT community. When it’s time to wind down, your bed will greet you with incredible comfort with Stonehurst’s luxury linens and a quiet, uninterrupted night’s rest.
Check out in the morning will mark the end of your trip and, congratulations, you will have had the best and most authentic 24 hours in Atlanta possible! You had your fair share of Southern cooking, took in Atlanta’s beautiful scenery and parks, had dinner at the best restaurant in the whole city, and took in some of the best art The Big Peach has to offer.
You may have heard of the Yelp Elite Squad. Every year, Yelp’s “Elite Council” spends “many a sleepless night” figuring out which “Yelpers” deserve to become part of the Elite Squad, which gives them “shiny profile badges” and access to “epic parties”, according to Yelp. Some of the parties seem worthy of Game of Thrones: at one point, Yelp was forced to send an email to the Elite Squad warning them that some events have “degenerated into frenzied affairs”. On one occasion, a waiter at a steakhouse was “absolutely traumatized by the rabid ferocity with which certain guests attacked his plate of hors d’oeuvres”.
Yelp provides few specifics about the selection criteria for the Elite Squad — it even says that there’s a “certain je ne sais quoi” involved. Although it stresses that number of reviews is only one factor, most elites have written hundreds or even thousands. One member profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle wrote about one review a day for 8 years.
Follow our own Elite Pete as he shows what it’s like to try to write enough reviews to maintain that elite status.
At TripExpert, we’ve built a database of nearly 600,000 professional reviews in over 500 destinations around the globe. In addition to aggregating reviews, we’ve also created a massive archive of over 1.2 million photos of hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions, which together occupy about 275GB of space on Amazon S3.
After seeing so many wanderlust-inducing images, we’ve learned a few lessons about how to optimize your photographs and how potential guests interact with them. If you manage a hotel or restaurant or you’re photographing one, read on for our tips.
1. Hire a professional
It is easy to see the amount of energy spent on hotel photos by the quality of the images presented on your website. I don’t mean megapixels, I mean the amount of care that went into composing each of the photos you present of your property to your potential guests. Since this is the first impression your clients will have of your venue, it is worth bringing in a professional rather than taking a few snaps with your cell phone.
2. Get the rights right
When hiring a photographer, be sure you get the rights to use your images and to distribute them for use by third parties. Several hotels have sent me to the photographer, only to have the photographer ask for a fee to use the hotel’s photos. It is hard out there for artists and they’ve got to be compensated for their work, but a website promoting your venue shouldn’t be footing the bill. Pay your photographer enough for them to allow you to do what you want with the images later on.
Shoot through door frames to add depth, like Florence’s Hotel Savoy
3. Choose the best gallery
On your website, use an HTML-based gallery instead of a Flash gallery. Flash doesn’t work on iPhones and prevents your photos from being captured (except via screenshot). Make sure you choose a gallery that is responsive: it should work on web and mobile (and should support mobile touchscreen commands like swiping between photos). At TripExpert, we use FlexSlider.
4. Make it easy for others to get access
Although you may feel the desire to “lock down” your images to your own site, keep in mind that you’re trying to sell your property: it is in your best interests to make sure your images are easy to access. You don’t want a post about your hotel to go viral with a bad photo. If you chose to screen the outlets who receive your images, make sure it is easy for them to find a contact email address so they can reach out. Making images available to only a select few is a common practice with larger hotels. Be sure you make your press section as clear as possible with updated contact information.
If you’re unable to hire a photographer right now, here are some basic tips for photographing a room:
Use natural light
This will not only make the room appear sun filled and bright, but will avoid the issue of white balancing multiple lamps. Never heard of white balance? This is a good indication that you should hire a professional. Either way, Ken Rockwell has a great article about white balance and how to set it on your camera.
Long exposure is your friend
Another reason why a tripod will come in so handy is because of the length of your exposures. You will need to have a longer exposure to ensure your room is well lit and holding a camera still for 1/3rd of a second can be quite tricky. You can learn a bit about exposure from Cambridge in Colour.
Use a tripod
Seems silly, but it makes a world of difference when editing your photos. Slow down and look at the photos you’ve taken to make sure everything is in the right place. Compose them well in the camera so you don’t have to attempt any crazy Photoshopping afterwards. It is also nearly impossible to make a long exposure while hand-holding your camera.
Pro tip: You’ve heard of the Golden Hour, but try photographing your venue just after the sun has set during the Blue Hour. You can capture the rich color of the sky and the benefits of a long exposure.
Don’t use fisheye lenses
I get it – you can see SO much more than with a regular lens, but it just isn’t worth it. Fisheyes distort the room too much and are too distracting. Do you want me to be daydreaming about how weird the walls look or how comfy your bed looks? In the event you have an underwater property and you are showing the room from the vantage of a fish, you may use a fisheye.
Don’t feature people
You want to show people the good times that your hotel has hosted and how luxurious a bubble bath looks, but showing people in your photos just makes me wonder how many people have slept in the room I’m about to stay in. There are few exceptions to showing folks in the guestrooms on your website.
This isn’t the time to get creative.
Photography is awesome. The challenge of photographing something and putting your own spin on it is one of the main attractions of the medium, but this isn’t the time to be the next Annie Leibovitz. Shoot straight, as DesignSpunge says. Also, keep your photos in color – it is hard to get the best idea of a room in sepia or black and white. Selective color never works out well, so try to avoid it.
Have some additional questions about photography? Want to chat about cameras? Drop me a line [email protected].
We’ve created sleek embeddable badges to show off your accomplishments in a way that will easily blend into your existing site — simply add a bit of code to your page and you’re all set.
What are some of the benefits to adding a TripExpert badge?
- • TripExpert Score – We take all of the reviews of your business and put them through our patent-pending algorithm to generate a score that’s the definitive statement of overall quality. Only the top places in each destination are on TripExpert; the TripExpert Score ranges from 60 to 100.
- • Professional Social Proof – Your venue has been endorsed by multiple top tier publications that your future guests know and trust. Guests no longer need to spend time researching across many different platforms.
- • All of your reviews and awards in one place – We understand it can be hard to keep up with all of the reviews your venue receives, but we love it. Let our specialized team stay on top of it for you – they know all about our 60+ source publications and always aim to have the most accurate information available. Rather than worry about updating the press section of your website, just link to TripExpert.
- • Aid journalists and bloggers – Want to get more reviews of your business? Show the places that have already endorsed your property and keep future journalists in the loop. Bloggers can add the badges to their posts to link to the full list of publications that love your venue.
To get your badges now, find your venue page on TripExpert and click the “Venue support” link located in the sidebar.
Simply copy and paste the HTML into your source code or forward it to your webmaster and you’re all set.
Questions? Drop me a line at [email protected].
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