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Sometimes a hotel offers an experience as inspirational as its location. Whether you’re headed for a golf trip in Lookout Mountain, a weekend on the Atlanta Beltline, or a football game in Athens, these fresh Georgia properties will take your vacation to the next level.
Courtesy of Cloudland at McLemore Resort
Courtesy of Cloudland at McLemore Resort
Cloudland at McLemore Resort
Perched on the edge of a cliff in Lookout Mountain, this 245-room hotel comes by its name honestly. It is quite literally situated above the clouds, with an infinity-edge pool that appears to spill onto the misty valley below. The property, which is part of the Curio Collection by Hilton, opened in 2024, becoming the first luxury hotel to debut in the area since the Great Depression. It’s located within the mountaintop community of McLemore Resort—known for its two championship golf courses (designed by acclaimed architects Rees Jones and Bill Bergin). Relax with a massage at the hotel’s Selah Spa before indulging in the cold-plunge shower and sauna. And don’t miss Auld Alliance, the country’s first Scottish-French restaurant (fitting, since the whole area looks like the Scottish countryside). You haven’t lived until you’ve tried a dry-aged bone-in ribeye soaked in Scottish Laphroaig whiskey.
Photo by Matthew Williams
Photo by Matthew Williams
Photo by Matthew Williams
Forth Atlanta
With its concrete diagrid exterior looming over the Beltline’s Eastside Trail, this hotel’s modern, 16-story building became an instant Atlanta landmark when it opened in the Old Forth Ward neighborhood in 2024. Food-and-beverage options here have gained a loyal local following, especially buzzy upscale Italian restaurant Il Premio and see-and-be-seen rooftop cocktail lounge Moonlight. All 196 rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows with skyline views; some suites have outdoor terraces, including one with a wood-burning fireplace. Guests have access to the cabana-lined outdoor pool—which features another restaurant, Mediterranean-influenced Elektra, helmed by former Delbar chef Jonathan McDowell. But Forth’s real jaw-dropper is its two-story, 20,000-square-foot fitness and wellness center. Choose from a full slate of fitness classes—including reformer Pilates—and recover with amenities like steam rooms and cold plunges.
Photo by Jason Thrasher
Photo by Jason Thrasher
The Bell Hotel
In downtown Athens, it’s hard to get more central than this boutique hotel, which opened in February 2025. Situated on the corner of Hull and West Clayton, it is walking distance from the University of Georgia campus and just across the street from local culinary institution Last Resort Grill. P. Thornton Marye, who helped design Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, created the blueprints for this yellow-brick, Neoclassical Revival building, built in 1916 for the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company. After Southern Bell relocated in 1966, “the Bell Building” served private commercial purposes until Atlanta-based developer Brad Foster and his family acquired it in 2022. A two-year transformation has yielded eight guest rooms and a four-bedroom suite, plus a rooftop terrace. The building still has its cast-iron stair carriage and steel-framed windows, juxtaposed with a groovy, colorful interior (the elevator is covered in pictures of Andy Warhol). This is a keyless/contact-less property without a front desk, and sometimes simple guest inquiries go unanswered. But it’s still an exciting addition to Athens’ landscape, and convenient to just about everything the city has to offer.
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Allison Entrekin
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