Poncey-Highland / BeltLine

Hotel Clermont

★★★★★

Hotel Clermont is the most characterful hotel in Atlanta and a perfect base for the BeltLine. The building went up in 1924 on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Poncey-Highland, served for decades as an apartment building and then a motor hotel, and was nearly demolished before a restoration brought it back as a boutique hotel. Its legend comes from the basement: the Clermont Lounge, a strip club and dive bar that has operated there since the 1960s and become a local institution famous for its unpretentious charm, which is run as a separate business and is strictly for adults. The hotel above has its own personality, with rooms decorated in a vintage-inspired mix of bold colors, patterned wallpaper and mid-century furniture. Room types range from compact doubles and bunk rooms suited to groups of friends to larger suites, and the hotel offers long-stay options. The rooftop bar is one of the most popular in the city, with views west to the Midtown and downtown skylines; it is busy on warm evenings and weekends, and its crowd is mostly local. Tiny Lou's, the French-inspired restaurant in the building, is Michelin-recommended and a destination in its own right. The hotel is now operated as Hotel Clermont by Oliver. The location, at 789 Ponce de Leon Avenue, puts you a short walk from the BeltLine Eastside Trail and Ponce City Market, with Virginia-Highland, Inman Park and the Old Fourth Ward easy to reach. The trade-offs are noise from the rooftop and the street on weekends, compact standard rooms and a scene that suits fun-seekers more than quiet-seekers.

Ponce de Leon Avenue is one of Atlanta's most colorful streets, a long corridor of old apartment houses, diners, music venues and the giant Ponce City Market, and the Clermont has long been part of its lore. When the hotel above the lounge closed in the 2000s, it seemed destined for demolition. Its revival, completed in 2018, became a symbol of the street's transformation, and the rooftop quickly became a citywide hangout. The hotel's design leans into the building's past with a wink, and its packages and room names nod to film and pop culture.

To stay well, book a room on a higher floor away from the street if you sleep lightly, and expect lively weekend nights. Make a reservation at Tiny Lou's for at least one dinner, and go up to the rooftop early in the evening to get a seat with a skyline view before the crowd arrives. The Clermont Lounge is open to adults who want to see a piece of Atlanta nightlife history; it is cash-heavy, unpolished and entirely its own world. Parking is limited, so this is a hotel to use with rideshares, bikes and your feet.

As a base, Hotel Clermont suits couples, friends' trips and repeat visitors who want neighborhood Atlanta rather than the downtown tourist district. The BeltLine is the main artery: walk north to Piedmont Park and the Botanical Garden or south to Ponce City Market, Inman Park and Krog Street Market. Downtown, the aquarium and the MLK park are a ten- to fifteen-minute ride. It is less suited to families with small children.