Where to stay in Atlanta: the best neighbourhoods and hotels

Downtown is where Atlanta keeps its postcard sights. Centennial Olympic Park, the green legacy of the 1996 Games, is ringed by the Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola and the stadium district, where Mercedes-Benz Stadium and State Farm Arena pull in football, basketball and stadium tours. It is busy by day and, away from the park, quieter after dark, so come for convenience rather than nightlife.

The hotels are big and well placed. The Omni at Centennial Park is joined to State Farm Arena and looks out over the skyline, while the Signia by Hilton, a 40-storey newcomer, faces Mercedes-Benz Stadium. For more character, the Candler occupies the city's first steel skyscraper on Peachtree Street, its Beaux-Arts lobby carefully restored, and Hotel Indigo sits inside a John Portman-designed tower at Peachtree Center.

If you only have a weekend, make it Midtown. This is Atlanta's arts quarter and its most walkable neighbourhood: the High Museum of Art, the Atlanta Botanical Garden and the great green sprawl of Piedmont Park sit within a mile of each other, and the Fox Theatre, a 1920s picture palace with a Moorish skyline of its own, lights up Peachtree Street at night. Restaurants, bars and theatres fill the gaps.

The Four Seasons is the grand address, minutes from the park and about 25 minutes by car from the airport. The Georgian Terrace, a landmark directly opposite the Fox, is the one with stories to tell. Newer arrivals include the boutique Kimpton Shane and the Canopy by Hilton, which has Piedmont Park for a back garden and lends guests bikes to explore it.

Buckhead is where Atlanta dresses up. About six miles north of Downtown, it is a district of mansions on wooded lanes, high-rise offices and two of the South's best-known malls, Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza, facing each other across Peachtree Road. The restaurants are polished, the bars are glossy, and nobody walks very far.

Most of the city's five-star hotels are here. The Waldorf Astoria and the St. Regis, the latter with a full spa and an outdoor pool, are the showpieces. For something less corporate, the Kimpton Sylvan turns a 1950s residential block into a leafy mid-century retreat with gardens and a rooftop bar, and The Tess has a rooftop pool deck with cabanas and skyline views.

Where the city's ring road crosses its northern suburbs, Sandy Springs and Dunwoody form a second, calmer business district known simply as Perimeter. It is office parks, trees and Perimeter Mall rather than sights, about ten miles north of Downtown, but it suits anyone who wants a quiet night and an easy drive.

The Hyatt Regency at Villa Christina feels more like a resort than a business hotel, tucked into a wooded hollow a few minutes from Buckhead. The Crowne Plaza at Ravinia is steps from Perimeter Mall with a patio for an evening beer, and Le Méridien and the Courtyard at Perimeter Center both have seasonal outdoor pools.

Hartsfield-Jackson is one of the world's busiest airports, and College Park, on its western edge, is where to sleep when the flight is early or the arrival late. Nobody comes for the scenery, but the hotels are large, well run and used to guests who stay one night and leave before breakfast. The MARTA train runs from the airport straight into Downtown and Midtown, so a day in the city is perfectly possible.

The Atlanta Airport Marriott is the big all-rounder, with indoor and outdoor pools and three restaurants. The Radisson, under three miles from the terminals, runs a free shuttle every half hour for most of the day, and the Courtyard on Sullivan Road has its own round-the-clock airport shuttle.

Alpharetta, a little under 30 miles north of Downtown, is the suburb other suburbs want to be. It is corporate campuses and golf courses, but also Avalon, an open-air district of upmarket shops and restaurants, the Ameris Bank Amphitheatre for summer concerts and the Big Creek Greenway for a walk or a cycle under the trees.

Hotels are modern and good value against the city centre. The Hilton Alpharetta is within ten minutes of Avalon and the amphitheatre, the Marriott has both indoor and outdoor pools, and the DoubleTree in the Windward district is a smaller, boutique-style option near the golf courses. You will want a car.

North-west of the city, Cobb County mixes small-town Georgia with big-league sport. Marietta has a proper old square of shops and restaurants; Kennesaw Mountain, just beyond, is a Civil War battlefield turned hiking country. Closer in, The Battery is a newly built entertainment district wrapped around Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves, with shops, music venues and bars that are busy whether or not there is a game on.

The Omni at The Battery is the place to be on match day, right beside the ballpark. The Hilton Atlanta/Marietta sits next to an 18-hole golf course two miles from Marietta Square and about 20 miles from Downtown, and the Courtyard and Hampton Inn off the I-75 are sensible bases with a car.