With hopes for another World Series title higher than a Ronald Acuña Jr. home run, the months between the Atlanta Braves’ April 5 home opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks and the season closer on September 29 promise to be rollicking around Truist Park. Below are locals-approved options for enjoying yourself (when not cheering on the Braves, of course) around the stadium’s bustling live-work-play district—and in the heart of ATL a few miles away:
Stay
Boasting a rooftop pool and deluxe rooms with private balconies peering directly onto the Braves’ diamond, the Omni Hotel at The Battery Atlanta is the district’s more upscale lodging option. The poolside lounge is exactly 582 feet from home plate.
For another familiar brand but with generally lower rates, check out the three-star Aloft Atlanta at The Battery Atlanta. It’s a bit farther from the ballpark (roughly a nine-minute walk) but still squarely tucked among the Battery’s blocks of dining and nightlife.
Eat
Steps away from Truist Park, Tex-Mex hotspot Superica and/or Antico Pizza Napoletana are reliable standards for more laid-back but still mouthwatering eats.
We’d be remiss not to mention our own Garden & Gun Club, which offers a more refined dining and drinking experience (see: the nearly sixty-option bourbon, rye, and Tennessee whiskey list) just a bunt’s distance from a main ballpark entrance, with decor that melds vintage warmth with modern cool.
Just over the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta, the Works warehouse district in “Upper Westside” is rounding into shape with a brewery, boutique shopping, and Your 3rd Spot, an adults-only gaming zone. The thirty-one-vendor food hall also impresses.
Relaxed neighborhood bistro Muss & Turner’s is generally considered one of the best restaurants in Cobb County (where the Bravos play), and it’s located about eight minutes from the stadium by car. (Pssst: Don’t miss Eleanor’s, the chill speakeasy next door.)
Play
As cavernous sports bars with thirty-foot-tall televisions and pub games galore go, Sports & Social is a good time, gameday or not. It’s located just outside the right-field stadium gates.
For a hip destination in the city that’s not too far from the Battery, make a beeline to the Westside’s Interlock district, where Howell Mill Road meets 14th Street. Chock-full of casual eats (Velvet Taco, Humble Pie) and finer fare (Kinjo Room sushi), the open-container hub also sports Atlanta’s first Puttshack, a lively concept that melds mini golf, good food, and brouhaha. For a more casual, dive-bar affair, head across the street to Northside Tavern, a gritty stalwart of Atlanta’s blues scene where absolutely everybody’s welcome.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the popular Atlanta BeltLine—a paved pathway and chain of parks that’s rapidly encircling the city—but don’t know how to approach it? It’s easy: Start at Ponce City Market and walk the Eastside Trail south to Krog Street Market (or vice versa). At less than two miles, that route accomplishes much in the way of sightseeing and fun urban tourism—and burning off those delectable H&F burgers at Truist Park.
Buckhead’s rip-roaring nightlife days may be in the rearview, but the updated (and decidedly upscale) Buckhead Village shopping and dining district is worth the eight-mile jaunt from the stadium, provided Dior handbags and Billy Reid trousers are your thing.
To cap off a day of baseball or urban exploration, take in the sunset—and skyline views from downtown to Buckhead—atop the chicly restored Hotel Clermont in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood. With the city’s most, uh, unique nudie bar in the basement and a taco truck on the roof, this is one of Atlanta’s coolest summer hangs.
