Isn’t it time to take a deep breath, pause, and collectively calm down? Here’s 5 Atlanta-area Airbnb spots that let you shed your baggage instead of checking it…
Like Uber and Lyft are the taxis you take when you don’t want a taxi, Airbnb is the hotel you stay at when you don’t want to stay at a hotel. The amenities are usually sparse, but the flip side is a unique stay in one-of-a-kind locations.
Atlanta is both a getaway and a stayway (yup, I made that word up) for for all kinds of people. And you don’t have to be an out-of-towner here for a business conference, or a vacationer looking for a neat place to use as a base while you explore the heart and heat of the city. Or even trying to maximize elbow room when visiting family and friends (“No, no, I promise the couch folds out and it’s no trouble…”).
The great thing about Airbnb is that people open their homes and properties to strangers like they are family. They literally took the concept of friends crashing on your couch and family staying in the guest bedroom and turned it into an accommodation disruptor.
Even in a busy city of nearly 6 million people, oases of gentility, grace, charm and comfort are easy to find. I took a look recently at 5 places I wouldn’t mind getting away to. I used a pretty simple criteria in selecting the locations here: Does it look like someplace I would stay?
Not only am I interested in staying at these cool places, all around the town I live in, I’m excited about the idea! It just proves you don’t have to look far for a place to escape to when you need it.
This one is great for tiny living without giving up the comfort. Situated in a large private backyard, this Airbnb has a great location, a great set-up, and a great price.
This five-star location offers easy access to some of the hottest restaurants and shopping
in ATL, Ponce City Market, Krog Market, and the Beltline. And for being tiny, it doesn’t skimp on comforts, providing room for up to 4 people. It also includes:
- 2 Queen size beds
- Full kitchen
- Full bathroom.
- Huge private backyard with a large farm table, ping pong and solo stove fire pit.
- High speed internet
- Hairdryer
- Iron
- Games
- Washer/dryer
- HBO, Netflix, etc…
The hosts are nearby and ready to afford a warm welcome, but willing to respect your privacy, too. A great tiny house with a big appeal.
2. Tepee in the City at the Goat Homestead:
Yes, someone put up a tent in their backyard. Yes, they rent it out. Yes, there are goats, rabbits, chickens, cats and dogs.
Yes, it looks awesome!
5 star rated and right in an downtown ATL neighborhood, “Tepee in the City” provides lodging you just aren’t like to find too many other places. Nothing faced pace here, you can stretch out on a hammock or relax in the hot tub or garden. Somehow there’s a zipline and a bonafide treehouse. The owner even offers reiki treatments, if you schedule in advance.
Its not all room service and fresh towels: you use the kitchen and bathroom inside the main residence, shared with other guests. But who said tepee life wasn’t social?
In addition to a canvas draped over some poles, you get:
- AC for the summer
- Heater and headed mattress pad for winter
- Queen bed and seating area
- Electricity
- Dorm-style fridge
- Water
- Kettle
- French press
- Coffee, tea, breakfast items and fresh eggs (remember the chickens?) provided by the hosts
- Access to a kitchenette and bathroom, shared with other guests
- Access to laundry room
- Free parking
- Goats, chickens, rabbits, cats, dogs… Is that not the coolest?
The host live on the property and are happy to socialize with you or let you do your own thing (quietly, you are still in the city). You can temporarily adopt one of the many animals on the property for comfort, or bring your own pet with advance notice and a $10 upcharge.
I would totally stay here!
3. The Center of the Universe:
For something completely different, how about a private bedroom and bathroom in one
of the most historic and high-end locations in ATL? This location is situated in an amazing art deco building in the heart of Fairlie-Poplar district, the cornerstone of Atlanta. Offered on AirBnB by a busy architect who travels frequently, which means you are likely to have the place to yourself. But who’d stay indoors when you are close to so many downtown locations like CNN Center, World of Coca Cola, the Georgia Aquarium, Phillips Arena, and tons more?
However long you stay, you can expect:
- A private bedroom and bathroom with walk-in closet in a luxury condo with stunning views of Atlanta
- High speed internet
- A rooftop terrace
- Washer/dryer
- Queen bed
- Access to the whole apartment, including kitchen and living room (owner’s bedroom off limits)
- No TV (read that again, slowly. Breath)
- The Atlanta Library is right across the street (hint, hint – reference the no TV thing above)
- Access to the clubhouse and fitness center
Who wouldn’t want a friend to crash with in a city like this with a crib like this? The owner is frequently away traveling but when in residence he is very friendly and welcomes questions and conversations. My first question is: how do I get a place like this? Answer: rent this place on Airbnb.
4. Atlanta Alpaca Treehouse in the Bamboo Forest:
This is not the shoddy reclaimed palette-boards treehouse of our youth. When you stay here, you are in for an experience beyond just a cool place to lay your head.
This isn’t just something put together on a whim. This hideaway tree house is built with:
- Reclaimed antiques
- Luxury beds
- Electricity
- AC and heat
- Marble baths
- Located in a private bamboo forest
- Queen bed
- Grazing alpacas (does anything say “we’re not in Kansas anymore” than grazing alpacas?
- Bali Style swinging rope bed (like the kind you see your friends relaxing in on their vacation photos)
You spend the night fifteen feet off the ground while bamboo creaks around you. Roosters awaken you because you are on an actual working farm in the city of Atlanta. Seriously, alpacas and a couple of llamas roam the grounds. In case you thought goats were passe.
The treehouse is getting famous, with multiple TV shows, movies, music videos, and home shows filming there. It is a great place for weddings (and honeymoons) and other unique getaways. And it is not cheap. A night in this five-star rated location starts around $350. But when the roosters wake you up to the sunlight dappling through the skylights in an 80 year-old bamboo forest, surrounded by reclaimed relics of Atlanta history, you’ll appreciate the value. Do come prepared to rough it a little, though. There’s potable water for washing, a coffee maker, and a composting toilet, but no mention of a shower, hot water, or a kitchen in the treehouse. The marble bathroom (which is fully functional and includes a walk-in shower) is a short walk down a path through the bamboo forest. “Short” being relative to how bad you have to go…
If treehouse luxury is to much for you, the owners do have other properties on Airbnb that rent for less. And you still get the grazing alpacas.
Okay, this is like something out of a comedy movie. An everyday guy needs to impress
his fiance’s parents/his boss/his high school rival/ the supermodel who’s inexplicably falling in love with him, so he rents a $2.6 M mansion, hires a taxi driver to be the butler, recruits a circus of characters to pose as staff and friends, and becomes the beloved quirky new neighbor people don’t know whether to love or hate. Until the real homeowner returns from Europe or Bali or Canada or wherever rich people go on vacation, and the gig is up.
That is a scene I soooooo want to play out.
There is a luxury mansion you and up to 9 of your friends can rent. Not a room, not a guesthouse, not a converted garage. A mansion. A five bedroom, six and a half bath, gated mansion in the heart of Buckhead, minutes away from Lenox, Mercedes Benz Stadium, and all the shopping, nightlife, clubs and restaurants you need.
You get the whole thing. The five bedrooms, the 6.5 baths, the yard, the fire pit out back, the fireplace on the patio, the open kitchen, the 65 inch TV in the living room…
Look, it’s going to cost $575 and up to rent this place, so you know its something you are gonna want some friends/family to chip in on, but there will be plenty of room for everyone to stay. You can’t party hardy or host any special events, according to the owner, so scratch the backyard bbq where you invite your nemesis from college to see how far you’ve risen. Maybe you just want to see what a night in the lap of luxury looks and feels like. The Four Seasons will rent you a room, or I guess a suite, and it will be cool and all, and it will cost $600 a night and all… But this is a mansion. Like, with a gate and ten-foot steel and glass front doors. Who’s gonna know your not a millionaire if its just one night? Go on, live large.
