Father /son trip, Home of the braves

[lymmbrave]

Hi, ive just discovered this site, fantastic! seems like there are lots of helpful, sensible members, such a nice change from other sports! Anyway im planning a trip to Atlanta for six days end of June / july to celebrate my son finishing his 'a' levels, have the d'backs, Nats and Cubbies lined up. Been a Brave since 1993 when I was there with my wife but reading recent reviews of the city its difficult to find a place thats convenient for the MARTA, reasonably priced, where Im not going to get eaten alive by bed bugs, cock roaches or shot by a homeless person after a dime. Have kind of settled on the Buckhead area but still un easy, has anybody got any recent experience of baseball in the city, we are looking for a clean hotel, sports bars, and five Braves victories (ok so you cant have everything). Thanks

[AlextheBrave]

I went about 3 years ago and stayed in this Holiday Inn by the Centennial Olympic Park

http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/atl...lib/hoteldetail

Nothing special but its clean, quiet. etc and exactly what you would expect from a chain like this. Decent location, about 5 min walk from 2 separate MARTA stops and slap bang in the middle of downtown next to the Olympic Park and the other tourist stuff, CNN Center etc. Few sports bars nearby, I mainly went in Hooters because I’m classy like that but they have sports on multiple screens.

One tip, don’t get the MARTA to Turner Field. The nearest stop is a good mile walk from the ballpark and in the summer temperatures you don’t want to be walking that distance unless you like your clothes sticking to your body. Use the Braves shuttle thing that goes from the centre of downtown right to the ballpark, I seem to remember that it is free with your MARTA card.

Any other questions fire away

[paultrevII]

I agree with what Alex said about the Holiday Inn. My wife and I stayed there in 2005 and 2007. On each occasion, we went to a couple of Braves games before travelling elsewhere. There are frequent conventions in Atlanta, which will affect hotel availability and prices. It's worth making a reservation as soon as you can, but keep an eye on the room rate so you can cancel and rebook if it drops.

Downtown gets deserted at night, so can feel a bit creepy, but we never felt threatened. It would be our choice of area to stay. Buckhead is great for shoppers, but not much else, if my recollection is correct.

We paid cash on the shuttle buses, not having MARTA cards. Couple of $$.

[StewartB]

I stayed there too, in 2010! I was even "Guest of the Day" which got me a free breakfast which was great, and a wad of tokens for free drinks at their bar - which was a shame because I don't do bars, but my friend from work (passing through on his way to meet a customer!) and other people were pleased with the tokens

I concur with AlexTheBrave that the train is hopeless for Turner Field and you need to use the shuttle bus. Of course, things may now have changed, but in 2010, it was not really well advertised (IMHO) but locals seemed to know about it. You can get to the departure point via the mall near the hotel - the hotel staff told me about all it.

If you like the sea and life therein, the Georgia Aquarium is one of the largest, if not the largest, in the USA (in 2010).

I'd have liked to do the CNN tour, but ran out of time. I'm not interested in Coca Cola, so didn't do their tour.

Ticket prices are mid-range, I'd say - I paid around $85 to sit in section 101L, row 22, seat 107 directly behind the plate which I would classify as obstructed view but being Braves games, overcrowding is rarely an issue so you can usually move one seat to the side easily.