The Ellis Hotel in Atlanta - A FAB-U-LOUS Hotel!

This boutique hotel re-opened its doors last October on Atlanta's famed Peachtree Street. Following a $28 million dollar renovation this resulted in a contemporary style hotel, with a Southern twist.

This hotel started out as the Winecoff Hotel in 1913 but burned in a well-known hotel fire -the country's deadliest - in 1946. That blaze took 119 lives. Since that time, it was revived as a hotel, then a senior apartment house and most recently, a structure that was boarded up and an eyesore in this bustling neighborhood.

The Ellis Hotel is now a serene oasis with a balcony overlooking Peachtree Street that is ideal for dining in nice weather and enjoying a Mint Julep Martini or a Georgia Peach Vodka. Both of these are signature drinks at the hotel's e Street Lounge.

Over 130 guestrooms and suites are beautifully furnished in warm earth tones, featuring bamboo paneled walls. The headboards are of a rich, ostrich leather and the bedding is very plush and comes with a pillow menu. Other in-room amenities include high-speed internet access, a 32" flat-screen TV, anipod docking station, executive work area, and a mini-bar. In each carefully appointed bathroom you'll find granite counters, limestone walls and floors, Kohler rain-shower heads, and Ermenegildo Zegna toiletries. Their suites include a living area with a sofa bed. A valet is available daily for an extra fee.

There is even a "women-only" floor with secure access. Those accommodations include curling and straightening irons.

Also on the premises, you'll find a fitness center and a business center with two executive meeting rooms. They serve both a full breakfast buffet or continental breakfast and their e Street Grille has an excellent menu including selections such as Ellis Crab Cakes, Grilled Chicken Muffaletta, and Shrimp and Grits. Their scrumptious desserts include Fried Peach Pie served with cinnamon ice cream and the Ellis Coke Float with vanilla bean ice cream. (The World of Coca Cola museum is just blocks from the front door).

Just outside the doors of this elegant hotel, you'll find a myriad of things to see, places to shop and restaurants and bars to visit. You might want to start out visiting the heart of this neighborhood - Centennial Olympic Park, the 21-acre park that was built for the 1996 Summer Olympics. Today this is a popular place where children splash in the water fountains and regular concerts draw evening crowds.

The World of Coca Cola mentioned above is just north of the hotel, having moved nearby in a greatly expanded site from its former location next to the Underground Atlanta entertainment complex. Here you'll learn about Coca Cola from the time it was first served (or, shoved across the counter at Jacobs Pharmacy), to the present day.

Be sure you make time to go to the Georgia Aquarium. This is the world's largest aquarium that opened in late 2005. The 550,000-sq.-ft., ship-shaped structure is an 8-million-gallon home to 100,000 animals of 500 different species. The aquarium's five galleries each feature its own performance, including the Ocean Voyager's 100-ft.-long underwater tunnel and 6.2-million-gallon tank inhabited by large whale sharks, to the Tropical Diver gallery with its vivid coral reef teeming with a rainbow of fishes.

You're also close to CNN where you can take a tour. Or, perhaps enjoy a baseball game when the home team is in town at the nearby "Turner Field."

If you get lost or can't decide what to do next, look for members of the Ambassador Force, a pith-helmeted hospitality team that was created help the city's visitors. Just look for the guys and guys zipping around town on their Segways.

No matter what you do in this Southern gem, you're sure to have a great time.