Seven Southern Hotel Rooftop Hotspots
White Limozeen, the Graduate Nashville
Nashville
The view typically steals the show at a rooftop bar, and given its twelfth-floor location in Nashville’s bustling Midtown, White Limozeen certainly checks that box. But before taking it in, your retinas will need to recalibrate to the explosion of pink, red, and white everything. With a name taken from a 1989 Dolly Parton album, the whole concept is a winking tribute to the country icon, down to the giant, er, bust in Dolly’s likeness. Yes, you’ll find bachelorette parties here. You’ll also find creative cocktails and fun eats, including a “Millionaire’s Twinkie” that features caramel crème and gold leaf. Like Dolly used to say, “It takes a lot of money to look this cheap!”
New Orleans
Oh, we get it—like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. This particular roof, converted from what was once a penthouse, attracts cats more of the cool variety, who vibe on an aesthetic meant to evoke a 1940s bohemian loft. “We get that perfect mix of locals unwinding after work, visitors discovering the city one cocktail at a time, and artists, writers, and musicians who give it energy,” says manager Nish Sathyanarayan. “It feels like a place where stories start.” Those stories include sweeping, fourteenth-floor views of the Crescent City Connection bridges, downtown New Orleans, and streetcars rumbling past the hotel’s doorstep on St. Charles Avenue. With all that on hand, Hot Tin is also a pretty good spot for a night to end.
Lost Palm, the Manchester Hotel
Lexington, Kentucky
Beyond the Manchester Hotel’s doors, it’s all Kentucky horse country out there. The elevator ride to the roof, however, functions as a time-and-space warp that delivers you to 1960s South Florida. The large indoor-outdoor space fulfills the sultry theme with tropical plants, teak banquettes, and cabanas, while the menu delivers shrimp empanadas and alina chicken skewers recent from Top Chef contestant Paula Endara. Lost Palm is a prime spot for hanging with friends—if only so you can justify sticking multiple straws into a Bacardi Scorpion Bowl or other oversized, shareable cocktail.
Memphis
When the Peabody’s world-famous ducks aren’t paddling around in the lobby fountain, they take the elevator up to their $200,000 penthouse on the roof. Since 1939, that open, rectangular space with views of the downtown skyline and Mississippi River sunsets has also been beloved by generations of party-prone Memphians. Every Thursday evening from April to August, bars are set up, a local band plugs in, and the rooftop becomes one big open-air dance floor under the glow of the hotel’s iconic red neon sign. Maybe it’s true what the dad in Footloose said about dancing—a newspaper readers’ poll has repeatedly named the Peabody’s rooftop parties as “Best Pick Up Joint.”
La Perla, the Plaza Pioneer Park
El Paso, Texas
If the margarita served at this handsome rooftop bar has some extra sparkle, credit the champagne added to the shaker—and a sprinkling of Hollywood stardust. When eighteen-year-old starlet Elizabeth Taylor wed hotel scion Conrad “Nicky” Hilton, Jr., in 1950, they resided in this former penthouse suite during their tempestuous, eight-month marriage. “Though the interior has evolved over the years,” says general manager Adrian Gonzalez, “the outdoor terraces still offer the same breathtaking view of two countries and three states that Elizabeth herself once admired.” Nighttime skyline views are beguiling, too, and on Friday nights they twinkle to the sounds of live jazz and world music.
Spaceman, Hyatt Centric Buckhead
Atlanta
This indoor-outdoor rooftop bar doesn’t actually pierce the stratosphere, but at fifteen floors up, it sits plenty high enough to deliver commanding views of its Buckhead neighborhood, the neighboring Lenox Square shopping district, and the downtown Atlanta skyline beyond. During and after sunset is an especially inviting time to order a cocktail and maybe some short short-rib sliders to aid your stylish decompression amid the rugs, poufs, and soft lighting of the two terrace lounge spaces.
Savannah, Georgia
The Perry Lane Hotel could have surrendered its rooftop to elevated views of the verdant parks and church spires of Savannah’s historic district. Instead, it collaborated with a team of students and faculty from the Savannah College of Art and Design to create an attention-grabbing aerie it brashly calls the “peacock of the party.” A long, green-tiled bar beckons with botanical cocktails, but you might want to wander to the roof’s edge for a cushy seat amid oasis-like tropical plants and overhead string lights. “Indulging in the present moment comes easily up here,” says management team member Andrea Locorini.
