Recommended Cabin in the North Georgia Mountains (Atlanta, Canton: rentals, house)

[equinox63]

I am considering checking out a cabin in the North Georgia Mountains for a family of four for one night on Christmas Day without breaking the bank. Any recommendations? Am I already too late?

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by equinox63

I am considering checking out a cabin in the North Georgia Mountains for a family of four for one night on Christmas Day without breaking the bank. Any recommendations? Am I already too late?

Have you checked to see if there are any short-term rentals available (including on short-term rental platforms like AirBNB, VRBO, etc.)?

If necessary, I guess that you could also consider expanding your search north into the WNC (Western North Carolina), Eastern Tennessee, Southwestern Virginia, West Virginia portion of the greater Blue Ridge Mountains/Southern Appalachian foothills region to improve your chances of finding something, if you are willing to drive that far.

[equinox63]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Have you checked to see if there are any short-term rentals available (including on short-term rental platforms like AirBNB, VRBO, etc.)?

If necessary, I guess that you could also consider expanding your search north into the WNC (Western North Carolina), Eastern Tennessee, Southwestern Virginia, West Virginia portion of the greater Blue Ridge Mountains/Southern Appalachian foothills region to improve your chances of finding something, if you are willing to drive that far.

Thanks for the reply. I think I may have found a spot in Ellijay. Although I speak to the city a lot on here, once you pass Cobb/Gwinnett, my knowledge becomes quite limited. TBH, this would be my first time using an AirBNB and the last time I rented a cabin in North Georgia was over 20 years ago — and that may have been around the Dawsonville area.

I would really not want to drive more than 1.5 to 2 hours from Downtown Atlanta. With that in mind, is Elijay a good option? Are there any nice restaurants in the area that would be open on Christmas Day, or would it be smarter to just bring/buy some food to cook? Would a town on the border of Georgia/Tennessee/North Carolina be nicer in terms of scenery and location than a town like Elijay? I would be traveling with the wife and two “tween” girls.

[aries4118]

Ellijay is pretty…

[y8tiger]

Just food for thought, last time I rented a cabin through VRBO the ones in Mentone, AL were half the price of the ones in the Blue Ridge / Ellijay. Mentone is just under a 2 hour drive from downtown Atlanta. Cloudland Canyon, Desoto Falls, and Little River Canyon are nearby.

IMHO, it would be smarter to bring food than to try to rely on any restaurants in rural areas to be open on Christmas Day.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by equinox63

Thanks for the reply. I think I may have found a spot in Ellijay. Although I speak to the city a lot on here, once you pass Cobb/Gwinnett, my knowledge becomes quite limited. TBH, this would be my first time using an AirBNB and the last time I rented a cabin in North Georgia was over 20 years ago — and that may have been around the Dawsonville area.

I would really not want to drive more than 1.5 to 2 hours from Downtown Atlanta. With that in mind, is Elijay a good option? Are there any nice restaurants in the area that would be open on Christmas Day, or would it be smarter to just bring/buy some food to cook? Would a town on the border of Georgia/Tennessee/North Carolina be nicer in terms of scenery and location than a town like Elijay? I would be traveling with the wife and two “tween” girls.

Ellijay is an excellent option if one is looking for a cabin in a mountainous environment.

The foothills and mountains scenic factor starts rising noticeably when one gets north of Canton and only goes up from there as one gets further north into the North Georgia Mountains region.

Like y8tiger mentioned, it’s probably much better to bring food to cook than to try and rely on restaurants in rural areas being open on Christmas Day.

The only place that I personally know that generally has been guaranteed to be open on Christmas Day is Waffle House.

(There’s a Waffle House in East Ellijay on the east side of Georgia Highway 515 at the stoplight at Maddox Drive.)

But even Waffle House may not be 100% completely guaranteed to open on Christmas Day anymore with the acute staffing issues they’ve been having in the aftermath of the pandemic.

And the mention of the Waffle House in East Ellijay raises the subject of Poole’s Bar-B-Q, which is a legendary North Georgia Mountains barbecue restaurant.

Poole’s Bar-B-Q is located only about 1-2 blocks north of the Waffle House at the GA-515/Maddox Drive stoplight along the access road (Craig Street) that runs along the east side of the GA-515 highway. I don’t know if they would be open on Christmas Day (they very likely will not be open on Christmas Day), but Poole’s would be worth a stop if one can get there when they are open.

[tacosman]

Originally Posted by equinox63

I am considering checking out a cabin in the North Georgia Mountains for a family of four for one night on Christmas Day without breaking the bank. Any recommendations? Am I already too late?

wait....you just what *one* night?

I can't imagine many/maybe any rentals won't have at least a 2-3 night minimum. Also it's not ideal to rent for just one night from the consumer perspective because you're still paying cleaning and other fees even if just one night. So you could be in a situation where the fees and cleaning cost more than the night(even if you were allowed to rent just one night, and like I said > 90% of those type of rentals are going to have a 2 or most likely 3 night minimum at least)

[equinox63]

Originally Posted by tacosman

wait....you just what *one* night?

I can't imagine many/maybe any rentals won't have at least a 2-3 night minimum. Also it's not ideal to rent for just one night from the consumer perspective because you're still paying cleaning and other fees even if just one night. So you could be in a situation where the fees and cleaning cost more than the night(even if you were allowed to rent just one night, and like I said > 90% of those type of rentals are going to have a 2 or most likely 3 night minimum at least)

You're right. We are expanding it to 2 nights. But the spot in Elijah fell through. So I suppose it's back to the drawing board. Although want a spot in a nice naturally scenic environment, we aren't really keen on wood paneling and the bust of a deer on the wall, etc.

[king john IV]

"....1.5 to 2 hours from Downtown Atlanta."

good luck.
for six years,
i drove in downtown
and all around Atlanta.
several times i made it to
Buckhead in less than an hour.

[Citykid3785]

I own a rental cabin in the N GA mountains.

You ARE too late if you want the better places with Mountain View’s and hot tubs. I’d imagine there might be some tier 2/3 cabins still available.

Generally speaking, you are going to want a minimum of two nights to justify the cleaning fee.

Downtown Ellijay is cute and easy to get to, although not quite as in the mountains Blairsville, blue ridge, Helen, Clayton, hiawasee, etc. you can still find wineries and shopping.

Speaking from experience, the restaurants in the small towns generally close on holidays and tend to have poor service in general, I would advise making food.

At worst, you can buy a family meal at Ingles to ease the burden