Gastro retentive floating drug delivery systems (GFDDS) of Atenolol, an antihypertensive drug, with an oral bioavailability of only 50% (because of its poor absorption from lower gastrointestinal tract) have been designed. Methocel, polysaccharides (e.g., chitosan), was used as the polymer and sodium bicarbonate as gas generating agent to reduce floating lag time. The tablets were prepared by direct compression method. The optimized formulation containing Atenolol 100 mg, Hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose 35 mg and Sodium bicarbonate 35 mg has displayed almost first order release kinetics with a floating lag time of only 101 second. This formulation released more than 96% drug in 6 hours. This study proves that GFDDS of Atenolol can be designed using, Hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose as polymer, which provides nearly first order release kinetics and thus possible enhancement of oral bioavailability of the drug.