What To Do In New Orleans: Our Guide For Everything NOLA
New Orleans is one of the few cities we keep going back to, and every time we do we end up recommending it to somebody else within the week. Here’s what we’d tell you before you go.
Affiliate Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. If you book through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It is a small way to support our adventures and keep the guides coming. Full disclosure →
There’s history, live music, cocktails, art, football, parades, and some of the best food in the country, and it’s all packed into a city you can mostly walk. That combination is rare, and it’s why New Orleans works for couples who want a big trip without a long flight or a week of PTO.
Where to stay in New Orleans
This is the decision that shapes your whole trip, and it comes down to how much walking you’re willing to do and how much noise you can sleep through.
We’ve stayed in several different neighborhoods across our visits, in both hotels and Airbnbs, and what we’ve found is that price and location shift a lot depending on the time of year and how many beds you need. If you’re traveling with more than two people, price out both before you commit, because the gap moves around more than you’d expect.
The neighborhoods that actually matter for visitors
New Orleans has plenty of neighborhoods, but only a handful are worth considering as a base. Here’s the short version.
| Neighborhood | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| French Quarter | First-time visitors. Jackson Square, Royal Street shopping, Café du Monde, and the Carousel Bar are all here. | Loud, and the closer you are to Bourbon the louder it gets. |
| Marigny / Bywater | Live music. Frenchmen Street is here, along with colorful shotgun homes and Creole cottages. | A walk from the Quarter, though an easy and flat one. |
| Garden District | Quiet, historic mansions, and Magazine Street for shopping and food. | Further out. You’ll rely on the St. Charles streetcar. |
| Arts / Warehouse District | Galleries, museums, and the trendier restaurants. | Less atmospheric at night than the Quarter. |
| Central Business District | Modern upscale hotels, easy Quarter access, and the Superdome. | Feels like a business district, because it is one. |
| Tremé | History. It’s the oldest African American neighborhood in the country. | Mostly residential, so not a base for a short trip. |
If it’s your first visit, stay in the French Quarter but ask for a room away from Bourbon Street. You get the walkability without the 3 AM karaoke. On a return trip, the Marigny puts you closer to the music and further from the crowds.
The streets worth knowing
Bourbon Street
Thirteen blocks of neon, balconies, and bars. It’s the mecca for a certain kind of night out, and it draws enormous crowds during carnival season. Worth seeing once. Whether you go back is a matter of taste.
Bars we’d point you to: Pat O’Brien’s for a Hurricane, The Old Absinthe House, Tropical Isle, Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar, The Cat’s Meow if you want karaoke, and The Swamp.
Lafitte’s is the one we’d send anyone to even if they hate Bourbon Street. It’s dimly lit, largely candlelit, and one of the oldest buildings in the country, dating to the 1700s.
You’ll only see locals on Bourbon Street on Sundays. That’s the day most tourists leave, so residents get their city back for a few hours during the changeover.
Frenchmen Street
This is where the live music is, and there’s essentially always some playing. If you’re in the Quarter, our favorite way to get there is to grab a frozen Irish coffee from Molly’s at the Market, walk down Decatur, do a little shopping on the way, and arrive about a mile later. It’s flat and easy, and the walk is half the fun.
Venues we like: The Spotted Cat, Three Muses, The Maison, and The Blue Nile. The Frenchmen Art Market runs late, and Dat Dog handles the part of the night where you need food immediately.
Canal Street
The main shopping drag, and the road that connects downtown to uptown. Most of the major hotel chains sit along it, and it serves as the primary parade route during celebrations.
Worth a stop: Canal Place for upscale shopping, Harrah’s if you want to lose some money, and the Sazerac Bar inside the historic Roosevelt New Orleans. The espresso martini at the Sazerac is genuinely excellent.
St. Claude Avenue
Where you go when you’re ready to be around locals rather than visitors. Murals, an artsy feel, and it runs through the Marigny and Bywater out to the Ninth Ward. Look for St. Roch Market food hall, the Music Box Village, and the AllWays Lounge & Cabaret, which has the best live performances we’ve seen in the city.
What to eat in New Orleans
The food is the reason a lot of people come back, and it’s the thing we think about most between visits. Start with the dishes, then worry about the restaurants.
| Dish | What it is |
|---|---|
| Beignets | Deep-fried dough squares buried in powdered sugar. Order them with a café au lait. |
| Gumbo | A stew built on a roux base with shellfish or meat, bell peppers, celery, and onion. |
| Jambalaya | Rice cooked with sausage, chicken, seafood, vegetables, and spice. Hearty and rich. |
| Crawfish étouffée | Crawfish smothered in a spiced sauce and served over rice. |
| Po’ boy | A sandwich on French bread, usually fried seafood, with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayo. |
Where to eat
Café du Monde is the one everybody knows, and it earns it. Get the beignets with a café au lait, which is coffee with chicory cut with an equal part of hot milk. Go early or late unless you want to queue.
Beyond that, places we’d happily send you: Bacchanal Wine for the backyard and the live music, Mother’s for old-school po’ boys, Coop’s Place for jambalaya in a room with zero pretense, Willa Jean and Ruby Slipper for brunch, La Petite Grocery and Lilette on Magazine Street for a nicer dinner, and Court of the Two Sisters for the courtyard.
And because we can’t help ourselves, there’s a Pittsburgh cheesesteak place called Yinzer’s. We know. We went anyway.
How to get around New Orleans
Don’t rent a car. Parking is expensive, the streets weren’t built for it, and you won’t need it.
Most of what you want is walkable, and the streetcars handle the rest. The St. Charles line runs through the Garden District and is worth riding purely for the views. The Canal line gets you to Mid-City and the above-ground cemeteries. Rideshares fill in the gaps late at night, which is when you’ll actually want them.
Best time to visit New Orleans
There’s no bad time, but the seasons are genuinely different experiences.
| Season | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Spring (March to May) | Mild weather, and both Jazz Fest and the French Quarter Festival land in this window. Busy, and worth it. |
| Summer (June to August) | Hot and humid, with regular afternoon thunderstorms. Cheapest hotels of the year. |
| Fall (September to November) | Cooling off, fewer visitors, and Halloween in New Orleans with the locals is something else entirely. |
| Winter (December to February) | Holiday decorations through December, then Mardi Gras season kicks off in January with parades running into February. |
If you want the city at its best without the peak crowds or the heat, aim for late October or November. If you want Mardi Gras, book far earlier than feels reasonable and expect to pay for it.
Is New Orleans worth visiting?
Yes, and it’s one of the few American cities we’d say that about without qualifying it.
What makes it work is density. You get history, live music, extraordinary food, and genuine architecture inside a few square miles you can cover on foot. For a couple with limited PTO, that matters more than a longer list of attractions spread across a city you’d need a car for.
The honest caveat is that Bourbon Street is not the city, and if that’s all you see you’ll come home thinking New Orleans is louder and shallower than it actually is. Walk to Frenchmen. Ride the streetcar. Eat somewhere that isn’t on a main drag.
Frequently asked questions
Get the next guide before we go
Honest destination guides, PTO-stacking strategies, and the couple travel tips that actually work. One email a month.
Join the Passport Crew →
