Updated March 2022.

The Big Easy

New Orleans is a cultural hub, having French and Spanish roots leading to a strong creole culture while playing a pivotal role in America's past due to its location at the Mississippi River delta. It has many nicknames, from the Paris of the South to the birthplace of Jazz to Crawfish Town, but the most popular one may refer to the ease that African American entertainers could land gigs here. 

​Since Hurricane Katrina devastated the town in 2005, New Orleans (or NOLA) has bounced back immensely well, and come late February/early March, New Orleans continues to boast one of the biggest Mardi Gras celebrations.

Overview

Path is ~ 9 miles of walking.
  • 6:00 – 7:30 AM: Crescent Park and Rusty Rainbow Bridge - city park with great morning views
  • 7:30 – 8:00 AM: Café du Monde - famous for beignets and cafe au lait 
  • 8:00 – 8:30 AM: The Moonwalk Riverfront Park - riverwalk alongside the Mississippi River
  • 8:30 – 9:00 AM: Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral - historic park and cathedral
  • 9:00 – 10:00 AM: Louis Armstrong Park - park with sculptures, bridges, and the historic Congo Square
  • 10:00 – 11:30 AM: Voodoo Tour (not offered on Mondays and Tuesdays) - learn about NOLA's voodoo history
  • 11:30 AM – 12:00 PM: Bourbon Street - famous street in the French Quarter
  • 12:00 – 1:00 PM: Lunch in French Quarter - dine in the most famous district
  • 1:00 – 4:00 PM: New Orleans City Park - large parks known for oak trees and gardens
  • 4:00 – 6:00 PM: Garden District - opulent neighborhood
  • 6:00 – 8:00 PM: Commander’s Palace - fine dining establishment
  • 8:00 – 10:00 PM: Jazz Clubs or Ghost Tours - explore NOLA jazz or learn about NOLA's haunted past
  • 10:00 – 12:00 PM: French Quarter Nightlife - clubs and bars within the French Quarter
​Click the star to add the map to your Google Maps!​ To view it, simply open Google Maps, navigate to the Menu, choose “Your Places,” click "Maps", and voila, the map should be added.

Getting Around

To/From Airport
​Unfortunately, New Orleans’s major airport, Louis Armstrong International Airport (MSY) is located far from the French Quarter, but there is public transit that will take one downtown:
  • Bus JET E1: 75 minutes, costs $2 one-way and pay with cash.
  • ​Bus RTA 202 45 minutes, costs $1.25 one-way and pay with Jazzy Pass (see below).
Around New Orleans
​Within the city, to ride the streetcars, buses, or ferries, New Orleans RTA utilizes Jazzy Passes.

One can download the Le Pass app to buy tickets and show to drivers. Or one can buy physical Jazzy Passes at ticket vending machines at the following locations (also shown on the map). 
  • 2817 Canal Street 
  • Canal at N. Peters RTA Shelter 
  • Canal at City Park Ave. (Cemeteries) RTA Shelter 
  • Canal at Bourbon St. RTA Shelter 

These Jazzy Passes will need to be dipped into the fare machine to be activated during use.

Fare prices: $1.25 one-way, $3 for a one-day pass. See their website for more information on prices. 

1-Day Plan

6:00 - 7:30 AM: Crescent Park and Rusty Rainbow Bridge
A refurbished park besides the Mississippi River, it's a great place for a nice morning walk and to watch the sunrise. Starting at the Rusty Rainbow bridge, one can enter the gardens and see the beautiful greenspace. Walking north, there is a paved area for roller skating and yoga. One can still see remnants of the city's industrial and maritime past.
7:30 - 8:00 AM: Cafe du Monde
Famous open-air coffee shop built in 1862 and is known for its café du lait and beignets. Their chicory-blended coffee (tastes like coffee) was developed by the Creoles during the Civil War and their beans are now shipped nationally. Recommend heading here right when they open, since their prominence draws long lines, otherwise, head later in the evening.
8:00 - 8:30 AM: The Moonwalk Riverfront Park
Starting at Jackson Square, this mile-long walkway was a concrete levee built against the flooding of the Mississippi River. Its name stems from Mayor Maurice “Moon” Landrieu’s mission to revitalize New Orleans. One can walk along the waterfront to see monuments, structures, and the beauty of the river.
8:30 - 9:00 AM: Jackson Square & St. Louis Cathedral.
Historic park where, in 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was signed. It is designed after the Place des Vosges in Paris and was dedicated to the seventh U.S. President and, before that, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans, Andrew Jackson, with an equestrian statue of him in the middle.

St. Louis Cathedral is the oldest Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United Sates and was dedicated to King Louis IX of France. The church was rebuilt three times, the third time due to the Great New Orleans Fire of 1788. There are three steeples with the final steeple added in 1819 after the Battle of New Orleans victory in 1815. Around the other sides of the square, there are the Pontalba Buildings known for their lacy ironwork galleries.
9:00 - 10:00 AM: Louis Armstrong Park
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 (9:00 AM – 3:45 PM)
Dedicated to Louis Armstrong, this city park is known for beautiful statues and sculptures, fountains, and Congo Square, a historic place where African Americans gathered to meet, sell goods, dance, and celebrate. Voodoo practitioners still believe this space contains a lot of spirit and serves as spiritual center.
Cemeteries in New Orleans are quite different, for the high water table forced bodies to be buried in “cities of the dead” of mausoleums and raised tombs. This cemetery offers 45-minute long tours every 15-30 minutes from opening to closing, showing tombs such as the Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau, and the pyramid tomb of Nicolas Cage.
10:00 - 11:30 AM: Voodoo Tour (Not offered on Mondays and Tuesdays)
​The free walking tour (pay what you will) begins at the Louis Armstrong Park entrance and provides interesting history into voodoo, discussing the history while debunking myths. One visits Voodoo Authentica, a Voodoo store and temple, as well as the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum.
11:30 AM - 12:00 PM: Bourbon Street
Bourbon Street is probably the most famous street in New Orleans, boasting the French Quarter’s liveliest and wildest parties. For those seeking bars, clubs, and nightlife, this area is a great place to be, but it’s also fun to walk through during daytime and see parts of the French Quarter in the daytime. 
​For a list of suggested restaurants, consult the Restaurants section.
12:00 - 1:00 PM: Lunch in French Quarter
The French Quarter is the heart and cultural center of New Orleans and is home to some of the most well-known restaurants. It is a very touristy area and especially while walking through in the daytime, after a night of parties, the streets can be quite dirty. But take time to appreciate the three hundred years of cultural blending, to create a distinct architectural area, with  casement windows and wooden shutters, secluded courtyards, dormer windows on the roof, and iron-wrought railings with designs and symbols The full-length gallery balconies are a “Creole” influence and if you’re visiting during Mardi Gras, is where people will stand to throw beads down to people on the streets.
A little far from the French Quarter (3 miles), one can take Bus 91 or the streetcar along Canal Street. It’s not the most exciting walking route, but it is walkable. 
1:00 - 4:00 PM: City Park
Picture
Singing Tree
One of the oldest parks in the U.S.A., this massive park was founded in 1854. There are a lot of beautiful trails, green spaces, a botanical garden, a labyrinth, a sculpture garden, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. It is known for its oak trees, with the 600- to 800-year-old McDonough Oak trees and the Singing Tree, another Oak tree covered with windchimes.

Given the size of City Park, I would recommend renting a bike at Wheel Fun Rentals beside Bike Lake to make one’s way to Scout Island and the north part of the park; however, there is plenty to see and do in the south part of the park.

For those who didn’t have a chance to try Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter, there's another location here that is generally less crowded.
It can be difficult to access the Garden District from City Park, but Bus 27 is a great option!
4:00 - 6:00 PM: Garden District
The Garden District is considered uptown since it is “up the Mississippi River”. Unlike the French Quarter, where the Creole lived, the Americans who settled in this neighborhood wanted to distance themselves from the francophone influences and the additional land allowed plantation mansions to have enormous gardens. Over time, the gardens became more residential lands. Considered the most opulent neighborhood, the historic houses resemble mansions. Walking along St. Charles Avenue or Prytania Street (parallel streets) are filled with beautiful houses.
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If one has time before dinner, there’s the famous gothic Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 that has a weathered look adding to its creepiness.
6:00 - 8:00 PM: Commander's Palace
Commander’s Place is a legacy restaurant in the Garden District that boasts some of the finest New Orleans gastronomy since 1893. Within the teal and white mansion, there are multiple rooms, a garden, and staff attend to everyone’s needs. It has world-famous turtle soup, bread pudding souffle with a whiskey sauce, and creole seafood bouillabaisse.

​While they are known for their 25-cent martinis for lunch, this is only available on Thursdays and Fridays with jazz brunches on Saturdays and Sundays. This means that dinner is usually the best option for a meal.

Since it is a fine dining establishment, there is a cocktail attire dress code.
To return back to the French Quarter, there is a streetcar along St. Charles Avenue.
​New Orleans comes alive at night. There are many great options to explore the area:
8:00 - 10:00 PM: Jazz Clubs
  1. Head to a concert at Preservation Hall, a music venue created in 1961 for Traditional New Orleans Jazz. Be forewarned that there is no AC in the building and that all seating is on wooden benches, so it’s not fancy, but the music is worth it.
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  2. For a less formal experience, head to Frenchmen Street, where many clubs offer live jazz and drinks. Some well-known spots are The Spotted Cat and Blue Nile, but one can also wander around and find courtyards full of live music. For instance, the Royal Frenchmen Hotel and Bar has live bands that play there
Ghost Tours
For those wanting a spookier time and to explore the French Quarter at night, there are a variety of ghost tours that not only explain New Orleans’s history, but also bring you to haunted locations.
10:00 PM - 1:00 AM: French Quarter Nightlife
If one is still ready for night adventures, there are many clubs and bars ready to serve music and drinks. One of the most famous is Pat O’Brien’s (closed on Mondays and Tuesdays), where the Hurricane cocktail was invented. There is the main bar, patio, and piano lounge (open Thursday through Saturday in the late evenings). Another bar is Tropical Isle’s Bayou Club, where they serve Hand Grenade cocktails which are as strong as a Long Island Iced Tea and have been competing with the Hurricane for almost 40 years. Craving a midnight snack, look no further than Vieux Carre Pizza, which opens until 3 AM and is a local favorite.

History/Culture

  • Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve (0.5 hour, $0): This is a visitor center providing history and traditions of New Orleans. It is a small exhibit with great information. At 10 AM on Tuesdays through Saturdays, park rangers provide history talks and help answer questions. While Jean Lafitte was a pirate who illegally traded slaves, his assistance in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 during the War of 1812 led to his prominence. The reserve to the south is dedicated to him and is a national park where one can wander and explore the bayou. 
  • The National WWII Museum (4+ hours, $32): Massive museum dedicated to the WWII history. There are a lot of interactive exhibits, a 4D theatre, and actual planes and submarines.
  • The Historic New Orleans Collection (1 hour, $0): Museum with exhibits showcasing the history and culture of NOLA and southern Louisiana.
  • New Orleans Pharmacy Museum (1 hour, $10, Closed on Sundays and Mondays): 19th-century apothecary converted into a museum to showcase antique relics and collections showing the history of medicine. At 1 PM on weekdays, there is a free guided tour, but one can also do a self-guided tour.
  • Mardi Gras World Tour (1 hour, $22, free shuttles to site): If you don’t happen to come during Mardi Gras, but want to learn more about it, there is an opportunity to walk through studios where the massive floats are created, dress in costumes, and eat King Cake, which is impossible to find outside of Mardi Gras season.
Tours Around the City
  • Whitney Plantation (2 hours, $25-$32, Closed on Tuesdays): A restored, former plantation that educates visitors on the impact and legacy of slavery. One can choose to do either a self-guided or a guided tour, visiting different buildings on the premise and learning through exhibits, artwork, and memorials.
  • Swamp Tour (2 hours without transit, $20-$40): There are a variety of tours that will pick you up from New Orleans and drive you out to a swamp, where one can see alligators and learn about nature on the swamp. One also has a chance to hold a baby alligator

Restaurants

The food here is some of the best I've had in all of America. It has Creole, Cajun, Soul, French, Spanish, and Southern cultures fusing together to create some notable dishes. In fact, some of the original restaurants that created the dishes still exist. Since they are also located near Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico, and the bayou environment, there is a lot of fresh seafood that I would also highly recommend trying.

Please note that all the restaurants on this list all offer different types of food, and I’ve only listed their specialties based on my preferences and locals’ recommendations. These are in no particular order:
Breakfast/Brunch
  • Brennan’s: Invented the Bananas Foster in the 1950’s. They are also known for their Eggs Hussarde (NOLA dish consisting of poached eggs with ham and English muffins, originally Holland husks) and Brandy Milk Punch.
  • Court of Two Sisters: Buffet brunches with live jazz music in a comfortable courtyard. Excellent turtle soup if one can’t go to Commander’s Palace.
  • Cafe Beignet: Another place known for their delicious beignets. Lines can be ridiculously long due to its popularity. There's also a coupon for a free Cafe au Lait with any purchase.
  • New Orleans Vampire Café: As the name suggests, this vampire-themed café offers specialty cocktails with delicious French-based foods.
Bananas Foster at Brennan's
Lunch/Dinner
Sandwiches:
  • Parkway Bakery & Tavern: Overstuffed po-boys with all the usual fixin’s–oyster, shrimp and catfish. Surf’n’turf (fried shrimp + chopped roast beef, smother in gravy). Beyonce and Obama both visited.
  • Central Grocery and Deli: A small Italian market known for their muffuletta sandwiches, consisting of ham, salami, cheese, and olive.

Creole/Seafood:
  • Gumbo Shop: Best Gumbo title in the New Orleans’ poll every year since 1999. Recommend the gumbo sampler (duck rouillard, chicken andouille, and seafood and okra) and the creole combination platter (crayfish étouffée, jambalaya, and the shrimp creole) and the creole combination plate.
  • Drago’s: Seafood restaurant known for their delicious chargrilled oysters, but they offer a lot of great seafood dishes as well.
  • Pêche Seafood Grill: A mix of South American, Spanish, and Louisiana cuisine, they serve great seafood and fresh oysters.
  • Mambo’s: The only rooftop bar on Bourbon Street. They’re known for gator tail bites, oysters Rockefeller, Louisana crabcakes, blackened redfish lafourche, Louisana crab cakes, and praline brownies.
  • Tujague’s: Second oldest restaurant in the French Quarter, they are known for their shrimp remoulade, beef brisket po boys, banana bread pudding, and the grasshopper cocktail, which was invented here. 

French:
  • Cafe Degas: Known for its ambiance, where a tree grows through the dining room, it’s voted the “Most Romantic Restaurant in New Orleans”.
  • Bayona: Fine dining known for their duck breast and the cozy cottage dining room.
  • Cochon: Cajun restaurant known for their boudin and as their namesake suggests, pork-based dishes.
  • Cafe Amelie: Another café that has a gorgeous courtyard. It is known for their beet, pear, and goat cheese salad and their shrimp and grits.
  • Galatoire’s: Fine-dining Creole cuisine that requires cocktail attire (they stress wearing a jacket) and is a popular spot among many.
​French Market (Open daily 10 am – 5 pm): This covered marketplace offers a variety of restaurants and shops. If you’re looking to try food but don’t want to sit down, one can stop by these shops. They serve alligator bites, boudin (fried Cajun sausage), oysters, and crayfish. Towards the other end is a flea market, where one can find artwork and different wares. 

Mardi Gras - "The Greatest Free Show on Earth"

Ah, Mardi Gras in New Orleans is quite experience. Brought over by French-Canadian explorers, it became a tradition in New Orleans since 1718 with elegant society balls introduced in the 1740s, the “carnival” beginning in 1781, and the first recorded parade in 1857.

Mardi Gras is translated from French as “Fat Tuesday”, and this Christian holiday occurs before lent and represents a period of partying before fasts. New Orleans sees it as not just a holiday, but a time to party hard. Over the course of two weeks, there are more than forty krewes (parades) that target different portions of the city. These krewes all have a theme, mostly Greek or Roman influences (Bacchus, Proteus, Orpheus), but some of the most famous ones are the Krewe of Zulu, which allows all the krewe members to paint their faces black. This is probably the only time when black face is allowed.

Going through the streets, these krewes consist of marching bands, cars, fire-balancers, and floats. People wait on either side of the street as the people on the floats toss “throws” into the crowd. These are mostly plastic bead necklaces, but each Krewe has a special “throw”. For instance, the Krewe of Zulu hands out hand-painted coconuts. There are a variety of fun items, ranging from hats to stuffed animals to frisbees to coins. Krewes occur both during the day and at night, but I find that the night krewes are more generous with throws than the day krewes.
Of course, partying along Bourbon Street and in the French Quarter is an insane scene during Mardi Gras. The streets will be VERY crowded with people all throughout the night and it will be quite difficult to walk up and down the street. From the galleries, there will be people “giving away” bead necklaces, usually much fancier than the ones given out by krewes. These are usually given to young women who decide to flash their breasts, while cameramen wait below the canopy, filming these occurrences. So, if you have children accompanying you, it would be wise to steer clear of these crowds and the risqué behavior. Note that this lewd behavior only occurs in the French Quarter and is not an act that the locals support.
Since most of the festivities are at night, one has the chance to wander during the day and soak in New Orleans during the day and potentially buying a king cake. This is a Mardi Gras tradition that came from France and stems from Christian faith, where on the night of Epiphany (January 6th/the Twelfth Night), Jesus revealed himself to the three wise men.

Within each king cake, there is a tiny baby figurine (representing Jesus, of course). The cake is then cut into slices and the person who finds the baby in their slice is crowned king and is designated to bring a king cake to the next celebration. In my opinion, the best king cake shops are the following:
  • Dong Phuong Bakery: A little far outside the city center, this Vietnamese bakery has the best reviewed king cake. One must order months in advance to even have a shot at tasting their delicious creation.
  • King Cake Hub: As the name suggests, it is a hub for king cakes, selling king cakes collected from over 60 bakeries every day.
  • Sweet Savor’s Bakery: Won the “Best Original King Cake” at the King Cake festival.
  • Manny Randazzo’s: Local favorite spot for king cakes.​
Tips:
  • Plan and reserve ahead! One should book at least 3 months before Mardi Gras begins to receive the best options for housing and restaurant accommodations.

  • The best days for Mardi Gras tend to be the weekend beforehand. Since Mardi Gras is recognized as a holiday, most restaurants will be closed on that Monday and Tuesday. However, if one is seeking parties, that Tuesday night is a great one to experience. At midnight, the police ride down Bourbon Street on horses and drive through the street to break up the festivities as it is officially Ash Wednesday and the partying is over.

  • For most krewes, receiving “throws” will occur towards the end (usually around Canal Street) as they are trying to get rid of all their goodies. The one exception that I know is the Krewe of Zulu. This Krewe starts in the Garden District and if one makes their way there, they have a better chance of receiving one of the hand-decorated coconuts.

  • To get a “good” spot right by the metal dividers, one should get there 4 hours ahead of time, but in more crowded areas, if you happen to be behind some nice people, they might pass some beads or “throws” along once they find they have enough.
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  • People do dress up for Mardi Gras, but it’s not really necessary unless you decide to take part in a parade.
For a comprehensive website with all the information one can hope to receive about Mardi Gras, check out the official Mardi Gras website, which provides help with planning.

Other Resources

As responsible travellers, it is important to gain insight from other travellers. I highly recommend checking out these other sites:

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