New Orleans

Louisiana | United States

New Orleans

Welcome to New Orleans! This incredible city is full of plenty of culture, history, and music. Explore the French Quarter and Garden District before heading further out to the swamps and plantations. Enjoy the state of the art museums, catch a walking tour or two, listen to live music on Frenchman Street, and stumble home along Bourbon Street. We’ve picked our favorite sites to give you a full experience. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

This itinerary is listed in order of top sites. With only 1-2 days shorten your trip by focusing on the city districts themselves. With one day spend it on a walking tour of the French Quarter, a walking tour of the Garden District, a night at Commander’s Palace and jazz on Frenchman Street. With two days pace yourself or add on an evening bayou tour or boat ride down the Mississippi.

Length: 4 days

Transportation: public transit or hired car

Guide book: Fodor’s, Moon, or Walking New Orleans

Day 1 – French Quarter

Day 2 – Garden District

Day 3 – Plantation Tour

Day 4 – Swamp Tour

In-Depth Itinerary

Welcome to the city of sinners and saints. Catch a brass band, enjoy the birthplace of jazz, enjoy vices, explore culture, and eat to your heart’s content. This city is an enjoyable party, though take time to explore the often lesser seen areas where you can catch some quiet from the crowds and get a really interesting look at history and culture. If you visit during Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest you’ll have a great time but expect a huge crowd and premium prices.

You’ve got a few choices in areas in which to stay. The French Quarter is understandably one of the most popular areas to stay in given its proximity to the historic core and the bustling downtown. However, if you want to get a little distance from the more raucous scene, consider the Lower Garden District where you can stay along tree lined boulevards and catch the streetcar downtown.

Day 1 – French Quarter

For breakfast head to the French Quarter’s Cafe du Monde for their cafe au lait and famous beignets (think powder sugar covered donuts). They are cash only, so come prepared, but are conveniently located directly next to where you will start your walking tour.

Meet your guide. This is the best way to see the city as you’ll part of the appeal is the rich history New Orleans offers. There are many guided options, and a wide array that cater towards a specific interest (ghosts, music, architecture). If it’s your first time, this company offers a very solid small group walking tour. On your tour you should see Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral, as well as the many colorful homes with iron balconies (keep your eye out for the Mardi Gras beads that often hang year round). New Orleans has an open container policy, so if you want to start your vacation with a beverage, grab a drink before you start your tour.

While you will likely have passed by the French Market on your tour, afterwards head back to wander the stalls selling everything from local art to alligator heads to snowballs. You can grab lunch here or head to nearby Arnaud’s for an air conditioned break.

The afternoon is yours to peruse more shops, explore the bars, or take another focused walking tour including Cocktails, Ghosts, or Sin and Saints.

For pre-dinner drinks head to Bar Tonique to try the “original” Sazarac (a drink of bourbon and absinthe), carousal one, or if a brewery is more your thing, Urban South or Port Orleans.

For dinner make your way to the Garden District to Commander’s Palace, an upscale restaurant with really wonderful food and ambience. Other options for dining can be found at our New Orleans Restaurant Scene.

After dinner head walk down Bourbon Street. Bourbon Street is New Orlean’s street of debauchery full of strip clubs and bars. Your fellow street wanderers will be drunk and sloppy – it’s part of the fun. This is also the most touristy area of New Orleans with cruddy food and sticky bars – don’t plan to spend time here, but a walk down it is a must for a first-time visit.

Frenchman Street to enjoy jazz. New Orleans jazz is likely different from what you’re picturing as its based in brass. There are many venues to check out including (but certainly not limited to) The Spotted Cat Music Club, D.B.A, Preservation Hall, Maple Leaf Bar, The 21st Amendment, or Tipitina’s. Check out their websites for the musical feature of the night or wander down the street and stop into whatever venue catches your interest.

Day 2 – Garden District

Start your day with breakfast at Ruby’s before meeting your guide for your walking tour of the Garden District. In New Orlean’s Garden District you’ll see mansions from the 1800s set alongside sprawling streets of trees covered in Spanish Moss as well as one of New Orlean’s most famous cemeteries, Lafayette Cemetery. Note how the graves are above ground – this is due to a cool composting mechanism for those interred, and make for great photo ops.

For lunch head to Parkway Tavern for po’boys, Turkey and the Wolf for sandwhiches, or Ralph’s on the Park, a more upscale option near The New Orleans Museum of Art which you’ll visit next.

The New Orleans Museum of Art houses an impressive collection of European and American art and is one of the finest art museums of the South. After wandering the galleries make your way outside to its equally impressive sculpture garden set on 5 acres of lawn surrounded by magnolias and live oaks in City Park.

Enjoy a crucial element of New Orlean’s cuisine, oysters, by having happy hour at Superior Seafood which offers 50 cent oysters and $3 cocktails every day from 3-5pm.

After happy hour, head to Crescent Park in the Bywater District for a walk in the park located right on the Mississippi before dinner at Bacchanal, a wine shop with a beautiful outdoor space that hosts live music multiple nights a week.

If you’re still wide awake after dinner, make your way out for some more jazz at Tiptiana’s or catch a brass band at Les Bons Temps Roule.

Day 3 – Plantation Tour

Spend today on a guided tour of one of Louisiana’s Plantation Estates for another aspect of Louisiana’s history. While the architecture and grounds are undeniably beautiful, we strongly recommend you visit one that highlights or focuses on the experience of slaves that worked the plantation and through who’s enslavement the plantation was created. The plantations we recommend do this and don’t skirt around one of the darkest parts of United States’ history. All of these tours will pick you up in New Orleans and return you at the end of the day. The typical tour runs about 8 hours. Consider the Oak Alley & Laura Plantation Combo Tour, Whitney Plantation Tour, and San Francisco & Houmas House Plantations Tour. If you only have a three day trip you can combine a tour of the Bayou and Plantation with the Paddle and Plantation Tour (Beyond the Bayou).

If you return in time, have dinner on Steamboat Natchez where you’ll sail up and down the Mississippi while enjoying music on a historic steamboat.

Day 4 – Swamp Tour

Spend your morning at the National WWII Museum. This huge museum houses many comprehensive, detailed exhibits of every aspect of WWII including an immersive submarine exhibit. Don’t miss the 4-D movie before you leave.

If you didn’t have time to enjoy the Steamboat Natchez the day before, you can plan to take the lunch boat out in the early afternoon.

The Bayou is often most active in the early evening. Take an evening Bayou tour with Cajun Pride Swamp Tours or Cajun Encounters. Again, many companies offer tours of the Bayou, please look for those offering sustainability practices. Along your tour you will hopefully see snakes, alligators, raccoons, and other creatures that inhabit the backwaters.

For your last night go to Arnaud’s for dinner with a jazz concert.

With more time in New Orleans, other great sites include Mardi Gras World, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, and the Children’s Museum of New Orleans.

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