Top Ten Attractions

Our Local Expert Says:

The street performers and fortune tellers in Jackson Square are great, but if a man asks you to make a bet about where you got your shoes, don’t fall for it! He’ll say “you got your shoes in Jackson Square in New Orleans, Louisiana!”

Description:

Jackson Square is a beautiful little park that sits in front of the commanding St. Louis Cathedral, the oldest cathedral in America. Presiding over the park is a statue of Andrew Jackson on his horse, and surrounding the square are artists and street performers, as well as horse-drawn carriages waiting to take you on a tour of the Quarter. Have the fortune tellers look at your palm, or let a local artist draw your caricature. Of course, there are also museums, shops, and restaurants surrounding Jackson Square, including Muriel's, a five-star haunted restaurant where each day the wait-staff sets a table and pours wine for their resident ghost. "We don't know who drinks the wine," they say, "but every morning it's gone." In Jackson Square at night, you really can feel the presence of the ghosts of New Orleans past. During the Christmas Season, Jackson Square is the spot for nighttime caroling, and in the spring the park blooms with bright flowers.

Our Local Expert Says:

One of the best things about Royal Street is that some blocks are closed to traffic and talented performers entertain you as you window shop. The Spanish and French architecture is beautiful, and Royal Street is the perfect place for a stroll – day or night.

Description:

Royal Street in the French Quarter is the perfect place to go for window shopping and a daytime stroll. On this beautiful and historic street, visitors will find art, antiques, specialty shops, and restaurants, as well as dozens of street performers. On any given day you might hear a jazz ensemble, bluegrass group, brass band, or just a boy and his guitar. Magicians, tap dancers, saxophone players, and men in head-to-toe metallic costumes are also common sights. The art galleries are breathtaking, and the street boasts some of the best restaurants in the city, such as Brennan's and The Court of Two Sisters. Other excellent Royal Street points of interest include Painted Alive Gallery, Cornstalk Bed and Breakfast, and the Carousel Bar, located inside Hotel Montelone.

Our Local Expert Says:

Bourbon Street in the French Quarter is one of the best places for people watching. It bright, crazy, and loud – a party for all the senses. No matter when you go, you know there will be something happening on Bourbon Street!

Description:

It wouldn't be a trip to New Orleans without Bourbon Street! The party never stops on this crazy, colorful street that runs through the heart of the French Quarter. Any time of day or night, you can hear live music, dance in the streets, drink a daiquiri, or dangle Mardi Gras beads at passersby from one of the many balconies. Closer to Canal Street are the adult entertainment clubs, closer to Esplanade Avenue are the gay-friendly venues, and in between are blocks and blocks of bars, clubs, shops, and restaurants. Don't miss Pat O'Brien's famous four-shot rum Hurricane and their outdoor patio with the beautiful fiery fountain. Check out Fritzel's for great jazz, Razoo's for sweaty dancing, and the Cat's Meow for karaoke, as well as Jean Lafitte's, a dark and cozy bar located in the pirate's historic blacksmith shop. Go ahead and have a drink (it's five o'clock somewhere!) and saunter down Bourbon Street, the greatest adult playground in the country.

Our Local Expert Says:

If you go on the Le Monde Creole tour, they will take you to St. Louis Cemetery Number One, but if you want to spend more time there, or learn about the famous people who are buried in St. Louis Cemetery, take a tour of the cemetery itself.

Description:

Established in 1789 on the outer edge of the French Quarter, St. Louis Cemetery Number One is the most famous of all the "Cities of the Dead" in New Orleans. Take a tour or explore on your own the rows of sarcophagi and large society tombs. Marie Louveu, the famous Voodoo Queen, is buried there, and many visitors leave toys, flowers, and coins around her tomb. It is said that if you want to ask her for a favor, just knock on her tomb three times! St. Louis Cemetery is within walking distance of the French Quarter, but you can also take a carriage ride there from Jackson Square, and learn more history along the way.

Description:

Starting at the edge of the French Quarter, the historic St. Charles Streetcar takes you up one of the most beautiful streets in New Orleans. St. Charles Avenue is shaded by live oak trees that still have Mardi Gras beads tangled in their branches, and this stately boulevard is the place to see enormous, breathtaking mansions built around the turn of the 20th century. There are plenty of restaurants and bars along the way, including Voodoo BBQ, Sushi Brothers, and Emeril's Del Monico. You can admire the architecture of the Columns Hotel, or stop there and have a mint julep on their sweeping southern front porch. The streetcar takes you past Audubon Park and Tulane and Loyola Universities. You can get off at the end of St. Charles Avenue and have a daiquiri at New Orleans Original Daiquiris, or keep riding up Carollton Avenue, another beautiful street, until you get to City Park!

Our Local Expert Says:

Taking a tour of Lafayette Cemetery is definitely worthwhile. There are a lot of fascinating things to learn about the cemetery and the burial customs of New Orleans.

Description:

Lafayette Cemetery in the Garden District is one of the oldest cemeteries in the country, and has been in operation since 1824. New Orleans residents quickly learned that because of the high water table and unpredictable flooding, coffins cannot be placed six feet underground; their dead must be buried in above-ground tombs. These rows of sarcophagus tombs are the reason New Orleans cemeteries are often referred to as "Cities of the Dead." Lafayette Cemetery may look strangely familiar - it has been used in several movies, including Interview with a Vampire. Author Anne Rice lives nearby and wrote about Lafayette Cemetery in many of her vampire books. Visitors can take a tour and learn the history of Lafayette Cemetery (you can even take a carriage ride there from the French Quarter), or you can explore on your own. See the wall vaults and the "Secret Garden," a square of four tombs built by a secret society of friends who wanted to be buried together. As for lunch after touring, the Commander's Palace, one of the best restaurants in the city, is right across the street.

Description:

Few cities can boast a thriving float-making industry. New Orleans can, and no float maker thrives more than Blaine Kern, who makes more than three-quarters of the floats used by the various krewes every Carnival season. Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World offers tours of its collection of float sculptures and its studios, where you can see floats being made year-round. Yes, they were back at work on the 2006 Mardi Gras, despite losing many already-completed floats, shortly after Katrina. (Nothing can stop the party!) Visitors see sculptors at work, doing everything from making small "sketches" of the figures to creating and painting the enormous sculptures that adorn Mardi Gras floats each year. You can even try on some heavily bejeweled and dazzling costumes (definitely bring your camera!). Although they could do more with this tour, the entire package does add up to a most enjoyable experience, and it is rather nifty to see the floats up close. All tours include King Cake and coffee.

Our Local Expert Says:

Magazine Street is where the Uptown locals go to shop and hang out. There are so many fun things to see and do on Magazine Street!

Description:

Magazine Street is a six mile stretch of shops and eateries, beginning at the edge of the French Quarter and ending at Audubon Park. The fun, trendy street is loaded with specialty stores, galleries, restaurants, and bars. Between Canal Boulevard and Jackson Avenue visitors will find many antique stores and art galleries, including the Glassworks and Printmaking Studio. Closer to Jackson Avenue are funky stores, along with great, cheap restaurants such as Juan's Flying Burrito for Mexican fare and J'anita's for breakfast and BBQ. Between Washington and Louisiana are no less than twelve restaurants, three bars and two coffee shops, as well as tons of clothing boutiques, including retro and "recycled" fashions at Funky Monkey and Buffalo Exchange. Past Louisiana, the shopping continues down Magazine Street - antiques, art, books, apparel, and plenty of restaurants and bars along the way for when you need a break. Have a roast beef po-boy at Ignatius, near Napoleon Avenue, or sip a blueberry mojito on the back patio at St. Joe's, near Jefferson Avenue.

Our Local Expert Says:

Audubon Park is alive with nature – ducks, geese, egrets, and squirrels. And if you walk from Audubon Park to Riverview Park on the side of the stables, you will be able to see the giraffes inside Audubon Zoo!

Description:

Audubon Park is really several parks in one, spanning St. Charles Avenue all the way to the Mississippi River. A fitness trail circles the Audubon Golf Course and runs alongside live oak trees and lush lagoons that are home to ducks, geese, egrets, and turtles. Cross over Magazine Street, and you'll come to the Audubon Zoo and Cascade Stables. Keep walking alongside the zoo, past the Audubon Labyrinth and across the train tracks, until you get to Riverview Park. Known to locals as "the fly," this is a great spot for playing soccer, or just laying in the sun with a daiquiri, admiring the waters of the Mississippi. The park is a great place to play or picnic, and if you don't want to drive there, you can get to the park from the French Quarter on the St. Charles Streetcar or by the John James Audubon ferry boat.

Description:

Located in Mid-City, near Lake Ponchatrain, is beautiful 1300-acre City Park. City Park is the home of the Botanical Garden and the New Orleans Museum of Art, as well as the Besthof Sculpture Garden, through which visitors can wander for free. Kids can meet life-size replicas of fairy tale characters in Storyland, enjoy rides at the Carousel Gardens Amusement Park, or take a train ride around the entire park. City Park also has tennis courts, walking trails, a golf course and driving range, stables, and paddle boats. If you're looking for something simpler, take a walk around the duck pond or just stroll through the grounds, admiring the bald cypress trees and live oaks. City Park has more live oak trees than anywhere else in the world, some of which are several hundred years old. Although there is a playground, kids might rather explore the low, sweeping branches of these beautiful trees.