New orleans

[horace19040]

I have never been there. I am planning trip. 3 days 4 nights. I am thinking the french quarter or garden district. Anywhere else worth staying? Do I need to rent a car?

 

[nitlion93]

Went there a few years ago. Can’t remember where we stayed, but from the smash horse, we were able to walk to French quarter pet easily. We also walked to the garden district and used the trolley for some of it since we walked 10 miles that day doing brewery tours.

we never got a rental car since it was easy to Uber to and from the airport and use the trolley to supplement our walking

 

[Erial_Lion]

3 days 4 nights.

Only in New Orleans…

 

[horace19040]

Only in New Orleans…

Lol. That was supposed to be 4 days 3 nights.

 

[not so fast my friend]

Been there 4-5 times. Don't need a care. Stay in French Quarter and can walk where you need to go or take short Uber or trolley. Plenty of good food and live music.

Last time there, we did a drinking, bike tour. Five different drink stops along the way to learn some history of New Orleans drinks like Pimm Cup to the local beer.

Lots of good food in town. Be sure to get some blackened redfish.

 

[NewEra 2014]

I have never been there. I am planning trip. 3 days 4 nights. I am thinking the french quarter or garden district. Anywhere else worth staying? Do I need to rent a car?

You absolutely do not need to rent a car in New Orleans

Stay in the Garden District and visit the French Quarter

Frenchman Street is where to go for nightlife once you have seen the French Quarter

Go to Dragos for some chargrilled oysters

Cafe du Monde is the place for breakfast

We like GW Fins for dinner in the French Quarter.

There is no place in the world like New Orleans—have a great time!

 

[kgilbert78]

We've been twice. We rented a house for a week each time (a week is actually better, IMHO) in the Marigny, just east of Frenchmen's St. and saved some money that way. I'd recommend looking there, as it is a short walk to the Quarter, but a bit quieter, if you not actually on Frenchmen's St. We did have a car, but that was so we could go on tours outside of the city (plantations and swamp) and to the zoo.

One place not mentioned was the WW II Museum. If you like history, it's great. While Preservation Hall is a bit touristy, it's also good traditional jazz and worth going to. I won't say much about restaurants, except that most of them are very good, even the touristy ones, as if you are not good, you do not stay in business long, because I don't know the impact of covid. It's been 3-4 year since we last went.

 

[Bean78]

No way I would stay in the French Quarter -- too seedy. We stayed a couple of blocks away on Poydras Street and walked. Lots of neat places to eat and drink on Decatur Street. Do a swamp tour if you can. Make sure you try the beignets donuts and muffaletta sandwich.

 

[ralphster]

I have been to NoLa many times. The best holiday to visit is Halloween. Avoid Mardi Gras (unless you like parades and plastic crap). But any time is fun.

The WWII Museum is AMAZINGLY GREAT. Plan to get there at 9am and stay until closing. Incredibly well done.

Magazine Street has some fun bars, restaurants, and shopping in the Garden District.

Royal Street in French Quarter if you like antiques.

Jazz is everywhere. Highest concentration is on Frenchman Street. It starts just outside the SE corner of the French Quarter and progresses to the NE. It has the biggest concentration of jazz clubs, including Snug Harbor, dba, Blue Nile, Bamboula's, and others I am forgetting. Get there around 7-8pm and just wander into each club. You just need to buy a (reasonably priced) drink in each place.

Other great jazz clubs are Fritzel’s European Jazz House on the east end of Bourbon Street, and Mahogany Jazz Club which is on Chartres Street in SW French Quarter. The Davenport Lounge is in the Ritz Carlton on Canal and has Jeremy Davenport on trumpet Thurs through Sat (I think - double check that).

Any hotel in the Central Business District or French Quarter is walking distance to all of the above. I would look at Airbnb and VRBO too.

Restaurants. Where to start? Such a great food town. I recommend Commander's Palace (can combine this with St Charles trolley ride and strolling the Garden District), Galatoire's, R'evolution, Herbsaint, Couchon, August, GWFin's, Johnny’s Po-Boys, NoLa Po-Boys (best muffaletta), Compère Lapin, Pêche, La Petite Grocery, Betty Bar (a gay bar in the FQ with best cheeseburgers anywhere), and many others. A 10 min Uber ride to the Arabi neighborhood gets you to Bacchanal Fine Wine & Spirits. They have a large outdoor wine garden with quality live jazz. You buy a bottle of wine in the wine shop, then take it out back and order some really good tapas to go with it. Highly recommended.

Avoid Antoine's... overrated, crap food.

The strip clubs suck. Don't waste your time.

 

[Monty2007]

Not sure when your going, but the Jazz Fest the last weekend of April and first weekend May are recommended. Hotels at time might be tough to find.
Suggest you try a mix of the well know restaurants and a few less know to get the real flavor of the city.

 

[Obliviax]

Personally, I stay in the business district just across the main avenue from bourbon street. Short walk and quiet. You can take the cable car to the garden district where me favorite place is Pascal’s Minale. Cafe Dumond for chicory coffee and beignets

pascale minale was bear Bryant’s favorite place where he took Alabama when they played in the sugar bowl.

other than that walk up and down bourbon and take in the music

Contact Support

Cafe du Monde New Orleans: The History of an Icon and Sugary Beignets

The iconic Cafe du Monde New Orleans serves up Louisiana history with a soft, sugary beignet. Here's what it's like and why you should go.

www.insidethetravellab.com

 

[Hotshoe]

Dooky Chase. Unfortunately, Leah Chase passed away in 2019, but the family still runs the restaurant. Famous for Creole food.

 

[LafayetteBear]

I went to law school in NOLA. I don't know if you're seeking an AirBnB or a hotel, but where you "should" stay depends on what you want to be closer to. Renting a car is unnecessary. If you want to visit one of the preserved plantation estates outside of town like Oak Alley or take a swamp tour and feed alligators (yes, they're habituated to the boats and some will give you marshamallows to toss to the gators) your hotel can hook you up with transportation.

Obviously, the French Quarter has most of the action and most of the tourists. The Frenchmen Street strip with lots of music is actually in Faubourg Marigny, just outside the Quarter and is somewhat less touristy than the Quarter. I haven't looked at a tourist guide in a while and don't know how they're being marketed, but there are large hotels on Canal Street that are technically in the Central Business District but are right next to the Quarter.

The Garden District has lots of lovely mansions and plenty of restaurants, but not a great deal of nightlife. It also has the most visited cemeteries. A streetcar ride on the St. Charles line under the Spanish moss-draped live oaks from Canal St in the CBD to Carrolton St in Uptown is a quntessential NOLA experience. Grumpy folks will tell you it's hot and slow and the wooden seats are uncomfortable. I say those people are assholes and you should ride a St. Charles line streetcar at least once in your life even if you don't want to make it a regular trip.

Besides St. Charles, Magazine Street is another prominent thoroughfare running from the FQ to Uptown, and it has lots of restaurants and eclectic shopping. There are some paddlewheel boat river cruises available, too. Look up the Natchez and the Creole Queen if that interests you.

Uptown has Audubon Zoo and Tulane University. Tulane has a small art museum on campus.

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival takes place end of April-first week of May. Shitty timing for finals and I only went for a couple hours once the entire time I lived there, but if your trip coincides with it, it's one of the biggest NOLA events after Mardi Gras and Halloween.

Full disclosure: I haven't been there since Hurricane Katrina, so my knowledge is dated, and why I haven't mentioned any specific restaurants/businesses, many of which come and go over the years. I also have no idea what has survived Covid lockdowns and what has not and what businesses besides Central Grocery, one of the iconic sellers of muffalettas, Hurricane Ida has sidelined. One thing i do know for sure: tourism is Louisiana's top industry, even more lucartive than oil/gas/petrochemicals, and that means there's a bazillion city guides (yes, I counted them all to arrive at that number) in print and online that highlight things like restaurants and other specifics using info current as of today. Some of those guides will tell you which restaurants even the locals will stand in line for. Look at maps and read up liberally before you make any choices about where to stay and what specific sights you want to take in.

NOLA is one of my favorite places in the world. You're going to have fun pretty much whatever you do. Good luck!

Hey L.A. Lion: Give me a hand here. I was in NOLA in November 2019 and we went to a classic old but upscale hotel in the Garden District, where we sat at a bar that was on a platform that slowly rotated, giving you a view of the entire room and the activity outside. The place was great. It was a block or so from the big cathedral in the Garden District. Watched a Saints-Niners game there. What is the name of that hotel? Truly a venerable and classy spot.

I frickin' LOVED New Orleans.

 

[Fac]

Hotel Monteleone - Carousel Bar - It's on Poydras Street
BTW - It's Crawfish season. Will be boiling this weekend.

 

[Wandering Spectator]

It’s been a while since we’ve been there but here’s my post about it. We went for the Bills vs Saints game.

They were some of the nicest home fans we’ve experienced. Loved our trip there.

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

As soon as the 2013 NFL schedule was released, the game that immediately popped out for me was the Bills at the Saints. Not only is this one of the most iconic venues in the NFL, but the dat…

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