While Bourbon Street can be avoided (unless it’s your first visit to New Orleans - you have to experience it), the French Quarter is always a must-do, any time of year. As the city’s oldest neighborhood, the Vieux Carre is packed with gorgeous architecture, loads of history, a wealth of food and music, and a cast of characters including long-time residents, chatty tour guides, and talented street performers.
This French Quarter fixture since 1862 serves the the best cafe au lait alongside hot, fresh beignets at all hours. Take a peek in the window to see the magic happen, then dive in to your order of three. If you make it out without powdered sugar on your shirt, you're doing it wrong.
Marigny, the neighborhood adjacent to the French Quarter, is one of the city’s top spots for music. Here you’ll find a string of live music venues like Spotted Cat and dba offering jazz, blues, reggae, and rock. There’s often a brass band performing on a corner. Restaurants offering pub grub, pizza and more will fuel you up for an energetic, music-filled stroll around the neighborhood.
City Park is a beautifully-landscaped, 1,300-acre green space filled with moss-drenched oaks, peaceful walking paths, and native birds. Head to the Big Lake and rent a swan boat, take the kids (or embrace your inner child) at Storyland and the Carousel Gardens Amusement Park. Don’t miss the Couturie Forest, a diverse nature trail that features New Orleans’ highest point: Laborde Mountain, at a whopping 43 feet above sea level.
Within City Park, at the edge of the Big Lake, sits the city’s preeminent art museum. NOMA houses more than 40,000 pieces featuring pieces from the Italian Renaissance to modern works. Browse works from Monet, Degas, Rodin and O’Keefe as well as glass, ceramics, pre-Columbian art, and an extensive photography collection. Save time for the adjacent Sydney and Walda Bestoff Sculpture Garden, a beautifully-landscaped showcase of the Museum’s sculpture collection.
Seated in historic uptown New Orleans Audubon Park is a favorite spot for recreation, picnics or enjoying a beautiful day. For more than a century, people have enjoyed this urban oasis with allées of ancient live oaks, a tranquil 1.8-mile jogging path, a lagoon, picnic shelters, and playgrounds. Audubon Park is open to the public and also features tennis courts, riding stables, soccer fields, the Whitney Young Pool, Audubon Clubhouse Café and Audubon Golf Club.
Located in historic Uptown New Orleans Audubon Zoo cares for animals from around the globe, engaging educational programs, and hands-on animal encounters.
The National WWII Museum is a world-class complex with award-winning exhibits showcasing the stories of those who served in WWII and on the homefront. Highlights include actual planes, jeeps, and Higgins Boats, a theater with WWII-era musical performances, a restaurant, and a fantastic gift shop with 1940s-inspired gifts and clothing.
This six-mile stretch has it all: shopping, dining, art galleries, unique architecture, an award-winning zoo, and friendly local business owners. Get your steps in as you shop local boutiques, then reward yourself with a meal at one of the many restaurants that offer sidewalk dining or patios overlooking the hustle and bustle of the street.