The 16 Finest Issues to Do in New Orleans (Up to date 2023)

Posted: 5/23/2023 | Might twenty third, 2023

New Orleans is likely one of the greatest cities on the earth. Synonymous with debauchery, it’s turn into well-known for the boisterous Mardi Gras competition that takes over the town every February.

However there’s extra to “NOLA” than simply partying. Way more.

I first went in 2006 and have been drawn again numerous instances, diving deeper and deeper into the town. From feasting on scrumptious Creole meals to studying about voodoo and its cultural roots, New Orleans is a metropolis with layers — layers which might be usually neglected by partying vacationers.

New Orleans is magic. It’s such an outstanding place. I’ve by no means not had a good time there. It’s one in all my favourite locations within the WORLD! That’s how good it’s!

That can assist you have enjoyable and benefit from your go to past the vacationer path, right here’s my listing of the most effective issues to do in New Orleans:

1. Have a good time Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras — French for “Fats Tuesday” — is one in all the preferred festivals on the earth. It kicks off in January and lasts till Ash Wednesday. There are parades with floats and dwell music, balls, and a nonstop celebration environment recognized for getting rowdy. Upwards of 1,000,000 guests flock right here every year to have fun, turning the town into a large celebration.

Whereas it may be a blast, ensure you guide every part properly upfront, as costs skyrocket and every part sells out shortly. Nevertheless it’s a celebration to not be missed!
 

2. Take heed to music on Frenchmen Road

Buskers, jazz, blues, massive band: yow will discover all of it in NOLA. Dwell music is vastly in style right here, and there are tons of bars and golf equipment in which you’ll be able to soak up a efficiency. The primary space to seek out them is on Frenchmen Road, which grew to prominence within the Eighties and has been a staple of the music scene ever since.
 

3. Take a ghost or voodoo tour

New Orleans is taken into account one of the crucial haunted spots within the nation, because of the town’s voodoo roots. Voodoo is a set of underground spiritual practices that got here out of the African spiritual traditions that enslaved individuals delivered to America within the seventeenth and 18th centuries. Over time, voodoo and the occult grew to become synonymous with New Orleans. From tales of ghosts and vampires to Marie Laveau (probably the most well-known voodoo practitioner), New Orleans has a sure unsettling side.

To study extra, take a voodoo tour by means of the French Quarter and its cemeteries. Witches Brew Excursions and the Ghosts, Vampires, and Voodoo French Quarter Tour are two of the most effective.

400 Royal St, +1 504-454-3939, witchesbrewtours.com. They host a number of excursions day by day, together with some just for adults. Its Cemetery Insiders Strolling Tour lasts two hours and prices $35 USD.
 

4. Go to the Voodoo Museum

This small museum is the place to study extra about voodoo and to really see objects utilized in its practices. Comprised of simply two rooms, it opened in 1972 and is full of every kind of artifacts, talismans, taxidermied animals, and voodoo dolls. And if that’s not sufficient, the museum can facilitate psychic readings and different rituals with native practitioners when you’re so inclined.

You’ll be able to go to the museum at your personal tempo by way of the self-guided choice, or take the strolling tour, which features a guided tour of the museum.

724 Dumaine St, +1 504-680-0128, voodoomuseum.com. Open day by day 10am-6pm. Admission is $10 USD for a self-guided tour or $32 USD for the guided museum and strolling tour.
 

5. Tour the French Quarter

The well-known French Quarter was settled by the French (therefore the title) in 1718. The district is now a haven for revelers on Bourbon Road, vintage buyers on Royal Road, and foodies looking for a number of the greatest Cajun meals on the town. Right here you’ll additionally discover Jackson Sq., St. Louis Cathedral (the oldest within the nation, courting again to 1789), lovely houses, bars blaring top-notch jazz, and iconic 18th century French-style houses with wrought-iron balconies.

I begin off each go to to a brand new metropolis with a free strolling tour. Attempt the one from NOLA Tour Man. You’ll study concerning the historical past of the neighborhood and get entry to an professional native information who can reply all of your questions. Simply you should definitely tip your information on the finish!

For a extra in-depth tour, go together with Take Walks. It’s my go-to firm relating to detailed strolling excursions that go above and past the guidebook.

For extra ideas, right here’s my listing of the most effective strolling excursions in NOLA.
 

6. Cease by Sazerac Home

Opened in 2019, Sazerac Home is an element bar, half museum, highlighting the significance of the Sazerac cocktail, born at this very location and regarded by many to be the oldest American cocktail. That is an immersive expertise, with a number of flooring of interactive reveals. You’ll be able to chat with digital bartenders about their favourite drinks and see what the French Quarter seemed like within the 1800s. It’s an excellent detailed and enjoyable expertise that’s the most effective in New Orleans.

You too can take a 90-minute free tour (which incorporates samples) or attend one of many occasions or workshops (which begin at $30 USD), equivalent to a whiskey tasting or a workshop that teaches you easy methods to craft whiskey-based cocktails.

101 Journal St, +1 504-910-0100, sazerachouse.com. Open Tuesday-Sunday 11am-6pm. Admission is free, however reserving upfront is required.
 

7. Cruise on the Steamboat Natchez

This boat launched in 1975; nevertheless, it’s the ninth steamboat to bear the Natchez title (one in all its predecessors took half in probably the most well-known steamboat race in historical past, in 1870). Immediately, it’s the town’s solely genuine steamboat and makes for a touristy (however enjoyable) method to spend the afternoon. There are brunch and dinner cruises and dwell jazz music. You’ll additionally get to benefit from the scenic skyline as you cruise on the placid waters of the Mississippi.

400 Toulouse St, +1 800-233-2628, steamboatnatchez.com. Cruises depart at 11:30am, 2:30pm, and seven:00pm. Night jazz cruises value $50 USD ($95 USD with dinner); the Sunday jazz brunches are $68 USD.
 

8. Find out about 1850 Home

For the centuries main as much as the Civil Warfare, the widespread reliance on slavery within the South allowed white plantation house owners to get extremely rich (there have been round 4 million slaves within the US then, about one-eighth of all the US inhabitants). Just like the wealthy and highly effective at present, they constructed elaborate houses to indicate off that wealth — and a few of these are nonetheless standing at present.

Situated subsequent to Jackson Sq., 1850 Home is an instance of what lots of these townhouses seemed like earlier than the Civil Warfare. Constructed by the rich aristocrat and Nineteenth-century New Orleans character Baroness Micaela Almonester Pontalba, this explicit edifice had many alternative occupants through the years. When the Louisiana State Museum took it over, it adorned the constructing to be consultant of upper-class life on the time of its building. It’s the most effective place to get an immersive understanding of simply how prosperous white slave house owners had been within the south (as a result of they had been rich!).

523 St Ann St, +1 504-524-9118, louisianastatemuseum.org. Open Tuesday-Sunday 9am-4pm. Admission is $5 USD.
 

9. Take a Bayou tour

The bayou, a swampy part of a slow-moving river, supplied early settlers with timber for houses, fish for consuming, and waterways for commerce. It’s nonetheless the lifeblood of the area and an vital a part of its tradition. Spend your morning on this lovely and enjoyable space by getting again to nature.

Kayak excursions value round $50-60 USD and final a few hours. Wild Louisiana Excursions affords guided outings that may get you out on the water and train you concerning the ecosystem. It additionally affords leases from $40 USD when you don’t need a tour.

1047 Piety Road, +1 504-571-9975, neworleanskayakswamptours.com.
 

10. Chill out within the park

When you’ll want to relaxation your legs, seize a guide, pack a picnic, and head to one in all New Orleans’ gorgeous parks, each with ponds, timber, strolling and biking trails, and loads of house to calm down.

Metropolis Park is a large inexperienced house 50% bigger than NYC’s Central Park — one of many largest city parks within the nation! It’s dwelling to centuries-old oak timber, the New Orleans Botanical Backyard, the New Orleans Museum of Artwork, cafés, and eating places, amongst different sights. Audubon Park was previously a plantation, a staging space for each the Accomplice and the Union armies through the Civil Warfare, and host to a World’s Honest in 1884–85.
 

11. Go to Oak Alley

Over a dozen oak timber (every of them over 250 years previous) line the lane resulting in this antebellum manor proper on the Mississippi River. As soon as a sugar plantation and a cattle ranch, it opened to the general public in 1976.

Personally, I discovered the house’s inside to be much less spectacular than the outside. Nonetheless, wandering the grounds was completely worthwhile, because the indicators/placards have numerous data on the horrible establishment of slavery. It’s a really sobering however vital expertise.

It’s positioned an hour from the town by automotive. Attempt to arrive early (or keep late) to keep away from the day excursions that come from New Orleans, so you possibly can beat the crowds.

3645 Freeway 18 (Nice River Highway), +1 225 265-2151, oakalleyplantation.org. Open day by day 8:30am-5pm. Admission begins at $25 USD. For excursions that embody transportation from New Orleans and admission to the plantation, count on to pay $70-80 USD per individual.
 

12. Tour the Nationwide World Warfare II Museum

Opened in 2000 because the Nationwide D-Day Museum, that is the biggest museum devoted to World Warfare II in all the United States. The reveals give attention to the American contribution to the struggle, which lasted from 1939 to 1945 (the US entered the struggle in 1941).

Even when you’re not a historical past buff like me, I extremely suggest visiting. Many veterans spend time right here, and you’ll take heed to firsthand accounts of the struggle, in addition to see a few of their photos. It’s sobering however extremely insightful.

945 Journal St, +1 504-528-1944, nationalww2museum.org. Open day by day from 9am-5pm. Admission is $31.50 USD (shopping for advance timed tickets is very really useful).
 

13. Take a meals tour

From po’boys to gumbo and every part in between, meals, tradition, and historical past are a part of the town’s DNA. If you wish to study extra about New Orleans’ greatest eats, take a meals tour. You’ll not solely get to eat extra of the most effective chow on the town, however you’ll learn the way and why sure dishes got here to prominence. A tour will add way more perception and nuance to your time right here.

Physician Gumbo Excursions runs the most effective meals excursions. It additionally affords a cocktail historical past tour that goes to historic venues (with a cocktail at every cease, after all) whereas instructing you about famed drinks and liquors.

+1 504 473-4823, doctorgumbo.com. Excursions final three hours and price $75 USD per individual.
 

14. Discover the Accomplice Memorial Corridor Museum

This is likely one of the oldest museums within the state and is dwelling to the second-largest assortment of Accomplice objects on the earth. I’m at all times intrigued by Civil Warfare historical past museums, particularly these in the Deep South, the place the reminiscence of “Northern aggression” continues to be very sturdy.

The museum incorporates over 5,000 historic artifacts, together with the uniforms of Generals Bragg and Beauregard and private objects owned by Accomplice President Jefferson Davis (together with his Bible and a bit of the crown of thorns he acquired from the Pope). The museum highlights Southern patriotism and reiterates the historic argument that the South was preventing for “honor” and “states’ rights.”

I discovered the absence of a dialogue of slavery right here unsurprising, provided that the museum desires to fake that that wasn’t the principle reason for the struggle. It’s at all times fascinating to learn the way individuals body their historical past, even when they accomplish that in such a biased mild. Regardless of the one-sidedness — and in reality, due to it — this museum is price visiting.

929 Camp St, +1 504-523-4522. Open Tuesday-Saturday 10am-4pm. Admission is $10 USD.
 

15. Tour the NOLA Jazz Museum

I really like jazz: listening to it, studying about it. I can’t get sufficient. This museum not solely has a ton of artifacts (over 25,000) however it hosts a number of concert events and over a dozen festivals all year long. The museum is housed in an previous US Mint constructing and options devices, art work of and by musicians, memorabilia, and extra. Most occasions are free, and lots of of them are broadcast dwell as properly, so you possibly can watch them without cost from dwelling too.

400 Esplanade Ave., 504-568-6993, nolajazzmuseum.org. Open Tuesday-Sunday 9am-4pm. Admission is $8 USD.
 

16. Go to Studio Be

Situated within the hip, artsy neighborhood of the Bywater, Studio Be is a singular artwork gallery created by native artist Brandan “Bmike” Odums. Within the 35,000 sq. foot warehouse, you’ll discover colourful spray-painted murals and large-scale items in addition to multimedia installations by Bmike and different native artists, largely centered on social justice points. Meandering by means of is a shifting method to glean insights into the Black expertise in New Orleans.

2941 Royal St, 504-252-0463, studiobenola.com. Open Wednesday by means of Saturday, 2pm-8pm and Sunday 2pm-6pm. Admission is $15 USD.

New Orleans is likely one of the liveliest (and in style) locations within the USA. However there’s way more to it than letting unfastened on Bourbon Road. With unbelievable dwell music, scrumptious meals, a wealthy historical past, and world-class museums, NOLA has one thing for everybody. It’s a spot with layers and, when you take the time to discover beneath the floor, you’ll uncover one of the crucial distinctive cities within the nation.