The 16 Best Things to Do in New Orleans (Updated 2023)

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

New Orleans is among the perfect towns in the sector. Synonymous with debauchery, it’s turn into well-known for the boisterous Mardi Gras pageant that takes over the town every February.

But there may be extra to “NOLA” than simply partying. Much extra.

I first went in 2006 and feature been drawn again numerous instances, diving deeper and deeper into the town. From feasting on scrumptious Creole meals to finding out about voodoo and its cultural roots, New Orleans is a town with layers — layers which are steadily lost sight of by means of partying vacationers.

New Orleans is magic. It is this kind of extra special position. I’ve by no means no longer had a good time there. It’s certainly one of my favourite puts in the WORLD! That’s how just right it’s!

To mean you can have a laugh and profit from your talk over with past the vacationer path, right here’s my listing of the most efficient issues to do in New Orleans:

1. Celebrate Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras — French for “Fat Tuesday” — is among the most well liked gala’s in the sector. It kicks off in January and lasts till Ash Wednesday. There are parades with floats and reside track, balls, and a nonstop birthday celebration setting identified for buying rowdy. Upwards of one million guests flock right here every yr to have a good time, turning the town into an enormous birthday celebration.

While it may be a blast, remember to e-book the whole lot neatly in advance, as costs skyrocket and the whole lot sells out briefly. But it’s a birthday celebration no longer to be neglected!
 

2. Listen to track on Frenchmen Street

Buskers, jazz, blues, giant band: you’ll be able to to find all of it in NOLA. Live track is massively common right here, and there are heaps of bars and golf equipment in which you’ll be able to take in a efficiency. The primary house to to find them is on Frenchmen Street, which grew to prominence in the Eighties and has been a staple of the track scene ever since.
 

3. Take a ghost or voodoo excursion

New Orleans is thought of as one of the haunted spots in the rustic, thank you to the town’s voodoo roots. Voodoo is a collection of underground non secular practices that got here out of the African non secular traditions that enslaved other people introduced to America in the seventeenth and 18th centuries. Over the years, voodoo and the occult changed into synonymous with New Orleans. From tales of ghosts and vampires to Marie Laveau (probably the most well-known voodoo practitioner), New Orleans has a undeniable unsettling side.

To be told extra, take a voodoo excursion in the course of the French Quarter and its cemeteries. Witches Brew Tours and the Ghosts, Vampires, and Voodoo French Quarter Tour are two of the most efficient.

400 Royal St, +1 504-454-3939, witchesbrewtours.com. They host more than one excursions day-to-day, together with some just for adults. Its Cemetery Insiders Walking Tour lasts two hours and prices $35 USD.
 

4. Visit the Voodoo Museum

This small museum is where to be told extra about voodoo and to if truth be told see gadgets used in its practices. Comprised of simply two rooms, it opened in 1972 and is full of a wide variety of artifacts, talismans, taxidermied animals, and voodoo dolls. And if that’s no longer sufficient, the museum can facilitate psychic readings and different rituals with native practitioners for those who’re so susceptible.

You can talk over with the museum at your personal tempo by way of the self-guided possibility, or take the strolling excursion, which incorporates a guided excursion of the museum.

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

5. Tour the French Quarter

The well-known French Quarter was once settled by means of the French (therefore the title) in 1718. The district is now a haven for revelers on Bourbon Street, vintage consumers on Royal Street, and foodies in quest of one of the most perfect Cajun meals in the town. Here you’ll additionally to find Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral (the oldest in the rustic, relationship again to 1789), stunning houses, bars blaring top-notch jazz, and iconic 18th century French-style houses with wrought-iron balconies.

I get started off each and every talk over with to a brand new town with a unfastened strolling excursion. Try the single from NOLA Tour Guy. You’ll be told concerning the historical past of the community and get get right of entry to to a professional native information who can resolution your entire questions. Just make sure to tip your information on the finish!

For a extra in-depth excursion, move with Take Walks. It is my go-to corporate when it comes to detailed strolling excursions that move above and past the guidebook.

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

6. Stop by means of Sazerac House

Opened in 2019, Sazerac House is a component bar, phase museum, highlighting the significance of the Sazerac cocktail, born at this very location and thought to be by means of many to be the oldest American cocktail. This is an immersive enjoy, with a number of flooring of interactive reveals. You can chat with digital bartenders about their favourite beverages and notice what the French Quarter appeared like in the 1800s. It’s an excellent detailed and a laugh enjoy that’s one of the most perfect in New Orleans.

You too can take a 90-minute unfastened excursion (which contains samples) or attend one of the most occasions or workshops (which get started at $30 USD), reminiscent of a whiskey tasting or a workshop that teaches you ways to craft whiskey-based cocktails.

101 Magazine St, +1 504-910-0100, sazerachouse.com. Open Tuesday-Sunday 11am-6pm. Admission is unfastened, however reserving in advance is needed.
 

7. Cruise at the Steamboat Natchez

This boat introduced in 1975; alternatively, it’s the 9th steamboat to undergo the Natchez title (certainly one of its predecessors took phase in probably the most well-known steamboat race in historical past, in 1870). Today, it’s the town’s best unique steamboat and makes for a touristy (however a laugh) method to spend the afternoon. There are brunch and dinner cruises and reside jazz track. You’ll additionally get to benefit from the scenic skyline as you cruise at the placid waters of the Mississippi.

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

8. Learn about 1850 House

For the centuries main up to the Civil War, the well-liked reliance on slavery in the South allowed white plantation homeowners to get extremely rich (there have been round 4 million slaves in america then, about one-eighth of all of the US inhabitants). Like the wealthy and robust nowadays, they constructed elaborate houses to sing their own praises that wealth — and a few of the ones are nonetheless status nowadays.

Located subsequent to Jackson Square, 1850 House is an instance of what a lot of the ones townhouses appeared like prior to the Civil War. Built by means of the rich aristocrat and Nineteenth-century New Orleans persona Baroness Micaela Almonester Pontalba, this actual edifice had many alternative occupants through the years. When the Louisiana State Museum took it over, it embellished the construction to be consultant of upper-class lifestyles on the time of its building. It’s the most efficient position to get an immersive figuring out of simply how prosperous white slave homeowners have been in the south (as a result of they have 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 excursion

The bayou, a swampy phase of a slow-moving river, equipped early settlers with bushes for houses, fish for consuming, and waterways for trade. It’s nonetheless the lifeblood of the area and the most important a part of its tradition. Spend your morning in this gorgeous and enjoyable house by means of getting again to nature.

Kayak excursions price round $50-60 USD and remaining a few hours. Wild Louisiana Tours gives guided outings that may get you out at the water and train you concerning the ecosystem. It additionally gives leases from $40 USD for those who don’t desire a excursion.

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

10. Relax in the park

When you wish to have to relaxation your legs, grasp a e-book, pack a picnic, and head to certainly one of New Orleans’ surprising parks, each with ponds, bushes, strolling and cycling trails, and a variety of area to chill out.

City Park is a large inexperienced area 50% greater than NYC’s Central Park — one of the most largest city parks in the rustic! It is house to centuries-old oak bushes, the New Orleans Botanical Garden, the New Orleans Museum of Art, cafés, and eating places, amongst different points of interest. Audubon Park was once previously a plantation, a staging house for each the Confederate and the Union armies right through the Civil War, and host to a World’s Fair in 1884–85.
 

11. Visit Oak Alley

(*16*)
Over a dozen oak bushes (every of them over 250 years previous) line the lane main to this antebellum manor proper at the Mississippi River. Once a sugar plantation and a farm animals ranch, it opened to the general public in 1976.

Personally, I discovered the house’s internal to be much less spectacular than the outside. However, wandering the grounds was once completely profitable, because the indicators/placards have numerous information at the terrible establishment of slavery. It’s an overly sobering however necessary enjoy.

It’s situated an hour from the town by means of automobile. Try to arrive early (or keep overdue) to steer clear of the day excursions that come from New Orleans, so you’ll be able to beat the crowds.

3645 Highway 18 (Great River Road), +1 225 265-2151, oakalleyplantation.org. Open day-to-day 8:30am-5pm. Admission begins at $25 USD. For tours that include transportation from New Orleans and admission to the plantation, be expecting to pay $70-80 USD in keeping with particular person.
 

12. Tour the National World War II Museum

Opened in 2000 because the National D-Day Museum, that is the biggest museum devoted to World War II in all of the United States. The reveals center of attention at the American contribution to the conflict, which lasted from 1939 to 1945 (america entered the conflict in 1941).

Even for those who’re no longer a historical past buff like me, I extremely suggest visiting. Many veterans spend time right here, and you’ll be able to pay attention to firsthand accounts of the conflict, in addition to see a few of their photos. It’s sobering however extremely insightful.

945 Magazine St, +1 504-528-1944, nationalww2museum.org. Open day-to-day from 9am-5pm. Admission is $31.50 USD (purchasing advance timed tickets is very beneficial).
 

13. Take a meals excursion

From po’boys to gumbo and the whole lot in between, meals, tradition, and historical past are a part of the town’s DNA. If you wish to have to be told extra about New Orleans’ perfect eats, take a meals excursion. You’ll no longer best get to consume extra of the most efficient chow in the town, however you’ll find out how and why positive dishes got here to prominence. A excursion will upload a lot more perception and nuance to your time right here.

Doctor Gumbo Tours runs one of the most perfect meals excursions. It additionally gives a cocktail historical past excursion that is going to ancient venues (with a cocktail at every prevent, after all) whilst instructing you about famed beverages and liquors.

+1 504 473-4823, doctorgumbo.com. Tours remaining 3 hours and price $75 USD in keeping with particular person.
 

14. Explore the Confederate Memorial Hall Museum

This is among the oldest museums in the state and is house to the second-largest number of Confederate pieces in the sector. I’m at all times intrigued by means of Civil War historical past museums, particularly the ones in the Deep South, the place the reminiscence of “Northern aggression” continues to be very robust.

The museum incorporates over 5,000 historic artifacts, together with the uniforms of Generals Bragg and Beauregard and private pieces owned by means of Confederate President Jefferson Davis (together with his Bible and a work of the crown of thorns he gained from the Pope). The museum highlights Southern patriotism and reiterates the ancient argument that the South was once combating for “honor” and “states’ rights.”

I discovered the absence of a dialogue of slavery right here unsurprising, for the reason that the museum needs to fake that that wasn’t the primary explanation for the conflict. It’s at all times interesting to find out how other people body their historical past, although they achieve this in this kind of biased gentle. Despite the one-sidedness — and in reality, on account of it — this museum is value visiting.

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

15. Tour the NOLA Jazz Museum

I like jazz: listening to it, finding out about it. I will’t get sufficient. This museum no longer best has a ton of artifacts (over 25,000) however it hosts plenty of concert events and over a dozen gala’s all through the yr. The museum is housed in an previous US Mint construction and lines tools, art work of and by means of musicians, memorabilia, and extra. Most occasions are unfastened, and plenty of of them are broadcast reside as neatly, so you’ll be able to watch them without spending a dime from house too.

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

16. Visit Studio Be

Located in the hip, artsy community of the Bywater, Studio Be is a singular artwork gallery created by means of native artist Brandan “Bmike” Odums. In the 35,000 sq. foot warehouse, you’ll to find colourful spray-painted work of art and large-scale items in addition to multimedia installations by means of Bmike and different native artists, in large part all in favour of social justice problems. Meandering via is a shifting method to glean insights into the Black enjoy in New Orleans.

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

New Orleans is among the liveliest (and common) locations in america. But there’s a lot more to it than letting unfastened on Bourbon Street. With implausible reside track, scrumptious meals, a wealthy historical past, and world-class museums, NOLA has one thing for everybody. It’s a spot with layers and, if you are taking the time to discover underneath the outside, you’ll uncover one of the distinctive towns in the rustic.