Top 10 Things to Do in New Orleans

On By HeatherIn Louisiana

It only took me 40 years to make it to New Orleans, Louisiana. I was growing tired of rolling this destination over into each new year’s planning ideas so I decided to finally make it happen!

New Orleans in January

January was an ideal time for us to go. Carnival was underway so we got to enjoy the decorations, king cakes, and additional parades throughout the French Quarter and beyond. However, we were a few weeks ahead of Mardi Gras so the crowds were still reasonable. We saw a number of people who were in town for work conferences but no crazy party groups. Although it rained every day we were there, the morning fog was appropriately swampy and the temperatures were in the upper 60s/lower 70s (°F), which is about as hot as we can stand.

Where to Stay in New Orleans

We aren’t party people so we weren’t interested in staying in the heart of the French Quarter. I was able to use Chase points so we stayed for free at the La Quinta in the Central Business District (CBD), and that was a perfect location for accessing the French Quarter, Canal Street, the Mississippi River, and the St. Charles Streetcar to other areas, like the Garden District. There were also a ton of great restaurants in the CBD that were more our speed.

Getting Around New Orleans

We had no problem taking an Uber to and from the airport to our hotel (about 25 minutes and $30 USD each way) and spent the majority of our time downtown on foot. Everything was perfectly walkable. We also downloaded the Le Pass mobile app so we could purchase a $3 USD Jazzy Pass, which gives you unlimited rides on multiple types of transportation, including the streetcars, for a 24-hour period.

Top 10 Things to Do in New Orleans

We love the outdoors, music, history, and food so those interests informed the activities we prioritized this trip. We had rented a car for one day so we could visit the Whitney Plantation and several nearby nature preserves but about an hour before we were leaving to get the car Hertz text us they had no cars and canceled our reservation (we always have issues with Hertz – do NOT recommend). We made the most of our newly free day, and we will have to check out those day-trip activities another time.

In no specific order, here are my top 10 recommendations for how to spend a few days in New Orleans.

#1 Visit Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve

I am usually on top of national parks, monuments, and associated locations wherever we go but I completely missed this national historical park during my planning. Happily we stumbled upon the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve one of our last days in New Orleans.

I had my national park pass on hand but this site was free (and had clean, free bathrooms, which are hard to come by in the French Quarter!). The center had great background on how New Orleans has developed over time, insight on the architecture, an interesting video about the river deltas and how they impact life in the area, and lots of information about regional food, dialects, and more. I’d recommend visiting early in your trip so you have this background going into your experience.

#2 Wander around Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral

We enjoyed a 15-minute walk from our hotel to Jackson Square where we encountered the expected street performers, horse and buggy tours, hop-on-hop-off bus tours, and more. Maybe because of the weather or the time of year, but things were not crazy or crowded on the weekday morning we visited so we were free to enjoy the gardens and St. Louis Cathedral at our leisure.

#3 Explore local history at the Presbytere

We really enjoyed spending a few hours at the Presbytere, one of the Louisiana State Museums just off Jackson Square. The first floor has excellent exhibits about the events leading up to Hurricane Katrina and the recovery efforts that took place in the days, weeks, and months following that event. It helped dispel a few myths and assumptions I had been holding and gave me a new perspective on how people here think about and respond to natural disasters.

The second floor is full of history about Mardi Gras, which was interesting but a little less organized. I enjoyed the parade section, which included costumes and floats, as well as the section describing how some of the customs, krewes, and balls have changed over time.

Tip: They offer a 10% AAA discount, or you can get 20% off if you add another state museum to your ticket.

#4 Enjoy a jazz show at Preservation Hall

Seeing a jazz ensemble at Preservation Hall was the highlight of our trip. This intimate space has been hosting local jazz artists since the early 1960s, holding several 45-minute performances each night with a rotating ensemble of musicians. We purchase the general admission seating, which included a handful of shared benches that allow you and other guests to enjoy the music family style. There was also general admission standing room in the back of the small gathering area.

We did our best to remember the songs they performed and I look forward to building out a new Spotify playlist with their renditions of Avalon, Rose Bud, St. Louis Blues, Go to the Mardi Gras, My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It, Down in New Orleans, and more.

#5 Walk the Riverfront

We only walked a short stretch of the riverfront since the weather wasn’t nice, but the walking trails through Woldenberg Park were clean and in great condition and the New Orleans Holocaust Memorial was worth a brief visit. I’d definitely spend more time here on a nice day, perhaps catching a cruise on the Natchez paddlewheel boat or taking one of the ferries to the other bank.

Personal note: A curious white statue caught our attention and turned out to be the ‘Old Man River Statue.’ My grandpa would not have liked the statue – it’s a bit odd – but he always enjoyed singing us that song!

#6 Ride the Streetcar

As I mentioned at the top of this post, we downloaded the Le Pass app and easily purchased a day-pass to ride the streetcars around town. We were able to catch the St. Charles Streetcar a block from our hotel and rode it west to the Garden District. The route continued on to Tulane University and Audubon Riverview Park, which would have made a nice day trip.

If we’d had more time, I would have also enjoyed taking the Canal Streetcar to New Orleans City Park to explore the gardens and museums in that area. It’s definitely a fun and easy way to get around!

#7 Take a self-guided tour of the Garden District

We had one morning of slightly blue skies and took advantage of the break in the weather to explore this self-guided walking tour of the Garden District (scroll to the bottom of her post). The tour took us to Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 and some of the biggest mansions in the area, including the one that inspired the design for the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland! We also saw mansions currently owned by Sandra Bullock and John Goodman, as well as one formerly owned by the late New Orleans author Anne Rice

It was very humid and we were both ready to catch the streetcar back toward the CBD when we concluded our tour. Happily we gained a moment’s respite by stopping in the Garden District Book Shop on our walk back to the streetcar stop. The bookshop is in a complex with a coffee shop, clean bathrooms, and other boutique stores, and it had a great selection of authors as well as an area dedicated to Anne Rice’s famous ‘Interview with a Vampire’ series, including some author-signed editions.

#8 Eat amazing Creole and Cajun food

What can I say about the food in New Orleans – it’s so good. We were only in town for four days so we exclusively consumed cajun and creole food during our visit, ranging from homestyle dishes to higher-end nouveau takes on this iconic cuisine.

Here are the spots we most enjoyed and the best dishes at each one:

  • Cafe du Monde (FQ) – chicory coffee au lait and beignets
  • Napoleon House (FQ) – muffuletta, red beans and rice, Pimm’s cup sampler
  • Johnny’s Po-boys (FQ) – Shrimp po’boy, gumbo
  • Acme Oyster House (FQ) – chargrilled oysters (TBH, this was our least favorite eatery of the trip – too touristy for us and the raw oysters were not great. Stick with the chargrilled, their house specialty)
  • Latitude 29 (FQ) – tiki drinks (Navy Grog, Suffering Bastard, Rum Old-fashioned, Latitude 29, Mississippi Mermaid)
  • Mother’s (CBD) – combo (crawfish etouffee, jambalaya, red beans and rice, turnip greens, potato salad), oyster and shrimp po’boy (Of note: their crawfish etouffee was one of the best dish of the trip)
  • Seaworthy (CBD) – raw oysters, soft shell crab
  • Cochon (CBD) – fried alligator, pork belly with field peas and turnip greens, shrimp and Tasso ham stew
  • Luke (CBD) – bone marrow and escargot, broccolini, bread pudding, chocolate mousse (we also tried their corn fritters and gumbo but wouldn’t recommend those over other dishes)
  • Bittersweet Confections (CBD) – king cake
#9 Explore the National WWII Museum

When our rental car fell through, we decided to spend a full day at the National World War II Museum. Everyone had told us you needed at minimum a half-day for this massive museum – in fact, we didn’t come close to seeing it all in one day. If we’d had more time, we would have bought the discounted second day ticket so we could have taken it all in at a more leisurely pace.

We really enjoyed the hour-long Beyond All Boundaries film featuring Tom Hanks as well as the 30-minute film on human rights and what was at stake during WWII. We only made it through three main exhibits – one on the merchant marines, which included lots of information that was completely new to me, and then paired exhibits The Road to Tokyo and The Road to Berlin, which covered the events taking place in the Pacific theater and European theater, respectively.

We spent the majority of our time in the Road to Tokyo because we know the least about all of the events that took place there. Both in school and during our personal travels we have learned a great deal more about the events in Europe so we were able to move through that exhibit a little more quickly. The museum was closing so we ended our time with a brief walk through the Boeing exhibit, which includes six restored WWII planes, and a special exhibit on women during the war. We’ll have to save all of the rest for another time!

#10 Tour the Sazerac House and learn about cocktail culture

If you’re into cocktails, the Sazerac House tells the tale of how this drink became the official cocktail of New Orleans. The self-guided tour through three stories of this building is free, and you get to taste different cocktails along the way.

In addition to being fun, interactive, and educational, it’s a hard sell for all of the products owned by Sazerac Company, Inc. Surprise – they own all of the branded products that go into the current recipe for an ‘official’ Sazerac cocktail! We always enjoy distillery tours and this one had the added benefit of covering a lot of New Orleans history and how the cocktail came to become so synonymous with this city.

Next Time

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