Has anyone been to New Orleans? What should I do there?

I loved New Orleans and someday I would like to go back. It hadn’t completely recovered from Katrina when I was there and it was fairly quiet. I took a trip on a paddle steamer on the Mississippi which I can recommend and I visited a few bars around Bourbon Street that played live music. Mostly I just liked walking around taking in the sights. I can’t help with the parking as I arrived in a chauffeur driven coach.

You must do Pat O’Brien’s for hurricanes. The Gumbo Shop is better than The Gumbo Pot, if you want good creole food. Cafe du Monde is the best place for beignets and cafe aut lait. The Steamboat Natchez is really neat and fairly inexpensive.

We also took a guided tour of a cemetary and saw the supposed grave site of Marie Laveaux; we purchased the tickets from Reverend Zombie’s House of Voodoo, lol. While we were in the voodoo shop, I bought a voodoo doll and a gris-gris as souvenirs!

Bourbon Street at night is amazing; you get to see lots of boobies, and even some man nipples, hahaha!! Everywhere you walk, you can always find neat little street shows and street musicians. We had a blast!

Parking tips… have your vehicle valet parked, and just carry extra cash for tipping. We stayed in the French Quarter the whole time, and just left our Suburban with the valets. But if you feel the need to travel, you can still leave your car parked and take a bus/shuttle/whatever around town.

I like to get on Tripadvisor and look through the top attractions, etc and come up with a list of things that interest me. I’ll also ask locals about best places to eat.

I would say the Garden District is a must see. The French Quarter and Jackson Square are obvious choices. The Moonwalk, in particular, is nice to see the river up close—one of my best memories is of a little schoolgirl dancing spontaneously to a trumpet busker’s music at the Moonwalk. Cafe du Monde is good, but you can also get a more local flavor at Morning Call in Metairie. Definitely look up music and club listings and go see a show somewhere—it doesn’t have to be a big name or big club, there’s just a lot of vibe to soak up.

Be careful around the tourist areas and their fringes late at night. There are people who are looking for easy targets.

I had a Hurricane at Pat O’Brien’s and it contained what I think was a piece of broken glass. Luckily it wasn’t very sharp or jagged. What I noticed when I took my first drink of it was what seemed like a chunk of ice in my mouth, except that the chunk didn’t feel cold and it wasn’t melting.

Consequently I removed it from my mouth and inspected it. I think it was glass but in retrospect, it might have been a piece of plastic.

Oooh, I forgot to mention the jazz bars. They were fantastic!

If you tire of the constant music and drinking, the Aquarium is great and walking distance from Bourbon St. There’s a Mardi Gras Museum. My advice to all traveler’s: Don’t spend time looking for other people’s serendipitous finds, follow what your eyes, ears, and nose tell you and find your own.

Eat at a good restaurant in the French Quarter (like Redfish Grill). Listen to some music. You might find something good at Tipitina’s. Eat a muffaletto for lunch. Have some crawfish. Eat a beignet (great with coffee in the morning).

To me, New Orleans is like a favorite old aunt – she smells vaguely bad and is often drunk, but she’s fun! And beloved.

Get off of Bourbon Street and explore the food and music in the surrounding areas. Chat up locals for the great places to go that aren’t full of drunken frat boys.

http://www.pharmacymuseum.org/
http://exploreneworleans.info/html/museums.php
(I especially like the museum on Jackson Square)

I’m not a fan of Cafe DuMonde as I don’t like the coffee or the beignets, but if you like that sort of thing it’s great. Go not at a rush time as you’ll wait.

Get a beer and take it to go. Because you can.

New Orleans is one of my favorite cities in the US. The culture is just incredible for the Dixieland Jazz and the Cajun food.

@serenade offers good advice to look up the sights on TripAdvisor and decide on what you want to do with whatever time you have. Some of my personal favorites are:
* A stroll through the marketplace and end up at Cafe Du Monde’s for breakfast
* A swamp tour to see the alligators
* A tour of the Garden District if you have any interest in architecture or history
* @syz is right…avoid the tourist trap restaurants, like Mother’s, and go with the places that the locals recommend. Lil’ Dizzy’s is a great one located inside of an old bank. Excellent and filling breakfasts for a reasonable price.
* As for Bourbon Street, stock up on beads at one of the local tourist shops before heading over…at least if you want to see some nekked breasts. Razzoo’s is a fun bar, as the waitresses will assist you in doing shots. I was mortified by this the first night, but by the third, I was doing them.

If you need any hotel recommendations, feel free to send me a PM.

Get a Po Boy while you are there. I can recommend the oyster, shrimp or crawdad po boys.

If you are staying overnight, leave your car at the motel. New Orleans is a fairly compact city and they have a pretty good public tranportation system.

Sweet. Thanks, y’all.

I haven’t been there since before Katrina. But, while nights are fun there, during the day the galleries are great. There used to be one right after another—I don’t know about now.

Rent a car and drive up the River Road towards Baton rouge. Plantations on each side of the river. Many of them are open as historical homes. Stop and see them. Watch the boats going up and down the Mississippi.

^^ what they said.

Been there many times and love it.

Garden District is also great to visit.

This place is awesome. It’s a freaking zoo here. I’ve never walked in the street with alcohol before, either. Such freedom, and plenty of people to watch.

If I wake up tomorrow, I’ll report back.

@blackberry. Awesome. I felt the same way when I was there as well as Vegas last week.
One word: XS