New Orleans enjoys a reputation as one of America’s most vibrant and captivating destinations. World-famous for its jazz, cuisine, architecture and joie de vivre, the “Big Easy” offers visitors endless options to explore its singular culture.
| Attraction | Description |
|---|---|
| French Quarter | Historic area known for its vibrant nightlife, architecture, and cultural significance. |
| St. Charles Avenue | Famous for its stunning mansions and historic streetcar rides. |
| Cajun and Creole Cuisine | Renowned for its unique and flavorful food scene. |
| Live Jazz Performances | The city’s essence captured through its music, especially jazz. |
| Mardi Gras | Iconic festive season known for parades and celebrations. |
| City Park | Large urban park offering outdoor activities and cultural attractions. |
| Haunted History Tours | Tours exploring the city’s haunted sites and stories. |
| National WWII Museum | Museum dedicated to World War II history, with immersive exhibits. |
| Swamp Tours | Wildlife spotting in Louisiana’s bayous and swamps. |
| Streetcars | Historic transportation offering scenic views of the city. |
| Steamboat Cruises | River cruises on the Mississippi, offering food, music, and views. |
When planning your New Orleans getaway, make sure to include these 12 top attractions on your itinerary. From historic landmarks to lively entertainment districts, this roundup covers quintessential experiences that capture the eclectic essence of The Crescent City.
Wander Through the Fascinating French Quarter
The French Quarter (New Orleans, LA)
History and Significance: The French Quarter, dating back to the early 18th century, is the historic heart of New Orleans. Known for its vibrant architecture, wrought-iron balconies, and lively nightlife, this iconic neighborhood has defined the essence of the Big Easy for over 300 years.
What to Expect: Wander cobblestone streets past colorful buildings, sip hurricane cocktails at raucous Bourbon Street bars, listen to street musicians belt out jazz and blues, shop for voodoo souvenirs, and indulge in Cajun and Creole cuisine at classic NOLA restaurants.
Visitor Information: The French Quarter is compact and walkable. Guided walking tours available. Some areas can get rowdy at night – exercise caution. Public parking is limited so use rideshares, taxis, or the streetcar.
As New Orleans’ most famous neighborhood, no trip is complete without experiencing the iconic French Quarter. Cobblestone streets lined with wrought-iron balconies, lush hidden courtyards, and Creole townhouses dripping with decadent architectural details transport you to the 19th century when strolling through this National Historic Landmark district.
Don’t miss visiting landmarks like Jackson Square and the grand St. Louis Cathedral fronting the Mississippi River. Browse the French Market for local art, crafts and foods before stopping into one of the Quarter’s countless jazz clubs, restaurants or bars for a quintessential NOLA good time.
Tour the Stunning Architecture Along St. Charles Avenue
St. Charles Avenue (New Orleans, LA)
History and Significance: St. Charles Avenue has long been one of New Orleans’ most prestigious addresses. Lined with gorgeous antebellum mansions and shaded by sprawling live oaks draped in Spanish moss, this grand corridor connects the French Quarter to Uptown and represents the wealth and beauty of the city.
What to Expect: Stroll or ride the historic St. Charles streetcar past the stately architecture of 18th and 19th century mansions, Loyola and Tulane universities, Audubon Park, and art galleries housed in converted mansions.
Visitor Information: The leafy St. Charles streetcar route runs from Canal Street to Carrollton Ave. Single rides are $2, 24-hour pass is $6. Or opt for guided mansion walking tours.
For over a century, St. Charles Avenue has dazzled visitors as the city’s grandest corridor. Lined with gorgeous mansions, universities, churches and parks beneath shady live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss, this thoroughfare beautifully encapsulates New Orleans culture.
Hop aboard the historic St. Charles streetcar winding uptown for scenic views of stunning Greek Revival, Italianate and Victorian architecture. Grab a drink to-go and stroll the avenue, dipping into boutiques in the fashionable Lower Garden District before arriving at iconic Audubon Park. Don’t miss seeing the central fountain basin fronting Tulane and Loyola Universities as a gorgeous photo op.
Indulge in Cajun and Creole Cuisine
Cajun & Creole Cuisine (New Orleans, LA)
History and Significance: Louisiana’s signature Cajun and Creole cuisines are a melting pot of French, Spanish, African, and Caribbean influences. Centuries-old cooking techniques blend unique spices for bold, rustic dishes that define the palate of New Orleans and greater Louisiana.
What to Expect: Indulge in NOLA specialties like gumbo, jambalaya, po’ boys, shrimp & grits, crawfish etouffee, beignets, pralines, muffuletta sandwiches, and more. Can’t-miss restaurants include Commander’s Palace, Dooky Chase’s, Mother’s, and many hole-in-the-wall joints.
Visitor Information: Use go-cups to take your drinks to-go! Budget extra time for dining out – quality over speed. OpenTable reservations strongly recommended at higher-end restaurants.
Few destinations rival New Orleans when craving mouthwatering meals. Birthplace of Cajun and Creole delicacies, the city boasts world-class chefs harvesting Louisiana’s bountiful seafood, rice, sugarcane and spice resources to craft culinary masterpieces. From hole-in-the-wall neighborhood joints to fine dining institutions, food provides a delicious lens to experience NOLA’s cultural mélange.
Savor slow-simmered gumbos and étouffées ladling over perfectly cooked rice. Bite into warm beignets doused in powdered sugar paired with chicory café au lait. New Orleans’ singular food culture makes every meal an unforgettable experience.
Enjoy Live Jazz Performances
Live Jazz (New Orleans, LA)
History and Significance: As the birthplace of jazz at the turn of the 20th century, New Orleans boasts a swinging live music tradition ingrained in the spirit and cultural identity of the city. From street corners to hole-in-the-wall clubs to Preservation Hall, NOLA pulsates with consummate jazz, blues, zydeco and more.
What to Expect: Catch free impromptu jazz sessions on Frenchman Street or get tickets to historic venues like Preservation Hall, Spotted Cat, Palm Court Jazz Cafe, and Snug Harbor to see legends and rising stars jam everything from traditional Dixieland jazz to funk, swing, and more.
Visitor Information: Most venues are 21+ only with a no drink minimum. Music starts late, after 10pm. Expect small crowded venues. Research acts and reserve tickets when possible for the best experience.
As the birthplace of jazz, New Orleans still reverberates nightly with the improvisational music invented here over a century ago. From hole-in-the-wall clubs on Frenchman Street to Preservation Hall’s traditional sets to raucous Bourbon Street bands, jazz fuels the city’s energetic late-night revelry.
Catch rising stars at Snug Harbor on Frenchmen, where talents like Ellis Marsalis and Charmaine Neville launch careers. Watch established musicians like Trombone Shorty carry the torch of NOLA jazz to global fame with their funky brass band fusion at venues like Tipitina’s Uptown. Wherever you go, let the joyful jazz lead to a great time.
Experience Mardi Gras Magic
Mardi Gras (New Orleans, LA)
History and Significance: Mardi Gras is the world-famous Carnival celebration held for weeks each year leading up to the Catholic holiday of Fat Tuesday in New Orleans. Though parades and celebrations date back to the 1700s, modern Mardi Gras as a citywide festival took shape in the mid-1800s and has become a defining cultural event for the Big Easy.
What to Expect: Vibrant parades with elaborate floats, marching bands, flying beads, flamboyant costumes, music celebrations like jazz fest or rock on the river, Afro-Caribbean rhythms of Zulu and Mardi Gras Indians, outrageous late nights on Bourbon Street, and indulgent eats like king cake and crawfish boil.
Visitor Information: Mardi Gras season is January 6th through Fat Tuesday. Book hotels and flights far in advance. Bring rain gear and comfortable shoes for all-day parades. Carry cash for food, drinks, and tips. Charge phones for maps, schedules, and rideshares in the crowds.
For the ultimate New Orleans party, visit during Mardi Gras carnival season culminating on Fat Tuesday. While the family-friendly day parades offer safe fun, the riotous nighttime parades reveal the holiday’s magical mayhem. Catch bead necklaces thrown by costumed krewes atop fantastical floats while dancing alongside marching brass bands.
Can’t visit during Carnival? No problem! Mardi Gras World offers behind-the-scenes float tours and costume viewing year-round. And the Presbytère museum showcases a dazzling exhibit documenting carnival history with an interactive Bourbon Street tableau.
Wander Through City Park
City Park (New Orleans, LA)
History and Significance: At over 1,300 acres, City Park is one of the largest and most historic urban parks in the country. Home to towering live oaks, gardens, lakes, playgrounds, and museums, this public green space provides a respite from the city and houses New Orleans Museum of Art plus the Botanical Gardens.
What to Expect: Sculptures, architectural follies, paddle boating, goldfish ponds, crape myrtles, wildlife spotting of egrets, turtles, racoons, and alligators in scenic waterways and bayous, special events, the Carousel Gardens amusement park and antique wooden carousel for kids, plus wedding venues, golf, tennis, and more.
Visitor Information: Located in Mid-City district. Multiple free parking lots available for cars and bikes, plus the City Park streetcar line services the area. Open daily from sunrise to sunset. Botanical gardens and museum have separate admission and hours.
For a relaxing outdoor escape, head to gorgeous City Park – one of the country’s largest and most stunning urban parks. Mature live oaks dripping with Spanish moss shade walking paths around lagoons, gardens, and open green spaces perfect for picnics.
Don’t miss the world-class New Orleans Museum of Art and its impressive sculpture garden. Kids and kids-at-heart will love riding the historic carousel, exploring giant fairy tale sculptures, or feeding ducks along lush bayous filled with wildlife.
Take a Haunted History Tour
Ghost Tours (New Orleans, LA)
History and Significance: With a storied history full of piracy, plagues, fires, voodoo, and the infamous LaLaurie mansion torture chamber, few American cities boast more ghost sightings or haunted happenings than atmospheric New Orleans. Nighttime ghost tours introduce visitors to the real stories behind the city’s grisly past.
What to Expect: Follow experienced guides by lantern through dimly lit streets and shadowy cemeteries to peek inside the LaLaurie mansion, hear legends of Marie Laveau and haunted hotels like the Bourbon Orleans, explore St Louis Cemetery #1, and visit former dueling grounds while keeping watch for ghosts and supernatural occurrences emerging from the darkest corners of NOLA’s history. Eerie but family-friendly options available too!
Visitor Information: Different companies offer various walking routes – compare ahead. Wear comfortable shoes, bring umbrellas/rain gear for outdoor tours, and pre-purchase tickets which can sell out, especially in Fall. Ghost city streetcar tours also available. Private group tours accommodate up to 12 people by reservation.
With its rich cultural heritage, New Orleans offers no shortage of spine-tingling sites, making it one of America’s most haunted destinations. Visit famous paranormal hot spots like the LaLaurie House, Myrtles Plantation or the Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1 on a ghost, voodoo or vampire-themed tour.
Or simply stroll the lamp-lit streets of the French Quarter at night while your guide recounts the lurid tales still haunting this storybook neighborhood today. From murderous socialites to voodoo queen Marie Laveau, the phantoms of the past prove the dead still walk alongside the living keeping watch over their beloved NOLA.
Explore the National WWII Museum
WWII Museum (New Orleans, LA)
History and Significance: Located in downtown New Orleans on Andrew Higgins Drive (who created the landing craft critical in D-Day invasions), this expansive museum stands as America’s official National WWII Museum with immersive exhibits spanning the European and Pacific theaters including the Arsenal of Democracy, Campaigns of Courage pavilion, US Freedom Pavilion, and Liberation Pavilion.
What to Expect: Multimedia interactive displays using narratives from journals and oral histories, riveting 4D cinema experiences that put you on ships and battlefields, a train car like the 1940s era named after war correspondent Ernie Pyle, visual props from Sherman tanks to the seats of Air Force bombers, plus living history talks from veterans and Holocaust survivors.
Visitor Information: General daytime admission is $30 per adult. Purchase tickets online in advance for discounted rates plus reserved entry times to maximize your experience. The museum spans several buildings so allow 2-3 hours minimum to visit, more if adding films and special exhibits. Free wheelchair/scooter rental available.
Honoring the profound impact New Orleans manufacturers and residents made during World War II, this world-class institution offers visitors a multidimensional understanding of the global conflict. Spread over a dynamic campus, exhibits use 4D cinematic experiences, artifacts, photographs, diaries, and oral histories to immerse guests in wartime realities from all perspectives.
From following individuals’ unique journeys to witnessing triumphs and tragedies on the battlefield, the museum provides an unforgettable look at 20th century history. And its expansive scale with multiple buildings and floors means returning often to take it all in.
Embark on Swamp Tours for Wildlife Spotting
Swamp Tours (New Orleans, LA)
History and Significance: Beyond the lively streets of NOLA, explorers can discover the mysterious bayous and swamplands that lace the nearby Mississippi River Delta. Airboat or pontoon boat tours allow visitors to embrace the wild, natural side of Louisiana in protected wetlands inhabited by alligators, snakes, turtles, herons, owls, nutria, fish, and more.
What to Expect: Glide through lush greenery in comfortable covered boats while native guides identify flowering plants and moss-draped cypress trees and spotlight birds circling overhead or gators lurking in the muddy waters ahead. Some tours allow hands-on encounters with baby alligators or feeding the adults marshmallow snacks.
Visitor Information: Wear pants, hats, sunglasses, bug spray. Morning light best spotlights wildlife and avoids midday heat. Confirm tour length, group size, hotel transport options when booking. Pack water bottles plus cameras with straps to protect from splashing. Cash tips appreciated. Private charters have more flexibility.
Visit Louisiana’s iconic bayous and swamplands on boat eco-tours perfect for nature lovers of all ages. Just minutes outside New Orleans, cruise through cypress forests draped in Spanish moss that inspire fairy tale settings. Spot lazy alligators, great blue herons, vivid green tree frogs and even bears inhabiting the humid, fertile wetlands.
Many tours cater specifically to adventurous kids, allowing them to hold baby gators after learning about conservation efforts from local rangers. With guaranteed animal sightings and picture-perfect scenery, swamp tours showcase Louisiana’s wilderness as a must-do.
Ride the Iconic Streetcars
Clanging streetcars have shuttled New Orleans residents and visitors across town for over 150 years. Riding the vintage railcars offers charming transportation and sightseeing along historic lines traversing iconic neighborhoods.
The famous St. Charles route winds underneath live oak canopies past gorgeous mansions and universities along the avenue of the same name. The Canal line rumbles alongside its eponymous waterway through the warehouse district into Mid-City. And the quirky Riverfront line runs 2 miles along the Mississippi’s bank to the French Quarter’s upriver entry. Streetcars make getting around NOLA simple and scenic!
Clap and Sway Along on a Steamboat Cruise
No visit to New Orleans is complete without viewing the mighty Mississippi River that gave birth to the city and its culture. Hop aboard festive steamboat cruises offering sightseeing rides and fun live entertainment perfect for the whole family. Kids can explore onboard museums and exhibits while adults enjoy Creole food buffets with live jazz combos inviting passengers to boogie as the boat cruises along. Late-night jazz cruises cater to partygoers with dance floors and bars too. With majestic river views, these steamboats showcase New Orleans heritage on America’s most important waterway.
Conclusion
This list only highlights a sample of top-tier attractions visitors must experience when planning their New Orleans getaway. From exploring neighborhoods that embody distinctive vibes to enjoying local music, art and cuisine, endless opportunities exist to discover what gives the Big Easy its nickname. Use this itinerary covering classic NOLA sights and sounds to help craft your own unforgettable exploration of one of America’s most celebratory destinations that keeps calling visitors back.