New Orleans Travel Guide

My sister recently just celebrated her birthday, so it was the perfect excuse we needed to spend an extended weekend in the historic city of New Orleans. Three days was the ideal amount of time for our trip, and I wouldn’t recommend staying for longer unless you’re going to a festival. New Orleans has a vibrant nightlife and is one of the only cities that has a 24/hr open container law, which means you can drink in public in the streets. There’s also virtually no cover fee for any of the bars/ nightlife spots that we went to, so that’s also an A+.

Where to Stay

We stayed at the Royal Sonesta, which is located right in the heart of Bourbon Street and was literally walking distance to everything ( except the Garden District). I was a little nervous that the noise from outside would travel into our room, but we didn’t have any issues. Also, the hotel interior of the hotel is French-inspired, so you feel like you’re getting the full New Orleans experience.

We also considered staying at the below places: • Old No. 77 Hotel & Chandlery (located in the Warehouse district) • The Roosevelt (formerly The Fairmont)

Where to Eat New Orleans is known for its cuisine and it’s impossible to visit and not try a multitude of restaurants. The food was the highlight of the trip for me, and I loved the fact that the streets of New Orleans were lined with different restaurants to try. I would also recommend trying the crab cake while you’re there. Below are some restaurants I suggest checking out :

• The famous, Cafe Dumonde

• Stanley ( Located at Jackson Square )

• Monty ( Located at Jackson Square, right across from Café Dumonde)

• Commander’s Palace ( Located in the Garden District )

• Turkey and the Wolf

• Parkway Po-Boy

• Felix • Emerils on Magazine Street • Cane and Table • Carousel Bar & Lounge ( Located in Hotel Monteleone)

Activities

Finding daytime activities might be a little challenging depending on what you’re interested in, but below I have listed some of the things we did and others we didn’t get around to doing.

• Walk around the garden district and see some amazing houses • Walking cemetery tour of the Lafayette Cemetery, which is featured in a lot of TV shows( The cemetery is pretty small, so you would be finished in less than an hour)

• Bacchanal Fine Wine & Spirits – Essentially drinking wine in someone backyard, while listening to live music. I Definitely recommend checking it out.

• The National WWII Museum • A swamp tour – You’re able to find many different deals on Groupon so why not. • A vampire tour – The one we took was a nighttime 90 minutes walking tour. It was a tad bit too long, but it surprisingly very informative

• Preservation Hall – It’s a jazz venue that plays live music and gets extremely packed, so I would recommend getting there early. • The Spotted Cat Music Club is another jazz venue.

Overall I had a good time and would recommend a short weekend trip there.