New Orleans Destination Guide

A City That Belongs to the Caribbean More Than the South

New Orleans was French, then Spanish, then French again, and only became American in 1803. That history is not a plaque on a wall here, it is the reason the architecture, the food, the music and the entire social temperament of the place feel unlike anywhere else in the United States. The result is a city where a two hundred year old restaurant still runs the same dining room, where brass bands play on Frenchmen Street on a Tuesday, and where the wrought iron balconies of the French Quarter open onto courtyards that could be in Havana. It is also small, walkable and unusually generous to visitors, which is why people come back.

The planning decision: which week you choose is the whole trip

Almost nowhere in America does the calendar matter this much. Mardi Gras, whose date moves with Easter and generally falls in February or early March, transforms the city into something enormous, joyful and completely impractical for anyone who wanted a quiet weekend. Jazz Fest at the end of April and start of May does something similar at a different scale. French Quarter Fest in April is the local favorite. Any of these is a legitimate reason to come and a genuinely bad surprise to walk into unprepared, because hotels impose minimum stays and rates multiply. The first question is always which New Orleans you want.

The good months, and the summer to be honest about

October through May is the comfortable window, and the stretch from October into early December is arguably the best of it: warm days, cool evenings and the city at its most pleasant. Spring is lovely and busy. June through September is genuinely difficult, with heat and humidity that make daytime walking unpleasant, and it overlaps the Atlantic hurricane season which runs June through November and peaks from August into October. Those months are the cheapest for a reason. Winter outside the festival weeks is mild, quiet and one of the better value periods anywhere in the American South.

Where to base, and how the neighborhoods differ

The French Quarter is the postcard and the most convenient base, though the streets around Bourbon are loud late and the quieter blocks toward Esplanade are the ones worth asking for. The Garden District is residential, grand and green, with the antebellum mansions and the streetcar down St. Charles. The Warehouse and Arts District sits between, modern and close to the museums. Marigny and Bywater, just downriver, hold most of the live music worth crossing town for. Louis Armstrong International sits about half an hour out. Inside the city, walk, take the streetcar, and arrange cars for evenings.

Stay strategy across a small but strong field

Windsor Court has been the establishment choice for decades and still runs one of the best afternoon teas in the country. The Ritz Carlton New Orleans occupies a former department store on Canal Street. Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans took over the old World Trade Center at the foot of Canal with river views. Maison de la Luz is small, design led and adjacent to the Warehouse District. Hotel Peter and Paul, in a converted church and schoolhouse in Marigny, is the most characterful room in the city. The choice is mostly about how close to the noise you want to sleep.

When to begin

Three months for an ordinary weekend. Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest and the major convention weeks want nine to twelve months, and the good hotels apply minimum stays and non refundable terms for them. The restaurants matter as much as the rooms here: the long standing institutions and the current tasting rooms both take bookings well ahead, and the tables worth having on a Friday or Saturday are gone weeks out. We work the dining calendar alongside the hotel rather than after it.

Four experiences worth building the days around

• Dinner at one of the century old dining rooms, jacket and all, followed by a late set somewhere on Frenchmen Street.
• The National WWII Museum given a full day, which is among the finest museums in the United States and consistently underestimated.
• A Garden District walk with a guide who reads the architecture and the cemeteries properly, taken in the morning.
• A swamp or bayou morning outside the city, which is a completely different Louisiana and a useful counterweight to the Quarter.

Who this trip suits

New Orleans suits food travelers, music travelers and anyone who wants a long weekend with real character. It suits couples and groups of friends. It suits history readers. It suits milestone celebrations, since the city does an occasion better than almost anywhere. Families do well here with older children, though the Quarter at night is not a children's environment.

When another plan may fit better

Travelers who want quiet, order and early nights will find this city works against them, and Charleston or Savannah offer the Southern architecture and the food at a considerably gentler pace. Anyone booking July or August should understand what the heat actually feels like. And if you need a beach, this is not a coastal city in any usable sense.

Plan it with one accountable advisor

Send us the dates before anything else, because we will tell you what is happening in the city that week and what it does to your options. From there we set the hotel, the tables and the music around it. Our luxury leisure travel planning handles the pacing, and our group travel planning covers celebrations and larger parties.