New Orleans Travel Guide

It seems like on Bourbon Street and also the French Quarter they have their own little money making scams going. Just be cautious. Don't walk around alone, use your common sense and you'll have a lot of fun. Bring dollars to take pictures with the weirdos (locals in costumes or their cute little pets or musicians or just plain strangeness). Use the...

A must do in New Orleans is to take a swamp tour into the bayous to spot alligators and other wildlife. We took Cajun pride swamp tour located about 25 miles west of New Orleans in fernier along lake pontechatrain.

I've been to the French Quarter, surrounding areas & cemeteries many times since 2005 & have NEVER had any bad experience. I've also never had to pay a tour guide to take me to any of the sites or experienced anything mentioned in some of these reviews. SERIOUSLY?? I even ventured around the cemeteries at night, walking mind you, & had no issues...

we had read this was the best place to get Beignets for breakfast ... so we waited in line and gave it a try .. they were great. Got some hot chocolate and I'd say it was well worth the wait and a must if you in the area. The people watching there was also really interesting and a wall right there was a great backdrop for a selfie. There is a huge...

I visited New Orleans solely for a one-of-a-kind foodie experience so naturally Central Grocery was on my must eat list. This place is famous for (supposedly) inventing the muffuletta sandwich and I would say it classifies as a "diner, drive-in or dive" so it was right up my alley. I thought the surly service and questionable sanitation added to...

I read that the Gumbo Shop is the place to come for gumbo in NOLA. I think a lot of other people read the same thing because of the lines on the weekend. I came here during the week and walked in. The gumbo was good, but I had just had a cup of gumbo at Couchon and .... well, while good, it isn't the best. The gumbo and the other dishes are solid...

Well obviously this isn't family friendly .. though we did see some people bring kids and infant. Every night its a combo of weird and wild .. lots of drinking, titty clubs, people yooting and laughing and puking, Street performers, homeless folks, people of all ages here, it's quite the show. We saw topless girls walking around for tips... and it...

Pat O'Brien's is perhaps the most famous location in the French Quarter. it has been in existence since 1933 or so, and is famous for its drink called the Hurricanes--made with lots of rum, fruit juices, and garnished with an orange. The hurricane was invented during World War II when whiskey was in short supply and local bars replaced it with vast...

We always stop at Lafitte's Blacksmith Bar every time we go to N.O. but we generally don't stay too long because the drinks are too expensive. Last year I took my old dog with me to N.O. and I was very pleased that they let the old girl in just about every place. Lafitte's wouldn't allow her in and I have no problem with that but they said we could...

Streetcars are a popular way to get around New Orleans. We quite often caught them from our accommodation in the French Quarter on the Riverfront line into town. Just hop on and pay. They are very cheap but make sure you have the correct change. Prices are listed at the stations.

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, owned by the city of New Orleans, is located about 10 miles west of the city's downtown along I-10. Commercial service began at this airport, initially called Moisant Field, in 1946. It's International Air Transport Association airport code, MSY, reflects this original name. In 2001 the airport was...

O.k hotels in the area have relationships with supposedly Taxi Drivers. You will request a driver to get you to the airport for a departure flight, and he will pick you up but 5 min into the ride he will state he has other customers to pick up. This is clearly a shuttle service that he is asking Taxi price for. This happened to me while staying at...

Of course just about every shop in New Orleans has the usual tourist gifts. Some of them, especially the T-Shirt shops are fantastic. In Decatur Street we did some gift shopping. Bought a pipe for a friend from the Happy Hookah shop, got some funny T-Shirts in the t-shirt shop (best one said "I got Bourbon Faced on Sh*t Street") and a nice...

There is everything from masks, tshirts, shot glasses, voo doo stuff, hot sauce, skull stuff. Great place to get stuff for Halloween. A lot of the tshirts are risqué. Of course lots of bead, and other jewelry. There is art and antiques too but we just looked around and didn't buy anything.

I never got much closer that this to Riverwalk. Shopping is not my thing. Stores in Riverwalk include: Claire's Accessories Gap Get Clocked Perfumania Sunglass Hut Sunglass Nation The Body Shop The Limited Victoria's Secret Watch Station Mardi Gras Madness Creole Delicacies Tabasco Country Store Riverwalk Shirt Company Brookstone Christmas...

Where else can you walk into a bar and ask for a drink to go in a plastic cup? Well we did discover this also in Caye Caulker Island, Belize...... but that was later in our trip. Check out my Caye Caulker page. Anyway, this was unique thing to do for us. Imagine walking in a shopping centre and seeing this? ..... Cocktails to go. Of course...

The tradition of throwing beads during the Mardi Gras parade dates back to the 19th century. At the time, the strings of beads were made of glass and although these weren't very expensive, the arrival of cheap plastic beads on the market helped increase the amount of beads thrown during the parade. You get a pretty good idea of just how many...

Local terms that may be unfamiliar to those from outside the area: - Neutral Ground The central median of a road or highway. There's an interesting history behind how this was derived, going back the 17th century. - CC's Community Coffee House. This is a small chain of coffee shops run by the Louisiana coffee company. If a New Orleanian refers to...

Downtown is riddled with moochers, muggers and murderers. Ever watch the morning news? Not to mention no where to park, pee in the streets and over priced food. In fact the whole state of LA has garbage all over the streets! The residents, who work and care, are great people but many are nothing but thugs. Best to move to Slidell, Covington or...

For New Years 2013 I was staying on North Rampart street mid section of the French Quarter with my 70 year old mother and 9 year old daughter. We stayed 4 days and roamed the French quarter at various times of the day and evening. We did not encounter anything alarming or upsetting in the entire time we were there. I have travelled to over 30...

I came to New Orleans to live and the first week I was there, a friend (?) recommended I visit Louis Armstrong Park. I went into the park and there were about half a dozen big yellow school buses parked with teachers standing around talking to each other by the buses. There were at least over 100 - certainly more, students (am I not supposed to say...

What can be said? Bourbon Street is a place of excess. People come here to have a good time but seem to need to drink vast quantities of cheap alcohol to do so. It is legal to walk on the streets with open cups of alcohol, so people do it because they can. Big huge hurricane cups, plastic fish bowls, or just simple cans of beer. The constant parade...

Steamboat Natchez is a tourist trap-NOT...at least the dinner jazz cruise. The other reviews here don't mention that the 7:00 pm cruise features the Dukes o f Dixieland traditional jazz group, and are worth the price of admission with or without the dinner. My truck driving rock n roll buddy had to be dragged to see this, but he wound up buying one...

I am as local as red beans and rice on Mondays. Born, raised, and shot in the back here. That being said, I have no patience for the street hustlers in the French Quarter. They go after anyone, even locals, they think they can pressure money out of. Last time they tried this with me, some woman came running up and said that "I had been cited and...

Comfortable shoes or sturdy sandals. It always rains one weekend, so you may be sloshing through the mud. Some folks bring rain boots for those days - I say don't bother. Big hat to block the sun. For women, wear a skirt rather than shorts - makes it easier to use the portalets, and you don't have to worry about the fabric sticking to you. Sun...

The luggage you bring will depend on your mode of transportation. By air, travel as light as you can. Never go anywhere, especially someplace where there is as much walking involved as in New Orleans (on hard pavement), without two pairs of comfortable walking shoes - shoes that are already broken in. Otherwise you are asking for blisters or worse....

Carry a plastic poncho if you are going to be touring the city, while we were there it rained almost everyday, and I've heard unexpected showers happen alot in N.O. We picked up a couple plastic ponchos at Walmart for less than a buck and we used them a bunch, plus they are alot easier than carrying your umbrella especially if you have your hands...

I highly recommend leaving the societal cess pool of New Orleans, and driving about two hours to The Myrtles in St. Francisville, La. Deemed "the most haunted house in America" by The Wall St. Journal, I have spent many nights there and highly recommend it. Not for the faint of heart, or easily spooked, this great experience is off the beaten path...

We drove for more than an hour to Jean Lafitte which is on the edge of the Jean Lafitte Barataria Preserve section. We went out in a pontoon boat, and while it was cold, it wasn't so cold yet that there was no wildlife. We saw nutria and several alligators, and birds (photos 3 and 4). We also saw former habitations (photo 5) and some graveyards....

The Robert E. Lee Monument was constructed in 1884, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. It is located in Lee Circle, on the edge of the Central Business District near the Garden District. The monument consists of a 60 foot doric column topped by a 12 foot tall statue of the great Confederate General. General...

We saw the superdome on our trip to New Orleans. We were there long after the mess with Katrina but it is where the people were being housed during all that mess and it where a lot of crime was committed We didn't see any sports while we were there but had no desire to.. ironic their team is called the saints when so much crime riots, rapes, theft...

This AAA franchise of the Houston Astros is defintitely worth the drive out to Metarie (about 15-20 minutes from downtown). It has produced some big name MLB talent, and is a great family outing because of the low cost. The field is top-notch for AAA, and you are getting the chance to watch some of the future stars of MLB (some washed up players...

Dispite the lack of money to fill even one of the 1,237,876 potholes in the city, the city of New Orleans managed to charge the taxpayers enough money to buy the Charlotte Hornets. At least I will be able to watch the NOLA Hornets as I am bedridden from the back injury I sustained from hitting one of the said potholes. ;-) I guess one of those big...

If you send out as many postcards as I do (friends, family, & an international postcard exchange - www.postcrossing.com), you will need to find postcards as cheaply as possible. When you are shopping in the French Quarter, most of the souvenir shops and drug stores will sell the standard size postcards for ~ $.35 cents, but if you walk into more...

Even "off season", Mardi Gras is a big part of New Orleans. This picture - taken December 12th 2004 - shows the stands being built on the steps of the Gallier Hall to get ready for the Mardi Gras parade The next Mardi Gras was to be February 24th 2005. Of course the official Mardi Gras.celebration always begins January 6th. Next to Gallier Hall...

La Plaza de España was given as a gift by the government of Spain to the city of New Orleans as a gesture of goodwill and as a reminder of their common heritage. It is easy to forget that New Orleans was in fact part of Spain for 40 years because it's heritage is overtly French. La Plaza is a nice place to sit and rest after walking around. It...