New Orleans, LABy ArrivLast checked
Plan a trip to New Orleans
Compact, walkable, and built for a long weekend. Then repeat. The good version of this trip alternates a big meal with a live-music room, and then leaves one afternoon free to do nothing on a balcony.
- Bachelor parties
- Group trips
- Food trips
- Music
Free to run, and you keep editing after. Add who's coming or a pace like “slow mornings” to shape the result.
New Orleans at a glance
Where you sleep decides more of a New Orleans trip than the sights do, which is why French Quarter, Marigny / Bywater, and Garden District are compared here on rate and walking distance before anything else. Then the four stops, and the months to book or avoid. Most trips run 3 to 4 days.
- How long
- 3–4 days
- When to go
- February to May, with Jazz Fest in late April and Mardi Gras shifting with Easter, so book months out for either one. August and September bring heat, humidity, and hurricane risk at the same time.
- Getting around
- Walk the Quarter and Marigny. Streetcars cover St. Charles and Canal for a couple of dollars, rideshare fills the gaps, and a car turns into a liability once you see what Quarter parking involves.
What to build the plan around
- 1
French Quarter
Walk Royal and Chartres in the morning while the balconies are quiet, and save Bourbon for after dark.
- 2
Frenchmen Street
Where locals go for live music, with three or four rooms within a block, and since most have no cover you can move between them all night.
- 3
Garden District
Take the St. Charles streetcar out, and then walk back through Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 and Magazine Street, which is the better direction to do it in.
- 4
Café du Monde
Beignets at the original Decatur Street stand, and since it never closes, go early or go at midnight.
Where to stay in New Orleans
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- French Quarter
- Everything on foot, though you pay for it with noise on the Bourbon side. Browse stays in French Quarter
- Marigny / Bywater
- One neighborhood over and quieter, which still leaves you steps from Frenchmen Street. Browse stays in Marigny / Bywater
- Garden District
- Residential and calm, a streetcar ride from the Quarter, and the choice if you would rather hear nothing at all after midnight. Browse stays in Garden District
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More itineraries to copy
Each one opens as a map with every stop already placed.
New Orleans planning questions
- How many days do you need in New Orleans?
- Plan on 3 to 4 days, though how you split them matters more than the total. Three days handles the Quarter, Frenchmen, and one Garden District afternoon. Add a day for a swamp tour or Whitney Plantation, though Whitney is the more serious of the two by a wide margin.
- What is the best time to visit New Orleans?
- February to May, with Jazz Fest in late April and Mardi Gras shifting with Easter, so book months out for either one. August and September bring heat, humidity, and hurricane risk at the same time.
- Where should I stay in New Orleans?
- Book French Quarter if you are undecided, because it is the most convenient of the three and the choice you are least likely to regret. Everything on foot, though you pay for it with noise on the Bourbon side. Two others are worth comparing before you commit, and the difference is mostly rate against how far you walk. Marigny / Bywater: One neighborhood over and quieter, which still leaves you steps from Frenchmen Street. Garden District: Residential and calm, a streetcar ride from the Quarter, and the choice if you would rather hear nothing at all after midnight.
- How do you get around New Orleans?
- Walk the Quarter and Marigny. Streetcars cover St. Charles and Canal for a couple of dollars, rideshare fills the gaps, and a car turns into a liability once you see what Quarter parking involves.
- What should I see first in New Orleans?
- Start with French Quarter, Frenchmen Street, Garden District. Schedule the first of those before anything else, because it is the one that suffers most from a late start. Walk Royal and Chartres in the morning while the balconies are quiet, and save Bourbon for after dark.
- Is there a free New Orleans itinerary I can copy?
- There is one on Arriv for New Orleans, mapped stop by stop, with a suggested order for each day. Reading it costs nothing, though you will want your own copy once the dates are real. Copy it into a trip of your own to move things around, drop what you would skip, and send the result to whoever is coming.