New Orleans is so much more than just the French Quarter, despite many visitors never venturing beyond this small district bounded by Esplanade Avenue to the Northern end of the city, the Mighty Mississippi River to the East, Canal Street, Decatur Street and Iberville Street to the south and the Basin Street, St. Louis Street and North Rampart Street to the west.
Actually much of New Orleans true beauty lays outside the French Quarter, in areas such as the Garden district, world-renowned for its gorgeous balconies; in Algiers, Nola’s 2nd oldest neighbourhood, and arguably one of the quaintest areas of New Orleans.
Then there’s the Faubourg Marigny & Bywater district with its local artisans’ galleries housed inside groovy shotgun houses lining the streets, almost hidden away from the fracas that are the main areas, Marigny offers fabulous live music venues, art markets, and stylish and trendy restos hidden along the side streets. Take a peak inside and you will often be delighted with a bohemian subculture that will whisk you away with the sweet sultry sounds of lilting voices and deep and long saxophone siren songs. Check out some New Orleans City Tours from Viator
Getting around New Orleans is best done on foot, and using the public transportation, or by day tours. If you want to visit a number of places but want to save your feet and knees, the streetcars are a phenomenal means of getting around and a single ride will run you $1.25 (exact change please when you hop on, the drivers aren’t change machines). If you’re going to be staying in the city a few days, there are 1-day ($3USD), 3-day ($9USD), and 31-day ($55USD) unlimited ride “Jazzy Passes” you can avail of, at the main website: https://www.norta.com/Fares-Passes/Purchasing-Options-for-All-Fares-and-Passes
If you want a quick & dirty roundup of the city’s top spots in a day, we always strongly recommend the city Hop-on/Hop-off Bus Tours. We always love this method of transport, especially on your first days in any new city, as a way to orient yourself with the destination, and the hop-on buses give you enough information that you can jump off for a quick visit, or decide that a particular site interests you enough to come back and tour it on your own, and more in-depth!
Here are some links to other areas of interest when visiting New Orlean’s:
Is it time to get your hands dirty, and your belly full? There are some places that really do warrant taking a hands-on cooking class, and New Orleans is one of those spots. Creole, Cajun, Gumbo, Jumbalaya and Pralines! You’ll get to taste them all as you take part in one of these superior cooking classes
New Orleans Garden District walking tour
This is a wonderful small group tour (think you and your family only 🙂) where you gently walk along at your own pace, through the lovely Garden District area, with its large sheltering trees offering shade from the sun! You’ll see stately historic antebellum homes amongst the posh 19th-century district and historic Lafayette Cemetery No. 1.
Fancy some good history through the times, maybe a ghost or voodoo priestess or two?
French Quarter Voodoo & Cemetery Tours
There are too many voodoo, Creole and Cajun history tours to count when visiting New Orleans, but one should definitely take the time to enjoy a voodoo tour as it relates significant parts of the history of this region, in a way that no other day tours can.
Please feel free to contact us if you have questions or would like help with your travel planning. Our journeys to more than 80 countries have provided in-depth knowledge that can’t be found in books. Let us share our wealth with you!