New Orleans & the French Quarter
Jazz spills out of every doorway, and beignets are a breakfast food.
Photo: Chris Litherland · CC BY-SA 3.0
New Orleans travel guide: the French Quarter, Frenchmen Street jazz, Café du Monde, the Garden District streetcar, Mardi Gras, food and the best time to go.
Founded by the French in 1718 on a bend of the Mississippi, New Orleans is unlike any other American city. In the French Quarter, iron balconies overflow with ferns and flowers, brass bands play on street corners and St. Louis Cathedral watches over Jackson Square.
This is the birthplace of jazz. Hear traditional jazz in the tiny Preservation Hall, then head to Frenchmen Street, where local bands play in one club after another. The food is legendary: gumbo, jambalaya, po’boys, crawfish in season and powdered-sugar beignets at Café du Monde, which has been serving them since 1862.
Ride the St. Charles streetcar, the oldest continuously operating street railway in the world, past the oak trees and mansions of the Garden District. Mardi Gras in February or March and Jazz Fest in late spring are the biggest parties, but there is music every night of the year.
Don’t miss
- 1Live music on Frenchmen Street
- 2Beignets and café au lait at Café du Monde
- 3The St. Charles streetcar and the Garden District
- 4Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral
Insider tips
- Bourbon Street is loud and touristy; Frenchmen Street has the best local music.
- St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 can be visited only with a licensed guide.
- You can walk with a drink in a plastic “go cup” in the French Quarter.
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