Things to do in New Orleans

[whataboutport]

There are a million ways to answer this question.

Here are my recommendations, by category:

Food:

Cafe Amelie

Camellia Grill

Oliviers

Johnny's Poboy's

Deanies

 

History:

All of the Louisiana State Museums, including the 1850 House.

While you are at the 1850 house, inquire about their walking tours, they are very informative and led by state licensed historians.

WWII museum is an all-day event.

About an hour northwest is the town of Vacherie, which has two plantations, Oak Alley and Laura. Do both plantations, as it shows the very different lifestyles between the english/american plantations and the french/creole plantations.

Explore outside New Orleans as well, there are plenty of historical sites from plantations and agriculture to industry to battlefields. One of my favorite sites is a couple of hours down river on the west bank, it is Fort Jackson and was very important to both sides during the Civil War. The fort is an old 5-sided star fort that has a moat and sits almost directly on the river and has a great view of the river for watching river traffic. You will pass the fort on your way down river to the gulf. If you are looking, the fort should be visible about 5 hours after departure in New Orleans.

 

Shopping:

Royal street is a great shopping area, with plenty of small shops selling Art, Weapons, Antiques, Furniture, Christmas and halloween items, groceries and many other things.

The Pontalba buildings (which house the 1850 house, all around Jackson Square) have many shops and restaurants.

Many malls, and most are quite clean and safe. My old favorite when I lived there was Oakwood, but my more recent favorite while visiting has been Lakeside.

 

Other than that, it is a great place to go with no list and see where the day carries you. New Orleans does not fit nicely into a scheduled vacation as there will be plenty to distract you and keep you busy.

 

We will be flying out to NOLA after our cruise in Nov and thank you for this post. I esp want to tour the plantations. I love history.

[whataboutport]

Just returned from a trip to NOLA - 4 days and still didn't do everything. I saw the double decker tour bus going around, looked like fun. Rode the St. Charles trolley out to the Garden District (and walked around out there, saw LaFayette Cemetery and a lot of different houses) and then took it back into town to canal. Definitely get a po boy somewhere, lots of places. You have to walk down Bourbon Street at least once - nowhere else like it (like the other poster, the Huge Ass Beers sign cracked me up) - if you drink, definitely get a hand grenade! You can find them at any Tropical Isle bar down Bourbon. Beignets are a MUST! If you could work out coming into the French Quarter for lunch, Court of Two Sisters has a jazz brunch - sit in the courtyard, listen to the jazz trio, eat a lot of awesome food. Preservation Hall for jazz is a definite. Two of my friends did the WWII museum and really liked it. Jackson Square and the French Market are really neat to explore, lots of local artists showing off their creations, live music going on (pretty much everywhere you go in the French Quarter).

 

Enjoy your cruise and your time in Nawlins!!

Oooh, the cemetery sounds really cool too!

[saltypieceofland]

try Surrys on Magazine st bannas foster french toast fantastic

[spaghetti]

Anybody have a recommendation for a place to get good bananas foster?

[wrigley80]

Anyone ever ate at the Clover Grill??

[marshhawk]

Thanks for this thread. I have been at work all day, and my very sweet DH brought me dinner, and while I was on the phones, we have been reading this thread and talking about what we wanted to do, and digesting dinner and your suggestions. We were only going to be in NOLA for one day, and then it was a day and a half and then it was two days, now we are at two and a half while we wait for the ship.

We come in by bus at 6:30 in the morning,(Saturday) so we are going to head over to Cafe Du Monde for breakfast and coffee. Get a cab, and head to our hotel. Leave off our stuff, and spend Saturday at WWII Museum, get together with friends for dinner and then hit the hay early (we are old, and will have been on a bus all night)

Sunday-get up early, get breakfast, take a trolley car round trip, visit Jackson square and have dinner in the French Quarter. - or - take a paddlewheel boat ride-which would let us see the most of NOLA?

Monday the day of the cruise-just chill as long as possible, and then head on over to the ship, the cruise leaves at 4, so as long as we stay light we will be seeing something of the NOLA area.

[wrigley80]

Thanks for this thread. I have been at work all day, and my very sweet DH brought me dinner, and while I was on the phones, we have been reading this thread and talking about what we wanted to do, and digesting dinner and your suggestions. We were only going to be in NOLA for one day, and then it was a day and a half and then it was two days, now we are at two and a half while we wait for the ship.

We come in by bus at 6:30 in the morning,(Saturday) so we are going to head over to Cafe Du Monde for breakfast and coffee. Get a cab, and head to our hotel. Leave off our stuff, and spend Saturday at WWII Museum, get together with friends for dinner and then hit the hay early (we are old, and will have been on a bus all night)

Sunday-get up early, get breakfast, take a trolley car round trip, visit Jackson square and have dinner in the French Quarter. - or - take a paddlewheel boat ride-which would let us see the most of NOLA?

Monday the day of the cruise-just chill as long as possible, and then head on over to the ship, the cruise leaves at 4, so as long as we stay light we will be seeing something of the NOLA area.

 

You're welcome for starting this thread. When I started it I had no idea of what we wanted to do in New Orleans but now we have too many ideas...haha.

 

And we started out just like you. We were originally only going to spend the day before our cruise in New Orleans but now we will have one full day prior to the start of the cruise and were staying an extra day after our cruise and flying out late Monday night.

 

Anyway to extend the vacation is fine with me....hehe

[psufanatic]

:rolleyes: Good information here. Thanks to all!

[KeywestK]

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread! We will be in NOLA for 1 day pre-cruise, and 4 days post-cruise in March. I was starting to worry that there will not be enough for us to see and do, but after reading this thread, my list is getting longer and longer!! Now I'm hoping we'll be able to see and do everything you all talked about!!

 

Whooooo hooooo, NOLA here we come:D

[WLHyatt]

New Orleans is not a "done it once, let's go somewhere else" city, it is a city that will draw you in and compel you to visit again and again. I say keep a list, but don't be in a hurry to do it all. Part of the charm of New Orleans is the ability to slow down and enjoy things. The list is just so you know what to do when you come back the second, third, fourth, twentieth time.

[Walt724]

Need a little more advice....we wanna do one of the Double Decker bus tours around New Orleans

 

Which one is better Bus Vision or the Hop On/Hop Off City Sightseeing bus??

 

Since no one has answered this one, I would say the Hop on/Hop off is a better option.

[wrigley80]

Since no one has answered this one, I would say the Hop on/Hop off is a better option.

 

Thank You....that was the one that we decided on. I found some great coupons for the hop on/hop off tour

[shawne71]

Great info in this thread. Thanks everyone! ;)