8 Best Sights in New Orleans, Louisiana

This Greek Revival building, modeled on the Erechtheion of Athens, was built in 1845 by the architect James Gallier Sr. It served as City Hall in the mid-20th century and today hosts special events. It's the mayor's official perch during Carnival parades, where kings and queens of many krewes stop to be toasted by city officials and dignitaries. The grand rooms inside the hall are adorned with portraits and decorative details ordered by Gallier from Paris.

Some 115,000 square feet of gaming space is divided into five areas, each with a New Orleans theme: Jazz Court, Court of Good Fortune, Smugglers Court, Mardi Gras Court, and Court of the Mansion. There are also table games, a covered gaming courtyard for smokers, 2,100-plus slots, and live entertainment at Masquerade, which includes a lounge, video tower, and dancing show. Check the website for seasonal productions, including music, theater, and comedy. Restaurants here include the extensive Harrah's buffet, the Cafés on Canal food court, Acme Oyster House, Gordon Biersch, Grand Isle, Manning's, and Ruth's Chris Steak House. The last four are part of Harrah's Fulton Street Mall, a pedestrian promenade that attracts casual strollers, clubgoers, and diners.

New York architect James Gamble Rogers designed this three-story granite structure as a post office and court building in 1909. It opened in 1915, but by the 1960s, the post office had moved to larger digs, leaving it open for McDonogh No. 35 High School to find refuge after Hurricane Betsy in 1965. Today, the Italian Renaissance Revival building houses the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in an elaborately paneled and ornamented series of three courtrooms, one of which, the En Banc courtroom, boasts a bronze glazed ceiling. The Great Hall's plaster ceiling has been restored to its original appearance and color, a light gray. As you enter the building and pass security, turn left and continue around the corner to find the library, where you can pick up information on the courthouse. Outside, a repeating sculpture of four women stands atop each corner of the building's penthouse level: the four ladies represent History, Agriculture, Industry, and the Arts. The building is named for Judge John Minor Wisdom, the New Orleans native who was instrumental in dismantling the segregation laws of the South. Judge Wisdom received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993.

Planned in 1788 as a public place for Faubourg St. Marie, this 2.5-acre park occupies one city block in between the Federal Complex and Gallier Hall. The leafy square, covered by oaks, magnolias, and maple trees, and landscaped with hydrangeas and azaleas, offers a shady spot to sit. Statues include Benjamin Franklin, Henry Clay, and the New Orleans philanthropist John McDonogh. Recently, the Square has been experiencing a renaissance brought about in large part by the Young Leadership Council's Wednesday at the Square concert series, held in the spring and early summer.

Home to the NFL's New Orleans Saints, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome has been the site of many Sugar Bowls, several NCAA Final Four basketball tournaments, the BCS championship game, a record seven Super Bowls, and the 1988 Republican National Convention, as well as many concerts.

The Superdome was badly damaged during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, when it served as a shelter of last resort for evacuees. The stadium underwent extensive renovations in the years that followed and reopened for football in September 2006, when the Saints beat the Atlanta Falcons, at the time setting a record for the largest TV audience in ESPN history.

Built in 1975, the Superdome seats 71,000 people, and has a 166,000-square-foot main arena and a roof that covers almost 10 acres at a height of 27 stories. The bronze statue on the Poydras Street side of the Superdome is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Across from it is a large abstract sculpture called Krewe of Poydras. The sculptor, Ida Kohlmeyer, meant to evoke the frivolity and zany spirit of Mardi Gras. A couple of blocks down Poydras Street from the Superdome is the Bloch Cancer Survivors Monument, a block-long walkway of whimsical columns, figures, and a triumphal arch in the median of Loyola Avenue. The Smoothie King Center (formerly called the New Orleans Arena) behind the Superdome is home to the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans.

The Superdome does not offer public tours, but visitors can walk along the exterior plaza and Champions Square to get a better view. The plaza by Champions Square offers the best photo opportunity.

For a place to relax with a terrific view of the river, go to Spanish Plaza behind the former World Trade Center at 365 Canal Street. This large, sunken space with beautiful inlaid tiles and a fountain was a gift from Spain in 1976; here you can enjoy occasional live music and buy tickets for riverboat cruises in the offices that face the river. If you happen to be in town for Lundi Gras (the Monday before Mardi Gras), you can watch Rex, the King of Carnival, arrive here from across the river to greet King Zulu and take symbolic control of the city for a day.

This riverfront shopping center reopened in 2014 as an outlet mall with 75 stores, including Coach, Neiman Marcus Last Call, and Forever 21. Various cruise ships leave from outside the Riverwalk or from the Julia Street Wharf, slightly upriver.