WillTravel

I decided to go to New Orleans at Jazz Fest. I quickly discovered, particularly as I only started looking in February, that lodging was very expensive or not available. Hostel beds in a dorm were $100/night. So I used two AirBnB stays of 3 nights each, and both worked very well. One was near Esplanade and Roman, and one was in the Fauborg Marigny neighborhood. In the latter case, I had a room in a shotgun house, which meant other guests needed to walk through it (a shotgun house is so named, because a shotgun could be shot straight through the front door to the back door, and there are no hallways).

But I knew that in advance, and I wanted to be in New Orleans during Jazz Fest, so I was fine with it.

Lots of other things I need to do, so I'll make this brief, although I could go on for hours.

A partial list of places I enjoyed:
Community CC Coffeehouse
Lola's (Spanish food)
Flora's (neighborhood coffee shop)
Upper 9 Doughnut Company (combination bookstore, doughnut and coffee shop)
Orange Couch (Hipster coffee shop)

Rouse (grocery store like Whole Foods)

Mimi's in the Marigny (Tapas, live music every night)
Frenchman Street
Three Muses
Bacchanal
Blue Nile
Maison

St. Louis Cathedral
Tours by Isabelle - went to plantations with them, great tour guide Kat
Creole Queen - a paddleboat I took up the Mississippi to Chalmet Field, the site of the Battle of New Orleans. Narration on boat, and guided tour by park ranger

World War II Museum -- vast, but so, so interesting
Ogden Museum of Southern Art -- saw lots of things I liked here
Civil War Museum is right by these two also, but closed the day I visited.

Jazz Fest - so many great artists, hard to name, and I tried not to worry about what I was missing, because any choice could feel tragic if you thought too hard. But let's pick Timbuza and Tambor Mineiro, which is an all-women percussion/vocals/dance group with a male director (Timbuza) who sings and dances and plays electric guitar. Stunning!

I did visit Bourbon Street one night, but not a high priority, let's say.
Royal Street had some neat shops.

Visited a neighborhood house concert that I saw advertised at a coffee shop.

WillTravel

I did a lot of walking -- in MidCity, in Fauborg Marigny, Bywater, the French Quarter, the convention/museum/art gallery area, and a bit in Uptown. I got advice from locals about safe areas to walk, although I knew there were no guarantees. No problems at all.

musicfan

I watched the coverage on AXS-TV yesterday of the wonderful music and it looks like a great time--I am going to have to make it to this one of these days!

WillTravel

Yes, musicfan, you must. Every weekend seems to have some festival, but Jazz Fest is special indeed.

nelsonian

This is on my bucket list also. Trouble is accommodation prices go sky-high during this time, adds a lot more to the cost when you are travelling from New Zealand.

WillTravel

nelsonian, I am glad I went, and AirBnB worked well for me. It is a bit of a pain, because so many people do not properly update their listings with current prices and availability, and the back and forth takes a while. But it was all worth it.