Drink, relax, tour in New Orleans
 

Hi folks,

My friend and I are going to New Orleans this week, and I've never been. I have 7 days to look around by myself; (my friend will be on business 24/7). I broke my foot in June, so I'm still not up to full walking capability, however, I'm going to go for it.

Can anyone recommend a good tour company for the town and for the swamp tour?

Also, if I want to go for drinks in the afternoon, where are the folks (near the french quarter) most plentiful and friendly? (I hate drinking alone, OR with snooty tourists)

Thanks in advance

I was in New Orleans for 3 days in August and we took a fantastic city tour - the Gray Line SuperCity tour. We got to see everything but the French Quarter (streets are too narrow for a bus), even Lake Pontchartrain and St. Charles Ave. The tour guide was tremendous and it was a fabulous way to explore the area. If you're looking for a more quiet place to drink, I'd steer clear of straight-up Bourbon St. Head down Royal or Toulouse, one of the side streets, and you should find a more subdued pub. I spent one evening in the piano bar at Pat O'Briens (it has several rooms), and that was a blast - not too rowdy, but definitely fun! Also - I had one of the best meals of my life at the Red Fish Grill, which is on the corner of Bourbon and Canal - definitely check it out! Hope this helps... Enjoy your trip!

I travel to NOLA at least 2-3 times per month. I don't have any tour company recommendations, but I hear the ghost tour is great! As for bars, Jean Lafitte's in the quarter is really cool. It's on Bourbon but further down. It's a dilapidated old building with tons of character! Also, The Columns hotel in the Garden District is a beautiful old mansion that has a great bar. Plus, if it's warm out (which it usually is in NOLA), there's an incredible front porch with tables where you can sit and look out on the neighborhood & street. Hope this helps

Thank you very much!!! I'm making notes on this advice. I did some major walking today; NOT GOOD!!!! So....it looks like hanging out with a book and drinking beer for me. (I'm a real Irish girl) :-)

And NO!, I don't want quiet!! :-) I want friendly fun folks to laugh with while I wile away the hours. Oh, and I'm excited about the tour! Thanks! I'm definately going to do that.

Hopefully your room will have a balcony you can sit on and "people watch". That's one of our favorite ways to pass time (from before dawn to well into the night!) when we visit New Orleans. Have fun!

We did a swamp tour with Capt Nick in Lafite. It was a lot of fun - he does small group tours and picked us up at the hotel. It was more expensive than a lot of tours, but we thought it was worth it. I have heard that Honey Island does a good tour.

We also did a plantation tour with Spinato Tours which was great. We went to Laura and Oak Alley plantations - the tour company picked us up in a van at the hotel with about 10 other people and took us out to the plantations and brought us back. Not much walking involved, just what we did on the tours of the actual plantation houses. The guide was great - gave a lot of information about NO and the surrounding areas. I have heard that Tours by Isabelle is similar and very good.

In NO, we found the locals and the tourists to be very friendly - don't think we ran into 1 snooty person the whole time. I think the snooty people don't really "get" New Orleans so they aren't very plentiful there.

Plenty of bars on Bourbon St, also several on Decatur. Frenchman St, which is a couple blocks down river from the Quarter has some nice pubs/bars too. When we were there, we always found people to talk to.

You might enjoy stopping by O'Flaherty's one night--on weekends they generally have some good music and of course always a nice variety of ales and stouts.

A nice way to see the city is from the perspective of a boat ride. Even if you aren't up for walking, you might enjoy the John James Audubon boat ride between the Aquarium and the Zoo. It's about about 45 minutes each way and there's a bar on board (of course!). And though I've never taken one, I suspect that some of the Creole or Cajun Queen day rides are booze cruises. Have a a great time!

On our trip to NO last Thanksgiving, my husband and I really enjoyed hanging out in the Carousel Bar in the Monteleone (sp?) Hotel; we were staying at the Omni Royal Orleans, but loved the revolving bar, friendly bartenders, and excellent martinis at the Carousel. It was a great place to get a slight buzz, cruise Bourbon St., and end up back there for a nightcap.