I have this great idea, but that's about where it ended. Now I need your help.

My sister and I will be meeting in New Orleans (or somewhere nearby) in May for 3-7 days and we are also bringing along our husbands. Originally the idea was to get a room (hotel, apartment or B&B) somewhere in the city. But....here's where the great idea comes in... I thought that it would be nice to find a place somewhere in a cute little town within a 30 minute to an hour drive outside of New Orleans.

That way we could do things outside the city (in this charming town that we found) and spend the rest of our time in New Orleans proper. In my imagination this lovely place would be on a lake or some other interesting geography, so if we wanted to take a walk or relax in a chair somewhere there would be something nice to look at.

Our budget is fairly mid-range (I'm going to be vauge on purpose) and we are fairly flexible when it comes to all the details. Usually our trips involve lots of eating (casual or fancy, it just has to be good), museums, parks, etc. If staying outside of town, we would probably rent a car to get around.

Neither one of us is really familar with the area and would love any ideas you may have.

I'd suggest sticking with the original plan, for several reasons.

there are certainly many lovely spots within the city to stay that meet your criteria. If you want to see New Orleans then I'd say stay in New Orleans.

The other factors would be traffic and parking. Traffic coming inot the city from just about any direction while not as bad as say Chicago or LA, it can be heavy and not fun.

Parking in the central business district and the French Quarter is hard to find cheap on the street and the lots can be expensive.

ALso the probability is that you will be wanting to get out while not at the crack of dawn but after breakfast and staying late after dinner and after drinking does not make for good driving late at night.

Having a spot within a reasonable walk, trolley ride or taxi ride to stop in and refresh yourself during the day of sightseeing can be a blessing. Especially with the humidity in New Orleans.

That sounds like a great idea in theory, but I have to go with notbob here - stay in the city.

For most people, a visit to NO usually involves lots of eating and drinking, and the occasional late nite, listening to live music. Do you drink? You do not want to be enjoying a lovely meal with cocktails at 10pm, and then have to deal with driving an hour to get back to your hotel every night. And even if you're all teetotalers, parking in the FQ can be a PITA, not to mention expensive.

Cut down on the stress level, and stay somewhere you can walk home to no matter how late, or at the most is a 5-minute cab ride away.

I agree with notbob, I am a frequent traveller to the cresent city, and as many people would say, the Cresent City is the jewel of Louisiana and that is for good reason.

Are there any cute towns 30-60 minutes outside of New Orleans?

Somehow the words "Cute" and "Louisana" just dom't seem to go together

Thanks for your help. I think I'll take your advice and stay in the city. It's a good point about eating late, I won't want to drive too far.....

Why not do both? Stay a few days in NO (which I agree with) and then a couple or 3 days in, say, a plantation along the River. Would make for some great day trips to other plantations and you've very close to Cajun Country. We've done this a few times and particularly like Nottaway Plantation - about 1 hr north of NO on the River. They have some great accommodation options. There are other choices as well.

What about a cute town that is half a mile from the French Quarter?

It is Algiers, a picturesque and quiet historic neighbourhood on the other bank of the Mississippi. There is a free ferry across the river. Algier has several B&Bs.

I personally, however, would rather follow dfr4848's advice. Staying at a plantation is also quite appealing...

Algiers Point, just keep in mind, while there is indeed cute neighborhoods, it is interwoven by very dicey areas. Just like St. Charles (Uptown), you have to be very careful at night....or carry a very large gun.

There are a few plantation homes you can stay at that are an hour away, but there is NOTHING around them. I think you would be bored to death, but then again, several are reputed to be hauted, so that might be exciting.

We did a family vacation to New Orleans (many years ago now) where we spent two nights in Oak Alley plantation. Interview with a Vampire was filmed there and it was lovely. I agree with Dave0099 that there really isn't anything to do around them except enjoy the scenery, but it was still a nice break.

http://www.oakalleyplantation.com/

I don't remember exactly how far away it was from NO, but I don't think it was very far.

A few years ago we divided a trip between New Orleans and cajun country - we stayed in Breaux Bridge and found lots of stuff to see and do in that area.