My husband and I will be traveling to NO in January to celebrate our anniversary. I have searched the internet all morning looking for a place to stay. The more I look the more overwhelmed I get! We will be flying in from NC and do not want to have to rent a car. We need a hotel or Bed and Breakfast located somewhere where we will be able to walk or take the trolley whenever we need to go. Ideally I would like a B&B. Somewhere that will be quiet.

So far I am considering:

Hotel Provincial
Le Pavillon (worried it is too far from everything)
Chateau Le Moyne
Chateau Motor Hotel

I tried to get reservations at Le Richelieu but they were booked up. The guy I spoke to there recommended Hotel Provincial or Chateau Motor Hotel.

Does anyone have experience with any of these places? Is there somewhere else you could recommend?

New Orleans is one of my favorite cities and we have been visiting NOLA for years, first from Boston and now Seattle.

There are 3 B&Bs we like. They are Claiborne Mansion, Le Maison Marigny and Jazz Quarters. All are near Esplanade Avenue on the eastern side of the Quarter, near the French Market. You can walk everywhere.

For the hotels, I have stayed at (a) Provincial, which is motelish (b)Le Pavillon, which is very nice but far out, as you mentioned and (c) Chateau Le Moyne, which was not memorable in any way but not bad either. Sorry if that sounds vague. I just can't recall specifics.

Do not rent a car. Period. It's a real mess. We did it once and will never again.

Since this is a special occasion, you might want to try the Melrose Mansion. It's a stunning white Victorian on the corner of Esplanade & Dauphine. Very romantic -- they've even been used as a location for bridal magazine photos.

There are good B&Bs on St. Charles Avenue as well as the ones already mentioned. I can't recall all of the names but there are several B&B directories if you search google or you can also use bedandbreakfast.com

Try this website, Dan.....
http://www.worldtravelling.com/NewOrleans.htm

We recently stayed at the Chateau Motor Hotel.

The location is great (on Chartres, 2 blocks from the Cathedral). Quiet without being deserted. 24 hour security & front desk. Courtyard locked at night (enter through front office). Nice knowledgable staff.

If you decide to rent a car, there is free valet parking. It is a renovated courtyard townhome & although the outside looks like it could use a paint job, the rooms are nicely furnished & appear to have been renovated recently.

We felt that the price & the location could not be beat (& we did alot of walking)!

I highly recommend La Maison Marigny (on the quiet end of Bourbon)and B&W Courtyards on Chartres in Faubourg Marigny. Both locations are great and both have outstanding reputations. For more information about them, do a back search of this board.

We like the Lafitte Guest House, a 14 room B&B, on the quiet end of Bourbon St.

Another vote for LaFitte Guest House.

Thanks for all the replies! LaFitte Guest House looks like the one! I have booked a room for 4 days in January. We are in room 21. Thanks for all the info. Now to decide where to go and what to do!

Hmmmmm, where to go, what to do....that's too easy! Here goes:

Ride the St. Charles and Desire streetcars.
Take a steamboat ride (not the dinner cruise).
Take a city tour that includes a cemetary stop.
Walk through Jackson Square.
See the French Market.
Eat at Cafe DuMonde.
Have breakfast at Petunia's.
Be brave and eat a Lucky Dog.
Take a plantation tour.
Naturally stroll down Bourbon Street a couple times.
Take a cooking class.
See Mardi Gras World.

Don't worry, time will go so fast you probably won't get in all you find to do. Have fun!!

I received my December copy of Travel + Leisure magazine yesterday. Magnolia Mansion (garden district), La Maison Marigny (Faubourg Marigny) and Maison Perrier (Uptown) were their choices for cool places to stay.

Yep, the original Desire line did stop running quite a few years ago, but the city has been constructing a new line to open December 6. I can hardly wait to ride on it and dream of olden days in New Orleans!

The new streetcar line is CANAL, not Desire. And it's been postponed to March as of today. Sorry to break the bad news.

Desire has been replaced by a bus but the city's eventual plan is to have a streetcar there again by mid-decade. We'll see! At any rate, the current Desire bus route goes to a pretty UN"desire"able neighborhood so I wouldn't recommend.

Allyson - When in January are they going? We will be arriving on the 15th.

Ooops, my bad - Sorry! I'll just ride the new Canal line when we're there in September and enjoy that one instead.

I had lunch on Canal today and am not sure why the line has been delayed. The streetcars are running up and down already, with no passengers.

Dan, Lunch on Canal? Where did you set up your table and how'd you dodge all the traffic?

Has anyone ever stayed at Loft 523? Heard of it the first time the other day and the place looks very, very cool.

cc-He doesn't drink chic-coffee and yet you're still married to him??? He must be related to Mrs Kal. I'm giving her one mo' trip to acquire the taste!

YEAH!! Me too - one more trip......well, maybe a couple more just in case he doesn't get the idea......If I have to suffer and go to New Orleans a few times to get it into his head that the coffee is good, so be it..<grin>

Things to "do":
beignets at cafe du monde(we stopped every evening and picked up two orders)

red beans and rice at Mothers

oysters any way at Acme

a park ranger guided tour of the cemetaries(especially the one with Marie La Veau's grave

a box of Sister Claire's pralines best ordered and picked up at the Carmelite house in the Garden District

Since you are staying at La Fitte's venture across the street to La Fitte's Blacksmith shop for drinks. Order yourself something "neat", ask someone who works there about Miss Lily and then toast her.

Check out Hovier on Royal Street for wonderful and very New Orleans fragrances. Buy some magnolia and some vetiver soaps.

Walk in and sit in the cathedral of St. Louis. The altar is very beautiful.

Have a burger at Port o Call on Esplanade

Listen to jazz at Snug Harbor