New Orleans January Vacation
 

My wife and I will be flying to New Orleans for a week in January 2022 and are looking for attractions and restaurant/food suggestions unique to New Orleans. We won't be renting a car, will be relying on Uber/bus to get around, and staying in the French Quarter. We are from Vancouver Canada and have never been to Southern USA before.

Attractions we'd like to see:

• Explore French Quarter, CBD, Warehouse District, and Garden District
• Take the Algiers ferry
• Ride the St Charles street car
• Visit a cemetery (Saint Louis #2 or Lafayette Cemetery #1)
• Walk around Audubon Park
• Take a swamp boat tour
• Visit the Cabildo, Mardi Gras Museum of Costumes and Culture, New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, and WW2 Museum

Attractions we'd like to skip:

• Taking a Steamboat ride
• Visiting the Historic Voodoo Museum, Museum of Death New Orleans, and New Orleans Jazz Museum

Restaurants we'd like to dine at:

• Café Du Monde
• Coop's Place
• Willie Mae's
• Gumbo Shop
• Killer PoBoys
• Port of Call
• Mother's Restaurant
• Three Legged Dog

Foods we'd like to try:

• Beignets
• Po Boys
• Gumbo
• Jambalaya
• Crawfish
• Muffulettas

Welcome icu222much. Based upon your list, I'd suggest two weeks instead of one! We were there many years ago and took a tour that covered a lot of the city and was a helpful orientation and oral history. We enjoyed a plantation tour as well. Others (or your hotel) can provide current information. Also, check out restos Commander's Palace and the Court of Two Sisters. Please let everyone know how it goes.

New Orleans is a great place to visit and the weather should be good then. Ride the historic St. Charles Trolley to Audubon Park; explore the 1791 French Market; visit the 1794 St. Louis Cathedral; drink rich coffee with sweet beignets in 1840 Antoine’s; explore the Longue Vue House and Gardens; wander around the lush, subtropical New Orleans Botanical Garden which has 2,000 varieties of plants; listen to Jazz where it was created in the 1890s at Maple Leaf, Le Bon Temp Roule and Tipitinas; take a swamp tour; take a tour of the plantations on the Old River Road; and eat at Cochon butchers or Green Goddess for brilliant food. Take the streetcar up Canal to Carrollton, get ice cream at Angelo Brocato's, and then walk a few blocks to the art museum.

Did you have a question, icu222much?

We took a couple of wonderful walking tours when we were in New Orleans a few years ago which were a nice introduction to the city. I don't remember the name of the tour group but I think there are several. We also did a swamp boat tour (Honey Island) which our hotel was able to arrange and which we really enjoyed. As far as the Cafe du Monde, just show up and enjoy the beignets!

I would definitely recommend trying to listen to some jazz. We went to Frenchmen Street and strolled up and down until we decided which venues' music appealed at the moment. I remember we really liked The Spotted Cat and stopped into one or two others but their names escape me.

I really liked driving to visit Laura and Oak Alley plantations, the rest of the time our car stayed parked.
I also enjoyed the boat tour but to me any time spent on the water is good, kind of cheesy but fun and I had time to kill while my husband was in meetings.

We will be visiting next month. High on our list is the World War II museum.
We’re looking at Antoine’s and Brigtsen’s for memorable dinners. We’d love a recommendation for a jazz brunch on Sunday.
Unfortunately, it seems that the company we booked for the day-long swamp/plantation tour may not yet be back in operation, due to Hurricane Ida.

Oh yes, the World War II museum is really worth seeing.

If you are looking for input on your plans, here is some:

Attractions we'd like to see:

• Explore French Quarter, CBD, Warehouse District, and Garden District - Any particular things you are interested in? People can point you to interesting things.
• Take the Algiers ferry - This is a great way to get out on the river and have some nice views of the city. It used to be free to pedestrians, but I think now there is a nominal fee for a ticket.
• Ride the St Charles street car - You can ride it out to the Garden Dist and to Audubon park - it's a slow mode of transportation, but very iconic, so definitely ride it once or twice.
• Visit a cemetery (Saint Louis #2 or Lafayette Cemetery #1) - It looks like these cemeteries are currently closed, so you might have to skip this - however, if they do reopen before your trip, Save our Cemeteries is a great organization to take a tour with (https://www.saveourcemeteries.org/)
• Walk around Audubon Park - This can be combined with your ride on the streetcar
• Take a swamp boat tour - It's been ages since I have taken a swamp tour so I don't have any recommendations for tour companies, but in January, the swamps aren't at their best, and it might be kind of damp and cold, perhaps rainy, so I wouldn't make any reservations until I got to New Orleans and knew what the weather was going to be like.
• Visit the Cabildo, Mardi Gras Museum of Costumes and Culture, New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, and WW2 Museum - These are all good museums. The WWII museum is pretty big, so plan several hours there. We spent all day long. Also, it can get pretty busy, so go on a weekday instead of a weekend if you can.

Restaurants we'd like to dine at:

• Café Du Monde
• Coop's Place
• Willie Mae's
• Gumbo Shop
• Killer PoBoys
• Port of Call
• Mother's Restaurant
• Three Legged Dog

Everybody has their favorites, and New Orleans has no shortage of restaurants to choose from. Of course, Cafe du Monde is iconic and a must visit. The lines can be incredibly long though, so we like to go at night. Beignets and coffee make a perfect ending to an evening out. I've had some really good meals at Gumbo Shop, and Willie Mae's is excellent. However, I am not a fan of Mothers, so it wouldn't be on my list. I don't think I've been to the others.

Foods we'd like to try:

• Beignets - Cafe Du Monde is the place, of course, but I prefer the beignets at Cafe Beignet.
• Po Boys - I like Johnny's Po Boys and Verdi Mart. Verdi Mart is a small store and deli, so I like to get stuff to go and then go sit on the levy and watch the river
• Gumbo - lots of choices for gumbo - of course, you can get it at Gumbo Shop, Acme Oyster House also has good gumbo. There is great gumbo at many if the higher-end restaurants, but it looks like you are looking at more low-to-mid-range restaurants
• Jambalaya - also lots of choices for this, Gumbo Shop does a pretty good jambalaya as does Napolean House
• Crawfish - Can't help there - not a fan of mud bugs
• Muffulettas - My favorite muffaletas are at Napoleon House

Woops, sorry, I don't think I made myself very clear. My question was if my list missed any attractions and restaurant/food that are unique to New Orleans.

Thank you for all your suggestions! I don't think there is anything in particular we are interested in. We just want to soak up as much New Orleans culture as we can.

My take -

Mother's is also not my favorite (I've been more than once). As for beignets, my favorites were at the cafe in City Park; I think there's another branch, but I can't remember the name, and the one in the park closed (it's now a Cafe du Monde location). The muffaletta at the sports bar near Tulane (Cooter Brown's) is excellent. Also, you could have lunch at the iconic Camellia Grill. Both of the last two are near the end of Carrollton (so they work if you're on the St. Charles streetcar).

There's a really terrific sculpture garden in City Park near the "new" Cafe du Monde.

You did not mention Commander's Palace:

https://flic.kr/p/hUdAmf
https://www.commanderspalace.com/

Whitney Plantation

>>Whitney Plantation Museum is the only museum in Louisiana with an exclusive focus on the lives of enslaved people. During your visit, you will learn about the history of slavery on a southern Louisiana sugarcane plantation.

Having been to Nola dozens of times as it's one of our favorite places, your list is pretty solid. I do agree that the WW2 museum is spectacular and takes a few hours. The Museum of Death is small, pointless and tactless, we went because a friend insisted and it was the lowlight of that particular trip.
For bars in the French quarter, it's worth walking down Bourbon St to Jean Laffite's blacksmith bar for one of the oldest establishments in the US. It's usually very dark and hopefully there's live piano in the back. Also, ghost tours are tacky, but we enjoyed one in the quarter and you get some history of some of the buildings.
For food, I would agree with your list, and maybe add a couple. Above posters mentioned Commanders Palace and The Court of Two Sisters, and I would highly agree. I would also add The Palace Cafe just for their crab cheesecake. And for the best oysters and seafood, Peche on Magazine street is hard to beat., You could stop and have lunch on your way to the WW2 museum.

So, based on your other post, I see you'll be checking out BOTH Atlanta and New Orleans this coming January. Two southern cities that are so different! As for New Orleans, only thing I see not mentioned in the excellent replies that I would add is that the Faubourg Marigny, centered around Frenchman Street, is a fun neighbourhood to check out, not far from your other interests as the neighbourhood abuts the French Quarter. I liked Adolfo's there, . Of the restaurants you picked, I've only been to Gumbo Shop--which I found magical.

Some thoughts based on our 4-night stay in New Orleans last month:
- We did a swamp tour and it was really fun - much better than I expected, considering how touristic those are! We did the tour with a company called Airboat Adventures (5145 Fleming Park Rd, Lafitte, LA 70067). They were very well-organized, and they offer hotel pickup and drop off. We booked a small airboat. The ride was smooth and exciting at the same time. We saw a lot of gators!
- Willie Mae's was one of our best meals while in New Orleans - highly recommend! We also had great meals at Stein's, Turkey and the Wolf, Pêche, and Cure (a bar that has food)
- We did not enjoy Bourbon Street at night - too many wild and crazy college-age kids (maybe we were worried our kids would be in the crowd?). We are in our late 50s.
- Preservation Hall was excellent - you might want to consider going there.
- Café du Monde has two walk-up windows. The one by the street usually has a really long line. The one along the same wall of that building, but back from the street, sometimes doesn't have a line at all. They both do takeout orders and you can sit at a table right there.
- The WWII Museum is very well done and takes a long time to see - a half day to do it justice. We really enjoyed it.
- Hiring a guide for a walking tour of the Garden District would be worthwhile. There are so many interesting details that you might not pick up on otherwise. Our guide drove us around to see some specific sites having to do with my ancestors who were there in the 1850s, and she also took us through the Garden District and the French Quarter. The tour company is called Soul of NOLA.
​​​​​​​Have a fantastic trip!

I hope you enjoy your visit to New Orleans. I went a few years ago with my son, who is a big history buff. The WWII museum was extraordinary.
We did a trolley ride to the garden district and walked around Magazine street and the cemeteries. While in that area we had lunch at Mahonys PoBoys and Seafood. I think it may be on all the tourist lists - but it was quite good! My personal fave for lunch or dinner is Evangeline Restaurant - done by the river off Jackson Square. From there you can take a short walk to pick up post-dinner beignets. We did a Haunted History Tour - it was a little cheesey as expected, but had some fun stories and interesting tidbits of history. On a prior trip, I took a really good cemetery tour that went into a lot of great detail the culture and history of the city. I think it really depends on the tour company / guide - and I am sure your hotel will have suggestions.
We loved walking around, listening to live music everywhere and eating just about everything - but we generally stayed away from the loud, college kids partying areas.
Have a great trip!
c