...how would you spend a long weekend in New Orleans? It's my first trip and I want to experience as much as possible without emptying my bank account. Music, Food, Museums, Outdoor Activities... Who's been there, done that? Thanks!

If $50/day over a long weekend would empty your bank account, you oughta start saving up or plan to sleep in the bus station and feed on one poboy/day. Are you hitchhiking there?

You don't seriously mean that $50/day would include lodging as well as meals? Maybe just for meals and entertainment if you have a local pal to stay with. Otherwise . . .

Come on, folks, read the original post! He specifies "music, food, musems . . . " Clearly the $50 isn't supposed to include lodging.

Not sure why the previous replies to your questions did not supply any answers to your question... just wisecracks...

You should be able to do lodging & everything on $50.00 per day. I do! I'm sure there will be campgrounds. Otherwise - sleep in your car (as I do).

Lots of fun boat tours through the bayous - just southwest of New Orleans a bit. Take a boat tour, not an airboat. Also - drive around - check prices. Don't just take the first one you see. Some are cheaper than others, I found. The place I went to was in a village that started with an " L ". Cannot remember the exact name but not far outside of New Orleans. More interesting since the guide can talk to you throughout, and quiet - doesn't scare away the critters.

The Mississippi riverboat ride is not the best way to spend your money if on a budget. I did it "just to say I did" but found it was far less value for the money than the swamp tour.

Walk through that famous street (again, can't remember - starts with a " B " downtown in the evening to "people watch"...

Do the drive between Baton Rouge & New Orleans past all the antebellum homes/plantations. Stop at one for a tour of the premises.

I'm sure others will post some more suggestions...

Pack (fold)a soft sided cooler in you suitcase. Get ice at the hotel, and fill it with juice, fruit, cheese and cold cuts for lunch (and a box of granola bars for breakfast). Try a different poboy for dinner each night. Stand outside and listen to the music coming from the different clubs - believe me, you can hear it. Stand outside the door of Preservation Hall and enjoy the jazz instead of paying the $5.00 to get in. The entire French Quarter is a museum. Walk up and down the streets during the day and enjoy the architecture. Take a streetcar of a bus into the Garden District and walk around the neighborhood and the cemetary there. Even if you can't enter the cemetary because it's closed (you should probably be with a group for safety's sake, anyhow), you can still walk around the perimeter and check it out through the gates. Musicians all over the streets. There's a free ferry that takes you across the Mississippi to Algiers. And so on, and so on......

I think that NO is very do-able on $50/day.

You can get a 3 day transit pass for about $8 which will get you unlimited rides on the street cars as well as the buses.

The Canal St ferry is a great way to get out on the river. It runs back and forth from Canal St to Algiers all day long and is free to pedestrians.

There is a group that gives free walking tours of the city - can't remember who it is, but you can find posts on it once the search function is back online. I think it's through the Chamber of Commerce or the library - something like that.

Also, you can buy a guide book that has some walking tours in it and take yourself on some tours.

The museums are all pretty inexpensive - not more than about $5 to go in.

For food, po'boys are always a good bet, as are the mufellata (sp?) sandwiches from the Central Grocery. beingets and cafe au lait from Cafe Du Monde are very inexpensive. The smaller cafes generally have cheap eats - red beans and rice, fried catfish with french fries and so on.

For the clubs, when we were there, most had no cover charge and were offering 3 for 1 drink specials.

thanks for the advice. to answer the early posts, the $50 doesn't include lodging. i just wanted to know about deals on activities & good eats. thanks again to those who were helpful.

The national park service site there has a lot of free/low-cost activities I have enjoyed.

The Park Service only has one tour per day of the French Quarter and NONE of the Garden District. They've cut WAY back.

That's too bad, Sam. A few years ago, I took a nice Garden District tour, plus a tour of a fort or battle site a couple of miles downriver. The park service also offered swamp tours then on Sundays.

Our favorite place for cheap eats was Mother's in the central business dist. Some people love it, others don't, but we had great sandwiches there. It was a bit of a hike from the Quarter, but it was worth it. It's an old cafeteria-sytle place - stand in line, place your order, pay for it, then pick it up when they call your name. The line was long, but the people were very efficient and it moved quickly. I got a Ferdi Po Boy sandwich - roast ham with roast beef that has been roasted until it falls apart with gravy on top. Mmmmm.

I can't even stay home for $50 per day!

do you mean USD??

Cafe du Monde for beignets and coffee for breakfast. Yum!

With your unlimited bus pass that you'll get (mentioned above) take the trolley thru the Garden District and look at the nice homes on your way to breakfast at the Camellia Grill. A great breakfast, almost more so due to the staff... HUGE omletes.

A cheap meal that i didn't get to try was Juan's Flying Buritto.

What's with the cheap travel nay-sayers? The Four Seasons is wonderful, I agree, but there's nothing wrong with eating curb-side po'boys, listening to music in a great dive bar, and soaking up all that the city has to offer for free. I wouldn't want it any other way when I travel...

Does anyone have more information about the National Park Service walking tours? Or information (good or bad) on the many swamp tours? Thanks.