bakerstreet

All three are great choices, and New Orleans will be fabulous! I prefer staying in the French Quarter, but the Garden District is quiet and lovely.

In addition to Camellia Grill, eat at Commander's Palace (you'll want reservations). The Sunday Jazz Brunch is fun.

november_moon

New Orleans is a great place for a week. I've been there several times and keep going back It would absolutely be my choice.

I too prefer staying in the French Quarter in New Orleans - or the Faubourg Marigny, which is just next to the FQ. The Garden District is nice, but I don't find it as interesting as the FQ and the Marigny. Keep in mind that the FQ is about a lot more than Bourbon Street - you can be a block away from Bourbon street and totally removed from that atmosphere. I prefer the Lower Quarter, which is the area between Jackson Square and Esplanade - this area of the FQ has a very residential feel to it, great architecture, and is actually pretty quiet.

The deal with VBRO (and other short term rentals) in New Orleans is that while the rentals may be legitimate (i.e. not a scam) the rental may not be legal. New Orleans has strict laws about short-term rentals - I know that they apply to the FQ. I am not sure about other areas of the city. The reason for these strict laws is that people want to retain the neighborhoods as places not just for tourists, but where real people live and work. If you have a lot of short term rentals, it really erodes the residential character of a neighborhood. So most landlords with short term rentals are operating illegally - which means that they probably don't have the proper insurance, things may not be up to code, they may or may not pay their share of the taxes, etc. VBRO doesn't do anything to check whether a property owner follows local laws.

magnumholmes

Thanks for all of the advice.
I saw someone said it will be Spring Break time, so San Antonio might not be a good spot.
But wouldn't the same be true for Charleston and/or New Orleans? Or are they not frequented places by Spring Breakers?

I don't know if New Orleans is going to work because of finances. It seems San Antonio will be more budget-friendly, even though we will need to rent a car.
Is that true? Or am I off base on this?

DebitNM

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Daniel_Williams

If I had to guess, Spring Breakers would be most prevalent of the three in New Orleans due to its party reputation, but that's just my guess.

I think you're a bit off-base about budget. I've stayed in all three during the busy Christmas to early January period. New Orleans as far as accommodation was concerned was the best I was able to do in terms of price for an inn I was happy with (around $100 a night is my aim; I'll go up toward $200 but reluctantly and in a pinch). Check some inns in the Lower Garden District if the French Quarter is seeming too expensive. This said, I found none of the three are NYC-pricey or Boston-pricey; close to or under $120 a night has gotten me something actually remarkably charming in all.

janice914

New Orleans is tremendous. Great food, great music, check out Frenchmen Street. More than enough things to do for a week. I could stay a month and have more to do and not get tired of it. I love N.O.