10 Things You Should Never Do in New Orleans

We get it, New Orleans is delicious. You arrive and want to unwind. Bars are everywhere. Drinks are cheap or well-made, or both. Thanks to the city’s notoriously strong pours, it takes half the time to feel twice as good. A few hours can pass in no time, you may or may not remember to eat, and suddenly, you’re living the NOLA party cliché of stumbling back to your room and passing out. Day 2 will hurt. But worse still, your hangover will keep you from enjoying all the light-of-day wonders of this glorious city. Two tips to live by: Always eat before drinking, and pace yourself at the bar.

The most historic part of Louisiana is definitely worth exploring, and it’s home to some of the best restaurants, iconic music venues, classic sights, and great galleries and museums. Beyond Bourbon and other famous French-Quarter streets, however, you’ll find even more delights in Uptown’s Garden District, along Magazine Street, in City Park, around the Warehouse Arts District, and over in the Marigny.

Clickety-clack down the track, riding New Orleans streetcars is a true signature experience. So much so that the St. Charles Avenue streetcar is a National Historic Landmark as the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world. It’s also extremely useful to actually get places, along with the other four streetcar lines, all of them linking to the Quarter. Better still, they’re a bargain at just $1.25 per ride (coins only, or use the city’s Le Pass transit app).

Apart from December, January, and February, your NOLA visit is probably going to be hot. Extreme heat and unrelenting humidity are part of life here. Even if you’re visiting for fall’s Krewe of Boo Halloween parade or April-May’s spectacular New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, you may learn what summer on the equator feels like. We mean hot! Just don’t make it worse by talking about it. Dress right (remember your hat!), avoid midday peak-heat outings, and drink tons of water.

Travel along St. Charles Avenue (use the streetcar!) to get a sense of the city’s stately residential architecture. Then venture deeper into the Garden District, along its roads and sidewalks bumpy from tree roots, to spot even more spectacular residences. Local tourism outfit New Orleans & Co. shares a good list of historic mansions, some built in the 19th century, or once owned by celebrities (author Anne Rice’s former home is always worth a stop).

Or join a walking tour to get highlights from locals who know the neighborhood best, perhaps with a Unique NOLA Tours “Glamorous Garden District” stroll. You’ll see Italianate, Greek Revival, French Second Empire, and Gothic Revival styles of architecture, lots of ornate cast-iron details, and huge inviting porches—and you’ll marvel at how these stunners have survived nearly 200 years of hurricanes and wild Gulf-coast weather.

New Orleans is synonymous with music. As the birthplace of jazz (and trumpeter-singer Louis Armstrong) and home to renowned artists (like Jon Batiste and the Marsalis family), you will undoubtedly discover great local bands, singers, dancers, and other artists during your visit. Just remember to tip. New Orleans is an affordable city, so go ahead and win the hearts of locals and support hard-working talents by putting a few bucks in the tip jar or a bar band’s passed hat. Many bands and street performers—and Jackson Square’s Tarot and palm readers—also take Venmo these days, in case you’re short on cash. Tipping is good karma for you, and fine encouragement for a devoted artist.

You don’t have to live here to be part of the pothole conversation. In New Orleans, potholes are legend. Whether you drove here, are cabbing around, looking for parking, or just walking and trying not to break an ankle, there is literally no neighborhood where you won’t encounter a major pothole.

More likely, you’ll come across the biggest potholes you’ve ever seen in your life, sometimes so big you will need to detour or, as is the case with this reporter, reverse your car down the block because there’s no way across or around a mega pothole. They will often stay unrepaired for years, and sometimes locals will decorate them or use them as their own recreational spaces.

New Orleans’s fantastic weekly newspaper The Gambit reports on them regularly (with head-shaking humor), holds favorite pothole contests, and occasionally runs entire pothole-themed issues. Potholes are an absurd reality here, and at this point, unfortunately, they’re simply part of the city’s DNA. But as a tourist, you’re better off sharing amusement than alarm.

Like gumbo, New Orleans has layers that flavor its spirit. On your visit, sure, you’ll enjoy doing some of the more stereotypical things. Just try to build in some authenticity. Instead of slurping hurricanes on Bourbon Street, sip a perfect French 75 at Jewel of the South or Peychaud’s. Instead of a ghost tour, learn centuries of fascinating history on a cemetery or bicycling tour (Free Wheelin’ Bike Tours hosts fun e-bike tours). Instead of just loving the cuisine, learn to cook it at the New Orleans School of Cooking or with another cooking class.

Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, the ESSENCE Festival, Southern Decadence and June Pride, the Sugar Bowl—the city’s annual events calendar has no limit. But with so much to experience in New Orleans, you’re missing out if you zip in and out only for your event days. Arrive a few days early or stay late to enjoy excellent restaurants in different neighborhoods, catch a show at Tipitina’s, check out Audubon Park, or just hit some of the city’s amazing institutions like the New Orleans Museum of Art, National World War II Museum, Southern Food & Beverage Museum, or Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

“How you feelin’!” Not a question but a greeting in the Crescent City. Translation: You are in America’s uniquely eccentric world capital, a true melting pot of cultures. Starting in the 1500s, Louisiana and the future Port of New Orleans (where the Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico) would change from Spanish to French to American rule, incorporating Caribbean, African, and indigenous Choctaw traditions. Perhaps no other city in the world successfully blends so many cultures—and with such pride in its diversity.

Locals will say hi as they pass you on the street. Fewer chain stores and restaurants are here, thank goodness, because the small local businesses are unbeatable. And the tempo is blissfully unhurried.

Visitors may be surprised to find New Orleans is such an easygoing place. But between the heat and potholes, the food and cocktails, the music and festivals, and the city’s profoundly rich and often raunchy history, rolling with it is the best survival. Take locals’ advice to heart: Laissez les bons temps rouler! Let the good times roll!