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No American town places such a premium on pleasure as New Orleans. From swank hotel lounges and refined jazz halls to sweaty dance clubs and raucous Bourbon Street bars, this city is serious about frivolity—and famous for it. Partying is more than an occasional indulgence in this city—it's a lifestyle. The bars and clubs that pulse with music are the city's lifeblood, and are found in every neighborhood. Like stars with their own gravity, they draw people through their doors to belly up to their bars or head feet-first onto their dance floors. Blues, jazz, funk, R&B, rock, roots, Cajun, and zydeco—there are many kinds of music and nightlife experiences to be had in New Orleans. On any day or night of the year, the city is brimming with musical possibilities.
The French Quarter and Faubourg Marigny are the easiest places to find great music and nightspots. The venues are numerous and all within easy walking distance of one another. In the nearby Warehouse District, New Orleans institutions like Howlin' Wolf, Mulate's, and Circle Bar have been joined by scores of new bars, clubs, and restaurants. Moving upriver through the Garden District and Uptown, you'll find some of the most famous music spots in the city, such as Tipitina's and Maple Leaf. Bywater, Mid-City, and Tremé are residential neighborhoods with fewer commercial strips, but they too have their crown jewels, like Vaughan's, Bullet's, and Rock ’n’ Bowl.
Unpretentious even by New Orleans standards, this little dive not far from Canal Street draws a good number of locals from the Quarter and beyond for inexpensive drinks and wide-open doorways that offer table seating just off the sidewalk. Note that it's cash-only.
This bustling corner bar draws young locals who shoot pool and listen to blues and rock, whether live or from the jukebox—24 hours a day, seven days a week. Weekends often feature hard rock, punk, and metal bands. There's also a paperback library, a menu of bar grub, and even a fully functioning laundromat.
Right on the Canal Street streetcar line, this neighborhood music club is unassuming from the outside but hosts some of the city's most popular acts. With happy hour and early evening sets and a covered patio, this destination is a favorite among low-key New Orleanians who aren't into late nights.
Like something out of a Tim Burton film, this teetering old Victorian house that straddles the concrete jungles of downtown and the Warehouse District hides one of the coolest indie-rock clubs in the city. Scenesters descend around 10 pm, but earlier in the evening this is a laid-back neighborhood haunt. Pull on your skinny jeans, so that you can squeeze into the room that holds what might be the world's tiniest stage.
This rambling tavern across from the Mississippi River levee boasts 400 different bottled beers and 45 on tap. That, along with the excellent cheese fries and an oyster bar, makes it a favorite haunt of students from nearby Tulane and Loyola universities, along with nostalgic alums.
Filmmaker John Waters reportedly counts the Pocket as a New Orleans favorite, and with skinny, tattooed strippers on the bar and an inebriated drag queen emcee, it's easy to see why. Sleazy fun on a good night, but keep your wits about you.
Few tourists make their way to this hip neighborhood hangout, in a far corner of the Lower Quarter. A short flight of stairs leads to a darts and billiards room. Quirky wagon wheel–shape ceiling fans, ample windows, and a friendly vibe make it a low-key place to wind down. Food options include pizzas, burgers, and Cosimo's famous fried green beans.
A mixed crowd enjoys an elegant retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city in this handsome 19th-century Bywater mansion. The interior restaurant, bar, and parlor rooms have a trippy Palm Springs vibe, with plenty of glitter and neon. The outdoor pool and deck bar hidden away behind lush vegetation and high walls is especially popular with the gay crowd. Pool access requires a small fee, and towels and lockers are available.
This pioneer of the revitalized Freret Corridor and one of the city's first serious cocktail bars adds a touch of urban chic to a historic neighborhood. A doorman welcomes guests into a converted fire station with 20-foot ceilings and a lovely patio. Knowledgeable bartenders use a breathtaking arsenal of liquor to push the boundaries of what a drink can be. Take note that even in August, men must wear long pants on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and baseball caps are not allowed at any time.
These swanky digs in the Ritz-Carlton are home to their namesake, Jeremy Davenport, an old-school crooner in the mold of Sinatra and Crosby. With a hot trumpet, Davenport plays Wednesday through Saturday and draws a mixed crowd of visitors and locals to the swinging dance floor.
A 20-minute cab ride from downtown, this popular Tchoupitoulas Street hangout for grown-ups is a lively den of blue smoke. The selection of scotches, brandies, ports, and bourbons is outstanding. The nightly live music runs the gamut of New Orleans styles. A full calendar of performances is available online. The low-key patio offers a quiet retreat from the haze.
Ernst has been operating as a bar since the first years of the 20th century, and the classic interior and upstairs balcony provide a welcome respite for conventioneers, lawyers from nearby firms, and service-industry folks winding down from shifts at area hotels. The classic menu includes local bar-food staples like fried green tomatoes, po'boys, wraps, and burgers.
For college kids and grown-ups reliving their youth, an all-nighter in New Orleans isn't complete until you've danced on top of a pool table at this classic hangout. There's a loud jukebox, a popular photo booth, and a late-night kitchen (it fires up around 7 pm and keeps serving until early morning). The party really gets going around 1 am, but the tropical-themed patio can actually be peaceful at times. You'll need to get here by car or taxi.
Created by devoted soccer fans from Belfast, this popular and expansive neighborhood bar beams in European games via satellite. Pool and darts tournaments are a regular feature as well, and the kitchen serves tasty pub fare. On Monday night, there's popular and competitive trivia. If you happen to be in town for St. Patrick's Day, don't miss their rollicking daylong festival.
An old-school gem in the midst of Bourbon Street's many venues with bad cover bands, this Dixieland music club, built in the style of the old jazz halls, has tight rows of seating close to the stage and floating barmaids. Drinks cost a little more, but there's never a cover charge. Shows nightly.
Just down the block from some of Magazine Street's finest boutiques, you'll find this neighborhood haunt that exudes the ambience of a 19th-century pub. Its exposed-brick walls and copper-top bar are completed with Sazeracs and absinthe on the terrific drinks menu. It's a great place to end a day of exploring or to get the evening started, while mingling among neighborhood denizens.
With its tasteful decor and reasonable volume level, this is a slightly more upscale, sedate alternative to the blasting disco bars down the street. The Queen's Head Pub on the second floor, open weekends, has darts, a wraparound balcony, and respectable martinis. Brush up on your show tunes at the popular Sunday afternoon piano sing-along.
Commanding the foot of Canal Street, where it anchors a cluster of restaurants and clubs, this beaux-arts–style casino is the largest in the South. Try your luck at one of the 3,800 slot machines, 20 poker tables, and every other game of chance that you can imagine. There's an upscale steak house and a club in the middle of the gaming floor. Valet parking is available.
Despite its name, blues rarely makes the bill at this Decatur Street link in the national chain. The midsize venue embraces rock, country, soul, funk, and world music, and it's one of the city's most reliable destinations for national touring acts. The adjoining restaurant hosts a popular gospel brunch. The Parish, a more intimate offshoot upstairs from the main house, books edgier, up-and-coming groups.
This New Orleans favorite has long been a premier venue and anchor of the Warehouse District club and music scene. With a great corner location in a converted warehouse, they host larger rock, funk, blues, Latin, and hip-hop shows nearly every night on the main stage. Meanwhile, a side bar called The Den books intimate events and popular weekly parties like Brass Band Sundays.
Local personality and jazz legend Kermit Ruffins now reigns at this brightly colored club that once belonged to R&B singer Ernie K-Doe. The club is a jewel of the Tremé neighborhood, hosting the best of local talent in jazz and blues nightly. The kitchen serves popular New Orleans cuisine. Look forward to the frequent cameos from Kermit himself, who plays a set here with his band, the BBQ Swingers, most Thursday nights. The neighborhood's a bit dodgy, so take a cab.
This well-worn favorite has a pool table, a jukebox stocked with the Pogues and Flogging Molly, and, of course, Guinness on draft. A small stage at the back hosts Irish musicians, singer-songwriters, and R&B or jazz musicians nightly with no cover charge. It's one of the last venues for Irish music in the Quarter.
Local acts from a wide range of genres—including the Soul Rebels with their standing Thursday-night gig—shake the walls of this ramshackle Magazine Street nightspot. The music normally gets started after 10 pm. Pool tables and a limited bar-food menu keep the crowd, including plenty of students from nearby Tulane and Loyola universities, occupied until the show starts.
In voodoo tradition, loa are the divine spirits, and this bar just off the lobby of the chic International House Hotel certainly strives for an extraordinary experience with its modern, upscale decor. Well-heeled downtown professionals mingle with an international crowd gathering for the evening to sip on inventive, high-end cocktails created by the friendly bartenders here. An aperitif hour from 4 to 5 pm Thursday through Saturday includes a tasting of one of the delicious signature cocktails.
This friendly gay bar hosts special events ranging from country western line-dance lessons to burlesque and drag shows. There's a big-screen TV for games and a large selection of vodkas and top-shelf bourbons. It proclaims itself "the cleanest bar in New Orleans." The owner also runs a small guesthouse above the bar.
The embodiment of a blue-collar New Orleans neighborhood bar, Markey's also draws more than a few hipsters from the Bywater and other neighborhoods. During baseball season, games are broadcast via satellite. The drinks are cheap and the pool table is free.
A popular local hangout, this two-story nightspot perches on the corner of Franklin and Royal streets with a wraparound balcony and big windows that stay open most evenings. Downstairs is a bar with table seating, couches, and a pool table, while upstairs is home to a tapas-style kitchen and dance floor. Due to permit issues, live music is intermittent, but entertainment and local personalities are big here every night.
Grab a perch almost any time of day at one of the best-known and most popular bars along the far stretch of Decatur Street, where you'll find perfect pints of Guinness, generously poured cocktails, and gregarious bartenders. From a window seat, you can watch the crowds of shop-goers, sightseers, and all-day revelers. Everyone from politicians to punk rockers eventually drifts through these doors.
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