141 Best Sights in New Orleans, Louisiana

The young novelist William Faulkner lived and wrote his first book, Soldiers' Pay, here in the 1920s. He later returned to his native Oxford, Mississippi, where his explorations of southern consciousness earned him the Nobel Prize for literature. The house is not open for tours, but the ground-floor apartment Faulkner inhabited is now a bookstore, Faulkner House Books, which specializes in local and southern writers. The house is also home to the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society literary group, which hosts an annual literary festival celebrating the writer's birthday.

Cutting-edge art with a message is the focus of this gallery's monthly exhibits. Contemporary paintings, photography, mixed-media artworks, sculpture, glass, and metalwork by local and international artists are displayed.

Spend an afternoon picnicking at this lush green park with spectacular views of the Mississippi, just on the other side of Audubon Zoo. Officially called the Riverview, locals call it "the Fly" after a butterfly-shape building that used to be on-site. It is a popular place for picnics and pick-up sports. The park is particularly beautiful in the early evening, when you can watch the sun set just beyond the river. Note that on busy evenings and weekends, the departing, single-file traffic can be heavy.

Long before the Civil War, free people of color lived alongside enslaved African Americans in New Orleans, making up the largest population of free blacks in the south and becoming an important part of the city’s cultural identity. Founded by the McKenna Family (descendants of free people of color who also run the McKenna Museum of African American Art in Central City), this museum provides a well-informed narrative into a crucial area of New Orleans history. Visits are by guided tour only, which must be scheduled in advance. From January through June, on every third Wednesday of the month, a moonlight tour is offered from 6 to 7:30 pm.

This Greek-Revival building, modeled on the Erechtheion of Athens, was built in 1845 by the architect James Gallier Sr. It served as City Hall in the mid-20th century and today hosts special events. It's the mayor's official perch during Carnival parades, where kings and queens of many krewes stop to be toasted by city officials and dignitaries. The grand rooms inside the hall are adorned with portraits and decorative details ordered by Gallier from Paris.

Irish-born James Gallier Jr. was one of the city's most famous 19th-century architects; he died in 1866, when a hurricane sank the paddle-steamer on which he was a passenger. This house, where he lived with his family, was built in 1857 and contains an excellent collection of early Victorian furnishings. During the holiday season, the entire house is filled with Christmas decorations. If you have watched the new TV series Interview with the Vampire, you may recognize the house as that belonging to Lestat de Lioncourt.

The cherubs featured in the effusive ironwork on this distinctive house stops people in the street. Built in 1856, this mansion and its service buildings were once the estate of businessman John Gauche, who lived there until 1882. Although the privately owned house is not open to the public, its exterior still merits a visit to snap a few photos.

Artist George Schmidt is passionate about history—and New Orleans's rich past in particular. His gallery displays and sells paintings and narrative art, from small-scale monotypes to mural-size depictions of historic moments. He also sells signed and numbered prints of his work.

During a 31-year period (1937–68), Germaine Cazenave Wells, daughter of Arnaud's restaurant founder Arnaud Cazenave, was queen of Carnival balls a record 22 times for 17 different krewes (organizations). Many of her ball gowns—in addition to costumes worn by other family members, photographs, krewe invitations, and jewelry—are on display in this dim, quirky museum above Arnaud's restaurant.

This restored Creole cottage was a modest prototype for much of the far more elaborate architecture of the surrounding Garden District. The scale, derived from the climate-conscious design prevalent in the West Indies, made this style easily adaptable to the higher pretensions of the Greek Revival look, as well as the slightly more reserved Colonial Revival. Built in 1837, the house has had one famous occupant: Henry Morton Stanley, renowned explorer of Africa and founder of the Congo Free States who most famously uttered the phrase "Dr. Livingstone, I presume" upon encountering the long-lost Scottish missionary.

In a traffic circle at the northern edge of the Warehouse District, an 1884 bronze statue of Civil War General Robert E. Lee, by sculptor Alexander Doyle, stood high above the city on a white marble column—until spring 2017, that is, when Mayor Landrieu responded to local protests and nationwide attention to remove glorified Confederate monuments. Formerly called Lee Circle, it has now been renamed Harmony, as a public space that unites the city.

David Harouni, a favorite local artist, offers his take on neo-Expressionism in his paintings of faces, figures, and streetscapes, created in this gallery-studio space.

Noted architect William Brand built this Georgian-style house in 1831, and it's one of the largest and best-preserved examples of American architecture in the Vieux Carré. The house offers the Urban Enslavement Tour, which gives a comprehensive look at life for those enslaved in urban settings, and the contributions enslaved Africans and their descendants made to the city of New Orleans. The popular tour runs on the hour, and advance reservations are recommended. Cooking demonstrations on the open hearth of the Creole kitchen are held twice monthly on Saturday from November through April. You'll want to check out the gift shop, which has many local crafts and books.

This private archive and exhibit complex, with thousands of historic photos, documents, portraits, and books, is one of the finest research centers in the south. It occupies the 19th-century town house of General Kemper Williams and the 1792 Merieult House. Changing exhibits focus on various aspects of local history. Architecture, history, and house tours are offered several times daily, and a museum shop sells books, prints, and gifts. The Williams Research Center addition, at  410 Chartres Street, hosts additional free exhibits.

This restored antebellum home was built in two periods: its present-day second floor was actually constructed first, in 1850, and in 1884 the house was elevated and a new first floor added. The extensive dollhouse collection includes 60 historically accurate, scale-model miniatures of Victorian, Tudor, and plantation-style houses and covers more than 3,000 square feet on the mansion's second floor. All were created by owner Bonnie Broel over a 15-year period. Visitors can only view the property on tours, which can fill up, so it's best to call ahead.

Standing for joy, art, and music, JAM NOLA is a series of immersive and colorful exhibits showcasing the works of some 30 local artists. The space is chock full of murals and installations, with plenty of fun photo opportunities. Tickets must be purchased in advance online. JAM NOLA is scheduled to move to Frenchmen Street by December 2024; check the website for updated information before you go.

Visitors who want to explore the areas around New Orleans should stop here first. The office supervises and provides information on the Jean Lafitte National Park Barataria Preserve, a beautiful wetland area across the river from New Orleans, and the Chalmette Battlefield, where the Battle of New Orleans was fought in the War of 1812. Each year in January, near the anniversary of the battle, a reenactment is staged at the Chalmette site. This visitor center has free visual and audio exhibits on the customs of various communities throughout the state. Knowledgeable on-site rangers offer history talks at 10 am, Tuesday through Saturday. You'll need a car to visit the preserve or the battlefield.

Jazz enthusiasts would do well to follow Frenchmen Street beyond the borders of the Marigny to pay homage to Jelly Roll Morton at the pianist and composer's modest former home, now a private residence with nary a plaque to suggest its importance. The current residents, however, have put a photo of the musician in the window. Morton was a "Creole of color" (free African American of mixed race), a clear distinction in those days—Morton himself always described his roots as "French." The neighborhood has declined some since Morton's days, so plan for a daytime walk-by.

New York architect James Gamble Rogers designed this three-story granite structure as a post office and court building in 1909. It opened in 1915, but by the 1960s, the post office had moved to larger digs, leaving it open for McDonogh No. 35 High School to find refuge after Hurricane Betsy in 1965. Today, the Italian Renaissance Revival building houses the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in an elaborately paneled and ornamented series of three courtrooms, one of which, the En Banc courtroom, boasts a bronze glazed ceiling. The Great Hall's plaster ceiling has been restored to its original appearance and color, a light gray. As you enter the building and pass security, turn left and continue around the corner to find the library, where you can pick up information on the courthouse. Outside, a repeating sculpture of four women stands atop each corner of the building's penthouse level: the four ladies represent History, Agriculture, Industry, and the Arts. The building is named for Judge John Minor Wisdom, the New Orleans native who was instrumental in dismantling the segregation laws of the south. Judge Wisdom received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993.

Contemporary art dealers have adopted this strip in the Warehouse District as their own. The street is lined with galleries and specialty shops, with the greatest concentration stretching from South Peters Street to St. Charles Avenue. On the first Saturday evening of each month, gallery owners throw open their doors to show off new exhibits to the accompaniment of wine, music, and general merriment. During White Linen Night in August and Art for Art's Sake in October, the galleries welcome visitors with artist receptions and live entertainment.

This complex of lovely town houses, built in the 1830s by sugar planter Jean Baptiste LaBranche, fills the half block between Pirate's Alley and Royal and St. Peter streets behind the Cabildo. The house on the corner of Royal and St. Peter streets, with its elaborate, rounded cast-iron balconies, is among the most frequently photographed residences in the French Quarter.

Planned in 1788 as a public place for Faubourg St. Mary, this 2.5-acre park occupies one city block in between the Federal Complex and Gallier Hall. The leafy square, covered by oaks, magnolias, and maple trees, and landscaped with hydrangeas and azaleas, offers a shady spot to sit. Statues include Benjamin Franklin, Henry Clay, and the New Orleans philanthropist John McDonogh. Recently, the Square has become most popular for festivals and the Young Leadership Council's Wednesday at the Square concert series, held in the spring and early summer.

In the corridor that was once a historic canal vital to the city's transportation system, today this 2.6-mile bike and walking path connects the city from Armstrong Park to City Park. Along the way are green spaces, breakfast stops, community gardens, basketball courts, and playgrounds. The path is lit at night, but is still safest to explore during the day. The trail begins at Basin Street, in the northwest corner of Armstrong Park. On Thursday at 3 pm, there is a farmers' market along the Greenway at 500 N. Norman C. Francis Parkway.

The largest cemetery in the metropolitan area, known to locals simply as Metairie Cemetery, is the final resting place of nine Louisiana governors, seven New Orleans mayors, and musician Louis Prima. Many of New Orleans's prominent families are also interred here in elaborate monuments ranging from Gothic crypts to Romanesque mausoleums to Egyptian pyramids. The arrangement of tombs reflects the cemetery's former life as a horse-racing track, with the tombs arranged around the perimeter and interior. Cemetery staff are happy to offer a map to anyone who asks.

Locals (or at least local tour guides) say this is the most haunted house in a generally haunted neighborhood. Most blame the spooks on Madame LaLaurie, a wealthy but torture-loving 19th-century socialite who fell out with society when, during a fire, neighbors who rushed into the house found mutilated slaves in one of the apartments. Madame LaLaurie fled town that night, but there have been stories of hauntings ever since. The home is a private residence, not open to the public. Actor Nicolas Cage bought the property in 2007; two years later, the house sold at a foreclosure auction. The house and Madame LaLaurie herself have gained infamy in recent years thanks to the television show American Horror Story: Coven, which features them both extensively.

Architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who designed the U.S. Capitol, built this modest house with Arsene Latour in 1814. Its smooth lines and porticoes started a passion for Greek Revival architecture in Louisiana, as later evinced in many plantation houses upriver as well as in a significant number of buildings in New Orleans. Latrobe would die in New Orleans six years later from yellow fever. This house, believed to be the earliest example of Greek Revival in the city, is not open to the public.

Gulf Coast artists from Louisiana to Florida display art and high-end crafts here, alongside work by the late New Orleans abstract artist Paul Ninas.

While technically in the Lakewood neighborhood, this beautiful destination is just a 12-minute walk from the Mid-City streetcar stop. Fourteen separate gardens are arranged throughout the 8 acres, embellished with fountains, architectural flourishes, and gorgeous pathways of hand-laid Mexican pebbles and rough-cut marble. This city estate, now a National Historic Landmark, was fashioned in the 1940s after the great country houses of England, and the villa-style mansion is decorated with its original furnishings of English and American antiques, priceless tapestries, modern art, and porcelain. Longue Vue is open every day, and guests can visit the house by guided tour or explore the gardens at their own leisure. Themed gardens include the formal Spanish court, modeled after a 14th-century Spanish garden, as well as a Discovery Garden, which introduces kids to the intricacies and wonders of horticulture.  While the verdant gardens are open year round, March and April see the amaryllis, daffodils, azaleas, spring snowdrops, tulips, and poppies in full bloom.

As a 16-year-old immigrant working in the New Orleans shipyards, Henry Lonsdale noticed how many damaged goods were arriving from upriver. Spotting a need for more-protective shipping materials, he developed the burlap sack and made a fortune, only to lose it all in the 1837 depression. Lonsdale turned to coffee importing, and in order to stretch his supply, he thought to cut the coffee grounds with chicory, a bitter root—and New Orleanians have been drinking the blend ever since. This house includes intricate cast-iron work and a carved marble entrance hall. The statue of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in the front yard is a remnant of the house's more than 70 years as an active Catholic chapel.