4 Best Sights in New Orleans, Louisiana

This state-of-the-art museum, sponsored by the Sazerac Company, is all about the city's most famous cocktail and all the people, history, and booze behind it. Exhibits are largely interactive, combining historical artifacts and technology with tastings and real-life experts. Visitors will learn about the Sazerac’s origins and other boozy tales, visit Peychaud’s Apothecary to see how the famous bitters are made, tour an active Sazerac Rye distillery, and spend time with lifelike virtual bartenders in the Sophisticated Spirits room. It’s best to book the complimentary tickets online; a free visit includes several tastings and the option to attend a themed tour. Upgrade your visit ($10--45) to attend a special tasting and cocktail-making class. Minors are free to tour the museum, but not sample (age is verified ahead of time).

Enter through the second floor of the Audubon Aquarium to find this relocated museum, with newly imagined exhibits on life as a bug and all the big ways these small animals live and work. Explore the world's insect myth and lore, venture into a Louisiana swamp, and marvel at the hundreds of delicate denizens flying free in the Japanese butterfly garden overlooking the Mississippi River. At Bug Appétit, sample (or simply observe) as chefs cook the world's most edible insects into creative culinary inventions.

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 30,000-square-foot museum was designed to educate visitors on the vast amount of knowledge and art that has accrued around two near-obsessions in the South: eating and drinking. Exhibits feature information on fishermen, farmers, and chefs, as well as the many cultures that contribute to this region's tradition of cocktails and cuisine. There's a food gift shop and a tasting room with chef demonstrations; call ahead for updates, current exhibitions, and programs.