I’m heading to New Orleans for the first time at the end of this month!! I’m so so so so excited!! However, I’m afraid I’m going to miss out on a lot of amazing stuff since I’m unfamiliar with the city. I know some of you amazing bloggers are from the area or visit there often and I was hoping you could suggest places I need to see 
Why am I going to NOLA? For the The Grand Masquerade! No, I’m not into LARPing personally, but a friend of mine is and a group of us signed up for the conference to see what it’s all about and for a chance/excuse to check out the city.
What should I see while I’m there?
You can make a pretty good day of going to the aquarium, the French Quarter, Riverwalk, and Cafe Du Monde. Start early…probably do that on a week day if you can, less lines. Start with breakfast at Cafe du Monde, beignets and cafe au lait, then meander over to aquarium, it’s within walking distance, all this is within walking distance if you’re capable walker, then have lunch in the French Quarter and spend the rest of the day there…if you’re a gambler then Harrah’s is right there too. There’s a Riverboat Tour right there as well. All the really good touristy stuff is kind of centrally located in that area. Another thing to look for is a cemetary tour and if you’re brave you can do the haunted cemetary tour which are at night!
Oh, I love NOLA! The first time I went I did all the touristy stuff, like the Riverboat tour, The Vampire Tour and The Ghost Tour in the Garden District, it was fun, but lots of walking.
The second time I went, I basically just hung out on Bourbon Street and the Quarter. Lots of great little bars and music, some of which are mentioned in books like The Iron Fey series, and a short story by Jeaniene Frost called Reckoning, in which Bones tries to solve a crime in NOLA! It was fun thinking I was walking around some of the same places he once graced. LOL! I’m such a dork!
The food is great! Try Mothers! My mouth is watering just thinking about it! Have fun!
I love NOLA–went there for the uptenth time for Thanksgiving last year
I think the beignets are Cafe Beignet are as good as the ones at Cafe Du Monde but you should go to Cafe Du Monde once for the experience. There are so many good places to eat and shop, that you could spend days just doing that. The Riverwalk is fantastic and the historical tours (vampire, ghost included) are great. (http://whereintheworldisflea.blogspot.com/search/label/New%20Orleans) is some of the places I went last time. I go all the time, you will not be disappointed in the city at all!
I just went to NOLA 2 weeks ago, for the second time. I ditto everything above. I’d also make sure to check out Magazine Street in the Garden District for neat shopping/botiques. We ate at the Juan’s Flying Burrito on Magazine and it was sooooooo good. Some bars our local friends took us to were quite fun including Fritzel’s Jazz Pub (on Burbon) had GREAT live jazz and was less….trashy than most of the other Burbon St. Bars! And we enjoyed the d.b.a bar on Frenchman street.
If you can get a day to go out to check out any of the Swamp or Plantaion tours we used the Cajun Encounters tour and saw the Honey Island Swamp and then we went to the Laura Creole plantaion. (I just posted a few of my NOLA pics if you wanna stop by and check them out).
I hope you have a great time I LOVE NOLA! Such a fun city!
by the way check out the coupons at this website. We used quite a few of them and it came in quite handy!!!
http://www.neworleansonline.com/tools/coupons.html
@ Autumn : THANK YOU!! I don’t know if I’m brave enough for a haunted cemetery tour specially at night, but the rest sounds super fun. I didn’t know there was an aquarium so close. Thanks!
@ Missie : OMG I need to reread the book in which they visit NOLA so I can do a Bones Tour!! We’re even stay a block from Bourbon street
There’s a vampire tour?! I need to go on that! I also added Mothers to our list. THANKS!!!
@ Felicia : Thanks! I’ll definitely be checking out your travel blog for more info
@ Mollie : THANKS!! We love live jazz so we’ll definitely need to add Fritzel’s to the list! I hadn’t thought of a plantation tour. I wonder if we’ll have time to fit that in… With all these great suggestions, I may need to make a second trip (and drag the husband along the second time)!!
@ Mollie : Thank you so much!!
NOLA is my favorite city ever. I got married there this past May and it was my husband’s first trip there. We had the best time ever and plan on going back for our first anniversary.
If you have time, read Confederacy of Dunces before you go, by John Kennedy Toole. Eat lots of muffalettas and po’ boys, drink a Pimm’s cup and make sure you go to Pat O’s piano bar and have a hurricane!
@ Stephanie : THANKS!! Yay another book to add to the Before NOLA Book List!
Fun! We live about 4 hours from New Orleans, but I don’t know much about the area. I’m dying to go on one of the haunted tours. They are supposed to be so much fun. Visit some cemeteries. I dig the macabre tourist spots when I vacation LOL
@ Christie : I really hope I don’t chicken out after we decide to do a cemetery tour… I’m terrified of ghosts lol