New Orleans travel guides & articles
All 50 in-depth pieces we’ve published on New Orleans — newest first.
Tours & tickets
Half a Day on Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans
The seawall is free, you can go inside the lighthouse, the swamp boats aren't actually on the lake, and one honest half-day is enough for all of it.
Tours & tickets
Inside St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 in New Orleans This September
The oldest cemetery in the city is the one you cannot walk into alone. Here is how guided entry works, what September heat does to the visit, and where the bus stops at the gate.
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Climbing the New Canal Lighthouse on New Orleans' Lakefront
What you see inside the rebuilt lighthouse at the mouth of the New Basin Canal, what it costs, when it is shut, and how to build a half-day on the lake around it.
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Walking the French Market in New Orleans Shed by Shed
A street-level account of the French Market: where the beignet queue breaks, which end of the sheds is worth your money, and what to eat when you get there.
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September Mornings at New Orleans' St. Louis Cathedral
Stand under the three spires on Jackson Square in September 2026: what you actually see inside, when the square is quiet, and what the hours around it are worth.
Where to Stay on Your First Trip to New Orleans
Fifteen places to sleep in the French Quarter, the Marigny, the Warehouse District and the Uptown streetcar corridor, with prices, noise levels and who each one suits.
Mardi Gras 2027 in New Orleans: Parade Schedule, Where to Stand and Where to Stay
The 2027 parade dates, which kerbside spots are free and which bleachers you pay for, the two balls that sell tickets to the public, and the balcony you book a year out.
New Orleans in October, Weekend by Weekend to Halloween
Krewe of Boo rolls on 24 October, and in 2026 Halloween lands on a Saturday. Here is how each October weekend in New Orleans works, and what to book first.
New Orleans by Streetcar, Ferry and Pedicab
Four streetcar lines, a $2 river crossing and a pedicab for the awkward ten blocks: how to reach every corner of New Orleans without renting a car.
A New Orleans Weekend Built Around Three Days of Funk
NOLA Funk Fest is on the riverfront October 16-18, 2026, and here is how to build the rest of the city break around it, from where to find a 25-cent martini at lunch to the last brass set on Frenchmen Street.
Planning a Saints Weekend Around a Noon Kickoff in New Orleans
The Vikings game starts at noon on Sunday 11 October 2026, and that one detail sets where you eat, drink and sleep for the whole weekend.
New Orleans for Kids, from City Park to the Bywater
The rides, museums, splash parks and po-boy counters that make a family day work once you leave the French Quarter behind, plus the 2026 closure dates that will otherwise ruin it.
New Orleans Live Music This Week: 10–14 August 2026
A culture editor's night-by-night preview of New Orleans live music from August 10 to 14, 2026, across six rooms — who each one suits, what it costs, and how to book.
Cold Rooms and Cold Drinks for a New Orleans August
Chilled museums, twenty-dollar pool passes, twenty-five-cent martinis and the finest shaved ice in the city: how to plan a New Orleans day around the worst of the heat.
New Orleans in September Without Losing a Day to the Heat
September is the cheapest month to be in New Orleans and the trickiest to plan, because the heat and the afternoon storms set your hours, and hurricane season is one risk you can watch approaching instead of one that ambushes you.
New Orleans by Streetcar from Canal Street to the Riverbend
How to ride the St Charles line out of the French Quarter and spend a day getting off at the stops that are worth it: museums, Creole landmarks, a free mansion and the best porch in Uptown.
How to Watch Krewe of Boo Roll Through New Orleans
Krewe of Boo rolls at 6.30pm on Saturday 24 October 2026. Where to stand, whether a balcony ticket is worth the money, and what to do with the hours either side.
New Orleans in October for a Birthday and a Bayou Day
A three-day New Orleans birthday built around one morning on the swamp, one grand dinner and one honest music room, all of it without renting a car.
Eating and Dancing Through New Orleans Funk Fest 2026
Three days at Funk Fest on the New Orleans riverfront, and the lunches, late sets and sit-down dinners that fit around the gate times.
Mapping New Orleans, One Po'Boy at a Time
Fourteen verified stops — fried classics, gravy-soaked debris, and chef-driven riffs — mapped for a reader eating across New Orleans in 2026.
Your First Day Walking Magazine Street in New Orleans
Magazine Street runs six miles, and only about two of them matter on a first visit. This is the walk, with the timings, the prices and the doors that will turn you away.
Swamp Boats and River Road Plantations Around New Orleans
How to get out of the French Quarter for a day, on Honey Island water and at a plantation that tells the story straight, with the timings, prices and door rules that decide whether the plan works.
Four Days in New Orleans Around One October Show Night
How to build a whole October weekend around a single Sunday-night ticket: Creole cooking, brass bands and the history underneath both.
Walking New Orleans City Park from NOMA to the bayou
Walk it in this order: the museums, the free sculpture garden, the swan boats on Big Lake, then a roast-beef po'boy at the park's edge.
The Mississippi by Steamboat: New Orleans from the River That Built It
A ground-level guide to seeing New Orleans from the water — from the genuine steam-driven Natchez to the $2 public ferry nobody markets as a tourist attraction at all.
New Orleans' Live Music Lineup for the Week Ahead
Five nights, six New Orleans stages, and the shows worth planning an evening — or five — around, from a Warehouse District brass band blowout to a Frenchmen Street jazz residency four nights deep.
Your New Orleans Weekend Around Crescent City Blues and BBQ
Two free stages on Lafayette Square, pits and clubs a short walk away, and the Sunday clash that decides which nights you book.
New Orleans Music Beyond Bourbon Street
A neighborhood-by-neighborhood route through the Frenchmen Street clubs, the St. Claude arts corridor, and the Tremé bars where New Orleans musicians actually play for each other.
Oaks, Swan Boats and Beignets in New Orleans City Park
A full day in New Orleans City Park: the free sculpture garden under the oaks, swan boats after dark, and a po'boy shop fifteen minutes up the bayou.
Tours & tickets
Walking Whitney Plantation Through a New Orleans September
What the River Road's memorial plantation asks of you, and how to plan a September day around it without missing the hour that matters.
Walking New Orleans Alone Without Losing Your Bearings
How to find your way around a city that curves, which music rooms welcome one person, and how you get home from each of them.
Tours & tickets
September on the Creole River Road at St. Joseph Plantation
The last month of the ordinary tour season at a working Vacherie cane farm, and how to build the rest of a River Road day around it, afternoon included.
New Orleans' Esplanade Ridge from the Quarter to City Park
Three miles of Creole villas, a free cemetery you can walk unescorted and a bayou you can paddle. The tours, though, need booking weeks out.
New Orleans' Magazine Street from the museum to the zoo
Magazine Street runs from a hangar with a B-17 overhead to the Audubon Zoo gate. Along the way you get antique shops, oyster tiles, a 24-hour dive, and Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, open again since October 2026.
How to spend a day and night in St. Roch, New Orleans
The ex-voto chapel, a restored 1875 market hall, a vodou botanica and six bars on St. Claude Avenue, walked in the order their hours allow.
The Gumbo Pot: New Orleans' Creole Trinity and Where to Taste It
Okra, roux, and file powder are gumbo's real holy trinity, and in 2026, thirteen kitchens from Treme to the Marigny are still arguing over which does it best.
How to spend a day in Algiers Point, New Orleans
A $2 ferry lands you on a levee with the whole city skyline on it, and behind the landing are blocks of shotgun houses, churches, taco patios and music bars.
Tours & tickets
Houmas House in October and the Slow Water Beyond
An hour upriver from New Orleans, the sugar palace keeps its gardens open until seven. Here is how to pace the house, the museum and a swamp boat across one October day.
Reading New Orleans Through Its Shotgun Houses and Cottages
A walkable guide to the house museums, archives, and tours that explain why New Orleans looks the way it does — one narrow lot, raised sill, and cast-iron gallery at a time.
Walking New Orleans' Irish Channel, church to brewery
You walk two rival parish churches, a 1931 barroom, 41 taps and the vintage racks of Magazine Street, in whatever order the opening hours allow.
Riverbend, the New Orleans bend where the streetcar turns
Walk the levee path, eat at a counter diner from 1946, find Oak Street's music rooms and phone ahead for the Creole cottage, all a few blocks from the Carrollton Avenue turn.
Walking Faubourg St. John, New Orleans' bayou neighbourhood
A Creole country house that opens three days a week, a blue swing-span footbridge, po-boys from 1911 and the racetrack that holds Jazz Fest. Walk them in the order they open.
New Orleans' above-ground cemeteries — the Cities of the Dead
Why New Orleans buries its dead in stone houses instead of graves, and a clear-eyed route through the guided icon, the calm alternatives, and the neighborhood cemeteries most visitors never find.
Mardi Gras World: The Warehouse Where New Orleans Builds Its Dreams Year-Round
Long before the crowds and the throws, New Orleans' Carnival is welded, sculpted, and sewn in workshops you can actually walk into — here's how to see the whole supply chain, from the float den to the bead wholesaler.
Tours & tickets
New Orleans Carnival in September Without a Parade
Carnival is a season rather than a single day, and September falls outside it. Here is what the French Quarter still gives you, what is shut, and whether it is worth the heat.
New Orleans After Dark: The Music Worth Leaving the House For This Fortnight
A dated, room-by-room diary of the next two weeks' live music — nine shows crammed into one Saturday, three for a gentler Sunday, and how to pick the stage that fits your night.
Walking Bayou St. John in New Orleans
Public banks between the Lafitte Greenway and Robert E. Lee Boulevard, a Creole house of 1799, a free sculpture garden and the city's roast beef po-boy counter.
Where Outsiders Can Watch New Orleans' Debutante Season
Uptown New Orleans still stages a private Carnival of courts and cotillions each winter: here is everywhere a visitor can legitimately get close to it.
New Orleans Runs on Rye, Absinthe, and Ritual
A room-by-room tour of the bars that codified the Sazerac and the Ramos Gin Fizz, and the ones proving New Orleans cocktail culture is still being written in 2026.
Follow the Oyster: New Orleans From Boat to Bar
From a seaplane trip to a working Gulf farm to a happy-hour half-shell in Uptown, here's how New Orleans turns an oyster into an institution.