20 Incredible Things To Do in New Orleans: The Complete Guide 

New Orleans doesn’t just invite you in — it seduces you, disarms you, and then dares you to keep up. This is a city where jazz isn’t background noise but lifeblood, where cemeteries look like miniature metropolises, and where powdered sugar falls from the sky like confetti. It’s equal parts sacred and profane, history lesson and hangover cure.

To visit New Orleans is to accept contradiction: Catholic cathedrals across the street from tarot readers, swamp tours in the morning followed by drag shows at midnight, fine dining one night and beignets at 3 a.m. the next. The city doesn’t care if you’re a planner or a wanderer; it rewards curiosity, indulgence, and a willingness to sweat.

This guide pulls together twenty of the best things to do in New Orleans — the iconic, the quirky, the indulgent, and the unexpected. Whether it’s your first visit or your fifth, these are the experiences that will stick to your memory (and in some cases, your clothes) long after you’ve left.

1. Visit St. Louis Cathedral & Jackson Square

Jackson Square is New Orleans’ postcard shot — that wide green lawn with the white spires of St. Louis Cathedral stabbing the sky. But what a postcard doesn’t show you is the carnival of life swirling outside its iron gates: tarot card readers with candles flickering in the wind, brass bands busking with abandon, street painters selling their latest works, and wedding parties spilling champagne as they march through to the sound of a second line.

The cathedral itself is the oldest continuously active Roman Catholic cathedral in the United States, rebuilt in the 1850s after fire and time did their worst. Inside, the air is cool, hushed, and perfumed with incense, a striking contrast to the chaos of the square. Stained-glass windows glow, saints peer down, and for a moment you remember that New Orleans is as Catholic as it is carnal.

Step back outside and the square pulls you into its orbit. It’s where Andrew Jackson’s equestrian statue stands frozen mid-charge, where you can sit on a bench and watch the whole city parade past in technicolor. It’s the crossroads of New Orleans: sacred and profane, reverent and raucous, all jostling together under the Louisiana sun.

2. Jazz Brunch in the Quarter

There are brunches, and then there are New Orleans brunches. Here, eggs Benedict and shrimp and grits arrive to the soundtrack of live jazz, because why not? In a city where music is life, even your morning meal deserves a horn section.

The Court of Two Sisters is the most famous, with its lush courtyard shaded by wisteria and a buffet that feels endless. Sip a mimosa while a trumpet wails from the corner, and you’ll realize brunch here isn’t just about eating — it’s a performance, a ritual, a love letter to indulgence.

But if you want something a bit more intimate, try Arnaud’s, where the Creole menu feels like a culinary history lesson, or Commander’s Palace in the Garden District, where the jazz is as smooth as the 25-cent martinis (yes, they’re real). Wherever you go, brunch in New Orleans stretches the concept of breakfast into an event. It’s not about rushing; it’s about savoring. By the time you’re done, you’ll be tipsy, full, and wondering why brunch anywhere else feels so bland.

3. Devour Beignets at Café du Monde

There are tourist traps, and then there are tourist traditions you absolutely have to surrender to. Café du Monde is the latter. Opened in 1862, this open-air coffee stand has been sugaring up the French Quarter for over 150 years, and the recipe hasn’t changed: three squares of fried dough, doused in a blizzard of powdered sugar, served on a plate that looks like it just survived a snowstorm.

Yes, the line is long. Yes, you will end up covered in sugar no matter how careful you are. But there’s something about sitting at one of those green-and-white-striped tables, brass band clattering nearby, chicory coffee steaming in your cup, that feels like you’ve finally earned your New Orleans stripes. Order a second plate — you will anyway.

Pro tip: go late at night or very early in the morning to skip the crowds. The place never closes (except Christmas and hurricanes), and at 2 a.m., with powdered sugar floating in the humid air and Bourbon Street stumbling past, Café du Monde feels more like a dream than a café.

4. Stay at Hotel Monteleone

There are hotels, and then there’s Hotel Monteleone. Built in 1886 by a Sicilian shoemaker turned entrepreneur, this French Quarter icon has been welcoming guests for over a century — and it’s still owned by the same family. The Monteleone isn’t just a place to sleep; it’s a living character in the story of New Orleans. Its Beaux-Arts facade has seen carriages turn into taxis, jazz grow into rock, and countless writers turn late-night scribbles into published novels.

Walk through the revolving doors and you’re swept into an atmosphere thick with history. Crystal chandeliers drip light across marble floors polished to perfection, while gilded moldings hint at the grandeur of Europe transplanted into the humid heart of Louisiana. This is the sort of place where you half expect to see a flapper swan through the lobby or Tennessee Williams slouched in a corner, nursing a drink and a hangover.

But Monteleone isn’t stuck in the past. The rooms — from tasteful doubles to opulent suites — combine antique charm with crisp modern comforts, the kind that makes collapsing into bed feel like a small miracle after a night out. The rooftop pool is a sunlit escape above the Quarter’s chaos, with sweeping views that make even the hottest summer afternoon feel tolerable. Best of all, the location on Royal Street means you’re close enough to Bourbon’s madness to dive in — but far enough away to retreat when the neon and noise get too much. In a city famous for excess, Monteleone is a masterclass in balance.

5. Browse the Frenchmen Art Market

When the music gets too loud on Frenchmen Street, step into the Frenchmen Art Market, an outdoor night bazaar twinkling with string lights. Here, artists and makers set up stalls to sell jewelry, paintings, photography, and quirky pieces that range from haunting to hilarious.

It’s the perfect place to pick up a souvenir that isn’t mass-produced. Chat with the vendors and you’ll often find the backstory is as good as the art itself. One stall might sell intricate leather masks ready for Mardi Gras; another, hand-drawn maps of the Quarter; another, earrings made from recycled brass instrument parts.

It’s creative, it’s intimate, and it feels like stepping into New Orleans’ artsy soul. Plus, shopping here means your money goes straight into the hands of the people who make the city’s culture thrive.

6. Try a Classic Sazerac

If cocktails had royalty, the Sazerac would wear the crown. Invented in New Orleans in the 1830s, it’s often called the world’s first cocktail. Its formula is deceptively simple — rye whiskey, a sugar cube, Peychaud’s bitters, and a rinse of absinthe — but the result is complex, boozy, and unmistakably New Orleans.

To drink a Sazerac is to sip history. It was first served in the French Quarter at the Sazerac Coffee House, and over nearly two centuries, it’s weathered prohibition, the ebb and flow of cocktail culture, and countless reinventions. Even today, locals will argue over the best place to order one.

For the purest experience, head to the Sazerac House on Canal Street. Part museum, part distillery, it takes you through the drink’s colorful backstory before handing you the real thing. Standing in front of glass cases filled with vintage bottles and barware, then raising a freshly mixed Sazerac to your lips, feels like stepping into a time warp.

But whether you sip it in a polished cocktail lounge or at a sticky dive bar, one thing remains constant: the Sazerac isn’t just a drink. It’s New Orleans distilled — bold, mysterious, a little dangerous, and guaranteed to leave you seeing the city in a different light.

7. Shop and Snack at Local Markets

Markets are where a city’s heartbeat shows, and New Orleans hums loudest at its stalls. The French Market has been running in some form since 1791 — a bazaar where Indigenous people, colonists, and traders once hawked everything from produce to imported silks. Today it’s part flea market, part food hall, part souvenir stop.

You’ll find pralines still warm from the pan, hot sauces that could legally be classified as weapons, and local crafts ranging from voodoo dolls to Mardi Gras masks. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a jazz trio playing while you haggle for beads you absolutely don’t need.

For something more local, head to Crescent City Farmers Market, where chefs shop alongside neighbors for shrimp fresh from the Gulf, heirloom vegetables, and bread so good you’ll wonder why you ever settled for supermarket loaves. In a city that worships food, the markets are temples.

8. Ride a Steamboat on the Mississippi

There’s something undeniably cinematic about boarding a paddlewheel steamboat and gliding out onto the Mississippi. It’s the river that carried jazz upriver, floated fortunes downriver, and still manages to make you feel tiny when you stand on its banks. Riding it is a ritual — part history lesson, part spectacle, part pure indulgence.

The Steamboat Natchez is the grande dame of the river, complete with its giant red wheel churning the water and a steam calliope that toots merrily as you set off. Onboard, it’s all polished wood and brass, cocktails in hand, and a live jazz band setting the soundtrack. You can book day cruises with narration about the river’s role in shaping New Orleans — from trade routes to hurricanes — or evening dinner cruises where the skyline sparkles and the air smells faintly of the river itself (equal parts romance and mud).

The Mississippi isn’t pretty in the way alpine lakes are. It’s wide, muddy, alive — a working river. Barges glide by stacked high with goods, pelicans skim low across the surface, and if you’re lucky, you’ll catch the sunset turning the whole thing molten gold. It’s a reminder that New Orleans isn’t just an island of decadence: it exists because of this river, and it still depends on it.

9. Discover Hidden Courtyards

New Orleans has a knack for secrecy. Wander through the French Quarter and you’ll catch glimpses of iron gates leading to shaded courtyards, often with fountains trickling in the center and vines curling down old brick walls. Some are private, some belong to hotels, and some are yours to discover if you’re curious enough.

The most famous is the Court of Two Sisters, where brunch is served under a canopy of wisteria, complete with a jazz trio. But plenty of bars and restaurants hide lush courtyards out back: sip a mint julep at Pat O’Brien’s, or slip into Café Amelie for candlelit dining that feels like you’ve stumbled into a secret garden.

These spaces feel worlds away from the chaos of Bourbon Street. They’re where you catch your breath, flirt across a fountain, or simply sit back and let the sound of trickling water remind you that New Orleans has layers — and it likes you to find them one by one.

10. Hop on a Streetcar

The streetcars of New Orleans are more than just transport — they’re moving time machines. The most famous, the St. Charles Avenue line, has been rattling along since the 1830s, making it the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world. Climb aboard and you’ll feel it in your bones: the wooden seats polished smooth by generations, the rumble underfoot, the way the windows open wide to let in humid air that smells of jasmine and fried food.

For just a couple of dollars, you can ride through a living postcard of Southern architecture. Mansions with wraparound porches, oak trees so massive they create their own tunnels, and universities that look straight out of a gothic novel all drift past at a leisurely pace. It’s not fast — sometimes it feels like the cars are powered by sheer willpower — but that’s part of the magic. In a world obsessed with speed, New Orleans still values the slow ride.

Other lines take you to the French Market or along the riverfront, but the St. Charles is the essential one. Bring exact change, snag a seat by the window, and let the clatter carry you away. It’s cheap, it’s charming, and it’s one of the few places where public transport feels downright romantic.

11. Sip a Cocktail at the Carousel Bar

Every city has a legendary bar, but in New Orleans, that title belongs to the Carousel Bar inside Hotel Monteleone. Installed in 1949, this whimsical merry-go-round doesn’t spin to carnival music — it rotates gently, powered by hidden motors, while bartenders craft cocktails that have been seducing writers, actors, and tourists for decades.

Pull up a stool and let the room slowly revolve. You’ll notice something different with every rotation: the glint of brass fixtures, a stranger catching your eye, the glow of neon spilling in from Royal Street. The Carousel has been a playground for literary heavyweights like Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, and Truman Capote (who famously claimed he was born in the hotel). Each sip here feels like a communion with that lineage of decadence and inspiration.

Don’t settle for a generic gin and tonic. Order a Vieux Carré, the house invention, a heady blend of rye whiskey, cognac, vermouth, and bitters that somehow captures the Quarter’s spirit in liquid form. Or lean into a Sazerac, the cocktail that put New Orleans on the global drinking map. This isn’t a bar for pounding shots — it’s for savoring, lingering, and letting the slow spin disorient you just enough to make you feel like you’ve slipped sideways into another era.

The magic of the Carousel Bar is that it’s kitsch and sophisticated all at once — a playground for grown-ups who never quite outgrew their sense of wonder. And in a city that thrives on spectacle, that’s saying something.

12. Wander Frenchmen Street for Live Music

Bourbon Street gets the headlines, but if you want to actually hear music — music that hasn’t been drowned out by daiquiri machines — head to Frenchmen Street. Just a few blocks away in the Marigny, it’s a nightly symphony of saxophones, guitars, washboards, and voices that could raise the dead.

Walk the street and you’ll hear it spilling out of every doorway. At The Spotted Cat, a band crams into a corner and makes the walls shake. At Blue Nile, the stage is bigger and the sound more polished, with touring acts that remind you New Orleans’ influence stretches far beyond jazz. Even on the sidewalks, brass bands set up impromptu shows that stop traffic.

Frenchmen is less about neon spectacle and more about raw energy. The drinks are strong but not overpriced, the crowds are lively but not unbearable, and the whole street feels like a jam session the city forgot to end. Stay long enough and you’ll probably end up dancing with strangers under string lights, your ears ringing in the best possible way.

13. Explore the Garden District

When you’ve had your fill of neon and noise, take the streetcar uptown and step into another world: the Garden District. Here, the houses are the main event — Greek Revival mansions, Gothic cottages, Italianate villas — all framed by wrought-iron balconies and gardens exploding with magnolias and roses. It feels like walking through the set of a Southern gothic novel, which isn’t far from the truth: authors from Anne Rice to Mark Twain drew inspiration here.

The sidewalks buckle with ancient tree roots, and you’ll probably trip at least once while staring up at some chandelier-lit veranda. Guided walking tours dive into the history, pointing out celebrity-owned houses (Sandra Bullock, John Goodman) and the filming locations of countless movies. But even on your own, it’s an intoxicating stroll.

At the heart of the district is Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, a haunting grid of above-ground tombs where moss and time blur names into illegibility. It’s beautiful, eerie, and very New Orleans — a city that dances with death as comfortably as it does with life. Afterward, duck into Commander’s Palace for a martini lunch and remember that in this city, indulgence isn’t an option; it’s a way of life.

14. Go on a Swamp Tour

New Orleans might be defined by its music and Mardi Gras beads, but to truly understand Louisiana, you need to leave the pavement behind and venture into the swamps. Just outside the city, the bayous stretch out in a tangle of waterways, where cypress trees rise like gothic spires and Spanish moss drapes the landscape in eerie elegance.

Hop on a flat-bottomed boat and you’ll find yourself gliding across still, dark waters. The air hums with cicadas, egrets skim the surface, and somewhere beneath, alligators lounge like prehistoric kings. A good guide will not only point out the wildlife but also share the human story of the bayou — the Cajun and Creole communities who fished, trapped, and carved out lives in these wetlands for centuries.

Companies like Cajun Pride and Cajun Encounters run excellent tours, and many will pick you up right from the French Quarter. Half a day is plenty, but the experience lingers. You’ll leave with the smell of marsh still in your hair, a camera roll full of reptilian grins, and a deeper sense of just how inseparable New Orleans is from the water that surrounds it. The swamp isn’t just scenery; it’s the original heartbeat of this place — slow, mysterious, and impossible to ignore.

15. Dive Into Voodoo and the Occult

New Orleans doesn’t just flirt with the supernatural; it full-on marries it. Walk around long enough and you’ll see gris-gris bags, tarot cards, and Marie Laveau’s name invoked with equal parts reverence and curiosity. Voodoo here isn’t just spooky decoration — it’s a living tradition brought by enslaved West Africans and blended with Catholicism, Indigenous practices, and local folklore.

Start at the Voodoo Museum — it’s tiny, cluttered, and gloriously weird, with altars glowing under candlelight and shelves stacked with charms that look equal parts mystical and DIY. From there, take a voodoo or occult walking tour through the French Quarter. Guides spin tales of hauntings, hexes, and miracles, weaving together history and legend until you can’t quite tell which is which.

Whether you believe or not is almost beside the point. In New Orleans, the supernatural is another layer of the city’s personality: theatrical, mysterious, and a little mischievous. You might leave with a gris-gris in your pocket or at least a story that makes your friends at home raise their eyebrows.

16. Get Locked in an Escape Room

After you’ve soaked up enough history, why not test your wits against something thoroughly modern? New Orleans has a surprisingly strong escape room scene, perfect for when the weather gets swampy or you just need a break from the bars.

Try Clue Carré, the first escape room in the city, where themes range from haunted mansions to voodoo mysteries. Or check out The Escape Game New Orleans with its slick, Hollywood-style sets. You and your friends will find yourselves decoding ciphers, cracking safes, and shouting over each other in equal measure.

It’s a different way to engage with the city — the puzzles often riff on local lore, and the thrill of solving them feels oddly in sync with the city’s love of spectacle. Plus, after spending days stumbling out of bars at 2 a.m., there’s something satisfying about proving you still have a functioning brain cell or two left.

17. Wander the Cities of the Dead

In New Orleans, even the cemeteries are dramatic. Because of the swampy ground, bodies have to be buried above ground in elaborate stone tombs that rise like little houses — hence the nickname “Cities of the Dead.” Walk through St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, founded in 1789, and it really does feel like a miniature city: narrow “streets,” crumbling mausoleums, names etched deep in marble.

Here lies the legendary Marie Laveau, the “Voodoo Queen of New Orleans,” her tomb scrawled with offerings and requests. Nearby, generations of families share vaults stacked with remains, a practical solution turned into something oddly poetic. The decay — moss creeping in, plaster peeling — only adds to the atmosphere.

Guided tours are best, partly because access to some cemeteries is restricted, but also because the stories bring it to life: yellow fever epidemics, jazz funerals, whispered legends of hauntings. It’s beautiful, eerie, and quintessentially New Orleans — a city that never hides from death but turns it into part of the parade.

18. Step Into Mardi Gras World

If you’ve ever wondered where Mardi Gras’ kaleidoscopic floats come from, the answer is a massive warehouse on the riverfront: Mardi Gras World. This is where artists and craftsmen build the giant papier-mâché heads, glittering dragons, and candy-colored floats that parade through the city every February.

A tour takes you behind the curtain. You’ll see sculptors carving foam, painters coating larger-than-life figures in neon hues, and entire floats parked like sleeping giants. It’s half workshop, half wonderland. You can even try on costumes — feathered, sequined, outrageously over the top — and for a moment, you’ll understand why locals plan their Mardi Gras outfits months in advance.

It’s a rare chance to peek at the artistry behind the chaos. Mardi Gras might look like pure hedonism, but here you see the craft, tradition, and endless imagination that make it work. By the end, you’ll leave itching to come back in February just to see the floats come alive on the streets.

19. Immerse Yourself in the National WWII Museum

New Orleans might not be the first place you’d expect to find the nation’s premier WWII museum, but here it is, sprawling across six acres and pulling you in with both scale and intimacy. Why New Orleans? Because it’s where the Higgins boats — the amphibious landing craft that turned the tide of the war — were designed and built.

Inside, it’s less about endless glass cases and more about storytelling. Planes hang from the ceiling, recreated bunkers let you feel the claustrophobia of combat, and personal testimonies remind you this wasn’t just strategy, it was lives. Exhibits range from D-Day to the Pacific theater, with immersive multimedia presentations that leave even the most history-averse visitor wide-eyed.

It’s a heavy stop, yes, but a meaningful one. And in a city known for indulgence, it’s also grounding — a reminder that New Orleans has always been tied to global tides far beyond its jazz and cocktails.

20. Dive Into Queer Nightlife

No trip to New Orleans is complete without surrendering to its queer nightlife. The French Quarter has been a haven for LGBTQ+ revelry since long before “pride” was a month, and the energy reaches its apex at Oz, the city’s most famous gay nightclub. Expect drag shows that range from polished to delightfully unhinged, sweaty dance floors, and a crowd as diverse as the cocktails are strong.

Across the street, Bourbon Pub & Parade keeps things just as lively, with balconies overlooking Bourbon Street where beads fly and inhibitions drop. For leather and cruising, the Phoenix Bar delivers, while Rawhide Lounge dives deeper still, with a dark room and dirty techno beats that push past mere nightlife into something more primal. It is all even more wild during Southern Decadence.

The magic of New Orleans nightlife is choice: whether you want to sip cocktails at a cabaret, grind until dawn, or disappear into shadowy corners, the city provides. And unlike many scenes, there’s no single “type” here. The only requirement is joy — and maybe a willingness to sweat through your shirt.

By the time you’ve wandered through crypts, danced on Frenchmen Street, sipped Sazeracs, and gotten powdered sugar in your shoes, New Orleans will feel less like a city and more like an accomplice. It’s the kind of place that insists you take a little piece of it with you — not just souvenirs from the markets, but stories, flavors, and that unmistakable sense that life should be lived a little louder.

Of course, no single list can capture it all. New Orleans is too big, too wild, too contradictory for that. But if you’ve made it through these twenty, you’ve touched the spirit of the place: resilient, rebellious, and always ready with another round.

So whether you’re here for the music, the food, the history, or the sheer joy of being somewhere that doesn’t apologize for itself, one thing’s certain: you’ll leave wanting more. And New Orleans? It’ll still be here, waiting, second line band already warming up.