Must-see attractions in New Orleans

  • Top Choice
    Jackson Square

    Whatever happens in the French Quarter usually begins here in Jackson Square, at Decatur and St Peter Streets. It's a gentle, carnivalesque scene,…

  • Top Choice
    City Park

    Live oaks, Spanish moss and lazy bayous frame this masterpiece of urban planning. Three miles long and 1 mile wide, dotted with gardens, waterways and…

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    Cabildo

    The former seat of government in colonial Louisiana now serves as the gateway to exploring the history of the state in general, and New Orleans in…

  • Top Choice
    Lafayette Cemetery No 1

    Of all the cemeteries in New Orleans, Lafayette exudes the strongest sense of subtropical Southern Gothic. The stark contrast of moldering crypts and…

  • Top Choice
    St Louis Cathedral

    One of the best examples of French architecture in the country, this triple-spired 18th-century cathedral is dedicated to Louis IX, the French king…

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    Royal Street

    Royal Street, with its rows of high-end antique shops, galleries and potted ferns hanging from cast-iron balconies, is the elegant yin to well known…

  • Top Choice
    Ogden Museum of Southern Art

    The South has one of the most distinctive aesthetic cultures in the US artistic universe, a creative vision indelibly influenced by the region's…

  • Top Choice
    Sydney & Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden

    The sculpture garden that sits just outside the New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park is a wooded quilt of streams, pathways, lovers' benches and, of…

  • Top Choice
    Newcomb Art Museum

    Part of Tulane University and flanked by beautiful Tiffany stained-glass triptychs, the Newcomb Art Museum is a great spot to soak up some art, with works…

  • Top Choice
    Backstreet Cultural Museum

    Mardi Gras Indian suits grab the spotlight with dazzling flair – and finely crafted detail – in this informative museum examining the distinctive elements…

  • National WWII Museum

    One of New Orleans’ most distinctive tourism attractions has nothing to do with food, music, or having a good time. Rather, it is a museum dedicated to the…

  • Bayou St John

    Back in the day, this was a true bayou – an overgrown morass of Spanish moss and prowling alligators. Native Americans, fur trappers and smugglers would…

  • New Orleans Museum of Art

    Inside City Park, this elegant museum was opened in 1911 and is well worth a visit for its special exhibitions, gorgeous marble atrium and top-floor…

  • Esplanade Avenue

    Esplanade is one of the most beautiful streets in New Orleans, yet barely recognized by visitors as such. Because of the abundance of historical homes,…

  • Frenchmen Street

    The ‘locals' Bourbon St’ is how Frenchmen St is usually described to those who want to know where New Orleanians listen to music. The predictable result?…

  • Upper Bourbon Street

    Like Vegas and Cancun, the main stretch of Bourbon St is where the great id of the repressed American psyche is let loose into a seething mass of karaoke,…

  • Audubon Zoo

    This wonderful zoo contains African, Asian and South American landscapes and fauna, as well as the ultra-cool Louisiana Swamp exhibit, full of alligators,…

  • Audubon Park

    This lovely spot, riverside of St Charles Ave, is home to Audubon Zoo. A 1.8-mile multi-use paved trail loops around the central golf course, unfurling…

  • Historic New Orleans Collection

    A combination of preserved buildings, museums and research centers all rolled into one, the Historic New Orleans Collection is a good introduction to the…