New Orleans is a must visit! Here’s what we loved and recommend if you plan to visit!
If New Orleans is on your bucket list or you have been unsure of wanting to visit, this is your sign to make it happen! We had a blast in NOLA and are already planning to make another visit back. There are so many aspects that we loved about our trip, but here are our favorites!
THE FOOD
The food alone in NOLA is reason enough to visit! We may not have been able to try as much as we would have liked within the short amount of time we were in the city, but we certainly stumbled across some delicious finds! Ruby Slipper is a brunch restaurant, and the mix and match bennies were a hit! We got the Fried Green Tomato and Nashville Chicken benedicts, and both were delicious, but the FGT was definitely the front runner here! We also shared a mimosa flight, but personally it wasn’t my favorite, and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you prefer more juice than champagne. Other than that, breakfast was tasty!
Our favorite breakfast out of our whole trip was the restaurant French Toast. Clearly a place named after French toast must simply live up to their name and serve an amazing breakfast! The chicken and waffles there were out of this world! The dish came with a side of cayenne maple honey butter that was to die for and since then, I have made several valiant attempts to recreate this dish at home and still can’t figure out how they achieved such a level of perfection. We also tried a lemon curd and cream sweet crepe per recommendation of our waitress, but the chicken and waffles were impossible to top. I know that going to a restaurant named French Toast and not actually ordering any seems crazy, but I seriously couldn’t have been any more pleased with the food that we got here! This spot can get pretty packed, but it is well worth the wait, I promise!
The most well-known dessert in New Orleans has to of course be the beignet, which you can pretty much stumble across anywhere in the city. This delicious, puffy, deep fried donut treat is covered in powdered sugar and certainly satisfies the sweet tooth. Doing research prior to our visit, it was a tossup between trying the beignets at Café Du Monde or Café Beignet. There are multiple locations for both cafés, and perhaps location itself does play a role in experience and taste, but unfortunately, we only got to have beignets twice during our visit. In the end, we first got beignets at Café Beignet, Royal Street because it was convenient, but given it being our very first try, we loved them! The café was adorable and beignets delicious. What more could you ask for? The second spot we tried them at was Bon’s New Orleans Street Food and they were delicious here as well! This spot also had a lot of unique snack foods including a Gator Street Corn that was super tasty! In all honestly, I don’t see how you could possibly go wrong with getting a beignet anywhere in NOLA.
Lastly, the BEST po’ boy we have ever had this far was at NOLA Poboys on Bourbon Street. We shared the specialty po’ boy “Who Dat”, which is fried shrimp smothered in seafood bisque and it was INCREDIBLE. My wife and I both agreed that we should have gotten our own and if we had stumbled upon this spot any sooner, we probably would have gotten a po’ boy there every day. It is truly that good! The restaurant itself was small and not overcrowded which was perfect for us, especially when you’re hangry and need food stat! If you love po’boys, then this is a must try during your stay in New Orleans.
Tip: On Bourbon Street there will be plenty of restaurants trying to persuade you to come in and eat. Keep walking! The best spots to eat won’t have to convince you into eating at their restaurant. We learned that the hard way!
The Sazerac House
The Sazerac House is a museum where you can book a complimentary self-guided tour to learn about history, engage in interactive cocktail exhibits, and enjoy actual tastings of signature cocktails along the way! (For those 21+ of course.) For a free experience, you can’t beat that! The Sazerac House is located on the corner of Magazine Street and is most likely within walking distance of your hotel if you happen to be staying in the French Quarter like we did. It was under a 15-minute walk for us from our hotel. This is definitely a hidden gem and is not talked about enough in my opinion! Now, don’t go in with the expectation of getting tipsy during the tour with all of the free tastings (I thought wrong), as you only get a few different tastings served in mini paper cups. The great part about this though is that you get to watch these cocktails be made in front of you and can take a recipe card if you enjoyed it and want to try making it yourself at home! The cocktails themselves were strong, but delicious and crafted gracefully by the amazing team on the floor who did a fantastic job interacting with everyone. A simple, yet enjoyable experience that was free, and on the fly, leaving us with a fun memory in NOLA!
Visit The Most Historic Cemetery In New Orleans.
Paying to walk through an old cemetery sounds strange right? If you like creepy, spooky adventures, then a cemetery tour is probably right up your alley! New Orleans is unique in their burial process, as burials take place above ground rather than under. Due to low elevation and frequent flooding, tombs are located above ground, but that is not all that is intriguing about these cemeteries. These tombs also function as an oven due to the subtropical climate in New Orleans, where during summer months temperatures become extremely high decomposing the human remains within a years’ time. Thus, New Orleans law dictates that a year and a day must past before a tomb may be opened. Basically, after a year and a day passes, all that will be left of the remains will be bones which will then be pushed to the back of the tomb to fall into a caveau, in other words a burial chamber. Tombs can perhaps hold an unlimited amount of remains, but only so many caskets at a time. Therefore, when there are multiple bodies to be buried in the same tomb, they must each follow the same one year and a day process before finally being put to rest. The history of these cemeteries alone was fascinating, not to mention how mesmerizing the tombs themselves were. We took our tour at St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 which also houses the tomb of voodoo queen Marie Laveau and future tomb for known actor Nicholas Cage. Certainly, a fitting experience while visiting the city of the dead!
Take A Ghost Tour In The French Quarter.
This tour was probably my favorite thing out of our entire trip! Kathryn with French Quarter Phantoms Ghost Tours did a fantastic job as a tour guide! We did the Ghost + Vampire Tour and we were not let down one bit by all of the spooky and gruesome stories that we got to hear along the way. There are many tours to choose from in NOLA, especially in the French Quarter, but this is one I would actually come back to for more! Not only were the ghost stories and history of the French Quarter fascinating, but we got to explore more of the French Quarter and even fell lucky enough to witness the infamous haunted LaLaurie mansion light up. Apparently, the owner of this spooky estate is only in the city once or twice a year where the building is lit up from the outside as you see in the image above. It was awesome that we got to witness this in person, all while learning about the sinister past associated with the manor. Another bonus about this tour is that for those 21+, if you purchase a hurricane drink prior to the tour, you get a second one free, and both come in a souvenir cup! A ghost tour combined with a New Orleans signature cocktail in hand sounds like a mighty good time, but hey that’s just me!
Get A Frozen Irish Coffee. Yum! (21+ Only)
Getting a frozen Irish coffee is an absolute must! The ones as shown in the image above are from the Irish pub Erin Rose, which is a delicious frozen boozy treat! You can also get this with a shot on the side if you really want to put some hair on your chest! This was quite tasty, but I have to admit, my wife and I both agreed that the best frozen Irish coffee we had during our visit was at Molly’s at the Market near the French Market. It was seriously the bomb.com and I really do wish I could have another at this very moment while sitting here typing this! There are plenty of delicious drinks and cocktails to find in New Orleans, but there are certainly a few that outshine the rest like this one. You also get your drink in a souvenir cup that can be taken with you anywhere in the French Quarter. You read that right. New Orleans does not have an open container law, which means you can legally carry your drinks around with you as long as the container is not an open glass container. Cool, right!?
Drink From A Blood Bag At The Vampire Café!
Mortal or vampire, the Vampire Café welcomes all and has a treat for everyone! Here you can find a fun and relaxed environment, and of course an emergency blood supply if you’re low. We went strictly for the blood bag which was a unique experience and fun to walk around with! The real treat of stumbling upon this place was learning about the secret hidden vampire speakeasy nearby. In order to be invited into this magical speakeasy, you must first make a visit to Boutique du Vampyre to obtain an invitation with the “secret code” to be invited into the speakeasy. The speakeasy is named Potions Lounge and can be found at the back of Fritzel’s Jazz Pub where the vampire doorman Jason awaits to be approached and provided with the code. Provide your invitation to be granted access to the speakeasy and invited upstairs to explore the secret tavern! The drinks, or rather I say potions, were tasty and complimented the unique, charming ambience. There were even a few furry guests lounging about among the crowd! This was definitely a cool experience and the most unique scavenger hunt we’ve personally ever done so far to say the least.
Oliver House Hotel
We stayed at the Oliver House Hotel on Toulouse Street and the location seriously could not have been any better for us! Located in the French Quarter, we were within walking distance of everything, especially Bourbon Street! Staying in a hotel located next to Bourbon Street might not be everyone’s preference, but we didn’t have any issues with hearing noise from outside. It was actually quite peaceful, and this being our first time in New Orleans we purposely wanted to be close to Bourbon Street to see what the hype was all about. This hotel was unique, charming, perfectly located, and we felt so safe here! The décor inside was quaint and old, but in a refined way. They also had some adorable furry house cats wandering the premises who loved to greet the guests in the lobby. There were definitely some really cool areas located in the hotel that also gave off eerie vibes which made it all the more intriguing. Supposedly, the hotel is haunted, so of course we had to launch our own official ghost hunter’s investigation and explore the grounds to see what we could find. In the end, we might not have caught a ghost, but definitely stumbled upon some areas that felt heavy and got to find out some stories of others experiences with the paranormal here. When we book our next trip back, there is no doubt that we will definitely be staying here again!
The People
From the talented people busking in the streets to those you might bump into at a corner market, the people of New Orleans were actual gems. Speaking from our personal experience, the people we encountered were all kind, friendly, and welcoming of us to their lively city. One of our favorite parts of our visit was getting to talk to locals and just engage in friendly conversation that resulted in us getting some great recommendations for food and attractions. Everyone there refers to you as “baby” and I never thought hearing those words from a stranger would feel so comforting, but the New Orleans accent does it justice. The amount of talent and soul in the music you hear on the streets of NOLA is amazing and you can’t help but stop and admire the street performers in their element. There are literally performers everywhere, but the talent is undeniable and all of it makes for a good time no matter where you are in the city.
The Takeaway
Though we didn’t leave the French Quarter during our visit, we had an amazing trip for the short period of time that we were there. New Orleans has so much to offer when it comes to new experiences and adventure, and we have much more to explore in the future. New Orleans is our favorite travel destination this far and we love raving about our visit and recommending this experience to everyone. I personally always make sure to research a location before we visit to know what to expect and what to be on guard for. Like every big city, there can be unsafe areas and I highly recommend before visiting New Orleans doing your own research and simply making yourself aware of all possibilities. Being proactive is always beneficial, and it keeps you vigilant so that you can enjoy yourself and your trip safely. Some research ahead of time will also probably save you from being swindled out of your money, especially on Bourbon Street!
If you have visited or plan to visit New Orleans, I would love to hear about your recommendations and experiences!
