Visit New Orleans – The Best Way to Spend a Weekend There

If you’re close to New Orleans and want to pop by just to say you went and see what the fuss is all about, go for it! I was in Mississippi, just under 2 hours away from New Orleans, and I insisted to my significant other that we had to pop over so I could say I’d gone. He had previously been and told me it was nothing to write home about, but I still wanted to go. So we did. 

Let me start by saying that New Orleans definitely didn’t make my top 10 cities to visit list. I was unimpressed, honestly, it just didn’t live up to the hype. However, I was only there briefly and didn’t have time to explore anything outside of the French Quarter area. This was the place I had been most excited about seeing anyway. 

Although New Orleans wasn’t my favorite weekend trip ever, we made lasting memories and ate some great food. I am glad to be able to say I went. Maybe with more time there, I would have found it more exciting, or maybe not. I’m not going to hate on the city too hard since I didn’t really dive into it, and there were some parts I really liked. 

I will say that I loved staying at the International House Hotel, while in New Orleans and I loved the music, every restaurant we ate at, and the steamboats. Bourbon Street was gross and overwhelming at night, but during the day, when it was quieter, I liked seeing the French-inspired buildings, seeing the art people were selling, and listening to music in the streets. 

So, if you’re going to hit up New Orleans for a quick weekend trip, then here are some of my recommendations for making the most out of it. I officially dub it the Las Vegas of the South. There are, of course, many other things to do in New Orleans, but start here.

Where to Stay in New Orleans

Of course, there are tons of places to stay in New Orleans. You can stay in an Airbnb, in a rental on Bourbon Street, or do like we did and stay in a cute hotel a walk away from the French Quarter. 

I see what they were trying to do on Bourdon Street with the French-inspired apartments, as they do look like the ones I saw in Petite France in Strasbourg, France, but the vibe was not the same at all. 

Instead of staying above quiet cafes and looking out to see people coasting along on bikes with baskets full of baguettes, you’ll be kept up all night by loud music and probably wake up to someone peeing on the sidewalk below. 

And hey, if I were still in college, I might be into all that, but as a woman in her mid-30s, I like something a bit classier. I had seen the International House Hotel on someone else’s blog and immediately knew I had to stay there.

International House Hotel

I absolutely loved the vibe of this New Orleans hotel and it smells amazing inside too! It has so much charm while still being updated. It definitely has a swanky New Orleans vibe. Our room was definitely quaint, but it had everything we needed and cute added accents. The bathroom was very nice! Don’t expect a large TV or a lot of space, but do expect to enjoy it. 

We did have to park in a parking garage around the corner, so be prepared to do that. It’s right off a main street, so they don’t have a drive-up area where you can run into the lobby. This also means your view is just of other buildings but they’re nice looking!

Speaking of the lobby. It’s amazing. It’s super welcoming and elegant with cute furniture and vaulted ceilings. There is also a lounge to your left when you walk in and it’s equally as elegant and charming. The smell of this place still lingers in my nostrils, it made it very memorable. 

It feels upscale but you don’t have to pay upscale prices. You can get a room for around $100 a night, depending on the dates of your trip. We only stayed two nights and on our second night, we went down to the lounge after recovering from dinner. We ended up having the lounge to ourselves for about 20 minutes. 

This lounge felt very intimate and was a perfect way for us to end our weekend together. The drinks are pricy but they have a unique menu and the bartender put on a whole performance making my drink which was fun. 

I am glad we chose this for our stay and would definitely stay here again if I returned to the area. I highly recommend checking it out!

Places to Explore in New Orleans

There are admittedly a lot of things to do in New Orleans, but it just very much depends on how much time you have and what your interests are. We didn’t do any tours or museums since it was such a quick trip and we pretty much just stuck to the French Quarter area. 

Here are the things we did in our short time there and that I would recommend doing yourself. If you have more time, then consider a ghost tour or a swamp tour.

French Quarter Riverwalk

We really enjoyed walking along the river while in New Orleans. Something that did surprise me quite a bit was how dang dirty the Mississippi River is. It looks like a mud river (or at least it did in November). So don’t expect pretty water views when walking by the river.

What you can expect is a place to go for a nice walk or bike ride. The riverwalk is quite spacious and when we went, it really wasn’t that crowded, which I appreciated. There are various benches and memorials and stuff along the way that you can stop and check out. 

French Market 

After you walk along the river, or during your walk, you can make your way to the French Market. Honestly, I was expecting a big street market with local homemade goods (I am always looking for this type of stuff when I visit cities). What the French market really is is a bunch of stores where you can buy souvenirs; it doesn’t have a local market vibe at all.

That being said, there are a lot of great souvenir shops. Some have the traditional magnets and shot glasses and others have things that are locally made or that the area is known for. You can get things like beignet mix and voodoo dolls at many of them. There is even a shop completely dedicated to Christmas, which is kind of neat. 

This is also where you will find a place to purchase beignets, which are one of the many things New Orleans is known for and an absolute must. 

Jackson Square 

This stop is also a quick detour from the river walk and definitely worth stepping off the path. I really enjoyed this area. Located near the French Quarter, there are a lot of cute French-inspired buildings. There are also people selling artwork and playing music in the streets, which is exactly the vibe I was looking for in New Orleans. 

I love that this takes place right around the cathedral since that is common practice in Europe, to gather in “the square”. I didn’t buy anything from the artists but there was a lot of stuff I was tempted to get! We took a picture in front of the cathedral, of course, it is quite pretty.

Woldenberg Park 

While the Mississippi River itself isn’t very pretty to look at, I really enjoyed watching the steamboats. If you time it right, you’re likely to see a boat take off and hear the whistle blow in a fun tune. I felt like a little kid when I was able to witness this and loved it. It reminded me of scenes from the black and white Mickey Mouse cartoons for some reason. Of course, you can purchase tickets to go on a steamboat cruise as well. 

This area is along the river walk there are some places you can sit to watch the boats. There is actually a big staircase that leads right down to the water. It doesn’t seem to be used for anything other than seating nowadays but I am sure there is a cool story behind it. 

Bourbon Street 

Next up, the place everyone wants to see in New Orleans… good ole Bourbon Street. We went both during the day and on a Friday night and man, oh man, did it transform! During the day, I loved seeing the painted signs on the sidewalks and looking at the cute hanging signs outside of businesses along the street. It wasn’t so bad in the light of day.

We then went at night. They block the entire street off from cars because everyone just hangs out in the street. It’s very loud and overwhelming. There are adults and children playing drums on buckets in the streets as well as other various types of performers. And don’t expect to watch for free, they’re expecting a dollar bill or tip on Venmo if you stick around to watch. 

You will also find people shouting at you to come into clubs and you’ll see some booty shaking content, maybe you’ll even be invited to one like I was. It’s a lot to take in. It is more chaotic than the Las Vegas strip and honestly, I didn’t feel all that safe. I went into a gift shop and the cashier and a patron were having words and I was worried I was about to be caught in the middle of something. 

Maybe if I were 21, I would have found this all very enticing but I will stick to river walks and local artwork now lol. 

Canal Street 

This was more my style. Our hotel was near this street and it had a very upscale feeling. There are tons of more upscale restaurants here as well as more upscale shops. You won’t really find street entertainment here but I am a big fan of good food and not having people bump into me as I walk, so I enjoyed this street very much. There is just enough going on to make it worth walking down and I highly recommend it if you’re on the prowl for good food (just be prepared to spend a bit more). 

Where to Eat in New Orleans

Food. I am all about the food when traveling and of course, New Orleans has certain things it’s well-known for and I was determined to try those locally known foods. I have a shellfish allergy, so there are quite a few things known to the area that I couldn’t have but still plenty that I could. 

Palace Cafe’

We loved this place. So much that we ate dinner there both nights. It was close to our hotel and we loved the vibe inside as well as the food and service. It is definitely more upscale and expensive but it was worth it. We went there for my other half’s birthday initially and then the next day, we were hungry and tired of walking, so we went again. 

They have both downstairs and upstairs seating. The winding staircase to get upstairs is really neat and you’ll be close to the bar. It’s more of a lounge experience up there. You’ll find tables draped in white cloths with candles on top and I recommend you make at least somewhat of some effort with your appearance. You don’t have to dress up but maybe not sweats and a hoodie. 

I had a pasta dish on night one and steak frites on night two. They were both very good. My other half got their crabmeat cheesecake, which is exactly what it sounds like: a savory cheesecake with lump crab and some type of gravy. I couldn’t try it but I loved the idea of it and he said it was super good. He also had the catfish pecan, which I could try and it was really tasty. They also serve turtle soup, which I definitely should have tried but didn’t for some reason I can’t recall. 

We shared the rum cake for his birthday dessert, and my goodness, it was tasty! We actually got it again the second night we were there lol. I can’t recall which cocktails I got but they must have been good because I know I had more than one. 

Napoleon House

This is a great place to go to try local cuisine at a good price. You will want to plan to wait in line, though, it’s a small place with lots of people who want to try it out. Our wait wasn’t crazy long in line and our food came out fairly quickly. 

We went a little crazy here and tried all the local things. We each got a Pimm’s cup (the locally known cocktail) and we shared half of the Italian Muffuletta sandwich. That was plenty, enough to taste and enjoy it without getting too full for the main course. 

For the main course, I ordered the Creole jambalaya and my partner had the seafood gumbo. I really enjoyed mine. It had lots of flavor and enough spice that you could enjoy it without your mouth burning. Their menu is small but stacked full of all the things you’re probably looking to try in New Orleans, including red beans and rice, po’ boys, and alligator sausage!

I also really like the inside of the restaurant. It looks sort of like a dive bar. There’s tons of charm to it!

Erin Rose

This is actually just a bar but it’s a must. On our way to this bar, we were actually invited into another bar for happy hour at 10:30 AM… when in New Orleans lol. So this bar is known for its frozen Irish coffee and dang, it’s good. I can imagine how easy it would be to down multiple of those on a hot summer day. 

The frozen Irish coffee is only $4 but I recommend paying a little more for the plastic souvenir cup! Remember that happy hour I mentioned? Erin Rose does their own, they call it the Wake Up and Live! Special, every day from 10 AM to 2 PM, they offer the following drink specials:

Mimosas – $3.00

Screwdrivers – $3.00

House Bloody Marys – $4.00

Frozen Irish Coffee – $4.00

Hot Irish Coffee – $4.00

Café Du Monde

Beignets! This is where you can find both them and the traditional chicory coffee. You will definitely wait in line here as it’s a major tourist attraction but honestly, you kind of have to. You can’t go to New Orleans and not go to one of the famous beignet spots. This location is actually nestled right within the French Market. 

The beignets were exactly what I expected and one order is plenty to share with another person. Prepare yourself to get covered in powdered sugar though. Those bad boys are messy! There is a small amount of seating indoors and then several tables to sit at outside. However, all the seats were full when we went so we just took ours to go. Luckily, there is a window where you can order to-go orders to make the process a bit quicker 

Cafe Fleur de Lis

This breakfast spot was a short walk from our hotel and unlike every other place I listed on this blog post, this was one we just stumbled upon. We needed somewhere to eat and we had walked by it the day before. After looking up the menu and seeing that they had several types of eggs Benedict as well as a full coffee bar, I knew we had to go.

This place did not disappoint. We both got a mocha here and then we shared the cochon de lait Benedict, which the waitress recommended. This dish is made with chunks of roasted pork and the meat is so tender and delicious. I loved this dish so much. I would recommend getting the side of hashbrowns instead of the grits because while I do like grits, these ones were a bit strange. Oh yeah, we also had a side of biscuits and gravy which was divine.

The restaurant was pretty busy on the Friday morning that we went but the wait wasn’t crazy long. They also seem to have some upstairs outdoor seating but it wasn’t open when we went. I would have definitely chosen to sit there if so I love patio dining. 

Takeaways

Okay, so would I go to New Orleans just for fun again? Probably not. Would I recommend going there for a vacation? Also probably not. But if you’re in the area, then it’s worth swinging in for a weekend. The food is really good and they have some fun things to look at. I can’t imagine myself wanting to stay any longer than I did, nor do I feel the need to go back but I really enjoyed everything we did do. 

I believe that any place you visit is whatever you make of it. My significant other is in the military, so we often end up visiting places that aren’t exactly vacation destinations but I always try to squeeze the most out of each place we go to and there are often bigger, well-known cities close by, so it seems worth it to pop over to them. We seem to be able to make lasting memories wherever we go, and that’s what’s important.

I’ve been able to have a lot of new experiences thanks to tagging along with him on work trips and I am so thankful for that. My favorite experience so far was in Strasbourg, France!