Let's get into it.
Weather
The Gulf coastline is known for its hurricane season in Fall, and heavy rainstorms around the year too. Summers are especially hot & humid, while winters could be cold, but not freezing. Always check out weather prediction for your weekend and pack accordingly before the trip.
Touristy stuff
- Parades (Krewes): New Orleans is most famous for its Mardi Gras season between early January to early March (beginning of 40-day Lent) which is the parade season. Though the last week of the season have the best parades and hence the most drunken revelry, other parades can be fun too. Look up online parade calendar if that's your main draw to the city.
Throwing beads from the floats and collecting them on streets is a tradition. If you see someone celebrating a birthday, there is another custom of pinning a dollar on their dress/shirt.
Parade website - French Quarter: The most popular neighborhood of the city is French Quarter and the street is Bourbon St. Best way to see the area is on foot.
Free foot tours - French Market / Mississippi riverside: Walk along the river and watch one of the biggest ports in action. The market has many options of food & drinks, plus sovenirs.
- Cemeteries: In addition, due to the high groundwater levels, the cemeteries have tombs above ground which make them more ornately designed and attractive for tourists. Please refrain from taking selfies or general raucous laughter while visiting them.
- Voodoo tours: Popular for ghost and dark magic enthusiasts. Never did one.
- Streetcar: St Charles Street Car takes you on a route showing huge mansions on both sides.
- Parks: For more natural view, The City Park, Audubon Park and other parks are spectacular. The huge spanish oak trees and snapping turtles are easy to find, but I never came across an alligator yet. Kayaking in the Bayous (creeks) is a popular activity.
City Park
Audubon park - Lakes: The city is split into Parishes, similar to counties. The huge Lake Pontchartrain has one of the longest bridges over it connecting two parishes. It also has a boardwalk or beach areas to enjoy the waters. There is no "ocean" beach in spite of proximity to Gulf coast, so this is the best you get. Do not attempt swimming since alligators/snakes are always a possibility.
Boardwalk
Fountain - Swamp tours: (maybe away from city) Never done one, but look fun. You sit in special boats, some with big fans, which take you through the bayous/swamps and spot wildlife like local birds and alligators. You may also get to hold a baby alligator in hand.
- Plantations: (need to drive outside the city) The cotton plantations from the Antebellum era can be roughly split between Anglo (English owner) and Creole (French/Spanish owners). The former have huge white houses with front streets flanked with oak trees, while latter have colorful houses. Be respectful on premises as you will see the housing for slaves and their conditions here. Some places have Victorian era clothes that you can wear and pose in for a sepia-tinted photo.
I have been to a creole one called Laura Plantation: - Aquarium and Zoo
Zoo
Aquarium
Drinks
Drinking on the streets is encouraged, so every place offers a to-go container for alcoholic drinks.
- Coffee with Chicory - Similar to indian coffee, ask for Cafe Au'Lait which is milk coffee. Black not recommended. Cafe Du Monde is known for it.
- Daiquiri - The only place in US which has drive-thru for the alcoholic drink Daiquiri. It's a frozen cocktail you can pick up at any chains like New Orleans Daiquiris or others.
Sample location: NO Daiquiris - Hurricane - Popular cocktail from Pat O'Briens.
- Monsoon - Popular cocktail from Port of Call
- Sazerac - Popular whiskey-based cocktail with a museum Sazerac House dedicated to its history
- Barq's root beer (non-alcoholic)
- Abita brewery beer - mostly Amber Ale / Purple Haze
- Other cool bars:
Food
My most favorite of all American food is the cuisine of NOLA, which can be roughly split in Cajun (French/Acadian origins, fancier) and Creole (African/Carribean/Indigenous, homestyle). History goes that British/Anglo-Americans drove away French from eastern Canada who came to settle here instead bringing their food styles.
Items to try:
- Potato chips - Zapp's brand - Crawfish tators and Gator Dill flavors are unique
- Fried Green tomatoes / fried pickles / Fried okra
- Beignets - fried flour puffs with powdered sugar - found everywhere, but Cafe Du Monde is popular.
(Crawfish beignets is the savory seafood version) - Crawfish - Absolute delicacy and must-try in whatever form. Freshly available in first half of the year, and crawfish boils are popular at house parties where they add corn / sausages / potatoes and local spices. Restaurants or local fishermen may have it, in season.
- Fresh/charred/fried oysters - Oysters in any form
My favorite: Katie's - Po'boys - stands for "Poor Boys" and is a sandwich with a soft long bread (almost like Indian Pav in taste) filled with lettuce/tomato/local seafood.
My favorite: Parkway Bakery - Gumbo - A stew that comes in many forms but my favorite has seafood, okra, rice in it along with local sausages.
My favorite: Gumbo shop - Etouffee - Less thick than a stew, and mostly contains seafood/sausage with the holy trinity of New Orleans - onions, celery, peppers.
My favorite: Adolfo's - Muffuletta - A huge round burger-like sandwich with lean cuts of meats and olive salad. It's okay to order and eat a quarter/half of it due to size.
My favorite 1: Napolean House
My favorite 2: Central Grocery - Jambalaya - A fried rice like dish with unique blend of veggies, seafood and meats.
My favorite: Coop's Place - Beans & Rice - Usually kidney beans with sausage & trinity, but on New Year's Eve, locals make white-eyed-peas with pickled pork & cabbage.
- BBQ Shrimp & Grits
My favorite: Russell's - Fried chicken
My favorite: Gus's world famous - Boudin balls (meat and rice balls fried with breadcrumb cover)
My favorite: Mambo's - Meats: Andouille sausage, Boudin sausage, Tasso ham, Hoghead cheese (mince meat in gelatin)
- Fried alligator bites (alligator tastes like chicken almost)
My favorite: Pat O'Briens - Baked seafood pies
- Fried catfish
Willby's - Collard greens (contain bacon bits)
- Packaged sweet pies / cakes from Hubig's or Haydel's bakeries.
Check out Doberge cake with half lemon & half chocolate flavors
Also pineapple, coconut cream, lemon, apple pie (look like empanadas)
There are many fine-dine $$$$ establishments in the city, but choose with caution as some are more about the show than actual food.
My favorite was Commander's Palace (reservation may be needed). Their turtle soup was fabulous, along with the rest of the courses.
Galatoire's , even though popular, was quite disappointing and I would not recommend.
Music
New Orleans is famous for its Jazz scene. While there are websites to track all live music locations every day, you can't go wrong if you are on Frenchmen St.
Shopping
Voodoo dolls, Masquerade masks, local packaged meats, pies, LSU football team paraphernalia, clothes with the Fleur-de-lis sigil, or purple-golden-green colors.
When US beckoned me by Siddharth Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
