New Orleans is one of the most distinctive cities in America; where elegant French Quarter architecture, incredible jazz on every corner, and Cajun cooking that ruins you for everywhere else come together in a place you have to experience to understand.
Highlights of your Holidays to New Orleans
The French Quarter - Thirteen blocks of wrought-iron balconies, Spanish colonial courtyards and Bourbon Street chaos. Walkable, incredibly photogenic and one of the most memorable parts of the city.
Live jazz on Frenchmen Street - The birthplace of jazz still does it better than anywhere. Frenchmen Street (the locals' strip, not Bourbon) has six or seven venues on one block with live music every single night.
Creole and Cajun food - Gumbo, jambalaya, po'boys, beignets, charbroiled oysters and crawfish boils. Two distinct food traditions from southern Louisiana, plus fine dining at Commander's Palace and a street-food scene that never stops.
Mardi Gras and Carnival - The pre-Lent carnival runs from Twelfth Night (6 January) to Fat Tuesday (9 February in 2027). Even outside that window, the costume shops, krewe traditions and party energy are woven into the city year-round.
The Mississippi River - Steamboat Natchez cruises, riverfront walks, and a working port that shaped American history. The city wouldn't exist without the river, and the river wouldn't be the same without the city.
Above-ground cemeteries - New Orleans sits below sea level, so burials happen in elaborate above-ground marble tombs. St Louis Cemetery No. 1 is the most famous (guided tours required), with vaults dating to the 1780s.
Good to Know - New Orleans Holidays 2026 / 2027
☀️ Weather - Hot and properly humid from May to September (28 to 32°C), mild and pleasant the rest of the year (13 to 22°C).
💶 Money - A casual restaurant meal runs £12 to £20 / €14 to €23 a head, a craft cocktail on Bourbon Street is around £7 to £10 / €8 to €12. Tipping is customary at 18 to 20% in restaurants, but if you're in a group check the bill first as it will often be added automatically.
🎺 Fun fact - New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz. Louis Armstrong learnt to play in the brass bands of Storyville before he was 20, and the genre's origin traces back to Congo Square (now Louis Armstrong Park) where enslaved Africans gathered on Sundays from the 1700s and developed the rhythms that became jazz a century later.
New Orleans is perfect for you if...
You want a US city break that feels nothing like the rest of America, or anywhere else
Live music is the point: you'd happily follow a brass band down the street and see where the night goes
You plan holidays around food and consider a beignet at midnight a reasonable life choice
You love places with layers, French balconies, Spanish courtyards, voodoo legends and 300 years of stories
You'd take atmosphere over attractions: this is a city you wander, graze and listen to
🏨 New Orleans Hotels
See all New Orleans hotels or browse our top picks below...
👨👩👧👦 What are the best family hotels for a New Orleans package holiday?
Hampton Inn & Suites New Orleans Downtown (French Quarter Area). Two blocks from the French Quarter with a free hot breakfast, fitness centre and family-friendly rooms. Big plus for parents: the rate covers breakfast, which keeps morning logistics simple in a city where eating out adds up fast.
Crowne Plaza New Orleans French Quarter. On Canal Street with an outdoor pool, gym and on-site casino. Walking distance to Bourbon Street but far enough out that the kids can sleep. The streetcar stops nearby for easy days out to City Park or Audubon Zoo.
Wyndham New Orleans - French Quarter. Reliable mid-range spot 300 metres from the city centre, with Mr. Ed's Southern Creole Kitchen on site for casual family meals. Public transport on the doorstep.
💑 Where should couples stay on a New Orleans holiday?
The Royal Sonesta New Orleans. The historic landmark on Bourbon Street itself, with a French Quarter courtyard, indoor and outdoor pools and the Desire Oyster Bar attached. A destination fee of around £23 / €27 per room per night is charged at check-in, on top of your booking.
Hotel St. Marie French Quarter Hotel. Period-decor rooms with French Quarter charm, a tropical courtyard pool and the Vacherie Restaurant on site for Cajun cooking and craft cocktails. Walkable to Bourbon Street and Jackson Square.
French Market Inn. Antique-styled rooms with original 19th-century exposed brick on Decatur Street, six blocks from Jackson Square. Some rooms have balconies with Mississippi views. Properly atmospheric.
✨ What are the best luxury hotels in New Orleans?
Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans crowns the riverfront with a rooftop pool, a full spa and Mississippi views from the top of the old World Trade Center tower. The city's modern luxury benchmark.
The Roosevelt New Orleans, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel is old-school glamour at full volume: a gilded block-long lobby, a storied bar and four restaurants, steps from the Quarter.
The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans delivers hushed five-star polish on Canal Street with a serious spa and an indoor pool, the recovery programme your Bourbon Street nights deserve.
🎉 What are the best New Orleans hotels for a group break?
Wyndham New Orleans - French Quarter. Spread across 20 floors with Mr. Ed's Southern Creole Kitchen, an indoor pool and gym, and Bourbon Street 50 metres from the door. Solid central group base.
The Royal Sonesta New Orleans. Big enough to host a full mates' trip across multiple rooms, with two pools, a nightclub on site and the courtyard for late gatherings. Destination fee charged separately at the property.
Hyatt Centric French Quarter New Orleans. Roomy, stylish rooms for groups who want quality alongside the central location. The lobby restaurant works for joint dinners and the Quarter is on the doorstep.
💰 What are the best cheap hotels in New Orleans?
La Quinta Inn & Suites New Orleans Downtown. On the edge of the French Quarter and an easy walk from Bourbon Street, with an outdoor pool, gym and 24-hour reception. A destination fee of around £14 / €16 per room per night is charged at check-in.
Hampton Inn & Suites New Orleans Downtown (French Quarter Area). Free hot breakfast included, two blocks from the Quarter, comfortable rooms at a sensible price.
Crowne Plaza New Orleans French Quarter. Mid-range four-star on Canal Street with full amenities and decent value for what you get.
Where to Stay
New Orleans is compact for visitors, one of America's most walkable cities in fact, with most hotels clustered in or around the French Quarter and the neighbouring Central Business District.
💑 Which part of New Orleans is best for couples?
French Quarter is where the romance is: cobblestone streets, candlelit courtyards and live jazz drifting out of every doorway. Hotels here put you within walking distance of Jackson Square, the riverfront and the best restaurants in the city.
👨👩👧👦 Where is the best area to stay in New Orleans with kids?
Central Business District sits just across Canal Street from the Quarter, with bigger-brand hotels that tend to have pools, gyms and family-friendly pricing. The Canal Street streetcar runs out to City Park and Audubon Zoo, though parts of the network are on bus replacement at the moment, so check before you plan a day around it.
🎉 Where should groups base themselves in New Orleans?
The Bourbon Street end of the French Quarter is the natural base for groups. The nightlife is on the doorstep, the hotels are used to late check-ins and early starts, and you can walk to everything without worrying about taxis.
🗣️ Local Lingo
English is the language but New Orleans has its own dialect ("Yat" English) and a handful of French-creole loanwords that sound nothing like they look. Five to know:
Y'all, YAWL, You all (the universal Louisiana plural; you'll hear it constantly)
Lagniappe, LAN-yap, A little something extra (a bonus, the equivalent of "baker's dozen")
Beignet, BEN-yay, The square fried dough at Café du Monde, dusted with powdered sugar
Po'boy, POH-boy, The classic New Orleans sandwich on French bread (fried shrimp, oyster, or roast beef)
Where y'at?, WHARE-yat, How's it going? (the local greeting; the answer is also "where y'at?")
Cheap holidays to New Orleans
New Orleans might be the most generous city in America to a small budget, because its best asset is free: music. Brass bands play the streets of the French Quarter, Frenchmen Street's clubs run on tips and cheap drinks rather than ticket prices, and French Quarter Fest each spring is one of the biggest free festivals in the country. Add wandering the Quarter's balconies, Jackson Square's street life and the mighty Mississippi rolling past for nothing, and you can have an incredible time for a surprisingly small amount of money (plus drinks).
The eating can be as cheap as it is glorious. Po'boys and red beans and rice are working-class classics at working-class prices, a plate of beignets at a stand-up counter costs less than a coffee back home, and the grand old restaurants hide famously good-value lunch menus if you fancy white tablecloths without white-tablecloth bills. The historic streetcars cost pocket change and double as sightseeing, so skip the taxis and ride the St Charles line instead.
Book early if your dates touch Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest, when the whole city sells out, and keep an eye on low-deposit deals so the upfront cost stays tiny while the budget goes on gumbo and live music.
🧳 New Orleans Travel Guide 2026 / 2027
👨👩👧👦 What are the best things to do on a New Orleans family holiday?
Audubon Zoo is one of America's better city zoos, with a Louisiana Swamp exhibit full of alligators and native species, an elephant house and wide grounds. A half-day with younger kids, about 15 minutes out on the streetcar.
City Park is bigger than Central Park in New York, with the Carousel Gardens amusement park, the New Orleans Museum of Art, Storyland for smaller children and paddle boats on the lagoon. A full day's worth.
Audubon Aquarium sits near the riverfront, recently renovated and now combined with the Insectarium, with sharks, sea otters and a Mississippi River exhibit. Easy half-day.
The St Charles Avenue Streetcar is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world, running since 1835, and the Garden District route passes mansions, oak-lined streets and Audubon Park. Pay by exact cash on board or through the transit app, and check the network before you set off, as some lines are on bus replacement.
A bayou swamp tour is a half-hour drive out to the Honey Island or Jean Lafitte swamps for a flat-bottom boat, alligator spotting and the Louisiana most visitors never see.
💑 What are the best things to do for couples on a New Orleans holiday?
Beignets at Café du Monde, the original Decatur Street stand, serving since 1862. Beignets and café au lait in the open air with Jackson Square across the road. It opens at quarter past seven in the morning and runs to eleven at night, and to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
A Steamboat Natchez cruise, two hours on the last authentic steamboat on the river, daytime or evening with a live jazz band and an optional Creole buffet. Properly old-fashioned.
A stroll through the Garden District. Take the St Charles streetcar out and wander the oak-shaded streets of antebellum mansions, including Anne Rice's former home and Lafayette Cemetery No. 1.
Live jazz on Frenchmen Street. Six or seven venues on one block, The Spotted Cat, Snug Harbor, Three Muses and d.b.a. among them, most with no cover charge. The locals' alternative to Bourbon Street and the better night out.
Dinner at Commander's Palace, a Garden District institution since 1893 with seven James Beard awards. The Friday lunch with 25-cent martinis is legendary. There is a dress code, so plan ahead.
🎉 What are the top things to do for groups on a New Orleans holiday?
A Bourbon Street bar crawl. The Quarter's main strip, with frozen daiquiris, hand grenades and live cover bands every 50 metres. Pat O'Brien's for Hurricanes, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop for an 18th-century room, the Carousel Bar for a cocktail lounge that revolves.
A ghost or vampire walking tour. Two hours through the Quarter covering the haunted history, Marie Laveau's voodoo legacy and the LaLaurie Mansion. Several operators run them nightly.
A Cajun cooking class. Half-day sessions covering gumbo, jambalaya and étouffée, with the meal you cook as lunch afterwards. Hands-on, group-friendly, and a good day two.
Charbroiled oysters at Drago's in the Hilton Riverside, where the cheese-and-garlic-grilled oysters are worth the trip on their own. The drinks flow and the format works for a group.
A Preservation Hall session. The Quarter's most famous jazz room runs short 45-minute sets several times a night, and it is as traditional as New Orleans jazz gets. Book online in advance: there is no walk-up and no cash at the door. And check the venue before you go, because the St Peter Street hall is currently closed for renovation and the sets have moved to the Toulouse Theatre.
🚂 Day Trips from New Orleans
Oak Alley Plantation - The most photographed plantation in Louisiana, with a quarter-mile avenue of 300-year-old oak trees leading to the antebellum mansion. Now a museum that confronts the history of slavery alongside the architecture. Half-day round trip by car.
Bayou swamp tour - Jean Lafitte National Historical Park or Honey Island Swamp, both under an hour from the city. Flat-bottom boat through the cypress swamps with a guide pointing out alligators, herons and turtles. Easy half-day with hotel pickups available from most operators.
Whitney Plantation - The first plantation in Louisiana focused entirely on telling the story of slavery from the perspective of the enslaved. Powerful, essential, and very different in tone from the architecture-led plantation tours.
Lafayette and Cajun country - The heart of Cajun Louisiana, with traditional Cajun and zydeco music, dancing halls, and the proper rural French-Acadian culture. A long day trip but a completely different Louisiana from the city.
🌍 More US City Breaks
America - For all US holidays. Including Washington DC and more, all with direct flights from UK and Ireland airports.
New York - The city that never sleeps. Central Park, Broadway, the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, and more world-famous landmarks per square mile than anywhere else. The classic US city break.
Las Vegas - Three to four nights of shows, casinos, neon and desert heat. The Strip is an experience in itself, and the Grand Canyon is a day trip away.
Florida - Theme parks, white-sand beaches and year-round sunshine. Orlando for Disney and Universal, Miami for Art Deco and Cuban food, the Keys for something completely different.
Miami - South Beach, Art Deco architecture, Cuban coffee in Little Havana, and the Everglades on the doorstep. A city with serious style and a food scene to match.
Popular New Orleans hotels
More New Orleans hotelsWeather in New Orleans
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New Orleans has a subtropical climate with long, hot summers and mild winters. May to September is the hot and humid stretch, with temperatures regularly hitting 30°C and above. Hurricane season runs June to November, with August and September carrying the highest risk.
October through April is the comfortable window for a city break, with daytime temperatures in the mid-teens to low twenties and much lower humidity. March brings the tail end of Carnival season and the start of festival season; October has Halloween (which New Orleans takes extremely seriously) and some of the year's best weather. December and January can be chilly by Louisiana standards (10 to 15°C) but rarely cold enough to need more than a light jacket.
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FAQs
What's the time difference between the UK and New Orleans?
What's the time difference between the UK and New Orleans?
New Orleans is on US Central Time, which is 6 hours behind UK time.
Do I need a visa to visit New Orleans?
Do I need a visa to visit New Orleans?
Passport holders from the UK & Ireland do not need a traditional visa. You need an ESTA, which costs $40.27, roughly £32 / €37 at the time of writing, is valid for two years or until your passport expires, and allows multiple entries of up to 90 days each. Apply at least 72 hours before you travel.
Apply only at esta.cbp.dhs.gov, the official US government site. Plenty of lookalike sites rank well in search and charge several times the real fee for the same application.
Do I tip in New Orleans?
Do I tip in New Orleans?
Yes, and more than you might expect. New Orleans is a tipping-heavy city even by American standards.
Restaurants and bars: 18 to 20% on the bill is standard, and cash is preferred where you can.
Check the bill first: groups of six or more usually have 18 to 20% added automatically, and paying it twice is the classic mistake.
Taxis and rideshares: 15 to 20%, rounded up.
Live music venues with no cover: always tip the band, a few dollars a set.
Hotel porters: a dollar or two a bag. Housekeeping: a few dollars a night, left in the room daily.
What are resort fees, and do I have to pay them?
What are resort fees, and do I have to pay them?
Most US hotels charge a mandatory resort fee at check-in on top of your booked room rate, covering things like gym access, in-room amenities and sometimes breakfast.
In New Orleans, typical resort fees run from around £11 to £19 / €13 to €22 per room per night. The fee is paid directly to the hotel and is not included in the price you book through us. Worth factoring into your budget when choosing a hotel.
When's the best time to visit New Orleans?
When's the best time to visit New Orleans?
Mardi Gras and Carnival (6 January to Fat Tuesday, 9 February in 2027) is the headline experience. Rooms book up months ahead and prices peak, but the atmosphere is unlike anything else in the world.
Jazz Fest (late April to early May, 22 April to 2 May in 2027) is the music-and-food festival that locals consider the city at its best. Mild weather, 475,000 visitors across two weekends, and a lineup that mixes global headliners with Louisiana legends.
March and October to November are the comfortable-weather months for a city break without the festival crowds. Pleasant temperatures, lower hotel prices, and the city at its most liveable.
June to September is hot, humid and carries hurricane risk peaking in August and September. Cheaper rates, but tougher conditions for walking the city.
What is the food like in New Orleans?
What is the food like in New Orleans?
New Orleans is one of the great food cities of the world, full stop. Two distinct traditions drive it: Creole cooking (the city's own French-Spanish-African fusion, think gumbo, étouffée, beignets) and Cajun cooking (the rural Louisiana tradition, think jambalaya, boudin, crawfish boils). The two overlap constantly and arguing about the line between them is a local sport.
Must-try dishes include charbroiled oysters, po'boy sandwiches on crusty French bread, red beans and rice (the Monday classic), bananas Foster (invented at Brennan's in 1951) and beignets at Café du Monde. For a standout restaurant, Commander's Palace in the Garden District has seven James Beard awards and has been running since 1893, with the legendary 25-cent martini Friday lunch still going strong.
Is New Orleans family-friendly?
Is New Orleans family-friendly?
Very much so, once you know where to aim. City Park, Audubon Zoo and the Aquarium of the Americas are all built for kids. The French Quarter is family-safe during the day (Jackson Square, the street performers, the beignets), though Bourbon Street after dark is adults-only territory. The Garden District streetcar ride and the bayou swamp tours are both brilliant with older kids. The city's biggest draw for families is how much of it is free or cheap to experience: the architecture, the street music, the parks, the riverfront.
Tell me about the nightlife in New Orleans
Tell me about the nightlife in New Orleans
Bourbon Street is the famous one: frozen daiquiris, hand grenades, cover bands and karaoke bars open until the small hours. It's touristy, loud and completely unapologetic about it. That said, the better nights out are usually one block away. Frenchmen Street in the Marigny neighbourhood is where the locals go for live jazz, with venues like The Spotted Cat, Snug Harbor and d.b.a. running nightly sets with no cover charge.
The Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone is a revolving cocktail bar that's been pouring since 1949. Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop on Bourbon Street claims to be the oldest bar in America (built sometime in the 1720s), and drinking by candlelight in what looks like a crumbling French colonial cottage is a properly unique experience. New Orleans has no last-call law, meaning bars can (and do) stay open around the clock.
What makes New Orleans different from other US cities?
What makes New Orleans different from other US cities?
New Orleans doesn't feel like the rest of America. The French and Spanish colonial history left a city built around courtyards, balconies and narrow streets rather than grids and skyscrapers. The food is its own cuisine (not "Southern food"), the music is its own genre (not just "American music"), and the attitude to life, death, drinking and celebration runs on a completely different clock.
Funerals here feature brass bands playing jazz through the streets. Bars never close. Strangers talk to you. The city floods, rebuilds, and throws another party. It's the kind of place that's one of a kind, that actually deserves the word "unique."
Are there all-inclusive holidays in New Orleans?
Are there all-inclusive holidays in New Orleans?
City hotels here are room-only, and in New Orleans that's a gift: nobody should be tied to a buffet in the best eating city in America. The savvy version is a hotel with breakfast included, po'boys and jambalaya for lunch money, and one properly big Creole dinner booked ahead. Your appetite is the only all-inclusive package this city recognises.
When is hurricane season in New Orleans, and should I worry?
When is hurricane season in New Orleans, and should I worry?
Atlantic hurricane season officially runs June to November, and the city is well practised at watching the forecasts. For holidaymakers it's a practical point rather than a reason to stay away: book flexible rates where you can, take out travel insurance when you book (always wise for the US anyway), and keep an eye on forecasts close to travel late in summer. Millions visit through those months every year without drama.
Is New Orleans safe for tourists?
Is New Orleans safe for tourists?
Yes, and by its own recent standards it is the safest it has been in decades. The murder rate last year was the lowest since 1970 and has kept falling since, and the Foreign Office carries no warning specific to New Orleans or Louisiana beyond its general United States advice.
The practical risks in the tourist areas are the ordinary big-city ones: pickpockets in crowds, drinks left unattended, and the odd street hustle around lower Bourbon Street late on. Stay on lit, busy streets, take a cab back from Frenchmen Street rather than walking after midnight, and keep to the Quarter, the Garden District, the Marigny and the Central Business District at night. Violent crime in the city is overwhelmingly concentrated in residential neighbourhoods that visitors have no reason to be in.