New Orleans
French Quarter
Blair Roberts Castagnetta / Unsplash
Bourbon Street, Jackson Square, and Cafe Du Monde — the most famous neighbourhood in America, for better and worse.
The French Quarter is where New Orleans began in 1718 and where most visitors spend most of their time. The ironwork balconies, the smell of beignets and chicory coffee at Cafe Du Monde, Preservation Hall's nightly jazz sessions, and the Jackson Square fortune tellers are the canonical New Orleans experience. Bourbon Street operates at full volume around the clock and is genuinely difficult to avoid if you're based here. The rest of the Quarter — Royal Street, Frenchmen Street on its eastern edge, and the quieter blocks between them — is considerably more liveable.
Scores
Walkability
Transit
Price
Local feel
Nightlife
Family-friendly
Centrality
What you gain
- ↑Preservation Hall: nightly jazz from 8pm in a 200-year-old building — the most authentic live jazz room in the city at $20 entry
- ↑Cafe Du Monde at 3am: the 24-hour beignet institution operates rain, shine, and hurricane — one of the great all-hours food experiences in any city
- ↑Jackson Square and the St Louis Cathedral give the Quarter a European public square unlike anywhere else in North America
What you sacrifice
- ↓Bourbon Street: unavoidable if you stay in the Quarter, genuinely unpleasant for anyone not seeking neon bars and daiquiri dispensaries at volume
- ↓The most expensive accommodation in the city and the heaviest tourist density — you are never far from someone on a bachelorette tour
- ↓Noise carries: even a block from Bourbon Street, late-night revelry reaches hotel rooms; bring earplugs or book on the quieter Royal Street side
Best for
Avoid if
Other New Orleans neighbourhoods
Frenchmen Street live music, local bars, and the neighbourhood New Orleans musicians actually live in.
The National WWII Museum, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and a restaurant scene that rivals the French Quarter — with far less noise.
Antebellum mansions, Magazine Street boutiques, and cemetery tours — the upscale residential counterweight to the French Quarter.
Know where to stay — now find when to go.
Best time to visit New Orleans →