Top 10 Attractions in New Orleans

Let’s kick off with some of the good stuff. After all, you can’t go to New Orleans and not fill your face with rich, earthy gumbo, torpedo-sized shrimp po-boys and fluffy, sugar-dusted beignets while you’re there. Indeed, to do so would be borderline illegal. Hit up Domilise’s for your po-boy fix – a century or so of sandwich-making ensures that they really know their onions. The French Quarter’s aptly named Gumbo Shop is your go-to for proper Creole soul food, and Café du Monde – originators of the traditional New Orleans beignet – is as good a place as any to satisfy your craving for something sweet. And when your current belt fails you, pop to French Quarter stalwart Wehmeier’s for a replacement (in alligator skin, natch).

Get a slice of old-school Southern charm on a boat ride down the Mississippi River. This is one of the most popular activities for New Orleans vacationers, with Steamboat Natchez – the city’s last surviving authentic steamboat – being perhaps the best-known. You can also board the Creole Queen, a modern boat built in the traditional style and powered by a huge 24-foot paddlewheel. Both boats run narrated historic tours, as well as lazy weekend brunches accompanied by lively New Orleans jazz. 

Pro-tip: a historic tour aboard the Creole Queen is included with the Go City New Orleans pass. The pass can save you up to 50% on a range of NOLA activities tours and attractions, including the National WWII Museum, swamp tours, Mardi Gras World and more. 

Find out more and choose your pass here.

An essential part of any New Orleans itinerary worth its salt, the French Quarter is an Insta addict’s paradise of colorful Creole houses, ornate balconies and bustling markets. Fortify yourself with hot chicory coffee and sweet beignets before embarking on a walking tour that reveals the area’s Spanish-tinged architecture and historic voodoo traditions. Incurable spendthrifts should make time for a nosey at the antique shops and indie boutiques along the iconic Royal Street, while cool cats make for the New Orleans Jazz Museum, a treasure trove of Louisiana jazz history. Meanwhile, Bourbon Street awakes from its daily slumber around dusk, dramatically transforming into a sensory fiesta of balcony cocktail bars, jazz lounges and other noisy nighttime NOLA hotspots.

City Park is a sprawling green space in the heart of the city, containing attractions including the family-friendly Carousel Gardens Amusement Park and the New Orleans Museum of Art across its 1,300+ acres. Ride charming painted wooden horses on the century-old merry-go-round and admire masterpieces by European and American artists including Renoir, Monet, Picasso, Pollock and O’Keeffe in the museum. There’s plenty here for budding botanists, too: the park also boasts the New Orleans Botanical Garden and the largest collection of mature live oaks in the world, many of them over 600 years old.

Overlooking Jackson Square in the French Quarter, St Louis Cathedral is an architectural landmark, all French neo-Gothic and Spanish Renaissance flourishes. Admire this New Orleans icon’s perfectly symmetrical exterior then step inside, where you’re welcome to wander the hushed aisles of this, the oldest continuously active Roman Catholic cathedral in the USA. If you’re lucky, you might even catch one of the impromptu tours run by volunteer docents.

Get up close to gators, turtles, egrets and other swamp-dwelling critters and bob past cypresses cloaked in Spanish moss on a boat tour of the Louisiana bayous. As well as interesting flora and fauna, guides will regale passengers (already anxious about the proximity of alligators) with tales from local folklore, including the ‘Rougarou’, a swamp-dwelling werewolf that eats children, and the malevolent spirit of Julia Brown, a 19th-century voodoo priestess said to haunt these here bayous. There are a couple such tours available with the Go City New Orleans pass.

Located in NOLA’s central business district, the National WWII Museum is a huge six-acre complex that documents and commemorates the USA’s contribution to Allied victory in World War II. Several fascinating exhibitions cover key events including the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the D-Day landings, with show-stopping exhibits that include Sherman tanks, Enigma machines, howitzers and fighter planes including Spitfires and Dauntless dive bombers.

The pretty Garden District is where you’ll find some of the best-preserved Southern mansions in the States. No wonder then that it has become the stomping ground of the Hollywood A-list: Sandra Bullock, Nicolas Cage and John Goodman all have homes here. Wander picture-perfect streets beneath swaying oaks and magnolias and admire the stunning 19th-century architecture, all ornate wrap-around porches and decorative wrought-iron balconies. Nearby Lafayette Cemetery No.1 is the oldest and most atmospheric in New Orleans and boasts some 7,000 permanent residents within its impressive tombs and burial plots.

The Cabildo – the historic building that houses the Louisiana State Museum – is every bit as extraordinary as its contents. A Spanish Baroque confection adjacent to St Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter, the Cabildo was built in the 1790s and once served as New Orleans City Hall. Now a vast repository for all things Louisiana, it contains exhibitions and artifacts including a large collection of Newcomb Pottery and other decorative arts, 19th-century Louisiana landscape paintings and folk art, and period civilian and military clothing. Pretty fascinating stuff.

If you’ve had your appetite whetted by all those jazz museums and jazz brunches you’ve been treating yourself to, then rejoice! For truly there is no better place on the planet to catch a live show than right here in the birthplace of jazz. Hit up the Preservation Hall for intimate shows by local musicians and the renowned Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Note that seating here is (very) limited, so do book in advance! The Jazz Playhouse at the Royal Sonesta has a smoother, more upscale vibe, while The Spotted Cat is a jumping joint for cool jazz cats.

Many of the attractions and tours mentioned above are included with Go City New Orleans passes. Click the buttons below to find out more and choose your pass...