New Orleans travel guides – honest, checked advice

Guides & tips

Plan your trip like a local

Honest answers to the questions travellers ask us most.

Chef in a red jacket and white apron stirring a pot at a demonstration counter under a New Orleans School of Cooking sign, with seated guests in the foreground

Cajun and Creole in New Orleans: Cooking Class or French Quarter Food Tour?

A demonstration cooking class or one of two French Quarter food walks? What each booking page lists on tastings, meals, group size and dietary options, and which suits you.

Read the guide →

Person in skull face paint and a top hat seated in a gilded armchair beside lit candles

French Quarter: Guided Ghost Tour, History Walk, Food Tour or on Your Own?

Compare a ghost tour, a Voodoo and history walk and a food tour in the French Quarter, and the free self-guided route: what each booking page lists, how long they take and who each suits.

Read the guide →

Guide in a denim jacket pointing along a tree-lined sidewalk beside a garden wall while four visitors in jackets listen

Garden District and Lafayette Cemetery: Guided Walk or the Streetcar on Your Own?

How to see the Garden District: the free self-guided walk from the St. Charles streetcar, or one of four guided tours. What the pages say about the mansion visit, Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 and access.

Read the guide →

Brass band with trumpet, trombone and tuba playing on a sidewalk under a gallery while passers-by watch and dance

Jazz in New Orleans: Frenchmen Street, Preservation Hall or a Jazz Brunch?

Three ways to hear live jazz in New Orleans: a guided jazz walk with a club visit, a brunch buffet with a band, and a historic blues venue. What each page lists, who it suits and what to know about Frenchmen Street and Preservation Hall.

Read the guide →

Five friends laughing and taking a selfie in front of a small stage with a drum kit

New Orleans Pub Crawl, Party Bus or Club Night: Which Party Suits Whom

Compare the Frenchmen Street live music pub crawl, the haunted pub crawl and the shared party bus in New Orleans: length, group size, drinks, age and ID rules, and who each night out suits.

Read the guide →

Two bronze child figures at an old wooden cabin on a raised brick foundation

Oak Alley or Whitney Plantation: Which Tour from New Orleans, and How Is the Story Told?

Compare a guided Oak Alley tour, a Whitney Plantation tour with transport and the swamp-and-Oak-Alley day trip from New Orleans: what each site focuses on, what the pages include and who each suits.

Read the guide →

Visitor photographing a round marble tomb with a seated statue and the word ITALIA carved below

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1: Only With a Guided Tour, and What the Alternatives Are

How to visit St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 in New Orleans: the guided walk the booking page describes, where it starts, how long it takes, and three other cemetery tours if you want a longer or different visit.

Read the guide →

Paddlewheel steamboat with lit decks and a red wheel, cruising on the Mississippi at dusk

Steamboat Natchez Jazz Cruise: Daytime, Evening or Weekend Brunch?

Compare the evening and daytime steamboat jazz cruises, the weekend brunch cruise and the Creole Queen paddlewheeler on the Mississippi: times, music, optional meals and who each suits.

Read the guide →

Covered flat-bottomed tour boat named Gator Patrol II moored at a green bank, its rails lined with passengers beneath tall trees

Swamp and Plantation in One Day from New Orleans: Is the Combo Worth It?

Two combination day trips from New Orleans, one with a pontoon-style swamp boat and one with an airboat, each with Oak Alley Plantation. Timetable, what the pages say is included and who should split the two.

Read the guide →

Alligator resting on a log in green swamp water with floating plants

Swamp Tour from New Orleans: Airboat or Pontoon Boat, and Where You See Alligators

Compare the Manchac pontoon swamp cruise with three airboat tours from New Orleans: where each one starts, how long you are on the water, rules for children and who each suits.

Read the guide →