New orleans how many days to visit

It is usually more convenient to and cheaper to have a rental car if you plan on doing these day trips. Especially since most trips to New Orleans involve a lot of time at the bars, the trips are a great day time refresher to contrast your time on Bourbon Street and really feel all the Bayou has to offer.

We hope you find our planning tips and suggested itineraries for New Orleans to by helpful. Suggested Stay : full days. One Day In New Orleans:. If you only have one full day in New Orleans you really need to focus your itinerary on the main sights. Garden District Walking Tour with cemetery. Two Days In New Orleans:. Day one remains largely unchanged as you should still focus on the French Quarter with a little Garden District. Having a second full day also lets you work in a memorable bayou swamp tour after filling up on coffee and doughnuts at the famous Cafe du Monde.

Most swamp tours have pick up times right in the French Quarter but a car really helps your flexibility and saves you money. In the off season it is much less crowded. You can always end any or all of your days on Bourbon Street, just make sure to work in some live music and authentic New Orleans food! Midday Swamp Tour. Three Days In New Orleans: Having 3 full days in New Orleans really starts to make a visit awesome but you will have a tough choice either slowing down your pace or adding on one of our incredible day trip options on day 3.

We prefer to power travel, so we listed an alternative day 3 option below for people looking for the slower optoin. Plantation Alley is an amazing day trip choice as the stretch of Mississippi River lying West of New Orleans has the best collection of Antebellum mansions in not just the South, but the entire United States.

The Global Wildlife Safari is another great day trip option and is a the next best thing to doing a real African Safari. At the huge preserve you get to hand feed giraffes, zebras and much more in an open natural environment.

Consider the intimate private tour in a WW2 vehicle instead of the public wagon ride. If you do decide to slow your pace down instead of the day trip optoin, then take more time for French Quarter sights day one and move the Garden District to day three along with the nearby WW2 museum. Midday full French Quarter Walking Tour. Evening Ghost Tour. This quick guide will tell you everything you need to know in order to plan the perfect number of days for your vacation.

Most travelers fall into this category and are looking to take a regular vacation to experience a variety of things in New Orleans.

They want experience the French Quarter during the day and the night, eat amazing NOLA food, see local museums, take some tours, and all that very literal jazz. If this is you, we highly recommend that you start with a minimum of 4 full days in New Orleans and work up from there. Start by ranking the experiences by how important they are to you on your trip.

I think that most people will find the sweet spot to be right around the 5 or 6 day mark. You can get quite a bit done in that span of time. Lots of people visit New Orleans just to party in the French Quarter.

Every day is a party, Mardis Gras or not. If the single focus of your trip to New Orleans is to party, we recommend at least 2 or 3 nights. Bourbon Street comes at you hard.

Chances are good that the most hardcore partiers will still want to see more of the city once they realize its charm. Drinking while Driving is prohibited. There are quite a number of drive through daiquiri shops and they will place a strip of tape over the straw hole. New Orleans is as flat as an ironing board and has lots of side streets, making getting around by bicycle a great option.

If you rent one for your stay, remember: No fancy bike riding. Thanks for writing in! Just come across this 3-day itinerary — very useful. My daughter and I will be there from UK for 3 days end of Feb celebrating her 21st birthday. Sounds like just the sort of things we want to do, along with enjoying some of the Mardi Gras parades. Luckily, though, the French Quarter and New Orleans in general for that matter is big enough to allow some spreading out if you get off the busiest streets.

Good question! We actually ended up buying a sandwich between the plantation and boat tour to get us through. What we should have done and recommend you do is pack some snacks! Any tips on safety in New Orleans? Any thoughts? How about suggestions for neighborhoods for Airbnbs? I agree with your plan—sticking to touristy areas and staying with a group is a great way to stay safe. In or right next to the French Quarter would be our first choice—we loved the Best Western we stayed at on the edge of the French Quarter!

This is perfectly broke down and will fit in most that we want to do plus we will have a couple of extra days to repeat or find new things! Hope you have an incredible time both in NOLA and at the beach. I just wrote down the things you mentioned on what to do in 3 days. I was telling my wife the helpful tips that I read about your trips in the different parts of the world and at the same time earning commissions in your tie up with Amazon Services. I would like to do the same but planning to use it in the classroom for the benefit of my students.

Thank you so much Mr and Mrs Storm! Thanks so much, Felix! I hope you guys have a wonderful trip to NOLA, and good luck with your classroom! Thank you so much for writing this! My husband and I are headed to NOLA next year and I already knew a plantation tour and the French Quarter were not to be missed, but this is in my opinion a perfect three day itinerary, which is exactly how many full days we will have there.

I also appreciate your long list of places to eat. We are huge foodies and look forward to exploring your list. Hope you guys have an amazing trip to NOLA next year—enjoy some of that food for us!

Our tastebuds miss it daily. We just book a trip to New Orleans last night! I am literally giddy with excitement!! Thank you so much, Courtney!! I have family members that live in and around the city of New Orleans as well as the French Quarter.

I have been to New Orleans many times as a young child and as an adult. I did a quick one day walk through of the French Quarter and Riverwalk but missed out on so many other sites. I came across your article while googling for an itinerary of things do in New Orleans. Your article was very thorough and impressive. I am planning an upcoming 4 days trip to Nola for the end of October and will attempt to complete most of the 3 days itinerary you shared in the article.

Do I still need to book the ghost tour in advance and which weekend night is preferably the best for this tour? Thank you in advance for your attention to this question and for an informative article. Hi Lorenzo! I would definitely recommend booking the ghost tour in advance, the earlier the better for a weekend in October aka pre-Halloween. I echo all of the sentiments on New Orleans being the best US city!

NOLA is alive — like a living organism. The music permeates all senses and sensibility. I agree with visiting December-January. I find early December is perfect for me. I love Christmas and everything is jazzed up Christmas Creole style!

Plus, its very mild F , low crowds and cheaper hotel prices. NOLA is a gem and should not be missed! It absolutely is! Beignets sound like a perfect holiday treat to me. Thank you for this article it has been really helpful while planing my 7 day trip. We are staying near the French Quarter, would you recommend renting a car or just doing Uber? Much easier than worrying about a car.

Hello I enjoyed the information you wrote, I am going to New Orleans for several days around the Christmas holidays. My first time, and I am staying in the Warehouse District, arriving on the train. I am going to try some of your suggestions and walk and your, I really want to go to the aquarium there.

Thank you. Loved this post and so excited to go to NOLA! They came out amazing! Thank you so much, Nikki! My hearts in new Orleans, been going to the big easy for over 25 years. Try an get down once a year if not 2 times, music, food, people, architect. If your lucky enough to make it there you do need to learn the trolly system for a dollar twenty five. You can go from frenchmen to the garden district, an royal street for antiques an art r out of this world, as for the art I have been painting oils of my second home for years, next best thing then being there!

Safe travels….. Great article! What was the name of the mid-range hotel? Hi Velique! Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. The beignets alone are worth it, I swear!! Not that we ate them several times or anything… Reply.

So glad we could help, Penelope! I hope you and your sisters have an incredible trip. Photogenic is definitely right! Thanks, Francesca! The ghost tours really are a blast.