New Orleans 3 Day Long Weekend Itinerary
Located along the Mississippi River in southeastern Louisiana, New Orleans is known for Mardi Gras, jazz music, and Creole cuisine. Whether you know it as “NOLA”, “The Big Easy”, or “Nawlins”, New Orleans is a very unique city that everyone should visit at least once in their lives, and a 3 day long weekend is a great time to explore!
Helpful Tips Before Booking Your Trip
Where to Stay:
Originally, we had booked an Airbnb and then discovered that there were nice hotels in a better location for less money! We stayed at Hotel Royal located at 1006 Royal Street (a block away from Bourbon Street) and were within walking distance to everything. I would also recommend staying at a hotel if you are planning on doing any swamp tours. They will pick you up at your hotel, but not an Airbnb. Our hotel also supplied free bottles of water. There was always someone in the lobby to answer our questions, and call a taxi for us.
Do you need a rental car?
No. Everything we recommend in this article is easily accessible by foot or streetcar. Parking in the city is very limited and there are many signs to remind you not to leave any valuables in your car.
Getting to your hotel from the airport
Not having used a ride share app in over 4 years, this made me a little nervous in a new city. Luckily, getting a taxi was super easy to do! All the drivers undergo a background check and are hired through the city. To get to the Taxis, exit the airport outside of Level 1 Baggage Claim Door 7. A taxi kiosk is on the left with vehicles lined up and ready to drive you! There is a flat rate fee of $36 from the Airport to the Central Business District or the French Quarter for 2 passengers. For 3 or more passengers, the fare is $15 per person. The taxis accept credit cards and cash!
Cash
Make sure to bring some cash with you on your trip. Many of the street artists and restaurants preferred cash over credit cards (they give you a discount to pay in cash). Cafe du Monde was cash only, and you want to have some small bills on hand to tip any musicians, tour guides, or other service industry professionals you may encounter.
Friday: Fly into New Orleans
After catching a taxi at the airport, we arrived at our hotel and went straight to bed to rest up for a very busy weekend!
Saturday: Cooking Class & Exploring the French Quarter
Cafe Beignet
In my opinion, these were the best beignets out of the 3 restaurants we tried. The original beignets were only around $4 and you get 3 very big beignets. You can also get the beignets with a chocolate drizzle and strawberries. The restaurant has other breakfast items as well like sandwiches and omelets. We shared the western omelet and a side of grits, both were very good! To see how we decided these were the best beignets during out trip, check out our article, The Best Beignets in New Orleans!
New Orleans School of Cooking:
A great 1st day activity! We did a demonstration cooking class, meaning we watched our chef prepare traditional dishes. He explained everything really well and we were able to follow along with a recipe card and make notes. Our chef also gave us a lot of historical information about how New Orleans got started and how all of the dishes were influenced by the different cultures within the city. Our meal started off with a biscuit and coffee and/or lemonade. Next up we had gumbo, followed by jambalaya, then pralines, and we finished the meal with bread pudding. Everything was delicious and it was great to get to try so many different dishes to see what we really liked for when we went out to eat later during the weekend. We ate so much food that we weren’t hungry again until 8pm.
Exploring Royal St.
Doreen Ketchens is a famous clarinetist who regularly performs in front of 701 Royal St. in the morning sometime between 10:30 and 2:30! You may have seen a video of her floating around on facebook a few years ago. If not, she is a fantastic musician and while there are many other performances happening, I would highly suggest going to hear her play while you are there! On your walk down Royal St. to hear her, take in the beautiful architecture of the Spanish/French influenced buildings. There are also many cute shops where you can pick up some small souvenirs.
Jackson Square
A 2.5 acre park that is a recognizable landmark and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960. It was designed after the famous 17th century Place de Vosges as a large city block park surrounded by shops. On the outside of the park, artists hang their artwork for sale on the metal fence all around the perimeter! This is a beautiful place that is gorgeous for pictures. That being said, it is important to us to tell you that it does have a bit of a dark past. In the early days of the park, it was the place of public punishments and executions. The park is locked at night, so if you want to go inside, make sure to go during the day.
French Market
Hours: 10AM-6PM
This is the oldest open air market in the United States, predating European colonization! The market spans 6 blocks and has a ton of different craft and food vendors. You could spend a couple hours here looking at the different booths. This is a great place to support local artists and buy some souvenirs.
New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old Mint
Adult: $8 Child (6 & under): $0 Senior, Student, Military $6
Open Tuesday- Sunday 8 am-4pm
The Museum is at the end of the French Market. The 1st floor is all about the US Mint with a large display of coins. The 2nd floor is all about the history of Jazz music in New Orleans. This museum is rather small, so if we were to go back, we would time it with one of their jazz concerts that they do multiple times throughout the day on the 3rd floor. Check their website for a calendar of their performances. https://nolajazzmuseum.org/events?view=calendar&month=06-2024
Spotted Cat
The Spotted Cat is a great spot to listen to some live jazz bands. On the smaller side, there were only 3 or 4 tables so it was mostly standing room only. When we went there was a $5 cover, but you could come and go as you pleased all night.
Frenchman Art Bazaar
This is an outdoor market where you can purchase art, jewelry, and gifts. It is open from 7pm until midnight and is located at 619 Frenchmen St. We bought an awesome piece of art we plan to hang up in our kitchen. This is right next to the Spotted Cat, so it was great to go between the music performance sets.
Sunday: Swamp Tour & Jazz Brunch
Swamp Tour: Ragin Cajun
We paid a little extra to get picked up and dropped off at our hotel and it was definitely worth it! It was a 30 minute drive to the swamp and it was a prompt drop off to and from the swamp tour. We also signed up for the 10am tour, and I’m glad we signed up for the morning. It was very hot that day, and our tour guide said the alligators are most active in the morning summer months before it gets too hot.
On our tour we saw a bunch of alligators ranging from small 2-3 year old ones, and a lot larger older ones. We also saw a bunch of different birds, including the egret and cormorant! We had a great guide that shared a lot of knowledge about the swamp and other animals that inhabit the area. Even just being on the air boat driving around at all the sights was so beautiful! I would recommend anyone visiting New Orleans to go on a swamp tour!
Remember to put on sunscreen and bring water! Ear protection was supplied for everyone!
Jazz Brunch: Court of Two Sisters
Hours: 9AM-3PM | Adults $36; Children $14
For a late lunch, we made reservations at The Court of Two Sisters for their Live Jazz Brunch Buffet. They offer a wide variety of foods on the buffet including gumbo, red beans & rice, turtle soup, carved ribeye, a full salad bar, and desserts as well as an omelet and eggs benedict station. You can see the full menu on their website (https://www.courtoftwosisters.com/menus/jazz-brunch/index.htm). The restaurant does have a semi casual dress code, no suit coat necessary.
Crescent City Brewhouse
After recovering from getting our fill at brunch, we walked around the French Quarter for a bit and found ourselves at Crescent City Brewhouse. We sat at the bar as soon as you walked in which was also right beside the live jazz band that was playing.
Cafe du Monde
This is the place you will hear over and over again when you are researching food and beignets in New Orleans. Here are some of the things we liked about the location on 800 Decatur St.
1. There is a large covered patio with plenty of tables. You sit at a table and someone comes to take your order.
2. We went at 7:30 am and they already had live music going! It really adds to the atmosphere. This was also a great time to go as there was no line to be seated. Every other time we walked by during the day, there was a very long line of people standing in the sun waiting to get a table.
*Cafe du Monde is cash only
Ghost Tour
We wanted to learn more about the history of the French Quarter so we booked a ghost tour with Ghost City Tours. It came out to around $25 per person. This tour talked about a lot of the traumatic and tragic history of the city. Although not the easiest to hear, we do appreciate learning about the true history of the places we were walking around. There is a lot of history in the city and some of the places discussed are now hotels and restaurants that people can stay and dine in, so make sure you do some research on the place you’re staying in.
Monday: Garden District & Fly Home
Street Car
Take the street car to the garden district! To get there, you will have to walk to Canal Street, and then get on the St. Charles green street car (yes, the whole thing is painted green). You can pay in cash (exact change required- $1.25 each way) or you can download the Le Pass app on your phone and buy an electronic pass. The app also gives you live locations of each street car, their schedule, and their route. We bought the Adult Jazzy Pass 1 Day for $3 to get us to the Garden District and back. It can be a slow moving car at times, so make sure you give yourself extra time to get to your destination.
Garden District
We got off the street car at St. Charles at Washington and walked down to look at the Lafayette Cemetery. This neighborhood in New Orleans is known for its historic mansions. You could spend a couple hours here just walking around, taking in the beauty. Even with the Garden District being drastically different from the French Quarter, the many Mardi Gras beads hanging from the trees on main roads was a nice reminder you’re still in New Orleans.
Loretta’s
Back to the French Market, we had to make a stop at one last place to try some more beignets. Loretta’s is known for having beignets stuffed with different things such as sweet potatoes, pralines, PB&J, crawfish, and crab. We tried the praline beignets which were absolutely delicious. Although, for the price of around $8 and only getting 3 beignets on the smaller side, I would still say that Cafe Beignet’s were the best bang for your buck.
To add if you have more time:
City Park
Whitney Plantation Tour
Riverboat Cruise