Three days that cover the French Quarter on foot, the Garden District by streetcar with a long lunch at Commander's Palace, then the WWII Museum, the river by steamboat and a Bywater evening. Each day is one part of the city, so you ride once and walk the rest.
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Checked October 10, 2026. That’s the day we last confirmed the hours, prices and closed days.
October to early December and February to May are the good months: highs in the 70s°F (20s°C), low humidity and a full music calendar. Mardi Gras falls on February 9, 2027, with parades the two weekends before it; hotels charge several times the normal rate, demand three to five night minimums and sell out months ahead, and the WWII Museum, Commander's Palace and the St Charles streetcar all close that day. Jazz Fest, the last weekend of April and the first of May, does the same to prices. June to September is hot and wet, with highs above 90°F (32°C) and a storm most afternoons; hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, so buy insurance that covers it.
The French Quarter puts Day 1 and Preservation Hall on foot; the lower Quarter, below St Ann, sleeps better than anything near Bourbon Street. The Marigny is a short walk to Frenchmen Street and quieter. The Garden District or the Lower Garden District sits on the St Charles streetcar for Day 2. The Warehouse District and CBD are practical for the WWII Museum and the riverfront, with the big hotels and little character after dark.
The streetcar and the bus both cost $1.25 a ride; a 1-day Jazzy Pass is $3 and a 3-day pass $8, bought in the RTA's Le Pass app, which also shows where the streetcars actually are. On board, cash has to be the exact fare; the app is easier. The St Charles line runs from Canal Street through the Garden District to Audubon Park; the Canal, Riverfront and Rampart lines cover the Quarter's edges. The Algiers ferry is $2 and a Jazzy Pass covers it. The Quarter, the Marigny and the Bywater are flat and walkable; a rideshare across town is usually $10 to $20.
French Quarter · 45 min
The original at 800 Decatur Street opens at 7:15 a.m. and the line is short before 8:30 a.m. Three beignets under a drift of sugar and a café au lait, a few dollars a head. If the line is long, Café Beignet on Royal Street does the same thing with a courtyard and no wait.
around $5
French Quarter · 45 min
Across Decatur from the café; the cathedral is usually free to enter in the morning, with a donation box for the self-guided tour. Artists and fortune tellers set up along the railings by 10 a.m., and the levee steps behind the square give the first view of the river.
French Quarter · 75 min
Two blocks up Royal Street at number 520; free, but take a ticket at the desk or reserve online. Open 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and from 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, closed Monday.
French Quarter · 60 min
At 630 St Peter Street, a few steps off the square, open from 11 a.m. The seafood okra gumbo, or the chicken and andouille, with a side of red beans. For a po'boy instead, Johnny's on St Louis Street has filled them since 1950: fried shrimp, dressed, and it is a lunch place that closes mid afternoon.
French Quarter · 75 min
Walk the length of it from St Louis toward Esplanade: antique shops, galleries and the cast-iron balconies in the photographs. The street is closed to cars in the afternoon between St Louis and St Ann, so the brass bands play on the corners.
French Quarter · 75 min
Down to Decatur and along the covered sheds to Esplanade Avenue: a flea market at the far end, food stalls in the middle, pralines at Loretta's. Then rest at the hotel; the Quarter is better in two halves with a break in the heat.
French Quarter · 90 min
At 500 Chartres, a bar in a 1797 house that has not been redecorated, with no reservations. Order a warm muffuletta and a Pimm's Cup and be out in an hour so you make the show; if it is shut, the Gumbo Shop takes dinner too.
French Quarter · 60 min
At 726 St Peter Street; shows run 45 minutes, usually at 5, 6:15, 7:30 and 8:45 p.m. (weekend matinees start at 2:30 p.m.), and tickets are sold online in advance, from about $25 depending on the seat. No photos or recording, and no outside drinks except a cup from Le Spectacle next door.
$25
Marigny · 120 min
Ten minutes down Decatur and across Esplanade into the Marigny, three blocks of clubs with a band in every one. The Spotted Cat at 623 Frenchmen opens at 2 p.m. and plays until 2 a.m. with a one-drink minimum and a tip bucket; walk in, stay for a set, move on.
Garden District · 30 min
Board at Canal and Carondelet; the 1920s cars have no air conditioning, and you sit on the left for the mansions. The fare is $1.25 in exact change or a Jazzy Pass in the Le Pass app, and it is about 25 minutes to Washington Avenue.
$1.25
Garden District · 90 min
Reopened October 1, 2026 after seven years shut, for small guided tours run by the Preservation Resource Center. Check prcno.org for slots and book before you fly, and if none is free, walk the streets around it instead.
Garden District · 60 min
Prytania, First, Third and Coliseum have Greek Revival and Italianate houses behind iron fences, free and better on foot than on a tour. Commander's Palace is the turquoise building at the cemetery's Washington Avenue gate.
Garden District · 105 min
Lunch runs Wednesday to Friday from 11:30 a.m. with 25-cent martinis (the waiter will explain the limit); order the turtle soup, pecan-crusted fish or bread pudding soufflé. Dress is business attire, with collared shirts and closed-toe shoes required and no shorts, t-shirts, flip-flops or hats; book ahead, and it is closed on Mardi Gras Day.
around $60
Uptown · 90 min
Two blocks downhill from Washington Avenue, six miles of shops, cafés and bars in old shotgun houses; walk the stretch from Washington uptown to Napoleon Avenue. Bus 11 runs its whole length if your feet give out.
Uptown · 75 min
Back on the streetcar to the park, opposite Tulane and Loyola. A three-kilometer loop under live oaks that are older than the city's streetcars, free and shaded; walk to the river side for the Fly, the levee lawn where the neighborhood watches the ships go by.
Bywater · 150 min
A 20-minute ride across town to 600 Poland Avenue: choose a bottle in the shop, order plates at the kitchen window and take a table in the back garden, where a jazz group plays most evenings. Open until 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, cards and cash both work, and a line forms on weekends.
Warehouse District · 150 min
At 945 Magazine Street, open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. except Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Mardi Gras Day; adults $37, and buying online gets a shorter line. The Beyond All Boundaries film is $9 extra and a second-day pass is $15; start with the Road to Berlin and Road to Tokyo pavilions.
$37
Warehouse District · 60 min
A block away on Tchoupitoulas Street, the counter half of Donald Link's Cochon: the muffuletta or the Cubano at the long tables, and a jar of pickles to take home. For a sit-down lunch, Pêche at 800 Magazine serves the same group's Gulf fish from 11 a.m.
Riverfront · 50 min
Along Convention Center Boulevard and through Woldenberg Park, 30 to 40 minutes with the river on your right. The Riverfront streetcar covers the same ground for $1.25 if the heat is on.
Riverfront · 150 min
Boarding at 400 Toulouse Street is from 2 p.m. for the 2:30 p.m. daytime jazz cruise, two hours out and back with a jazz trio and narration; $43.50 for the cruise, $65 with lunch, and an 11:30 a.m. sailing if you would rather lunch on board. The cheap version is the Algiers ferry from the foot of Canal Street: $2 each way, departures at 15 and 45 past the hour, five minutes across to a village of cottages and the best view back at the skyline.
$43.50
Bywater · 60 min
A ten-minute ride or 35-minute walk downriver to 2941 Royal Street in the Bywater, Brandan Odums's warehouse of murals about Katrina, race and the city. Open afternoons Wednesday to Sunday (confirm hours at studiobenola.com or 504-252-0463), about $15 and free on Wednesdays for Louisiana residents and students; it closes early evening, so it comes before the park.
$15
Bywater · 60 min
Over the rusted arch of the Piety Street bridge onto the old wharves: two kilometers of path along the river with the Quarter's rooftops and the bridges downstream. Free, open from early morning to dusk; in winter the light is gone by 5:30 p.m., so swap this stop with Studio Be.
Bywater · 150 min
At 3054 St Claude Avenue: a ten-course tasting menu of about $250 a person, dinner only and closed Tuesday and Wednesday, with a Michelin star since November 2025 and a wine garden out back for those without a booking. Reserve on Tock well ahead, usually a month out; for crawfish instead, Pêche's crawfish capellini runs in season, roughly February to June.
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From Louis Armstrong (MSY), a taxi to the French Quarter or CBD is a flat $36 for one or two people and $15 a head for three or more, 25 to 40 minutes by the I-10; cards are accepted. The RTA's 202 Airport Express bus runs to Poydras Street and Loyola Avenue downtown for the ordinary $1.25 fare, hourly or better, and takes most of an hour. Rideshares start from about $36 and wait in line at the pickup area on the lower level.
About $120 to $180 a day per person for meals, one museum or show, the streetcar and a tip at every table. The WWII Museum is $37, the Natchez $43.50, Preservation Hall from about $25, a Jazzy Pass $3, a po'boy or gumbo lunch $15 to $20, and a Commander's Palace lunch about $60 with the 25-cent martinis. Saint-Germain's tasting menu is a splurge well above that.
Plans change. Ask Chat and it proposes a reshuffled day you can apply, or just answers the question.
The Whitney Plantation or a swamp tour needs a fourth day; Tremé, City Park and the Backstreet Cultural Museum need a fifth. The Quarter, the Garden District and the river fit in three.
No. The three days ride the streetcar, the ferry and one or two rideshares, and parking in the Quarter costs more than the rides. Rent one only for a plantation or swamp day trip.
Day 3: the WWII Museum takes a morning on its own, the Natchez has a covered deck and Studio Be is indoors. The Garden District walk on day 2 is the part to move; Waystop can keep a rain version of that day beside the main plan.
Only if the parades are the point. Mardi Gras 2027 is February 9, the big parades roll from the weekend of January 30, hotels want three to five nights at several times the usual rate, and most of this itinerary (the cemetery tours, Commander's Palace, the WWII Museum, the St Charles streetcar) stops on the day itself.
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