Paul Oswell is an award-winning travel writer based in New Orleans. He has reported from all seven continents for dozens of international publications, including Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, The Guardian (UK), The Daily Telegraph (UK), and The Sunday Times (UK).
Paul Oswell is an award-winning travel writer based in New Orleans. He has reported from all seven continents for dozens of international publications, including Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, The Guardian (UK), The Daily Telegraph (UK), and The Sunday Times (UK).
Hi, I'm Paul!Paul Oswell is an award-winning travel writer based in New Orleans. He has reported from all seven continents for dozens of international publications, including Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, The Guardian (UK), The Daily Telegraph (UK), and The Sunday Times (UK).
Hi, I'm Paul!Paul Oswell is an award-winning travel writer based in New Orleans. He has reported from all seven continents for dozens of international publications, including Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, The Guardian (UK), The Daily Telegraph (UK), and The Sunday Times (UK).
New Orleans is a small city with a big reputation, known for its iconic music scene, delicious cuisine, and emblematic festivals such as Mardi Gras. When visiting, most travelers instinctually head to the French Quarter. While there’s plenty to explore there, it pays to broaden your horizons, as you can discover local restaurants, lively bars, cute boutiques, and historic buildings across the city.
The downtown neighborhoods are easy to navigate on foot, then you can take the atmospheric streetcar to Uptown. From beautiful architecture in the Garden District to the wafting jazz tunes of Tremé, here are the most interesting neighborhoods in New Orleans that you should check out.
With its 300-year-old architecture and wealth of landmarks, the compact French Quarter is the lively epicenter of the city. Take a walking tour, strolling past majestic St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square, complete with artists, brass bands, and tarot card readers.
Head to Bourbon Street for neon-lit entertainment, Royal Street for art and antiques, and the whole neighborhood for ghost tours. Catch some jazz at Preservation Hall or Fritzel’s Jazz Club, or stock up on souvenirs at the French Market. Sample classic New Orleans delicacies like muffuletta sandwiches at Central Grocery or beignets at Café du Monde. Or, take a food tour to taste all the flavors of the Quarter.
For a true slice of New Orleans, take the streetcar, which rolls past the sprawling collegiate estates and the greenery of the city’s parks and gardens. Uptown is also the ideal neighborhood for a walking tour with its antebellum mansions and the famous Lafayette Cemetery No 1.
You might spot locations from the movie Interview With A Vampire. Meanwhile, the home of the book’s author, the late Anne Rice, is a landmark in its own right. Audubon Park is a beautiful spot for a picnic with its ancient live oaks, while the Audubon Zoo is a firm family favorite. To get in a bit of exercise, consider a bike tour of Uptown.
Just across Canal Street, discover the modern commercial center of New Orleans, CBD, as you leave the French Quarter. Wander along the riverside you’ll find the casino, Vue New Orleans, and the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas.
Among the civic and commercial skyscrapers, you’ll find hidden boutique hotels and some of the city’s best-rated restaurants. Visit the chic art galleries along Julia Street or head to the exhibits at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the Contemporary Arts Center. On game day, the neighborhood’s bars and restaurants are packed with fans heading to watch football at Caesar's Superdome or basketball at the Smoothie King Center.
Just beyond the French Quarter toward Uptown, the Lower Garden District has some of the city’s best restaurants, bars, and boutique shops. Hop on a food tour of the neighborhood to explore its gastronomic highlights, from tacos to artisanal donuts to an award-winning deli.
Walk up Magazine Street to find vintage stores, independent art galleries, and friendly neighborhood bars. The area is also home to the world-class National World War II Museum, which features a comprehensive array of multimedia exhibits and themed live shows. Mardi Gras World offers an insight into the history of the festival, where you can get up close to the incredible floats.
The famous jazz clubs along Frenchmen Street have shows every day, and with at least a dozen live music venues on one stretch, you can hop between them all. The Spotted Cat and The Blue Nile are fan favorites, with local legends dropping in nightly.
The Marigny is a mostly residential neighborhood, with cute local bars and cafés on most corners, which are great places to meet and mix with locals. There’s also the huge art warehouse of Studio Be with its striking, vibrant murals and kitschy cabaret venues, such as the wonderful AllWays Lounge and Theatre.
Artisanal bakeries, restaurants, and cafés are the order of the day in this hip residential neighborhood. Along the riverside border, the greenery of Crescent Park provides some excellent walking paths and views of the mighty Mississippi River.
Bywater is a fashionable, revitalized neighborhood with some excellent microbreweries and even a German beer garden. You can also see some of the city’s best street art and murals. The Bywater Art Lofts hosts works by many of New Orleans’ emerging artists, a spot ideal for viewing small, impromptu exhibitions.
Just across Rampart Street from the French Quarter, the Tremé (pronounced Truh-MAY) is America’s oldest African-American neighborhood. Its main landmark is Louis Armstrong Park, named after the legendary jazz trumpeter. Here, you’ll find Congo Square, a location of great cultural importance where enslaved people met and played music, giving rise to what we know as jazz.
Many of New Orleans’ most famous jazz musicians grew up in Tremé, including Troy 'Trombone Shorty' Andrews and Alphonse Picou. You can learn more about the proud history of the city’s African-American community and the mysterious Mardi Gras Indians at the Backstreet Cultural Museum.
City Park is undoubtedly the highlight of this primarily residential neighborhood. With almost 1,300 acres (526 hectares) of lawns, ancient live oaks, and a scenic bayou, both locals and visitors flock to the beloved park for picnics, walks, and entertainment.
Explore the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), considered one of the finest art museums in the South, along with the fantastic Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden. The Festival Grounds hold huge musical events, and you can also play golf, fish, and visit the New Orleans Botanical Garden.
