UPDATE: Suggestions for a New Orleans trip

littlemushroom

My DH might have a business trip to Louisiana in a couple weeks, and I might tag along. We have never been to New Orleans and thought we might take a couple days to explore. Any suggestions for things to do and/or places to eat that don't break the bank?

We generally eat at places where the total bill is around $25-$30 including tip while home. We likely would splurge once for something awesome. Since this is a last minute, unplanned trip, we don't want to spend a ton.

UPDATE: Found a plane ticket for under $300 so I am going! We leave in a little over a week. We are staying near the airport since his work is about 45 minutes away from NOLA and that is where they booked us.  We will be exploring and sightseeing in the evenings Monday-Friday and will hopefully have at least one entire day to spend.

What's the parking like in NOLA?

missmagnolia

You're visiting New Orleans at the perfect time - the weather is just cooling off and the humidity is dropping! I'm not sure when you're coming, but be aware that Voodoo Fest is from Oct. 28-30, so there will be crowds if you're here during that time. Also, do you know where/what area you will be staying in?

Here are some things that I would suggest doing: 
- If you like music, you should definitely check out Frenchman Street one night, they have a ton of small bars with live music, mostly jazz bands - which is really fun. 
-  Wander around the Frenchquarter and people watch. Jackson Square has a ton of activity, artists, street performers, etc., and you could grab some beignets from Cafe du Monde right across from the square.  
- Take the streetcar down St. Charles Ave. and look at the beautiful big homes there. 
- Drive down Esplanade Ave. for more gorgeous home viewing. 

For food: 
- Po-boys (I personally like Parkway Bakery in Midcity, and Commerce Restaurant in downtown, but there are plenty good po-boy shops around) try a hot roast beef po-boy
- Good splurge places could be: Dick & Jenny's, Jacques Imo's, Brigtsen's, Boucherie, Arnaud's, Ralph's on the Park, Restaurant August

If you know what area you're staying in, I can maybe make better recs. Hope you have fun on your trip! 

OliveOilsMom

We were in NOLA last November.  We may go again for a babymoon in January for a long weekend, but haven't decided yet.  I know there are some locals on this board who can probably give better recommendations, but here are mine!

Our splurge meal was Emeril's NOLA.  It was so good!  We both loved our meals and the service was great.

We took a trolley ride through the garden district and ate at Jaq Imo's, we saw them on TV for their fried chicken and H wanted to go.  It was easy to do via the trolley, but I'm sure uber would work as well!

You may have problems sticking to meals for $25-30 with tip if staying mostly in the French Quarter.  It can get pricey.

Make sure you have beignets from Café du Monde.  They are wonderful!  We don't drink coffee, but hear their coffee is great too!

For activities we did a ghost tour, cemetery NO 1 tour (you must have a tour guide for this cemetery due to Diocese rules - SaveOurCemeteries is the group we used, they are a non-profit and your tour fee goes towards restoring the graves), horse carriage ride and toured a mansion, but I forget the name of it right now. 

To save money, check out groupon and livingsocial.  That was how we did the ghost tour and the mansion tour.  They also offer other tours too.  We also found a good groupon for a brunch place. 

artbyallie

Arnaud's was our splurge, but beware it IS a splurge... we ordered apps, entrees, sides, desserts, and a bottle of wine and after tip it was nearly $300 for the two of us.

The WWII museum is amazing, but plan to spend at least 5 hours or more to see it all. We got there after 1pm and didn't make it through the whole thing before it closed at 5.

We went to two burlesque shows. The one at the Saint Hotel is weekly I think (Friday nights) and the drinks were delicious. Plus, the bar where the show is has this ginormous chandelier, so cool.

Highly recommend at least seeing Jackson Square and the French Market as well.

If you're rum fans, there's a distillery (with high water marks from Katrina visible on the tour)

lyndausvi

Parkway Bakery and Tavern
Mother's  
Acme Oyster House (or Felxi's across the street).
Jacques Imo's


Splurges:

Cochon (if you like pig)
Red Fish
GW Fins
Emeril's or NOLA (which is a Emeril's restaurant.
August (or really any Besh restaurant)


Classic  New Orlean's restaurants:

Arnaud's
Meril's
Commander's Place
Mr Bistro
Dookie Chase
Muriel's Jackson Square
Cafe DuMode (or even cafe beignet)

For lunch check out Willie Mae's Scotch house.   It's about $10 for a plate of fried chicken.  It's really good.  They are only open until 5pm.

I agree you budget is going to be a little tight, but you can do it.  I find the portions at Parkway and Mother's to be huge.  So you could split a sandwich for lunch to cut costs for dinner.  Well, that wouldn't work for my husband, but for some couples it would work.


I LOVE the WWII museum.  I've been to WWII museums around the world and this is by far the best one out there.

Agree with Frenchman's street.  Take a street car ride up to the Garden District.  There are some good restaurants up there.    The cemetery tours are cool.  If you are into ghosts there are some good ones out there.


Like @artbyallie said there are some good burlesque shows out there.  The Saint and the Royal Sonesta both have them.

Also the Preservation Hall shows are fun to check out.   Can be a long wait to get in.   

If you want something touristy don't for get Pat O'Briens.


There are some 1500+ restaurants in NOLA, way too many to remember.   I'm sure @short+sassy will have some good ideas too.

littlemushroom

Thanks so much for all the great ideas everyone! Plane tickets are super expensive ($600-$800) for when he is going, so we might not be able to make it work this time due to the short notice. I am going to keep these ideas for when we do get to make a trip there. And will definitely budget more accordingly!

artbyallie

Another rec, FWIW. I used Frommer's guide on our trip and it was super useful. Especially ahead of time since I was able to look at stuff around the condo we rented in the FQ. We didn't rent a car so we walked mostly and took a streetcar once and the rum distillery provided a free shuttle from the Market. You can't do it all in one trip, so pick a district or two to stick with for the most part.

MesmrEwe

littlemushroom said:

Thanks so much for all the great ideas everyone! Plane tickets are super expensive ($600-$800) for when he is going, so we might not be able to make it work this time due to the short notice. I am going to keep these ideas for when we do get to make a trip there. And will definitely budget more accordingly!

Check some surrounding airports, chances are you'll find much better deals than $600!!  Gulfport isn't far away as well as a couple others.  My family used to own a house 7 miles from the coast in MS - the standing joke in the family "What's the best part of NO - getting out of there!"..  Go eat at Lake Pontchartrain and the estates (Emril has one down there, sadly Chef Paul passed away but his place is still there - "K Paul's Louisiana Kitchen") - if you're doing it, do it right for the full culinary experience, stay at the Beau Rivage on the Gulf (great buffet dinner on the cheap), Go see the shipyards in Alabama (sounds far but isn't), Kiln Mississippi for a Friday night HS football game!!

short+sassy

For your flight, check out Hopper.  Unfortunately, you can only access it with an app, but they have some unbelievable deals on there.  Usually much better than anything I find searching online.

I live in NOLA and people have given great suggestions.  Some of it I will repeat.  Taking the streetcar up St. Charles Ave. is so fun and so beautiful.  And is one of the best bargains in town.  You can buy an all-day pass for $3/person.  Hop on and off it to see something that interests you.  There are amazing homes along that route and, towards the end of it, you'll also pass Tulane and Loyola universities.  Take it all the way to the end and you can hop off and walk to Jaques Imo's.  Others mentioned it too, one of my all-time favorite restaurants here.  They are only open for dinner.  It is 4-star dining at 3-star prices.  The streetcars also come all the way back, of course.

There are all kinds of walking tours available with different themes.  Those are a lot of fun also, though I'd avoid the ones that come with food and/or beverages.  They're usually a lot more expensive for "sample" portions.  @OliveOilsMom mentioned sites like Groupon and Living Social.  They always have many of those tours half off on there.

There are also riverboat tours that leave from right outside the Quarter.  It gives you a chance to steam along the Mississippi River and see the sites.  You'll pass the site of the Battle of New Orleans from the War of 1812.  There are two ticket options, one for just the cruise and one for the cruise and dinner.  Do NOT buy the dinner option.  It's like $25-$30 per person more expensive, for a "Cajun" buffet that is mediocre, at best.  The worst food value in town, imo.

Mardi Gras World is a unique "museum" experience.  It is a working facility for the company that makes pretty much all of the Mardi Gras floats.  You get to see the floats and props for them up close and personal.

For cheaper, but still yummy eats, look for Happy Hour specials.  For example, the Palace Café is my favorite 4-star restaurant, but they also have $5 plates from 3PM-6PM on weekdays.  Delmonico's is another one of Emeril's restaurants.  I actually like it better than the original "Emeril's".  They also have $5 plates during Happy Hour.

I can't believe no one else has mentioned this.  A muffaletta sandwich at Central Grocery on Decatur.  It's a little Italian specialty grocery store.  I swear, that sandwich is one of the reasons I moved to NOLA, lol.  It's made up of Italian meats and cheeses with OLIVE SALAD.  Olive salad is the best.  Warning.  They're enormous.  My H and I usually split HALF of one.  They're typically short on customer service, but it is in that funny "no soup for you" kind of way.  As in, "efficiently place your order, no chit chat" attitude.  Other places sell muffalettas, but Central Grocery is the original (and by far the best, imo).  More a lunch place, not open past 5 or 6PM.

Cajun Mike's and The Jimani are other good, but cheap eats in/near the Quarter...and believe you me, the combo of "good/cheap" is hard to find in the Quarter.  They are both bars and primarily sell poboys and burgers but, don't be fooled, they're food is AMAZING along with having some unique choices.  Cajun Mike's is always on Groupon, too.  The Jimani is pronounced "Gemini", like the astrological sign, but spelled "Jimani".

missmagnolia

littlemushroom said:

My DH might have a business trip to Louisiana in a couple weeks, and I might tag along. We have never been to New Orleans and thought we might take a couple days to explore. Any suggestions for things to do and/or places to eat that don't break the bank?

We generally eat at places where the total bill is around $25-$30 including tip while home. We likely would splurge once for something awesome. Since this is a last minute, unplanned trip, we don't want to spend a ton.

UPDATE: Found a plane ticket for under $300 so I am going! We leave in a little over a week. We are staying near the airport since his work is about 45 minutes away from NOLA and that is where they booked us.  We will be exploring and sightseeing in the evenings Monday-Friday and will hopefully have at least one entire day to spend.

What's the parking like in NOLA?

Yay! Glad you're getting to come. Parking in the Frenchquarter and CBD/Downtown areas can be a little annoying - your best bet is to find a cheap pay lot and park there. Occasionally you can find street or metered parking, but be careful in residential zones or freight zones - you will be ticketed or towed! If you're staying out by the airport, that is Metairie/Kenner, and you will be fine parking there - it's your standard suburb. (There's also a good po-boy place out that way called Parran's.)

I would also suggest, for food, if you're willing to check out a place that isn't standard NOLA fare - Mais Arepas. It's Colombian food but is currently one of my favorite places in the city! 

monkeysip

This isn't really "NOLA" food, but we went to Slice pizza while we were there, and it was delicious pizza.  You could definitely split a pizza and drinks for around $20.

There's a lot of really good, and more expensive food in NOLA, but if you're looking for a cheap, tasty bite, pizza is never a bad choice

short+sassy

monkeysip said:

This isn't really "NOLA" food, but we went to Slice pizza while we were there, and it was delicious pizza.  You could definitely split a pizza and drinks for around $20.

There's a lot of really good, and more expensive food in NOLA, but if you're looking for a cheap, tasty bite, pizza is never a bad choice

Awesome!  Glad to hear you are able to join your H in my fair city.

@monkeysip is right on.  Slice is walking distance to my work!  I eat there for lunch a few times a month.  They also have huge calzones and any of their pizzas can be turned into a calzone.  Very split-able.  They have a couple "local" type pizzas.  With ingredients like andouielle (sp?) sausage.  Or that muffaletta sandwich I talked about above?  A pizza or calzone version of it.

There is also a place on the same street as Slice called the St. Charles Tavern.  Good home-cooked New Orleans style dishes.  Good prices.  But my favorite part is they are open 24 hours and serve breakfast 24 hours also.  They have a large breakfast menu.

If you like to gamble and are looking for something to do while your H is at work, there is a riverboat casino in Kenner (where the airport is) called Treasure Chest.

short+sassy

Oh! Speaking of gambling.  You can park for free up to 24 hours in the parking garage of the Harrahs downtown if you get one of their Rewards cards and play for at least 30 minutes.  It isn't "in and out" parking, though.

After 5:00-5:30PM, you can actually find a good bit of metered parking in the downtown area.  The downtown is next to the Quarter, but you might have to walk out a number of blocks from it for metered parking spaces.  You only have to pay the meter until 7PM.

One of my "go-to" spots for metered parking is the street between the Loew's hotel and Harrah's hotel.  There is almost always metered parking there after 5:30PM.  If not next to Loew's, then just half a block up from it.  That puts you about 4-6 relatively short blocks to the Quarter.

littlemushroom

Thanks for all of the great suggestions! Especially @short+sassy for the parking info. We have started narrowing down our restaurant choices using the recommendations you all provided and planning out our trip. So excited we get to pull off a last minute trip like this.