Singing Oak

New Orleans

　　This oak tree near Big Lake in City Park stands festooned with chimes, some up to 14ft in length. Standing under the tree during the slightest breeze is pretty magical. ...

Esplanade Avenue

New Orleans

　　Esplanade is one of the most beautiful streets in New Orleans, yet barely recognized by visitors as such. Because of the abundance of historical homes, Esplanade, which follows the ‘high ground’ of Esplanade Ridge, is known as the Creole St Charles Ave. Both streets are shaded by rows and rows...

Crescent Park

New Orleans

　　This waterfront park is our favorite spot in the city for taking in the Mississippi. Enter over the enormous arch at Piety and Chartres Sts, or at the steps at Marigny and N Peters Sts, and watch the fog blanket the nearby skyline. A promenade meanders past an angular metal-and-concrete...

Saturn Bar

New Orleans

　　In the solar system of New Orleans bars, Saturn is planet odd. Originally it was an eclectic neighborhood bar where regulars appreciated the outsider art, leopard-skin furniture and a general, genuinely unique aesthetic. Today the old punks and new scenesters are united by neon-lighting fixtures, flashy gambling machines and great...

Audubon Zoo

New Orleans

　　This wonderful zoo contains African, Asian and South American landscapes and fauna, as well as the ultra-cool Louisiana Swamp exhibit, full of alligators, bobcats, foxes, bears and otters. During the summer months, part of the zoo becomes a dedicated water park for the kids. ...

Carousel Bar

New Orleans

　　At this smart-looking spot inside the historic Hotel Monteleone, you'll find a revolving circular bar, canopied by the top hat of the 1904 World’s Fair carousel, adorned with running lights, hand-painted figures and gilded mirrors. In 15 minutes the 25-seat bar completes a full revolution. A top spot for a...

d.b.a.

New Orleans

　　Swank d.b.a. consistently schedules some of the best live-music events in town. Listening to John Boutté’s sweet tenor is one of the best beginnings to a night in New Orleans. Brass bands, rock shows, blues – everything plays here. Plus, there's an amazing beer selection. 　　Closing hours are flexible. ...

Spotted Cat

New Orleans

　　The Cat might just be your sexy dream of a New Orleans jazz club, a thumping sweatbox where drinks are served in plastic cups, impromptu dances break out at the drop of a feathered hat and the music is always exceptional. Fair warning, though, it can get crowded. ...

Audubon Park

New Orleans

　　This lovely spot, riverside of St Charles Ave, is home to Audubon Zoo. A 1.8-mile multi-use paved trail loops around the central golf course, unfurling beneath a shady canopy of live oaks. ...

Fly

New Orleans

　　The Fly is a popular spot for river viewing, picnics, Frisbee tossing, or just plain lazing about. Joggers trot by, families push strollers or release their toddlers, and on a sunny day (that's not sweltering) it's hard to beat coming here to let the 'Easy' soak in. ...

New Orleans Museum of Art

New Orleans

　　Inside City Park, this elegant museum was opened in 1911 and is well worth a visit for its special exhibitions, gorgeous marble atrium and top-floor galleries of African, Asian, Native American and Oceanic art. Its sculpture garden contains a cutting-edge collection in lush, meticulously planned grounds. Other specialties include Southern...

Pitot House

New Orleans

　　The Pitot House, perched prettily beside Bayou St John, is an excellent example of classical French New Orleans architecture. Constructed circa 1799, it's the only Creole Colonial house along the bayou that is open to the public. The shaded verandah served as a living area whenever the weather got too...

Louisiana Children's Museum

New Orleans

　　This educational museum is like a high-tech kindergarten where the wee ones can play in interactive bliss till nap time. Lots of corporate sponsorship equals lots of hands-on exhibits. The Little Port of New Orleans gallery spotlights the five types of ships found in the local port. Kids can play...

Tan Dinh

New Orleans

　　It may look like a bog standard strip-mall Vietnamese joint when you walk in, but we'd happily contend that Tan Dinh is one of the best restaurants in greater New Orleans. The garlic butter chicken wings could be served in heaven's pub, and the Korean short ribs are mouthwatering. It's...

Bayou St John

New Orleans

　　Back in the day, this was a true bayou – an overgrown morass of Spanish moss and prowling alligators. Native Americans, fur trappers and smugglers would use the waterway as a natural road that led over the dark wetlands to the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Today, the bayou has been...

Country Club

New Orleans

　　From the front, it’s a well-decorated Bywater house. Walk inside and there’s a restaurant, sauna, leafy patio with bar, heated outdoor pool, 25ft projector screen and a hot tub. There’s a $10 towel rental fee if you want to hang out in the pool area, which is a popular carousing...

Hi Ho Lounge

New Orleans

　　Hip-hop, punk, brass bands, dance parties, live storytelling events and Mardi Gras Indians regularly pop up at Hi Ho, one of the most eclectic venues in an eclectic city. It can get pretty packed, but this remains one of the best mid-sized venues in town for a live act. May...

Sydney & Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden

New Orleans

　　The sculpture garden that sits just outside the New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park is a wooded quilt of streams, pathways, lovers' benches and, of course, sculpture, mainly of the modern and contemporary sort. During spring and summer, theatrical productions are often put on here, but it's a...

Ogden Museum of Southern Art

New Orleans

　　The South has one of the most distinctive aesthetic cultures in the US artistic universe, a creative vision indelibly influenced by the region's complicated history and deep links to the land. Few museums explore the throughlines of Southern art like the Ogden, which boasts lovely gallery spaces, an awesome gift...

Royal Street

New Orleans

　　Why you should goRoyal Street, with its rows of high-end antique shops, galleries and potted ferns hanging from cast-iron balconies, is the elegant yin to well known Bourbon Street's debauched yang. Stroll or bicycle past Royal's patina beauty and fading grace; chat with locals as they lounge on their porches;...

St Louis Cathedral

New Orleans

　　Why you should goOne of the best examples of French architecture in the country, this triple-spired 18th-century cathedral is dedicated to Louis IX, the French king sainted in 1297. The St Louis Cathedral, located in the heart of New Orleans' French Quarter overlooks Jackson Square. It's an attractive bit of...

Lafayette Cemetery No 1

New Orleans

　　Of all the cemeteries in New Orleans, Lafayette exudes the strongest sense of subtropical Southern Gothic. The stark contrast of moldering crypts and gentle decay with the forceful fertility of the fecund greenery is incredibly jarring. It’s a place filled with stories – of German and Irish immigrants, deaths by...

Cabildo

New Orleans

　　The former seat of government in colonial Louisiana now serves as the gateway to exploring the history of the state in general, and New Orleans in particular. It’s also a magnificent building in its own right; the elegant Cabildo museum marries elements of Spanish Colonial architecture and French urban design...

City Park

New Orleans

　　Live oaks, Spanish moss and lazy bayous frame this masterpiece of urban planning. Three miles long and 1 mile wide, dotted with gardens, waterways and bridges and home to a captivating art museum, City Park is bigger than Central Park in NYC and it's New Orleans’ prettiest green space. 　　In...

Jackson Square

New Orleans

　　Why you should goWhatever happens in the French Quarter usually begins here in Jackson Square, at Decatur and St Peter Streets. It's a gentle, carnivalesque scene, sprinkled with lazing loungers and surrounded by fortune tellers, sketch artists and traveling performers. Overlooked by cathedrals, offices and shops plucked from a Paris-meets-the-Caribbean...