3 days in New Orleans with elementary school kids

[Anonymous]

Any recommendations on a great family friendly hotel and a great, lesser known activity are appreciated.

[Anonymous]

If they are little kids why does it matter if the activity is lesser known?

We liked the hop on hop off bus and the Mardi Gras float company warehouse.

You can skip beignets at Cafe Du Monde if you don't want to be too touristy. It was so crowded there that someone bumped our table and sloshed my chicory coffee all over the tabletop and we had to sacrifice all our napkins just to avoid getting coffee stains on our clothes.

[Anonymous]

Your kids might enjoy a swamp boat tour. They'll pick you up from various locations in the city.

[Anonymous]

Take the St. Charles Ave street car. My kids don’t take public transport often and I know they’d enjoy that as much as an actual attraction! I’d get off in Audobon Park to explore. It’s a decent walk to the Audobon Zoo from the street car stop, but totally doable (maybe a mile?).

[Anonymous]

There's a nice aquarium.

[Anonymous]

Dh and I were there recently sans kids, but we took the cable car to the New Orleans Museum of Art, and we were thinking that would be a great activity with the kids. We are not big art museum people, but in 1-1.5 hours you can get a taste of the European/American masters, plus art and artifacts from other cultures and time periods. A lot more accessible than the Met, for example, unless your kids are really into art. Even better, outside there is a wonderful and world class sculpture garden to explore and play in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they are little kids why does it matter if the activity is lesser known?

We liked the hop on hop off bus and the Mardi Gras float company warehouse.

You can skip beignets at Cafe Du Monde if you don't want to be too touristy. It was so crowded there that someone bumped our table and sloshed my chicory coffee all over the tabletop and we had to sacrifice all our napkins just to avoid getting coffee stains on our clothes.

Why would you EVER skip beignets? What terrible advice.

[Anonymous]

Spend one day taking the St. Charles street car to the zoo.

Spend another day taking a riverboat cruise and visiting the aquarium.

Third day, do a swamp boat tour and go to the city park for the rides and the Storyland playground.

Sprinkle in some beignet tasting and watching street performers in Jackson Square. Daytime New Orleans is relatively sedate.

[Anonymous]

Swamp boat tours are fantastic for kids this age. Also consider the World War 2 museum. If they are even a little bit into history, it is an amazing museum.

Of course you do beignets at Cafe du Monde. Cannot believe anyone would ever suggest skipping that!

I would also keep kids this age away from Bourbon Street after about 6:00 pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they are little kids why does it matter if the activity is lesser known?

We liked the hop on hop off bus and the Mardi Gras float company warehouse.

You can skip beignets at Cafe Du Monde if you don't want to be too touristy. It was so crowded there that someone bumped our table and sloshed my chicory coffee all over the tabletop and we had to sacrifice all our napkins just to avoid getting coffee stains on our clothes.

Oh no!!!!!!

Did this ruin the entire trip?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they are little kids why does it matter if the activity is lesser known?

We liked the hop on hop off bus and the Mardi Gras float company warehouse.

You can skip beignets at Cafe Du Monde if you don't want to be too touristy. It was so crowded there that someone bumped our table and sloshed my chicory coffee all over the tabletop and we had to sacrifice all our napkins just to avoid getting coffee stains on our clothes.

Hard disagree.

Don't skip Café Du Monde, OP. Get the beignets. I lived in NOLA for years and went down there for an iced café au lait and beignets several times per month. Pretty sure wasn't being "too touristy" given that I lived there, lol.

[Anonymous]

We spent hours in City Park. Kids loved the playground, climbing the trees, walking around, visiting the sculpture garden, etc. We were able to get Cafe Du Monde beignets there with a fraction of the wait time.

[Anonymous]

OP here - Thanks! This is helpful. Any hotel recommendations or recommendations on which part of the city we should be looking at? We will have a car.

[Anonymous]

Don’t miss the children’s museum. It’s fantastic. It’s also in city park. My husband is born and raised in New Orleans and we always go to cafe du Monde. My favorite place, especially in the summer is Hansen’s sno bliz.

Please enjoy New Orleans for me.

[Anonymous]

I just got back from a 3 day/2night trip with my 10 year old son. We stayed at Hotel Monteleone and enjoyed being within walking distance to so much. We did an air boat/bayou tour that took up a significant part of a day. Also spent a morning at the WW2 museum; this was fantastic and we easily could have spent a few more hours there (my son is curious about history, but definitely not some guru). Highly recommend sitting and enjoying beignets at Cafe Du Monde, chances are you’ll hear some great music or at least enjoy people watching while devouring those heavenly pillows.