Stay in the garden district. Try to stay right on the streetcar line.
Commanders palace is a hot ticket right now for brunch or dinner. There is a dress code.
Go to the French Market, Audubon park, get hurricanes at Fran obriens, then see the show at preservation hall (next door).
Try a bayou swamp tour--highly recommend this.

What’s your budget

How long will you be there

What time of year are you going

Kids or adults only

These are like the minimum details people need to know to offer suggestions

I second a visit to Audubon Park and also City Park. Both great.

OP, you need to give us more information. The best neighborhood is the Garden District, unless you're young 20s and looking for fun.

I used to live there, but it was a while ago so I'm out of date. But my fave restaurant remains: Jaques Imo's in uptown (try the alligator cheesecake app). Favorite bar: The Columns. I'd stay there too, if possible. But YMMV on that as it is Uptown, not in the Quarter. Pat Obrien's is horribly touristy but wonderful anyway -- I like the dueling piano bar there. Don't miss Cafe du Monde for iced coffee and beignets, I used to go every Sunday morning that I could even though I lived in Carollton. If I were going, I would have dinner at Commander's Palace as well, and I always get the turtle soup. A turnabout Audubon Park is great, especially at dusk as all the birds go to bed; you can pair it with the zoo which is right across Magazine St. I loved the touristy stuff when I lived there, even though I wasn't a tourist.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Of course I’m doing my own research, and as PP said, this is part of it. I want to know what advice YOU all have, it just TripAdvisor or Fodor’s or something. Imagine it like a conversation with a friend. They say they’re going to New Orleans. You get excited and start telling them what you loved on your last trip there.

Imagine you mentioned this to someone you know without realizing that they are intolerant, impatient, snarky, cynical, and bored to tears and looking for an opportunity to knock someone down a peg. That's who you just asked on DCUM. Not everyone obviously, but you get the idea. It comes with the territory.

OP here. Of course I’m doing my own research, and as PP said, this is part of it. I want to know what advice YOU all have, it just TripAdvisor or Fodor’s or something. Imagine it like a conversation with a friend. They say they’re going to New Orleans. You get excited and start telling them what you loved on your last trip there.

Not sure why everyone is flipped out about this. Isn’t asking here “doing research?”

The safest hotel I know of in NOLA is The Windsor Court — they have a nice gated Courtyard where you drive up and enter the hotel. If you want to be close to the French Quarter, the Meridian is nice because it’s on the edge of the Quarter near Canal and the lobby is on an upper floor, so it’s not as noisy as many of the French Quarter hotels. Any of the nicer hotels on Canal or near Poydras in the Central Business District are fine. I love the Maison de La Luz, but there are other larger chain hotel like Hyatt on Poydras. The are some small nice hotels in the Garden District.

New Orleans crime did get out of control over the past few years, but the crime was down at the end of last year, but it remains to be seen if it was just a temporary lull. The Governor is talking about stationing state troopers in the city on a permanent basis. I’m not trying to be alarmist here; I go to New Orleans often. Just saying you need to be aware of what’s going on around you there.

Do a search on this forum — there are several threads about restaurants and activities.

It's been about 5 years since I was there, so things may have changed. We rented a condo in the central business district, relatively central but quiet. Walked to the Garden District and French Quarter. Took a cab to Marigny and Bywater.

I stayed in french quarter, about 15min walk from Marigny. Dining wise, You can't go wrong with any iconic restaurants there, especially if you like cajun food. The gumbo shop, cafe du monde, cafe beignet, and ruby slippers are some of the best known ones.

It's nice to go kayaking in the bayou when it's not too hot. It can be very soothing. New Orleans isn't really close to the beach so your best bet is Mississippi, about 2hr drive. Like other southern cities, ghost tour is also very popular.

Asking around could be the most efficient way of gathering useful information, there's nothing wrong with that. It's amusing to see these menopausal ladies so flipped out. ugh. May people give them a fxxx in real life so they can stop spitting vitriol over trifles like this

OP, if you search this forum for New Orleans, you will find a lot of decent advice. I like staying in the Quarter or the Marigny but there are options uptown too.

Yeah, DCUM. Let’s teach people like OP a lesson, that they at least need to come to the table with something, and we can help them narrow it down.

New Orleans is the easiest place to do a google search for the answers to all of your questions.

Tell us you’ve done zero research, without saying you’ve done no research.

What are the safest neighborhoods to stay in?

What are the best foods/restaurants?

Best things to do/places to visit? Willing to take day trips.