New Orleans

Cabildo

Colonial city hall, now a museum; Louisiana Purchase agreements transferring the city from France to the USA were signed here.

Tue-Sun 9AM-4PM (last ticket sales 3:30pm) · $10 adults, $8 students/seniors/military, free for children 6 and under

Audubon Insectarium

An attraction opened in 2008 in the historic old Custom House Building on Canal Street. As it's in a Federal building, you'll pass through a metal detector.

Tue-Sun 10AM - 430PM · Wheelchair accessible

Presbytere

Colonial church offices, now another museum, including exhibits on New Orleans Mardi Gras and the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

Tue-Sun 9AM-4PM · $7 adults, $6 students/seniors/military, free for children 6 and under

Antoine's

Antoine's lays claim to being the oldest same family owned restaurant in the country. Opening in 1840, this French Creole restaurant is where Oysters Rockefeller was invented in the 1890s -- and the only restaurant where the original authentic Oysters Rockefeller can be eaten, as the recipe is a closely guarded secret. Your waiter is your guide here; treat them well and ask their recommendations. Before dining, ask your server for a tour of the historic restaurant. There are more than 15 dining rooms, all of which reek of tradition and are steeped in history. Make sure to take a peek down the vast and cavernous wine cellar, which can take the breath away from a true wine lover. Antoine's has opened a beautiful new bar. Step off of St. Louis and step into history.

Mon-Sat 11:30AM-2PM and 5:30-9PM, Sun 11AM-2PM

1850 House

The Louisiana State Museum's 1850 House is an antebellum row house furnished to represent life in mid-nineteenth-century New Orleans. It is located at 523 St. Ann Street on Jackson Square in the French Quarter.

Tue-Sun 10AM-4:30PM · $3 adults, $2 students/seniors/military, free for children 12 and under · Limited wheelchair access

Audubon Aquarium of the Americas

A fine aquarium at the foot of Canal Street. Take advantage of the combination ticket, which enables access to the Aquarium, the adjoining Entergy IMAX Theatre, and the Audubon Zoo which is uptown (shuttle provided).

Wheelchair accessible

Backstreet Cultural Museum

Costumes of "Mardi Gras Indians" and other artifacts of Tremé culture. An easy walk a block and a half from the French Quarter; well worth the $8 admission fee not only for the displays but also for fascinating narration about local culture by the neighborhood curators.

Tue-Sat 10AM-4PM · Standard $20; Locals, Seniors & Veterans $15; Children 12 & Under $10

Pharmacy Museum

See and learn about medical practices of the mid 19th century. Calling ahead to verify hours is recommended. Reservations required for guided tours.

Guided Tours: Thu-Sat 10:00am - 11:00am. Self-Guided Tours: Tue & Wed 10:00am - 4:00pm; Thu-Sat 11:00am - 4:00pm · Guided Tours: Adult $15, Senior/Student/Military $10; Self-Guided: Adults $10, Senior/Student/Military $7. Children 6 and under: Free

Willie Mae's

The sign above the front door says "Willie Mae's Restaurant", but everyone calls it "Willie Mae's Scotch House" — no, not Scotch food; the name is from when the place started out as a bar generations ago, specializing in a drink made with milk and scotch. No booze served now; just a limited delicious menu of soul food, including fried chicken and smothered pork chops with sides such as red beans, butter beans, or french fries. They are so well loved that chefs and food fans from near and far chipped in to help them rebuild and reopen after this family-owned restaurant flooded in the Katrina disaster of 2005. Lunch M-Sa, no reservations, cash only. Drive or take a cab to and from here.

Mon-Sat 11AM-3PM · $12-25 · Takeaway

Louisiana Children's Museum

Indoor and outdoor exhibits of fun and education for children

We-Sa 09:30-16:30; Su 11:30-16:30; Mo-Tu closed

Hermann-Grima House

1830s mansion.

Mon-Tue Thu-Fri 10AM-2PM, Sat noon-3PM · $10 adults, $8 students/seniors/children 8-18/AAA members, free for children under 8. Joint admission with the Gallier House $18 adults, $15 students/seniors/children 8-18/AAA members

Vaughan's Lounge

Bywater's most famous music venue. Thursday nights when righteous-trumpter/bandleader Kermit Ruffins is in town, he and his BBQ swingers play here; Thursday with Kermit as Vaughan's is a New Orleans favorite. 8:30 PM they say; don't expect shows to start at their clock time in New Orleans, but now that Kermit is a family man, things here tend to start a bit more punctually than they did years ago. Expect crowds and good times. Boiled crawfish or shrimp every Friday. Free Food during Saints games. Following glowing attention in David Simon's series Treme, this place has indeed been discovered by the tourists, but the locals and old-timers don't really care and still show up each Thursdays for some dancing and general fun. Thursdays see free steaming pots of red beans and rice all night long.

noon-close daily

Central Grocery

Old Italian-American grocery sandwich shop, famous for their enormous muffuletta sandwiches originated by this family in 1910. One is enough to feed four hungry people! Order 1/2 to start for 2 people!

Tue-Sat 9AM-5PM

Musee Conti Wax Museum

Experience more than 300 years of history, legend and scandal with the 154 life-size figures displayed in historically accurate settings.

Mon Fri-Sat 10AM-4PM · $7 adults, $6.25 seniors, $6 children

Carousel Gardens Amusement Park

located in New Orleans

Lil Dizzy's

Another Creole soul food restaurant in the neighborhood (surprise surprise!), run by members of the Baquet family, locally famous for great chefs and jazz musicians for generations. Since Dooky Chase and Willie Mae's are closed for breakfast, this is undisputedly the best place to go.

Tue-Fri 11AM–3PM · Limited wheelchair access

Audubon Zoo

Very good zoo, see the rare white alligators, at the upper end of Magazine Street. Riverboats connect the Zoo to the Central Business District; also accessible from the St. Charles Streetcar via a shuttle bus that runs back and forth from the main entrance to Audubon Park on St. Charles to the Zoo.

Mon-Fri 10AM-5PM, Sat Sun 10AM-6PM

Old U.S. Mint

Coins haven't been minted in New Orleans for decades, so the building is now a museum, with the minting process downstairs and the world's top exhibit on New Orleans jazz upstairs.

Tue-Sun 10AM-4:30PM · $6 adults, $5 students/seniors/military, free for children 12 and under

Aquarium of the Americas

The only aquarium in New Orleans. In the French Quarter. Features an IMAX theatre. 10AM-5PM daily.

City Park

The large park has winding lanes through old trees for walking or driving through, and includes such attractions as an outdoor sculpture garden, a botanical garden. As of 2022, renovations and improvements since Katrina have City Park looking more beautiful than ever. "Storyland", a children's playground based around fairy tale characters, has been a favorite of local children for generations. The Carousel Gardens Amusement Park has a beautiful merry-go-round (known to local old timers as "the flying horses" dating back to 1906, as well as an assortment of other amusement park rides including a miniature railway to ride around part of the park. During nights of the Christmas season there is an elaborate celebration with lights, additional rides, and music in the park called "Celebration in the Oaks". In 2020, the Louisiana Children's Museum moved to new larger quarters in City Park.

Saint Augustine Church

This famous church founded at the start of the nineteenth century by "free people of color" is famous in local African-American history. Shortly after it opened in 1842, the church quickly became the most integrated church in the country, and for an odd reason. Free blacks were buying pews to reserve for their families. White families, upon hearing of this, did not want to be outdone, and began buying up their own pews. In this racial race, the black congregants won decisively, outpurchasing white families by a three to one ratio, and gave away the extra pews to slaves—but once all the families had plunked down the money, they were certainly going to stay in the now integrated church! For a more in-depth visit, you can call ahead to request a tour.

Old Ursuline Convent

Completed in 1752, open for tours.

Mon-Sat 10AM-4PM · $5 adults, $4 seniors, $3 students, free for children under 6

Beauregard-Keyes House

1113 Chartres St

Mon-Sat 10AM-3PM · $10 adults, $9 students/seniors, $4 children 6-12, free for children under 6

Gallier House

Home of famous local 19th-century architect.

Mon Fri 10AM-2PM, Sat noon-3PM · $10 adults, $8 students/seniors/children 8-18/AAA members, free for children under 8. Joint admission with the Hermann-Grima House $18 adults, $15 students/seniors/children 8-18/AAA members

Audubon Insectarium

In the historic Old Customs House Building. The Audubon Institute, which also runs the nearby Aquarium and the Zoo up in the Audubon District, opened the Insectarium in 2008. 10a-5p daily.

Hotel Hope

This homeless shelter for women and children used to be the Crescent Palms Motel, which originally opened as Mason's Hotel, a black-owned hotel where black guests would be welcomed. As such, it attracted and hosted not a few African American celebrities, like Mary Wells, The Drifters, the Marvelettes and Martha and the Vandellas. You can appreciate it from the outside even though the neighborhood is a bit rough, or maybe drop in and make a donation.

William Frantz Elementary School Building

One of the iconic images of the American Civil Rights Movement era is of the brave little Black girl Ruby Bridges walking into school while crowds of furious White segregationists yelled bile, some of them prevented from physically grabbing her only by the presence of Federal marshals. This is where it happened. Part of the less well-known back story is that at the same time, many New Orleans Church schools and progressive private schools were already integrating quietly and with little fuss. The Public School Board, however, was controlled by segregationists. When pushed to integrate by the Federal government, they did all they could to make integration a failure. The School Board mandated that the first "experiments" with desegregation would be in the neighborhoods with the most opposition to it. Thus the then White working class Upper 9th Ward neighborhood around this elementary school building was selected. Ruby Bridges and her family, however, dealt with the situation with fortitude and quiet dignity. She didn't miss a single day of school that year. She recalled it took about a year for things to calm down. As of 2011, the 3-story Art Deco school building is vacant and surrounded by a chain link fence. By the way, this little square of New Orleans also has another quite different link to history -- right across Alvar Street from the school was the childhood home of Lee Harvey Oswald; it was demolished after being totaled in the Katrina flood.

Entergy IMAX Theatre

Part of the Audubon Aquarium.

Storyland

99 Victory Ave

City Putt Miniature Golf Course

33 Dreyfous Dr