Our Favorite Places
What makes New Orleans special? The list is endless: streetcars, oak-lined streets, beignets, Creole cooking, the lazy Mississippi River alongside Audubon Park. We could go on forever. But here are a few of our favorites.
Magazine Street
Beginning at the edge of the French Quarter and ending Uptown near Audubon Zoo, Magazine Street is six miles of shopping fun. Locals know Magazine Street is the place to go for hip clothing and shoes, antiques and used furniture, unique gifts, beautiful papers and linens, original jewelry, chocolates, toys and much more. It's the perfect place to buy “retro” clothes for Mardi Gras costumes or to find New Orleans-themed gifts and souvenirs for friends and family.
Magazine Street is a great place to relax at a restaurant or café. Salons, spas and coffee shops also dot the street, intermingled with Victorian shotguns and Greek Revival mansions. The best way to experience Magazine Street is to pick a stretch and walk it; there's something different behind each door.
Café du Monde
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, tourists and locals alike head to Café du Monde on Decatur Street in the French Quarter for café au lait and beignets. Café au lait is a steaming cup of dark roasted chicory-flavored coffee and hot milk. Beignets, served three to an order, are squares of fried dough topped with powdered sugar. While you sip your coffee and eat your beignets, you can watch the fascinating parade of people through the French Quarter the way Café du Monde visitors have since 1862.
New Orleans Museum of Art and Sculpture Garden
The New Orleans Museum of Art, the city's oldest fine arts institution, has a magnificent permanent collection of more than 40,000 objects, valued in excess of $200 million. The collection, noted for its extraordinary strengths in French and American art, photography, glass, African and Japanese works, continues to grow.
NOMA's beautiful sculpture garden features fifty-three works by artists from around the globe, set among oaks and meandering paths. The sculpture garden is free and open to the public.
Angelo Brocato's Original Italian Ice Cream Parlor
It's going to take more than a hurricane to keep Angelo Brocato's Original Italian Ice Cream Parlor closed. Brocato's, legendary in New Orleans for Italian ice cream and desserts since 1905, is back in business after taking on five feet of floodwater following Katrina.
Located at 214 N. Carrollton Avenue, the Canal Streetcar line passes right in front. The business is now run by a third generation of the Brocato family who prepare ice cream and delicacies right on the premises. For outstanding spumoni, cassata, cannoli and more, Brocato's is at the top of the list.
The Louisiana Superdome
10 million Americans watched as New Orleans reopened the Louisiana Superdome for the Saint's first home game against the Atlanta Falcons. It was the second largest cable audience ever.
Less than a week later, the Tulane Green Wave made its own triumphant return to the Superdome as it played its first home game in over a year against the SMU Mustangs. It was a day of tailgating, music and lots of fun.
Commander's Palace
Commander's Palace is again serving up New Orleans classics in the Garden District. Housed in a stately Victorian mansion, patrons enjoy legendary dishes such as turtle soup and bread pudding soufflé with whiskey sauce.
Food icons Ella, Dottie, Dick and John Brennan personally supervise operations of the restaurant For a truly unique experience, book a table inside the chef's kitchen for an up close view of how some of the greatest food in New Orleans is prepared.
National WWII Museum
Dedicated in 2000 as The National D-Day Museum and now designated by Congress as the country's official World War II Museum, this remarkable attraction illuminates the American experience during the WWII era with moving personal stories, historic artifacts and powerful interactive displays. From the Normandy invasion to the sands of Pacific Islands and the Home Front, the Museum brings to life the teamwork, optimism, courage and sacrifice of the men and women who won the war and changed the world.
