🏆 Things to Do · New Orleans, LA
Things to Do in New Orleans
43 real, currently-operating attractions — museums, live jazz, cemetery tours, and River Road plantation day trips.
🏆 French Quarter to River Road
✅ Verified Open
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🏠 Historic Homes & Landmarks
🐆 Family & Outdoor
🎷 Live Music & Jazz Clubs
🕊️ Cemetery Tours
🏟️ Landmarks & Experiences
🌿 Plantation Day Trips
🐊 Swamp Tours
New Orleans rewards slow travel as much as a checklist — the museums and historic homes cluster in and around the French Quarter, the live music scene is concentrated on Frenchmen Street and a handful of legendary standalone clubs, and some of the region’s best history is a short drive up the River Road at the old sugar and cotton plantations. We checked each listing directly against its own official site rather than a generic aggregator list.
8 Places
New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA)
The city’s oldest fine arts institution, set in City Park with the adjoining Besthoff Sculpture Garden.
Ogden Museum of Southern Art
The largest and most comprehensive museum collection of Southern art in the country.
The National WWII Museum
Congressionally designated official WWII museum of the United States, on a multi-building CBD campus.
Historic New Orleans Collection
Free history museum and research center devoted to New Orleans and Gulf South history, in the French Quarter.
Contemporary Arts Center
Multidisciplinary contemporary art museum and performance space in the Warehouse District.
New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum
Small French Quarter museum on the history and practice of New Orleans Voodoo.
Backstreet Cultural Museum
Treme museum preserving Mardi Gras Indian, Second Line, and jazz funeral traditions.
Louisiana Children’s Museum
Interactive children’s museum located inside City Park.
7 Places
Jackson Square
The historic heart of the French Quarter, a National Historic Landmark park facing St. Louis Cathedral.
St. Louis Cathedral
The oldest continuously active Catholic cathedral in the United States, anchoring Jackson Square.
Beauregard-Keyes House (BK Historic House and Gardens)
1826 National Historic Landmark residence in the French Quarter, now a museum and event space.
Check Beauregard-Keyes House (BK Historic House and Gardens) →
Old Absinthe House
1806 French Quarter landmark bar, birthplace of the Absinthe Frappé.
Degas House
The only surviving residence of Impressionist painter Edgar Degas, now a small museum.
Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses
Two of the French Quarter’s best-preserved 19th-century house museums, run by the same nonprofit.
New Orleans Pharmacy Museum
Museum in the former apothecary shop of the country’s first licensed pharmacist.
7 Places
Audubon Zoo
Uptown zoo along the Mississippi River, part of the Audubon Nature Institute.
Audubon Aquarium of the Americas
Riverfront aquarium with a Gulf of Mexico exhibit and rescued sea otters.
Audubon Insectarium
Insect-focused museum paired with the Aquarium on a combined ticket.
Mardi Gras World
Working float den where Mardi Gras parade floats are built, open for tours year-round.
French Market
Open-air market along the riverfront since 1791, with farmers, flea, and craft markets.
City Park
1,300-acre park with Storyland, Carousel Gardens, the Botanical Garden, and NOMA.
Longue Vue House and Gardens
1930s estate and formal gardens open for tours in the Garden District/Metairie area.
9 Places
Preservation Hall
The iconic French Quarter home of traditional New Orleans jazz since 1961.
House of Blues New Orleans
Large concert venue and restaurant near the French Quarter.
Tipitina’s
Legendary Uptown music venue and home of the Tipitina’s Foundation.
Maple Leaf Bar
One of the oldest continuously operating live music venues in the city, in Carrollton.
d.b.a.
Frenchmen Street club featuring local and regional acts nightly since 2000.
Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro
Frenchmen Street jazz club and restaurant with nightly sets.
Rock’n’Bowl
Only-in-New-Orleans combination of a live music club and a bowling alley on South Carrollton Avenue.
The Spotted Cat Music Club
The quintessential Frenchmen Street jazz club, open nightly.
Blue Nile
Two-story Frenchmen Street venue with rooftop access, booking funk, brass, and more.
2 Places
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1
New Orleans’ oldest surviving cemetery, established 1789; managed visitation via official guided tours only.
Save Our Cemeteries
Nonprofit cemetery-preservation department of the Preservation Resource Center, offering tours including Lafayette Cemetery No. 1.
3 Places
Caesars Superdome
Home of the New Orleans Saints and one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks.
Steamboat Natchez
The last authentic steamboat cruising the Mississippi River, with jazz dinner and daytime cruises.
Café du Monde
New Orleans institution since 1862, serving beignets and café au lait in the French Market.
5 Places
Oak Alley Plantation
Iconic antebellum estate famous for its quarter-mile canopy of live oaks, about an hour from New Orleans.
Laura Plantation
Restored Creole plantation telling the Duparc-Locoul family’s four-generation history.
Whitney Plantation
Plantation museum focused entirely on the history and lived experience of American slavery.
Houmas House
Grand plantation estate with 38 acres of gardens and multiple on-site restaurants, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
Destrehan Plantation
Louisiana’s oldest surviving plantation home, built in 1787, just 10 minutes from the airport.
2 Places
Cajun Encounters Swamp Tour
Guided swamp, city, ghost, and plantation tours departing from multiple New Orleans pickup points.
Honey Island Swamp Tours
Guided boat tours of the Honey Island Swamp, a day trip from New Orleans.
Planning Tips for This Area
- Book St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 in advance. Unguided visitation isn’t permitted — you’ll need to go with an official licensed tour.
- Frenchmen Street is the local alternative to Bourbon Street for live music. Several of the city’s best jazz clubs are clustered within a few blocks of each other there.
- Plantation day trips take a half to full day. Most sit 45-75 minutes from downtown New Orleans along River Road, so plan for a half-day tour or a full day if you want to combine two.
- Buy museum tickets online when you can. The National WWII Museum and Mardi Gras World both get busy, especially around major events and festivals.
Can I walk into St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 on my own?
No — managed visitation is required, and you’ll need to visit as part of an official guided tour rather than walking in independently.
Is Frenchmen Street better than Bourbon Street for live music?
Many locals and repeat visitors prefer it — Frenchmen Street has a denser cluster of dedicated jazz and music clubs with less of the party-crowd atmosphere of Bourbon Street.
How does NME choose which attractions to feature?
We verify each listing directly against its own official site and current operating status rather than relying on aggregator lists, and we exclude anything we can’t confirm. Read more on our methodology page.
Know a Spot We Missed?
If you know a great thing to do in New Orleans we’re missing, email us and we’ll take a look.
Heading to New Orleans?
See the full trip guide — where to stay and where to eat, organized the same way, by category.
