Will be in florida in August to see our daughter who is working over there for the summer then visiting some friends in atlanta,is new orleans worth a stop off for a couple of days.
Cheers dave.

Yes.

I said a hey, hey, hey yeah
I said a hey, hey, hey yeah

A come on everybody take a trip with me

Worth a couple of days and a night out. Tourists tend to gravitate to the French Quarter, which is where the classic images of New Orleans come from.

I went a few months after Katrina, so not sure what the rest of the place is like these days.

Make sure you plan for a good night out – after all “laissez les bons temps rouler” is the city’s slogan!

If you do go out on a night take advice on where is and where isn’t safe to go – just a few streets over from Bourbon Street can be very dangerous for tourists after dusk.

Do you like Blackpool?

Get outta here Jimmy Vaughan take it!

I was there for a week on a conference and to be quite honest was happy to be leaving.

Rubbish football team

I was there for a conference, was basically a warm Blackpool!

Taxi driver from the airport had a gun in his door pocket…

Was OK, and interesting to see the Mississippi behind the levee looking like it was higher than the city

Taxi driver from the airport had a gun in his door pocket…

An old boss said the only place in the Us he used to carry a gun when working was New Orleans. But I didn;t want to tell the OP that.

Just hit trip adviser – there are plenty of places in a small area worth looking at. I think we spent 2 days there, which was plenty. And time much better spent than Atlanta (yawn).

If you have a night out in New Orleans, don’t start the night by drinking Hurricane cocktails at Pat O’Briens, the night will end up being like your own personal version of The Hangover 😐

Thanks for the replies folks, sounds like any big city, take a bit of care and don’t stray to far.

No – it is worse than many big US cities (which are generally worse than European cities).

When I was travelling there, I was surprised to find out that places like Washington and NY were safer than places like Memphis (where the advice was to not leave the entrance of the train station after dark unless walking directly to a cab immediately outside).

And as for Chicago – apparently if you go to the theatre you get armed guards taking you from the car park to the entrance 😯

from a NOLA friend…

Cocktails:

Loa : CBD, off the lobby of the International House Hotel. Entirely lit by candlelight, very cool, inventive bartenders making new recipes based on old creole classics like the Sazarac.
http://ihhotel.com/bar.html

Cure: Uptown, inventive cocktail lounge small plates bar (near Tulane) :
http://curenola.com/

Cane & Table , French Quarter, cool new Rum and “proto Tiki” cocktails and tropical small plates from the owners of Cure.
http://www.caneandtablenola.com/

French 75: French Quarter. Classic Cocktail Bar at Arnaud’s
http://www.arnaudsrestaurant.com/french-75/

Sazerac : CBD, Classic beautifully renovated deco bar in The Roosevelt Hotel
http://therooseveltneworleans.com/dining/the-sazerac-bar.html

SoBou: French Quarter. Hip new Brennan’s restaurant heavy on the cocktails at the W Hotel:
http://www.sobounola.com

Bellocq: second cocktail lounge from the Cure crew at the Hotel Modern at Lee Circle.
http://www.thehotelmodern.com/bellocq

Top restaurants:

Restaurant August: CBD, Creole French with an emphasis on local ingredient from chef John Besh. Reservations.
http://www.restaurantaugust.com/restaurantandbar.html

Bayona: French Quarter, Susan Spicer’s classic in the French Quarter. Well crafted Creole cuisine with international touches. Reservations.
http://www.bayona.com/

Doris Metropolitan: French Quarter. Luxe steakhouse run by an Israeli duo. Reservations.
http://www.dorismetropolitan.com/

Commanders Palace : Consistently good Brennan’s restaurant in the Garden District. Reservations.
http://www.commanderspalace.com/

Galtoire’s : French Quarter. Old school. Classic Creole food. Reservations.
http://www.galatoires.com/home

Gautreau’s: Uptown/ Garden District. Another French/Creole classic brought into 21st Century by chef Sue Zemanick. Reservations.
http://www.gautreausrestaurant.com/index.php

Still great and near the quarter/downtown but a bit less formal and a touch less expensive:

Domenica : Rustic Italian Besh restaurant in Roosevelt Hotel. Great Pizzas and antipasti.
http://domenicarestaurant.com/

Herbsaint: Warehouse District, Modern French Creole fare in a cool room with big windows overlooking St. Charles in the warehouse district.
http://www.herbsaint.com/

Cochon : Ware House District, Earthy Cajun cooking from Herbsait’s Donald Link. Cool modern space in the warehouse district. They make their own sausages and pickles and mustards. Cochon Butcher around corner is one of the best sandwiches in the city.
http://www.cochonrestaurant.com/
http://www.cochonbutcher.com/

Emeril’s: Warehouse District, In spite of Emeril himself becoming overexposed a bit, his restaurants in NO still serve solid, Creol- inspired food:
http://www.emerils.com/restaurant/1/Emerils-New-Orleans/

Sylvain: French Quarter. Brasserie style local restaurant.
http://www.sylvainnola.com/

Root : warehouse district. Molecular gastrony type cuisine with New Orleans/ Soutern ingredients open late.
http://rootnola.com/

Peche : Warehouse district. New seafood restaurant from chef Donald Link of Herbsaint and Cochon.
http://www.pecherestaurant.com/

Neightborhood restaurants:

Upperline: Uptown, Classic Creole cooking in an old uptown house filled with paintings by local artists
http://upperline.com/

Patois: Uptown Audubon Park, A small bistro near Audubon Park, this old corner grocery serves French/Creole made from seasonal locall;y sourced ingredients
http://www.patoisnola.com/

Dick and Jenny’s: Uptown, An old house on Tchoupitoulas St by the levee. Similar food to Upperline but even more local vibe:
http://dickandjennys.com/

Lillette: uptown, Tall old corner grocery with tin ceilings on Magazine St. uptown. Brasserie style cooking with New orleans and Spanish touches.
http://www.liletterestaurant.com/

La Petitte Grocery: Uptown, Local Ingredients and techniques, French inspired menu, good French 75’s:
http://www.lapetitegrocery.com/

Maurepas Foods : Bywater. Local, seasonal (and very affordable) small plates and cocktails. New Orleans/southern food with international touches.
http://maurepasfoods.com/

Elizabeth’s : Bywater. A local favorite. Southern/ New Orleans cooking with great ingredients and some new twists.
http://www.elizabethsrestaurantnola.com/

Casual Po Boys etc:

Lola’s: Mid City, Tiny Spanish BYOB place on Esplanade near City Park. Great tapas, paellas and garlic soups.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/lolas-new-orleans

Domilise Po Boys : Uptown, Some of the best Po Boys in the city. Uptown near Audubon Park
http://www.yelp.com/biz/domilise-sandwich-shop-and-bar-new-orleans

Parasol’s : Uptown, neighborhood dive bar in the Irish Channel neighborhood. Great Roast Beef Po-Boys
http://www.parasols.com/

Mother’s: CBD, good roast beef po boys in the CBC. The debris sandwich is famous too (all the tender parts that fall of in the gravy)
http://mothersrestaurant.net

Acme Oyster House: French Quarter, Good oyster po boys and raw Oysters in the quarter.
http://www.acmeoyster.com/

Felix’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar : French Quarter Right across from acme, also reliable.
http://www.felixs.com/

Taqueria Corona: Uptown, El Salvadorian family making grilled taco fillings in fresh tortillas with pico de gallo. Cheap, delicious and quick lunch if you find yourself near Audobon park
http://www.taqueriacorona.com/

Killer Po Boys : French Quarter. Tiny place right off Bourbon on Conti in the back of the Erin Rose Bar. Cash only but delicious new takes on po-boys like a dark and stormy pork belly. Open late.
http://killerpoboys.blogspot.com/

Noodle & Pie: Uptown/Audubon. Made from scratch Ramen noodles, Korean and Japanese inspired snacks and homemade pies.
http://noodleandpie.com/

Jazz and Local Live music:

Anything in the Faubourg Marigny along Frenchman St where it meets Elysian fields is good including:

Snug Harbor: Faubourg Marigny district (jazzier/quieter than all the other clubs)
http://www.snugjazz.com/site/

d.b.a.: Faubourg Marigny district
http://www.dbaneworleans.com/

Blue Nile: Faubourg Marigny district
http://bluenilelive.com/

It’s a bit more dangerous than your average American city. We used to visit for NFL matches. Its been many years but we wanted to go into the city the Saturday night before and many cab drivers wouldn’t take us as it was the day of a match between two big black state colleges. We had no trouble but where the only white faces. The taxi that took us in was keen to show us the largest handgun I’d ever seen 😯

French Quarter is worth a visit for sure, the live music is excellent. We saw the Neville Brothers at a cool music venue called Tipitanyas (?) Van Halen came on a did a solo 🙂

New Orleans and the food especially is the inspriation for my forum name.

Had a few days there a couple of years back. Stayed in the Garden District & only really visited the French quarter but loved it & we both wish we’d stayed longer.

15pc brass bands busking, excellent funk, jazz & brass bands in various venues, cracking food, friendly people (didn’t experience any of the negativity mentioned above), interesting heritage & architecture and good times.

The whole place just felt relaxed, full of excellent live music & steeped in lazy exotic & musical heritage and can’t reccommend it enough (apart from the sazerac (French 75) which is rough up)

Spent a week there for a conference many, many years ago.

Still not entirely sure my liver has properly recovered. Got in a horrific mess the night before the long haul home when it seemed like a good idea to engage in some competitive drinking in Pat O’Briens 😯

I was lucky enough to be staying in the posh hotel on Bourbon Street, but getting up and out in the mornings was always a challenge. Scorching heat, dripping wet humidity and an overwhelming stench of beer/piss/puke hits you when you step outside of the hotel front door!

The Old Absinthe House is pretty cool, not that you can get Absinthe there anymore – probably a good thing!

Having said that, a very interesting place and quite some sites to see on Bourbon Street in the evenings. The WWII museum is very good.

It’s only 10th in the murder capitals of the USA list out this week. I work in Detroit a lot and one of my colleague said – Detroit was “only” 7th since so many bodies go in the river and are never found (yes Americans can do sarcasm nicely). New Orleans is like most US cities. Just take note of our surroundings and don’t make a target of yourself with things like expensive electricals.

between two big black state colleges.

What?????

EDIT: In yesterday’s post I said Chicago needed armed guards of an evening. I meant Detroit.

@pigface I forget which two Louisana colleges it was but they have almost exclusively black students, they played at the Superdome on Saturday prior the the NFL game on the Sunday.

OP you have to seek out some good Jambalaya