My 9 Top Things to Do in New Orleans on a Budget

Since my Dad grew up in New Orleans, we traveled to New Orleans regularly throughout my childhood and adulthood for family reunions. In this post, I’ll share with you my favorite, highly recommended things to do in New Orleans on a budget.

My New Orleans Must Do’s

Full disclosure: this is going to be a very subjective list. Rather than share a huge list of all the best things to do in New Orleans, I’m going to highlight the New Orleans essential experiences that stand out to me personally, after years of visiting and getting advice from locals.

My Curated New Orleans Map and Trip Checklist

If the suggestions below are helpful to you, you’ll love having our personalized New Orleans recommendations in a handy, interactive online map. In addition to over 30 points of interest, it also includes three suggested self-guided walking routes.

I’m also throwing in a handy checklist to help you narrow down what to put in your itinerary and how to prepare for the trip.

** Get our New Orleans Map + Trip Checklist Pack **

1. Look at those houses!

I could wander the streets of New Orleans all day every day just looking at the houses. My favorite area to explore is around St. Charles Avenue near Audubon Park and Tulane University. 

Apart from the impressive mansions along St. Charles, you’ll also notice a lot of long, narrow homes throughout New Orleans neighborhoods. These are called “shotgun” houses, which were commonly built in the late 1800’s. Whereas in the French Quarter, the architecture is different – a mix of colonial French, Spanish, and Caribbean styles.

Just watch your step as you walk! New Orleans roads and sidewalks are another thing that always stands out each time we visit. They’re notoriously out of shape.

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You can take the St. Charles line from the French Quarter to Audubon Park (and beyond), which I recommend doing.

Pro Tips: Street cars are part of the New Orleans public transit system, NORTA, and the fare is $1.25. You can pay in exact change on the car. Or what we found easier was pre-paying online via the LePass app., activating the ticket immediately before boarding, and showing the app to the driver.

The app will show a countdown timer for the validity of your ticket, so you can ride one way, then reverse course as long as it’s within the allotted time.

Be a responsible tourist on the street car and be prepared with your fare when you get on. Also, don’t stick hands or other body parts out the windows.

3. Visit Audubon Zoo and Park

I loved the zoo when I was little and still enjoy it now. It’s the first place I wanted to go when my nieces and nephews finally got to visit New Orleans with us post-pandemic.

The zoo is not the cheapest activity but it’s one of the few things I splurge on in New Orleans.

Audubon Zoo is great for kids and adult visitors alike. The Louisiana Swamp section is always a highlight, with its large alligator area. They even have albino alligators.

Tip: When we visited with six kids under the age of 7 on a warm October day, several of the little kids got very and tired and sweaty by mid-day. New Orleans heat and humidity would make visiting in summer pretty uncomfortable.

The zoo is located within Audubon Park, which also has nice walking paths, golf course, stables, playground, and more within its 350 acres of grounds.

I love spending time in Audubon Park, whether to exercise, have a picnic, or visit the playground with kids. 

4. Eat Beignets

Beignets are a French donut made from rectangular, fried dough topped with powdered sugar. They are an icon of New Orleans and always a big part of our family visits. 

Our family always went to Cafe du Monde, the most classic and famous New Orleans beignet joint with several locations around town. They crank out traditional beignets, which you can pair with cafe au lait or hot chocolate.

Pile on the powdered sugar, take a breath in and bite so you don’t blow a cloud of sugar everywhere. Avoid wearing black and be prepared to make a mess – it’s impossible not to.

Recently we explored some other beignet cafes in the Garden District and found that our favorite is actually from PJ’s Coffee.

PJ’s is a local chain, and most locals don’t think to go there for beignets. Nevertheless, several of the franchise locations serve classic beignets made from what’s essentially a French fry machine, rather than a big deep fryer.

The dough is super tasty and even more soft, pillowy, and flaky – almost like a croissant. PJ’s is definitely our favorite beignet flavor and texture, though it doesn’t have the atmosphere of Cafe du Monde.

5. Eat New Orleans Food

Depending on your taste preferences, there are so many specialties unique to New Orleans that you can try. 

In addition to beignets, which is truly a must try in New Orleans, we also recommend seeking out a New Orleans King Cake. My Aunt ships us one in the mail every year.

A King Cake is a cross between a cinnamon roll and a coffee cake, shaped in a circle and topped with Mardi Gras colored icing. There’s also a small plastic baby toy inside and tradition is: whoever finds the Baby Jesus in their piece of cake will throw the next party or bring the next cake.

Other classic New Orleans food that we grew up with includes:

• Red beans and rice – a classic Louisiana Creole dish with spices and smoked ham or sausage
• Jambalaya – a savory, spiced stew with rice, meat, and seafood
• Crawfish étouffé – a rich, gravy-like stew with crawfish, served over rice
• Po’ Boy sandwich – a New Orleans sandwich on long French bread, can include roast beef, fried shrimp, oysters, or other fillings
• Hubig’s New Orleans style hand pies – packaged hand pies from a family bakery with a long local history

My family’s recommended restaurants include:

• Mr. Ed’s Oyster Bar and Fish House for New Orleans seafood in a casual atmosphere
• Camellia Grill for old school diner breakfasts and sandwiches in a retro atmosphere

6. Check out a cemetery

Seriously, there are few places with graveyards quite like New Orleans. For one, they’re above ground because the swampy land is not conducive to underground burials.

Many grave sites are super elaborate, marble monuments honoring the dead in a wide variety of styles.

Tip: You’ll find several cemeteries throughout the city, but I think the most impressive is the Metairie Cemetery.

It happens to be where my grandparents and great grandparents are buried. They have a simple plot relative to the veritable mansion-graves. You could walk around for hours, and there’s a big loop that used to be a horse race track, which has some of the most impressive monuments.

With a strong culture of mourning and burial, jazz funerals, Day of the Dead celebrations, and even Voodoo, it’s no surprise there are many tours that highlight ghost stories, cemeteries, and traditions around death in New Orleans.

Try a local guided tour to learn more about this side of New Orleans:

7. Wander the French Quarter

Many people will put the French Quarter first on their sightseeing tour. While my own Creole family history has roots in the French Quarter, it’s never the first place we go during our trips. But it’s certainly an important part of the city.

As the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans, founded by the French in the early 1700s, the French Quarter is an interesting place for history.

Jackson Square and the front of St. Louis Cathedral, pictured above, is now a hub for street performers and artists. It reminds me a bit of Montmartre in Paris.

Today the French Quarter is also the place for parties, live music, and loud bars. Bourbon Street is known for its jazz clubs. There are definitely some gritty, keep-Portland-weird vibes. Even in the morning, we smelled whiffs of marijuana and pee throughout the quarter.

You can follow Canal Street, where several street car lines cross paths, down to the Mississippi River to find the Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium next to the ferry terminal. Our little cousins really enjoyed the Aquarium – it’s been ages since I visited myself.

My aunt highly recommends visiting M.S. Rau, an impressive antique shop on Royal Street, which you can peruse like a museum even if you’re not buying anything. At the Sazerac House on Canal Street, you can learn about the history and production of local cocktails. She also recommends the Irish Cultural Museum.

Check out more New Orleans French Quarter guided experiences and activities here:

8. Explore the Garden District and Magazine Street

Rather than spend a lot of time in the French Quarter, I prefer the Uptown neighborhoods of New Orleans.

The Garden District, bordered by 1st and Magazine Streets, has a long history and many interesting shops to explore. “Magazine” comes from the word for “store” in French, and the street is full of restaurants, cafes, and boutiques.

We enjoyed a Donut & Beignet Tour in the Garden District.

9. New Orleans City Park and Lake Pontchartrain 

If you have extra time and a car to explore a bit further afield, we often find ourselves taking outings to the area North of downtown New Orleans.

At City Park you can wander the free sculpture garden, rent quad bikes for a family ride, or paddle in swan boats on the lake.

I have fond memories of driving through the park at night after Thanksgiving to see their impressive Christmas lights display, a fundraiser called Celebration in the Oaks.

The Children’s Museum and Museum of Art are in City Park, as well as several golf courses.

Nearby on the lake, you can see levies and canals that had such a crucial role in Hurricane Katrina. We like walking the newly updated Bucktown Boardwalk area near my Uncle’s place.

View the Pontchartrain Causeway over the lake – possibly the world’s longest continuous bridge at 24 miles long. If you drive across, note that there is a toll to pay on the way back to New Orleans.

If you’re into vintage aviation stuff, stop by the old New Orleans Lakefront Airport which has a cafe, some memorabilia of the early days in air travel, retro decor, and still runs private flights.

New Orleans Travel Tips

Best time to visit New Orleans – Many people like to visit New Orleans for Mardi Gras. I’ve actually never been for the parades but I also don’t like big crowds and loud noises. The humidity in summer is brutal and early Fall is hurricane season, so I generally recommend visiting in the Spring or late Fall. 

Best places to stay – I highly recommend staying Uptown, between the Garden District and Audubon Park if possible. We found vacation rentals on Napoleon Avenue near the street car for our family gatherings.

The Pontchartrain Hotel is highly rated and has a prime location on the St. Charles street car line.

Check availability and rates for the Pontchartrain Hotel on St. Charles Avenue >

Pack for the Climate – Much of the year New Orleans is hot and humid. Pack lightweight, quick-dry clothing but don’t forget an outer layer for the inevitable frigid Air Conditioning. 

Watch the roads and sidewalks – Many parts of New Orleans have unusually bad roads and potholes, while tree roots are notorious for upending sidewalks. Drive carefully and watch your step, as uneven ground is everywhere.

Pronouncing “New Orleans” – N’awlins is often mispronounced. My family, who grew up there, say “New OR-lee-ins” with emphasis on the OR and turning the ending into two syllables. Admittedly, I do not say it that way, I say “New OR-lins”.

I hope this list of my favorite things to do in New Orleans is helpful in planning your trip. Please share your questions and suggestions in the comments, and check back as I will keep updating this post with new recommendations on future visits.

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