Why Honeymoon in New Orleans
It is a city that celebrates for a living. Locals have a ritual for almost everything. Newlyweds fit right in; it is common to see a wedding second line, a couple led through the streets by a brass band with guests waving handkerchiefs. If you married recently, some hotels can arrange one.
The city is also compact and walkable. The French Quarter, Marigny and Bywater sit side by side along the river. The streetcar takes you up to the Garden District in about half an hour. You can spend days without a car.
Then there is the music, which is everywhere and often free. You can hear world-class players in tiny clubs for the price of a drink. For couples who like culture with their romance, this is one of the richest places in the country to spend a week.
When to Go
February through May is prime time. Temperatures are mild, crawfish season is underway and the festival calendar is packed. Mardi Gras falls in February or early March depending on the year; it is thrilling but crowded, loud and expensive, so go only if that is the point. The French Quarter Festival in April and Jazz Fest across two weekends in late April and early May are huge draws for music lovers.
October and November are lovely, with cooler evenings and a lighter festival schedule.
June through September is hot and very humid, with afternoon storms. Hotel rates fall sharply and restaurants run summer deals, but walking around at midday is tough. Hurricane season peaks from August to October. December is quieter, with holiday lights, bonfires on the levee on Christmas Eve upriver and special Réveillon dinner menus.
Where to Stay
The French Quarter puts you closest to everything, but avoid rooms facing Bourbon Street unless you enjoy noise until 4 a.m. Soniat House, a set of 1800s Creole townhouses with private courtyards on the quieter lower end of the Quarter, is a long-standing couples favorite with antique-filled rooms.
In the Faubourg Marigny, just downriver, Hotel Peter and Paul occupies a former church, rectory, convent and schoolhouse. It is moody and beautifully designed. It is a short walk to the music clubs on Frenchmen Street.
For big-hotel polish, Windsor Court in the Central Business District has large suites, afternoon tea and a calm atmosphere a few blocks from the Quarter. Couples who want leafy calm can look at bed and breakfasts in the Garden District, where mansions line oak-shaded streets and the St. Charles streetcar rattles past. Outside festival dates, good courtyard hotels often run roughly $250 to $600 a night (approximate).
Romantic Things to Do
Spend an evening on Frenchmen Street, hopping between small clubs with live bands. Preservation Hall in the Quarter offers short, intimate traditional jazz sets in a worn room with no bar; buy tickets ahead.
Ride the St. Charles streetcar to the Garden District and walk the oak-lined streets past antebellum mansions. Stop for a long jazz brunch.
Book a swamp tour or a guided kayak paddle through cypress bayous outside the city, with herons, turtles and the occasional alligator. Smaller boats are quieter and get you deeper into the trees.
At sunset, take an evening jazz cruise on the Mississippi aboard the steamboat Natchez. Afterward, have a drink at the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone, where the bar slowly revolves. Early one morning, walk to Jackson Square and share beignets before the lines form.
Getting There and Around
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) has nonstop service from most major US cities. A taxi to the French Quarter takes about 25 minutes. There is a flat rate for up to two passengers.
Once in town, you do not need a car. Walk the Quarter and Marigny, take the streetcars to the Garden District, City Park and along Canal Street. Use rideshares at night. Hotel parking is costly and street parking is confusing.
If you want to add a second stop, the Gulf Coast beaches of Mississippi are about an hour and a half away and Alabama's are closer to three hours. Louisiana's Cajun country around Lafayette is roughly two and a half hours west. A few days of zydeco and boudin there make a good counterpoint to the city.
Food and Drink
This is a city where you plan your days around meals. Creole cooking is the city's own: think gumbo, turtle soup, shrimp rémoulade and grand old dining rooms where waiters have worked for decades. Cajun food, from the countryside to the west, is more rustic, with jambalaya and boudin sausage.
Eat a po'boy on crusty Leidenheimer-style French bread, dressed with lettuce, tomato and pickles. From roughly January through June, find a spot doing boiled crawfish and eat them by the pound. Beignets, fried dough under a drift of powdered sugar, are best early in the day.
The Sazerac, made with rye and absinthe, is the official cocktail of New Orleans. The Vieux Carré was created at the Hotel Monteleone in the 1930s. In the French Quarter you can legally carry a drink on the street in a plastic go-cup. Pace yourselves accordingly.
Honeymoon Tips
- Make dinner reservations before you arrive, especially for weekends and festival dates.
- Ask your hotel about a wedding second line. Even a short one with a small brass band is a memory you will not get anywhere else.
- Carry small bills for tipping musicians and for cover charges, which are often cash only.
- Stay alert at night. Stick to busy, well-lit streets in the Quarter and Marigny and use rideshares to get home late.
- Check the festival calendar. Rates can double during Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest; if you do not want crowds, avoid those dates.
- Pack for humidity. Breathable clothes and a small umbrella help from spring through fall.
