Base: the French Quarter, all three nights. Today is all on foot inside about a dozen flat blocks: Royal Street, Jackson Square, the riverfront parks and the French Market on Decatur Street. Jackson Square and the riverfront are free. Preservation Hall, 726 St. Peter Street, plays sets most nights from 5 p.m. (about every 75 minutes until the 8:45 set), with ticketed seats. Pace: slow and easy for one: flat blocks, long sit-down breaks at lunch and a rest in your room mid-afternoon.
Royal Street in the morning
Where to eat: start with beignets and café au lait at Café Beignet on Royal Street, which opens at 7 a.m. Then walk Royal Street while it is quiet: antique shops, galleries and the iron balconies of Creole townhouses hung with ferns. Morning is the calmest and coolest time in the Quarter and the best light for photos.
Royal is one block from Bourbon Street but feels like another town. Walk it end to end, look up at the balconies, and step into a few courtyards where shops leave their gates open.
Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral
Walk to Jackson Square, the old parade ground of the colonial city, with the statue of Andrew Jackson at its center and the white triple-spired St. Louis Cathedral behind. The Cabildo and the Presbytère, two Spanish colonial buildings that now hold state museum exhibits, frame the cathedral on either side, and the Pontalba Buildings line the square with the oldest apartment buildings in the country.
Artists hang work on the square’s iron fence and street musicians play on the flagstones. Sit on a bench, then step into the cathedral if it is open to visitors and no service is under way.
Expert tip: watch the square from the steps across Decatur Street by the river levee: it is the classic view of the cathedral, and a good place to get your bearings for the whole Quarter.
The riverfront and the French Market
Cross Decatur Street and climb the steps to the Moonwalk and Woldenberg Park on the Mississippi. Watch the ships and paddlewheelers come round the bend, then walk downriver to the French Market, the city’s old public market, with its colonnades, food stalls and flea market stalls on Decatur Street.
Buy pralines at Aunt Sally’s, a family praline shop by the market, and eat one on a riverfront bench. In the afternoon, go back to your room for a rest; the Quarter is busiest and hottest from midday.
An evening of jazz
Book a seat ahead for an early set at Preservation Hall, a small, bare room that has hosted traditional New Orleans jazz since 1961. There are no drinks and no food, just the music, and a set lasts about 45 minutes. Sales are final, so book for a night you are sure of.
Afterward walk two blocks to dinner. A solo diner is welcome at most bars in the Quarter, and a bar seat is often the best seat in the house. Walk home on Royal or Decatur, which stay lit and busy into the night.
Where to eat and stop
- Breakfast · Café Beignet (Royal Street) — beignets and café au lait at 334 Royal Street; opens 7 a.m. daily (to 6 p.m. Sun–Thu, 8 p.m. Fri–Sat).
- Lunch · Napoleon House — a muffuletta in a 200-year-old building on Chartres Street; walk-ins only, open daily from 11 a.m.
- Dinner · Mr. B’s Bistro — Creole cooking on Royal Street; the bar is a comfortable seat for one. Reserve on weekends and check hours on its site.
- Quick stop (snack): Aunt Sally’s pralines — a praline shop by the French Market; buy one for a riverfront bench.
- Quick stop (market): The French Market — colonnades, food stalls and flea market stalls on Decatur Street.
Base → Café Beignet on Royal Street: about 5–10 minutes on foot. Royal Street → Jackson Square: about 5 minutes. Jackson Square → the riverfront and the French Market: about 5–10 minutes. French Market → Preservation Hall on St. Peter Street: about 10 minutes.
Where to stay
- Hotel Provincial (French Quarter) — on Chartres Street in the lower Quarter, a short, lit walk from everything today.
- Hotel Peter and Paul (Faubourg Marigny) — or a converted church, rectory and schoolhouse in the Marigny, close to Frenchmen Street.
Dinner: at the bar of Mr. B’s Bistro on Royal Street; reserve on weekends.
Tomorrow: the St. Charles streetcar to the Garden District, about 20–30 minutes from Canal Street.
Bad-weather plan
Rain on Day 1? Most of today has cover: the cathedral, the colonnades of the French Market and the covered balconies along Royal Street. Wait out a downpour over coffee and beignets, and keep the riverfront for when it eases.
Stay: French Quarter base · Anchor: Jackson Square · book Preservation Hall
Good to know: Keep your phone and wallet in a front pocket or zipped bag in crowds around Jackson Square and Bourbon Street.
