Visiting New Orleans, What To Do?

Eat, eat, eat, smoke, smoke, smoke, and have coffee and biegnets early each morning at Cafe du Monde.

A walk through (with pipe in mouth) the Audubon Zoological Gardens or the Sculpture Garden next to the New Orleans Museum Of Art is always a good time. Maybe sitting on a bench (with pipe clenched in mouth)in Jackson Square pondering what the place was like back in the early 1700's when Bienville founded the city and later on when the city became the northern capitol of the Caribbean would be fun. Weather should be nice! Besides great food, there is a lot of History in that little city. Maybe a street side table that allows smoking at the Napoleon House with a Pims Cup in hand would work. Or, a stroll (pipe in mouth) through the Botanical Gardens in the City park which has the largest collection of Live Oaks in the world.

Well if it were me I would do one of those ghost hunts there. Place is supposed to be really haunted, But I love that kind of stuff.

+1 on Audubon Park, a great place, and my wife and I always liked visiting historical places like the old above ground graveyards with their ornate crypts. Acme Oyster House in the Quarter is great too if you like fresh oysters!

Have fun!

Visit the WWII, museum, but be careful, stay with the crowd, don't wander in unprotected places. It's a good place to visit but be aware of your surroundings.

Well drinking in public is 100% legal there, so there's that, just don't engage in having the police enforce Napoleonic law on you, molesting cheeseburgers is illegal.

Catch a jazz show at Preservation Hall!

Way more to do than you have time for & stomach capacity. Have a ball, one of my top 3 places in the world.

have coffee and biegnets early each morning at Cafe du Monde.
this for sure.. and take comfortable shoes

And if the lines at Cafe du Monde are too long (can happen, especially during major tourist seasons), there are other options for biegnets - the Cafe Beignet on Bourbon street often has live jazz in the courtyard, and statues of famous jazz players that are fun to look at as you enjoy your breakfast.
Taste test a Sazerac while you're there - it's become one of my favorite cocktails ever. The Three Muses club on Frenchman street does one with house-made orange bitters that is amazing - and the small plate food there is unbelievable as well.

If you do get into Cafe du Monde try their chicory coffee. I love the stuff and used to order canned coffee from them by the case until I started buying roasted chicory root and adding it to my own beans as I grind them to make coffee using various brewing methods.

Trout almondine at Galatoires -- you wait in line whoever you are -- and a ride on the stern-wheeler riverboat.

For cheap, GREAT fresh oysters, Harbor Seafood in Kenner is terrific (one dozen large oysters, $7).
I have to laugh at this...the last time I had fresh oysters on the shell they were 50 cents/doz. Of coarse that was in 1975.

Zach i got your email..I will email you back in a few days...what days will you be here..

Oh where to begin, NOLA is my second favorite place in America behind Monterey, CA.
Don't get there nearly enough but here is my advice:
Be aware. At ALL times. It is a wonderful and glorious city but it is shady as hell too. Crime is very real there.
The WWII Museum is fantastic. Been there last two trips.
If you are an early riser, watching the sun rise over the St. Louis Cathedral is great and it's a hop from there to the Cafe du Monde for the Chicory Coffee and Beignets.
From there you can walk back in to the Fr. Quarter and see the sights. If you get far enough down Bourbon St, it switches teams, if you know what I mean. No big deal but be aware it may go from girls offering to buy you drinks to boys offering to buy you drinks.
I Love the Garden district. You can take a trolley right down St Charles Ave and visit Toulane U. and see some gorgeous houses.
St. Louis Cemetery is pretty awesome too.
Restaurants: I have been to a few awesome places (in no particular order):
St. James Cheese Co.
Antoine's Restaurant I literally wept when I learned they lost 10,000 (!!!) bottles of wine to the Katrina flooding... Great food though!!
Cafe du Monde Chicory Coffee and Beignets nom nom nom
Clancy's Restaurant Great Place to eat after the Auduban visit.
Commanders Palace CP is AWESOME out in Garden District Food devine. Only down here was the staff thought that my (then) 15 y/o step daughter was my girlfriend. yuck.
Southern Candymakers
If you have a car and want some adventure you NEED to do an airboat trip once in your life.
http://www.airboattours.com/ One of their Captains was on the show 'Wife Swap'. It was epic. All that aside, this tour is AMAZING. you go from tidewater into a private freshwater reserve filled with gators and all manor of flora and fauna. Highlights are their 13 foot gator that they feed for you and bring up next to the boat.
Have a GREAT Time!!

The Sazarac cocktail originated at the Sazarac Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel at Canal Blvd and Baronne St, just one block from the French Quarter. They are the only ones with the original receipt using Picaud Bitters. IMO, one of the two finest bars in the city. The other being the Carousel Bar in the Monteleon Hotel.