3 Days in New Orleans
Last May I graduated with my Master's Degree from Lousiana State University-Shreveport, and while I did my whole program online, some friends and I decided to take a girls trip to New Orleans when I graduated. We spent three full days in the city and did a lot of exploring. here is my itinerary for how we broke down our trip!
Day One: Do a Swamp Tour, and Explore Bourbon Street / The French Quarter
We arrived at around midnight Wednesday night so luckily were able to wake up Thursday and have a full day ahead of us. We started off the morning doing a Swamp Tour with Cajun Pride Swamp Tours. This was by far my favorite part of the trip, I have never done anything like this before and it was such a cool experience! I booked my group swamp tour through the Get Your Guide app prior to our trip. There are several bayou tour companies, but this one was awesome, I definitely recommend them! The total cost for the tour was around $50 which included bus pickup and drop-off to and from close to where we were staying. The whole tour was about an hour and a half long, which was the perfect length.
After our swamp tour we headed back to our airbnb and got cleaned up before heading out to explore the French Quarter. This is the main part of New Orleans and is loaded with shops, voodoo inspired attractions, bars, restaurants, etc. We enjoyed some traditional New Orleans Po' Boys and Rice and Beans for lunch. We stopped at a couple different places including Tropical Isle Bar to try "The Hand Grenade" which is known as New Orlean's "Most Powerful Drink", Boot Scootin' Rodeo to ride the mechanical bull, and Felipe's to get some delicious Mexican food for dinner. There was so much to see in the French Quarter, even if you are not going in and out of the shops, simply just walking around exposes you to so much history and culture of the city!
Day Two: Cafe Du Mond, City Park, Jackson Square, & Experience Bourbon Street at Night
Day two we started off with something many of us were excited about coming to New Orleans: try a beignet from Cafe du Mond! While beignets are very prevelent throughout the city, Cafe du Mond is known for having the best!
There are currently 11 locations throughout the city, however, we visited the one that was located within New Orleans City Park. Since we were already in the park, we took some time to explore the beauty that the park had to offer- this was also the location I chose to take some pictures in my graduation cap. After spending time at the park, we headed to Jackson Square, a historic park of the French Quarter- We did some sight seeing, explored some of the shops, the headed to Pere Antione Retaurant and Bar for dinner before heading back to the airbnb to get ready for our night out on Bourbon Street!
Next up on day two was exploring Bourbon Street at night! Bourbon Street during the day and at night are two totally different environments! On Bourbon Street, there is essentially just a strip of bars that you can wander in and out of, we spent time at about 3-4 different bars. On top of the bars, of course there is the beads! If you don't know the story behind the beads, just google it haha. I thought people were exaggerating when they said people were all over throwing beads. If there was a balcony, there were groups of people up there waving beads to the passerby's down below. On ground level, there are also multiple people walking around with giant snakes that they let you hold, but be careful, they charge $20 to hold the snakes! (One guy let me hold his for free though!)
Day Three: Explore the Waterfront and Spend More Time in the French Quarter
Day three wasn't super eventful for us, we started off the morning eating brunch at Lula Distillery which was probably my favorite place that we ate the entire trip! After brunch, we stopped at Cafe Beignet to see how their beignets compared to Cafe du Mond. It was close, but I liked Cafe du Mond just a little bit better, although both are delicious!
After grabbing our food, we spent some time along the waterfront, walking along the paved trail there admiring the artwork and sculptures.
We spent some more time exploring some of the French Quarter before heading back to our airbnb to get some rest before our early flight the next morning.
I enjoyed my time in New Orleans, and found it fascinating to learn about the history and culture behind the city. There is so much to do in this city, especially if you are in to the night life scene! I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and hope it helps you out if you are planning a trip to New Orleans, Louisiana! Thanks for reading, and as always, there's always more to be explored!
-nicole elizabeth
