Day-Trip Itinerary: How to Spend A Perfect Day in New Orleans

New Orleans should be explored the way its world-famous cuisine is made: leisurely and intentionally. It’s nicknamed “The Big Easy” for a reason! But if you’ve only got 24 hours, this itinerary will help you hit the highlights.

Best Breakfast Restaurants in New Orleans

Cafe Du Monde

Start your day the New Orleans way — with beignets and chicory coffee from Cafe Du Monde. Sink your teeth into fluffy, just-fried beignets topped with mountains of powdered sugar, paired perfectly with woodsy, slightly bitter chicory coffee.

Insider tip: Hit the City Park location for shorter lines.

Camellia Grill

Located inside a Greek Revival-style building framed by grand white columns, Camellia Grill isn’t your typical diner. Friendly servers in bowties sling omelettes stuffed with melty cheese and fresh veggies, pancakes and waffles fresh off the griddle, and every table is lined with linen napkins.

Insider tip: Sit at the counter if you can — the banter with servers is part of the experience.

Elizabeth’s

Look no further than Elizabeth’s for comforting Southern breakfast classics. This funky joint in the Bywater is known for biscuits and gravy, redneck eggs (fried green tomatoes topped with poached eggs and hollandaise), and fried chicken and waffles, drizzled with sticky-sweet Louisiana cane syrup.

How to Spend Your Morning in New Orleans

City Park

Larger than New York’s Central Park, New Orleans’ City Park features 1,300 acres of gardens, playgrounds and activities such as fishing, mini golf and tennis. It’s a great stop for families, who can hit the City Park Cafe Du Monde for breakfast before letting the little ones take their pick of five playgrounds. Storyland is inspired by fairy tales and Mother Goose nursery rhymes, while Carousel Gardens Amusement Park is home to one of the oldest carousels in the country.

Insider tip: The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden is free and one of the most peaceful spots in the city.

St. Charles Avenue Streetcar

Picture traveling down a picturesque New Orleans boulevard on an olive-green trolley, bells clanging as you pass under a tunnel of live oaks. Streetcars run across the city, from the Mississippi River to the Lower Garden District. We recommend hopping on the St. Charles Streetcar Line — it’s easy to get on from Camellia Grill and is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world. Go cashless with the Le Pass app to purchase passes and get live route updates.

Insider tip: Sit on the right side of the car when heading Uptown for the best views of historic mansions.

New Orleans Museums

No matter where you start your day, it’s easy to find a museum that suits your taste. History buffs will love exploring the detailed exhibits at The National World War II Museum, and art lovers must stop at the New Orleans Museum of Art, which features rotating collections by local and international artists. Missing Mardi Gras? It’s Carnival year-round at Mardi Gras World, where visitors get a glimpse into the painstaking process of crafting these dazzling floats and elaborate costumes. And kids can touch and play all they’d like at sensory-friendly museums like the Louisiana Children’s Museum, which features exhibits on culture and heritage, sustainability and science.

Best Lunch Restaurants in New Orleans

Parkway Bakery and Tavern

Parkway Bakery and Tavern is famous for a reason — fully loaded po’boys revered by locals and visitors. Seafood options include wild-caught Gulf shrimp, Louisiana catfish and golden-fried Gulf oysters, available Wednesday and Thursday. If shellfish isn’t your thing, try the signature slow-roasted beef, soaked in gravy for a savory, salty mess, or the streetcar po’boy, stuffed with crispy flash-fried potatoes, smothered in roast beef gravy and topped with debris (melt-in-your-mouth bits of shredded pork or beef). Order it “dressed” with lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayo.

Insider tip: The portions are huge, so don’t be afraid to split — especially if it means you can try more than one!

Napoleon House

At Napoleon House, order the iconic warm muffuletta: soft, sesame-studded bread filled with ham, Genoa salami, pastrami, Swiss and provolone cheeses, and tangy Italian olive salad. All ingredients, including the bread, are made in-house. Craving something heartier? Choose a New Orleans favorite like chicken and andouille (spicy sausage) gumbo or red beans and rice, a Monday tradition, and pair it with a Pimm’s cup — theirs is one of the best in the city.

Lil’ Dizzy’s Cafe

Located in the historic Tremé neighborhood, one of the oldest Black neighborhoods in the country, Lil’ Dizzy’s Cafe is a family-owned and -operated soul food spot. The rich, Creole-spiced gumbo and succulent, well-seasoned fried chicken are essentials, and seafood platters are just as delicious.

Insider tip: Don’t be shy about asking questions, as this is a great place to learn about Tremé’s history.

How to Spend Your Afternoon in New Orleans

French Quarter

We’d be remiss if we didn’t add the French Quarter (or simply “the Quarter”) to this itinerary. It’s the heart of New Orleans culture, anchored by the St. Louis Cathedral, which is flanked by two Louisiana State Museums, the Presbytère and the Cabildo. Looking for things to do? We recommend taking time just to explore. Grab one of America’s first cocktails from Sazerac House, browse the French Market (part flea market, part farmers market, part historical landmark) and listen to live music from second lines throughout the Quarter.

Guided Walking Tour

Whether you’re interested in voodoo, cocktails or cemeteries, New Orleans has a tour for that! French Quarter Phantoms offers a daily Saints & Sinners tour, introducing guests to the city’s heroes, villains and legends, as well as non-haunted Garden District and Tremé tours. For maximum spookiness, book a High Crimes & Apparitions or Ghost, Voodoo & Vampire tour with Witches Brew Tours. Check out 10 other ways to tour New Orleans.

Best Dinner Restaurants in New Orleans

Galatoire’s Restaurant

Founded in 1905, this French-inspired restaurant carries on the tradition of New Orleans fine dining with long, leisurely meals. Start with an appetizer like oysters en brochette, fried oysters with bacon and meunière butter, or turtle soup au sherry, then dive into chicken Creole, shrimp étouffée or filet mignon.

Insider tip: Pack accordingly, as Galatoire’s dress code requires gentlemen to wear collared shirts and long pants, and jackets after 5 p.m. and all day on Sunday.

Brennan’s

In 1946, an Irishman’s dream became reality when Owen Brennan opened his Vieux Carré Restaurant on Bourbon Street. Brennan’s has been a staple of New Orleans cuisine ever since, with dishes like turtle soup, Grand Isle jewel oysters, shrimp-stuffed Gulf fish and Creole-spiced beef tenderloin. Bananas Foster was invented here in 1951, and the bananas are flambéed tableside for the ultimate dessert experience.

Insider tip: Don’t fret if you can’t get in for dinner, because their brunch is just as legendary.

Jacques-Imo’s Cafe

Anthony Bourdain reportedly called Jacques-Imo’s Cafe “so good, it should probably be illegal.” With a casual dress code and unassuming atmosphere, the cafe serves Creole comfort food like boudin, crabmeat-stuffed shrimp, New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp, Cajun bouillabaisse and country-fried venison.

Insider tip: Complimentary cornbread comes with dinner, but don’t fill up before your entree arrives.

Dooky Chase’s Restaurant

You may know the late Leah Chase, the Queen of Creole Cuisine, as an inspiration for Tiana in Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog,” but Dooky Chase’s Restaurant is also a longtime institution in New Orleans’ African American community. The restaurant originally opened as a sandwich shop and lottery ticket outlet, then became a respected family restaurant that hosted civil rights leaders and changemakers like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall. Dine where these titans did, and enjoy Creole gumbo, Shrimp Clemenceau or Louisiana redfish.

Best Nightlife Spots in New Orleans

Bourbon Street & Frenchmen Street

Bourbon Street is the center of it all, the life of the party. It’s quintessential New Orleans, the air filled with Creole spice, jazz music and laughter from people from around the world. Sip a “purple drank” (a frozen, grape-flavored daiquiri) from Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar, the oldest structure used as a bar in the United States, or visit Old Absinthe House to taste the green fairy herself. Then, pass a good time at Cafe Lafitte in Exile, the oldest gay bar in the country. 

Frenchmen Street is where you’ll hear live music spilling out of nearly every window and door. Head to clubs like Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro or The Spotted Cat Music Club for live jazz, Bamboula’s for soul, blues and folk, or 30°/-90° for hip-hop, funk and zydeco.

Insider tip: If you can, tip the musicians, many of whom rely on tips to keep live music thriving in New Orleans.

Preservation Hall

Just off Bourbon Street, Preservation Hall has been hosting jazz concerts nightly since the 1960s. Each performance is a little different, and the concert hall is usually packed with visitors of all ages. Expect traditional New Orleans jazz — always groovy, upbeat and unlike anything you’ve heard before.

Insider tip: Shows are standing-room only unless you purchase seated tickets, and lines form early — arrive at least 30 minutes before showtime.

Ready to plan your New Orleans getaway? Find places to stay and festivals going on during your visit, then explore other itineraries across Louisiana.