New Orleans: the city that runs on jazz, gumbo, and the slow Mississippi

It’s 7:14 p.m. on a Tuesday in the Bywater neighbourhood and a five-piece brass band is playing on the corner of Royal and Piety, in front of a small bar called the Hi-Ho Lounge. The sousaphone player is sweating through his shirt. The bar’s door is propped open. A woman on a bicycle has stopped to listen; the cyclist next to her is dancing with her bicycle. The band’s hat is on the pavement and full of small bills. This is the New Orleans I keep coming back for, and it is not, mostly, in the French Quarter.

Why I keep coming back

New Orleans is one of the most unusual cities in the United States. The French colonial founding (1718), the Spanish administration (1762–1801), the brief return to France, and the 1803 Louisiana Purchase produced a city that has a French Quarter (technically Spanish-built — most of the original French structures burned in the 1788 and 1794 fires), a Creole culture rooted in the African, Caribbean, French, and Spanish mix, and a cuisine that synthesises all of it.

The city is also the birthplace of jazz. Louis Armstrong was born here in 1901. The music is not a heritage museum; it is a living tradition. There is live music at any hour of the day or night in this city.

New Orleans was, in 2005, devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The recovery has been long, uneven, and is still ongoing. The visitor today sees a substantially restored city; many of the social and demographic shifts caused by the storm continue to play out.

Where to base yourself

The Marigny (Faubourg Marigny) — Just east of the French Quarter; Creole cottage architecture, the central live-music corridor (Frenchmen Street), more residential energy.

The Bywater — Further east still; younger, hipster, smaller-scale, very walkable.

The Garden District / Uptown — The grand antebellum mansions, the streetcar line, a residential pace.

The French Quarter — Convenient for first-timers but loud, particularly in the Bourbon Street perimeter. Choose the quieter Royal Street or Esplanade end if you stay here.

What to actually do

Listen to live music every night. This is the city’s reason for being. Frenchmen Street in the Marigny is the central live-music corridor; the Spotted Cat, d.b.a., Snug Harbor (the serious modern-jazz room), the Maison. Preservation Hall in the French Quarter has the traditional New Orleans jazz performances — short, intense, no drinks, multiple shows per evening; queue.

Walk the French Quarter at 7 a.m. Before the Bourbon Street crowds wake up; the wrought-iron balconies, the Creole townhouses, the Café du Monde at the river end, the Saint Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square. Have coffee and beignets.

Take the St. Charles streetcar. The 1923 streetcar that runs the length of St. Charles Avenue through the Garden District; the mansions, the cathedral oaks, the Audubon Park at the end of the line. About $1.25.

Visit the National WWII Museum. Unexpectedly excellent. Allow half a day.

Spend an afternoon in City Park. Larger than Central Park, with the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Besthoff Sculpture Garden (free), and one of the oldest stands of live oak trees in the country.

Take a swamp tour. Honey Island Swamp or the Atchafalaya Basin; small boats with naturalist guides; alligators, herons, cypress trees. Half a day.

Where to eat

Creole and Cajun are different: Creole is city food with French and Spanish influences and dairy; Cajun is country food with French-Acadian origins and no dairy. The city does both.

Commander’s Palace (Garden District) — White-tablecloth Creole; the institutional choice. 25-cent martinis at lunch. Cochon (Warehouse District) — Cajun-Southern from chef Donald Link. Bywater American Bistro — Modern New Orleans cooking; smaller and walk-friendly. Cafe du Monde (French Quarter) — Beignets and chicory coffee; 24-hour service. Mosquito Supper Club — Cajun home-cooking, set menu, family-style. Reserve. Coop’s Place (French Quarter) — Casual; the rabbit and sausage jambalaya. Mother’s (CBD) — Po’boys (the New Orleans sandwich), particularly the debris po’boy. Willie Mae’s Scotch House (Treme) — Fried chicken, no nonsense; the best in the country in many opinions. Anywhere serving a Sazerac (rye whiskey, absinthe rinse, sugar, bitters) — the city’s drink, invented here.

When to come

February to May for the most comfortable temperatures and the festival season (Mardi Gras in February/March, Jazz Fest in late April / early May).

October and November for the second pleasant window.

June through September is brutally hot and humid (35°C+ with high humidity).

December is mild and pleasant.

Practical notes

• Visa: ESTA for most Western passports.
• Money: Card; cash for tips and brass-band tip jars.
• Transport: Walkable in the central neighbourhoods. The streetcar (St. Charles, Canal, Riverfront lines) is excellent for longer hops. Uber and Lyft for late nights.
• Drinking outdoors: Legal in the French Quarter and many central areas in plastic cups; do not carry glass outside. The ‘go-cup’ is part of the city’s culture.
• Safety: New Orleans has higher-than-average crime rates; specific areas to avoid, particularly at night, and the standard precautions apply.
• Mardi Gras: A major event. Book a year ahead; expect significantly elevated prices and dense crowds; participate in or avoid as you prefer.
• Tipping the band: Tip the brass bands on the street. They are working musicians. A few dollars per song you stop to listen to is appropriate.

A final thought

New Orleans is, in my view, the most culturally distinct American city and the one I have most enjoyed returning to over twenty years. The combination of the food, the music, the architecture, the river, and the slightly weathered, post-Katrina, slowly-rebuilding character of the place produces something genuinely irreplicable.

Four or five nights minimum. Listen to music every evening. Eat your way slowly through the Creole canon. Take the streetcar. Walk in the Garden District. Walk in the Bywater. Eat the beignets. Drink a Sazerac. Talk to the bartender. The city earns the affection it earns; respect the post-Katrina realities; spend money locally; tip generously. The brass band on the corner of Royal and Piety, when I last saw them, looked like they would still be there next time. I expect they will be.