New Orleans is one of my favorite cities to visit! I have now been there twice and there is just so much to do and see, I just love it. The first time I visited with my husband, his mom, and sister, which was such a fun trip. This time it was just my husband and I and we had a blast exploring this exciting and bustling city! We absolutely love traveling and really try to go to a new place each time we get the opportunity, but New Orleans just keeps coming  in at the top of the running because we just love it so much. There is still so much that we want to see and experience there. Here are a few of the tips that we would recommend after two visits there:

 1) Come Ready To Eat
Because the food is amazing! 

The number one thing that I think of when I think of New Orleans is the food. There is just nothing quite like Cajun food and I always crave it when I leave. Make sure you are ready to leave your food comfort zone, it will definitely be worth it. There are countless amazing restaurants  downtown, make sure to check out a future post featuring my top five.  You must try as many different and new foods as you can while you are there, you will not regret it. A few that are a must are: beignets, crawfish, alligator anything, gumbo, jumbalaya, and so much more! One place that you absolutely must try is Dat Dog, they have the most amazing hot dogs that I have ever had. I really am not a fan of hot dogs either, but my husband is, so we thought we would give it a try. The pictures on all the review sites really do not do it justice. I had pretty low expectations going in and I was totally blown away and have been craving it ever since. See the picture below, just absolute deliciousness. We went to the one in the Garden district, which leads me to number two…



 2) Explore the Garden District
Definitely do not be afraid to leave the French Quarter, because there is so much more to see in New Orleans! 

It is only bout two miles from the French Quarter to the Garden District and it was a lovely walk. My husband and I got to see a lot along the way and we also made several stops at various local bars. It was such a great experience. It is so easy to get trapped in all of the typical touristy areas, but there is so much more to see in any city that you visit. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the French Quarter and we have stayed in a hotel there both times, but I loved our trip outside of it and can’t wait to go back and explore more! There wer so many great bars and restaurants in this area. I will talk more about them in a future post. 



 3) Check Discount Sites 

This was a great thing we learned over our first trip out there. We always use discount sites at home, but had not really though of using them while on vacation. It worked out so well. We grabbed a few Groupons for some new restaurants and even a tour. We didn’t get to do the tour because it got cancelled due to weather, but they did refund it for us. We also tried an awesome new coupon system with City Dining Cards. We got their city drinking cards for New Orleans and it was an amazing way to try out new bars that we would have never found on our own. I think I will have to do another post just about those adventures 🙂



4) Location, Location, Location – Stay Where You Wanna Play 

I think this really makes us enjoy our vacations as much as we can. It is so nice to not have to worry about how we are going to get to various places that we want to see. If you stay close to the majority of the things on your itenirary you save so much time and it is definitely worth it. This can be hard, especially in a place like New Orleans and the French Quarter because it can be expensive. There are always some cheaper hotels or deals that you can find though. On our first trip, we went through Expedia and did a mystery hotel for a great price. You choose the area and stars of the hotel and then you get surprised by which hotel, but at a great price. This was a wonderful way to save money and stay in a great hotel in a great location. For our most recent trip we picked an older hotel in an amazing location. The room was not fabulous, but it was clean. We don’t spend much time in the hotel, so we don’t splurge on it and it is a great way to save money!



5) There’s More Than Nightlife, So Don’t Stay Out Too Late

I think everyone really gets caught up in the nightlife of New Orleans, which is a great part of the city, but there is so much more to do. It would be easy to enjoy the nights everyday of your trip and miss out on most of the daytime activities, which would be such a shame. There are so many awesome brunch places, museums, parks, etc to see and explore. All of which have limited hours during the day.  So, just make sure you get a good balance of day and night play 🙂 Watch for a future post on my favorite activities in this great city!



So those are my travel tips for traveling to New Orleans. Have you been there, do you have any tips to add? Or any other general travel tips? I would love to hear them! 🙂