New Orleans 2 Day Itinerary (No Traps)
New Orleans 2 Day Itinerary (No Traps)
Two days is enough for the French Quarter and one real museum day, nothing more, so this itinerary skips the swamp tours and plantation drives entirely and puts the National WWII Museum, a guided cemetery tour, and real live music ahead of Bourbon Street. If you get a third or fourth day, our New Orleans 3 Day Itinerary and New Orleans 4 Day Itinerary build directly on this same plan.
Book these before you go:
- The National WWII Museum ticket , $36 adult, skip the box-office line.
- A guided St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 tour , $33, mandatory since 2015, no walk-ins.
- Preservation Hall has no advance-seat system, it’s door-only; check the night’s lineup on preservationhall.com and arrive 30-45 minutes early instead.
Day 1: French Quarter First Impressions
Morning: Beignets and café au lait at Café du Monde before 9am, cash only, while the line is still short. It closes nightly, around 11pm Sunday-Thursday and midnight Friday-Saturday, it is not a 24-hour spot despite what half the internet claims. Walk Jackson Square, step into St. Louis Cathedral (free, 9:30am-4pm), then browse Royal St’s galleries and antique shops.
Afternoon: Your guided St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 tour, 45 minutes from the Basin St. visitor center. This is the only way in: independent walk-ins have been barred since March 2015 after repeated vandalism, including the pink-paint defacement of Marie Laveau’s reputed tomb. Lunch after at a po’boy counter, order it “dressed” (lettuce, tomato, mayo).
Evening: Dinner on Royal St or in the Quarter, then Frenchmen Street after 9pm, the Spotted Cat, d.b.a., and the Maison run three or four live bands within a block, low or no cover. This is the city’s actual music scene; save Bourbon St for a late nightcap, not the main event.
Day 2: The Museum and the Garden District
Morning: The National WWII Museum, a multi-building campus, not a single hall, budget a genuine half-day. $36 adult, $33 senior, $26 student or military, free under 5 and for WWII veterans; current hours on nationalww2museum.org .
Afternoon: Ride the St. Charles streetcar, the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the country, running since 1835, up into the Garden District. Walk Prytania St and Washington Ave for the Greek Revival mansions; Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 is closed to public entry for repairs in 2026, so don’t plan a walk-up visit.
Evening: Preservation Hall. No bar, no air conditioning, standing room once the bench seats fill, general admission runs $15-20. Dinner beforehand at a proper Creole kitchen rather than a Bourbon St tourist menu.
Do you need a car for this itinerary?
No, and a rental car is closer to a liability than a convenience for two days in the city. The French Quarter and Garden District are both flat and walkable, narrow one-way streets and scarce parking make driving between them pointless, and the St. Charles streetcar covers the one real distance you need to cover. Save the rental car decision for a longer trip that adds a day beyond the city itself.
Is 2 days enough for New Orleans?
It’s enough for the French Quarter plus one full museum day, not for the cemeteries, the Garden District, and Treme all at a relaxed pace. Two days covers the WWII Museum, a cemetery tour, and Frenchmen Street’s live music properly; anything past that (swamp tours, a slower Garden District walk, Mardi Gras World) needs a third or fourth day.
| Day | Focus | Book ahead |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | French Quarter, cemetery tour, Frenchmen St | Cemetery tour |
| Day 2 | WWII Museum, Garden District, Preservation Hall | Museum ticket |
Skip the sidewalk “haunted history” pitch outside Jackson Square, it’s generic filler dressed up as local color; spend that half-hour in the Cabildo or Presbytère instead ($11), where the actual Louisiana history lives.