New Orleans 6 Day Itinerary (No Traps)
New Orleans 6 Day Itinerary (No Traps)
Six days keeps the full five-day spine from our New Orleans 5 Day Itinerary and adds a sixth day built for actually slowing down: Mardi Gras World’s warehouse tour, a food-focused walk, and a second, unhurried pass through whichever neighborhood you rushed the first time. The New Orleans 7 Day Itinerary adds one more day of wrap-up on top of this exact plan.
Book these before you go:
- The National WWII Museum ticket , $36 adult.
- A guided St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 tour , $33, mandatory since 2015.
- Preservation Hall is door-only, no reserved seats to book; check the lineup on preservationhall.com and arrive 30-45 minutes early.
- A Steamboat Natchez jazz cruise , about $43.50 daytime.
- A Garden District walking tour for the mansions and Lafayette Cemetery No. 1’s closed gates.
Day 1: French Quarter First Impressions
Morning: Café du Monde before 9am, cash only, closed nightly rather than 24 hours. Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral (free, 9:30am-4pm), Royal St’s galleries.
Afternoon: A po’boy “dressed” (lettuce, tomato, mayo), then a slow lower-Quarter wander.
Evening: Dinner in the Quarter, Frenchmen Street after 9pm, the Spotted Cat, d.b.a., or the Maison.
Day 2: The Museum and the Garden District
Morning: The National WWII Museum, a full campus, half a day minimum; current hours on nationalww2museum.org .
Afternoon: The St. Charles streetcar (running since 1835) into the Garden District, or the guided walking tour for the mansions’ history and Lafayette Cemetery No. 1’s closed gates.
Evening: Preservation Hall, arrive 30-45 minutes early, no bar or air conditioning.
Day 3: The Cemetery Rule and the River
Morning: Your guided St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 tour, 45 minutes, no walk-ins since March 2015, a rule explained on nolacatholiccemeteries.org .
Midday: The French Market, then the Steamboat Natchez daytime jazz cruise from the Toulouse St. Wharf.
Evening: Marigny and Bywater, dinner at a neighborhood spot, a second Frenchmen St set if there’s energy left.
Day 4: Treme and the Deeper City
Morning: The Backstreet Cultural Museum, Louis Armstrong Park, and Congo Square, jazz’s actual geographic origin.
Afternoon: Magazine St for shopping and antiques, longer and more residential than Royal St.
Evening: Dooky Chase’s Restaurant or another proper Creole kitchen.
Day 5: City Park and the Slow Half
Morning: City Park, NOMA, and the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, the quietest large green space in the city.
Afternoon: Bayou St. John, a walk or a kayak paddle.
Evening: A splurge dinner at Cochon or Herbsaint, a Sazerac to close the night.
Day 6: Mardi Gras World and the Local Register
Morning: Mardi Gras World, the warehouse where the parade floats are actually built, a genuine year-round attraction, not just a Carnival-season stop.
Afternoon: A food-focused walking tour or gumbo-and-jambalaya cooking class, or a second slower pass through Magazine St or the Garden District if you’d rather shop than cook.
Evening: A last dinner somewhere you skipped earlier in the week, then a final Frenchmen St set before the trip winds down.
Is Mardi Gras World worth it outside Carnival season?
Yes, and this is exactly why it’s on a six-day itinerary rather than a three-day one: it’s a working float-building warehouse open year-round, not a seasonal pop-up, so the July visit shows the same craft as the February one. Tickets include a guided walkthrough of that season’s works in progress, whatever month you land in.
What should the sixth day actually be used for?
Recovery pacing, mostly. By day six you’ve done the museum, the cemetery, the river, Treme, and City Park; the smartest use of a spare day is a genuinely slow one, food-focused rather than sight-focused, so book Mardi Gras World for the morning and leave the afternoon loose rather than cramming in one more museum.
| Day | Focus | Book ahead |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | French Quarter, Frenchmen St | Nothing mandatory |
| Day 2 | WWII Museum, Garden District, Preservation Hall | Museum ticket |
| Day 3 | Cemetery tour, Steamboat Natchez, Marigny/Bywater | Cemetery tour, cruise |
| Day 4 | Treme, Congo Square, Magazine St | Nothing mandatory |
| Day 5 | City Park, NOMA, Bayou St. John | Nothing mandatory |
| Day 6 | Mardi Gras World, food tour or cooking class | Nothing mandatory |
Book the cemetery tour, the museum slot, and the jazz cruise ahead; Mardi Gras World sells same-day tickets outside peak Carnival weeks. Full seasonal listings live on neworleans.com .