Walking Tours in New Orleans: Three Routes
A New Orleans walk rewards slow feet and a good pair of shoes, because the best details sit above eye level and between buildings. Three routes cover the main character of the city: the French Quarter, the Garden District and Treme.
Route one: the French Quarter
Walk Royal and Chartres Streets, where the Spanish colonial brick arches and cast-iron balconies date from the rebuilding after the fires of 1788 and 1794. The Old Ursuline Convent dates to 1752. Finish at Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral. Guided French Quarter history and ghost walks run about 2 hours and cost $25 to $35 per person, and you can compare French Quarter walking tours on GetYourGuide for times and group sizes.
Allow a free hour just to wander without a guide. Royal Street’s antique shops and bookshops, including Faulkner House Books on Pirate’s Alley, are good rainy-day stops.
Route two: the Garden District
Ride the St. Charles streetcar ($1.25) to the Garden District and walk Prytania and Coliseum Streets under magnolias. Look for the Buckner Mansion and Colonel Short’s Villa with its cast-iron cornstalk fence. Guided walks here usually cost $25 to $32 per person and last about 2 hours.
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 reopened on 1 October 2026, and entry is by guided tour only. The Preservation Resource Center and Save Our Cemeteries lead groups of 16 or fewer, with about six morning sessions a day lasting 75 to 90 minutes, and bookings are on prcno.org .
Route three: Treme
Treme is the oldest Black neighborhood in the United States. Congo Square in Louis Armstrong Park is where enslaved Africans gathered on Sundays to play drums and dance, and St. Augustine Church stands nearby. A local guide adds the stories behind each block, and the New Orleans tourism site lists heritage walks and festivals.
Treme has a different feel at night, and empty side streets there are best avoided after dark.
Tour notes
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, on Basin Street at the edge of the Quarter and Treme, can be entered only on a licensed guided tour. Tours leave the Basin Street Station visitor centre at 501 Basin Street about every 15 minutes between 9:00 and 15:45 and take about 45 minutes. Adult prices run roughly $25 to $33.
Evening ghost and Voodoo walks take place after dusk and visit lantern-lit alleys, with stories of yellow fever and the LaLaurie mansion. Choose a guide who gives sources, and ask the group size before paying.
Staying safe on foot
Petty theft and scams are the realistic risk on Bourbon Street, around Jackson Square and on Canal Street. A stranger who bets $20 that he can name where you bought your shoes is working a scam, so keep walking. Violent crime against visitors in the busy Quarter is uncommon.
Comfort
Wear shoes with grip for uneven flagstones and bring water from April to October. Hurricane season peaks from mid-August to mid-October, when afternoon downpours can arrive without warning.
If you want sights that need no guide, see the sightseeing guide .
Start the Quarter walk by 9:00 and be on a streetcar toward the Garden District before the midday heat.