Hotel in New Orleans

DH and I want to plan a trip there - When is the best time to go and where should we stay...

All recommendations are helpful... What sights are there to see and do....

I went in Feb and the weather was nice-not warm but better than NY in Feb!

I stayed at a place called the St. Vincent Guest House. It was dirt cheap (we were on a tight budget) but I would not recommend it. It was an old Victorian building, which I thought was very cool, and it was originally an orphanage. It seemed clean enough but when checking out I was looking under the bed and found a mousetrap!

There are lots of hotels in the Business District; I know DH stayed at a very nice one but I don't recall the name. I will try to find it. But there's no shortage of hotels.

As for attractions, we went to Harrah's Casino. That was fun. We also took a swamp tour, which was lots of fun. We took a Mississippi River cruise, which was lame- there wasn't much to see once you were away from the city. We also went to Cafe DuMonde, a must-do. Preservation Hall has excellent jazz and we also ate at Nola, one of Emiril Lagasse's places. It was excellent. We were there during Carnival, so we went to lots of parades.

ETA: Tripadvisor.com has lots of hotel reviews and a very good forum.

we stayed at the doubletree inn which is right on the corner of canal street across the street from harrah's casino -- very nice.

i would definitely take a city tour, where they take you through the famous graveyards

also do a swamp tour, that was fun

take a walk on bourbon street at night, if you can stand the combined smell of urine and puke -- during the week wasn't so bad though

restaurant recommendations

emerils
brennans -- go there for sunday brunch--the food is so good it's criminal
dickie brennan's steakhouse

i stayed somewhere in the flower district- dont remember the name right now...started with an M it was beautiful!

Go to Acme's if you like fish- they have delicious and cheap oysters and great crawfish

it is an icon in new orleans

I loved it in New Orleans
you will have a great time

I second Don's nomination of the Doubletree. I got a good rate there. The hotel is clean and nice, and conveniently located near the French Quarter, the casino, and so on.

I also second the nomination of Acme's restaurant. Delicious and very reasonable!

we stayed at the International House- it's one of the boutique hotels along the line of theW

Aveda in bathroom, etc

they have a good bar downstairs.

BUMP FOR MORE SUGGESTIONS....

TIA

We stayed at the Fairmont. It is also on the edge of the French Quarter, on Canal Street. The hotel is beautiful and we walked or took the bus everywhere, no need for a car. DH got a good rate online, but we also went at an off-season time of year.

We went to this great place for breakfast, not fancy, but great food and a local hangout. I will see if I can find the name of it for you.

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Posted by dpli

We stayed at the Fairmont. It is also on the edge of the French Quarter, on Canal Street. The hotel is beautiful and we walked or took the bus everywhere, no need for a car. DH got a good rate online, but we also went at an off-season time of year.

We went to this great place for breakfast, not fancy, but great food and a local hangout. I will see if I can find the name of it for you.

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Which One?? - I think theres two

I went a few yaers ago & had an awesome time. We stayed at the Holiday Inn (just outside of boubon st), it was brand new at the time and really nice & affordable, plus they had a free shuttle til 10 pm!

I recommend Pat o'briens for drinks! Awesome Hurricanes!

i went furing hte third week of March and my friends and i stayed at W hotel. the weather was great! it was very comfortable weather. i would suggest W HOTEL! i love the style! while researching for hotels W hotel seem the best to me as for style. if you plan on going around that time also book maybe a week before. the sale starts for spring break at that time. so instead of $150 it was on sale for $99 which is great! altho the streets of french qtr was busy i didn't see many college students on vaca.

EATS:
ACME OYSTER HOUSE 724 Iberville St (Royal / Bourbon) 1 504 522 5973
*try their oysters! they're so plump! they also have crawfish.. when i went it wasn't listed on their menu but it's there!

Cafe Du Monde - they have a few diff locations. personally they taste exactly like zepoles (sp?) but many ppl rave abotu it.

HERBSAINT - 701 St Charles Ave (Perrier / Prytania) 1 504 524 4114
don't rememebr what we had but we all loved our dishes so you really can't go wrong.

Upperline Restaurant 1 504 891 9822
*try their foie gras over grits and fried green tomahtoes =D

both Herbsaint and Upperline Restaurants were recommended by The New York TImes! I'm so glad i came across the issue before leaving for N.O.

SITES & SHOPS:
French Quarter
Magazine Street
Jackson Brewery

Be wary! i noticed a guy following my gf. i'm sure he wanted her bag cuz i saw him looking right at it. he ran off when i kept on looking at him and also telling my friend to watch out. i sure as hell wouldn't be able to run after him and plus he'll easily disappear into the crowd. but.. any where you go you should watch out for things like that.

have a great time cuz i sure did!

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Posted by chris605

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Posted by dpli

We stayed at the Fairmont. It is also on the edge of the French Quarter, on Canal Street. The hotel is beautiful and we walked or took the bus everywhere, no need for a car. DH got a good rate online, but we also went at an off-season time of year.

We went to this great place for breakfast, not fancy, but great food and a local hangout. I will see if I can find the name of it for you.

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Which One?? - I think theres two

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I found it on a website- we went for breakfast and the food was great! VERY local though - not fancy at all and I think there is often a line.

Mother's, 401 Poydras St. at Tchoupitoulas, CBD.
Many call it the best po-boy joint in town, home of the 'Ferdi Special': piled high with their baked ham (the best anywhere), roast beef, gravy, and roast beef 'debris' (the little tiny bits that fall off the roast beef and float in the gravy as it cooks). Fantastic breakfasts (try the ham biscuits), jambalayas and gumbos, and the best turtle soup in town (better than Galatoire's). Worth the wait in line, anytime.

We also ate at the House of blues - the food was good, but they had live music and that was really fun! I think they have music every night.

We also ate at an Italian Restaurant called Bacco that was wonderful, I would definitely recommend it. After so many days of Cajun & Creole, we needed a rest

We stayed at the St. Charleston. It is walking distance of everything.
We went in November and the weather was great. It was in the 70's. Our last day it rained and got cool.
Have fun!!!!! We cant wait to go back

We stayed at the Ritz Carlton and it was fabulous. All the beds have down featherbeds and down pillows. The service is top shelf. We actually went in September and got caught in Hurricane Ivan when the city of New Orleans was evacuated. The hotel was so accommodating. There are some really shady hotels so make sure it is in a good part of town. We ate at Emeril's Delmonico and the food was beyond amazing. I also loved ACME Oyster House and Mothers. The aquarium and IMAX is also a fun day trip and something really inexpensive to do is ride the trolly through the garden district and see all the mansions. Cost is $1.25 or something per person.