Fun Things to Do in New Orleans

It’s impossible not to have fun in New Orleans, one of our favorite US cities, but this list of fun things to do includes some lesser-known and quirky attractions, including a couple outside the city but close by.

Have a Drink in an 18th-century Creole Cottage

Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar

941 Bourbon St, New Orleans

Not all bars on Bourbon Street are the same. It’s easy to miss this little Creole cottage, which is the only one still surviving in the French Quarter. It may never have actually been a blacksmith shop, but it was built in the 1720s and miraculously survives, though some of the structure is modern and designed to look old, so all is not what it seems.

Dine with a Ghost in the French Quarter

Muriel’s Jackson Square

801 Chartres St, New Orleans

From the outside Muriel’s Jackson Square looks like any other French Quarter building, with its wrought-iron balconies, but inside is another matter. Ghosts abound in New Orleans but this is a more convincing story than most. A former owner lost the house in a poker game, and rather than leave he committed suicide on the second floor. A table is laid for him every night, and if you ask you might be able to dine there, or at least in the same room.

Watch Films of Jazz Funerals in an Unusual Museum

Backstreet Cultural Museum

1116 Henriette Delille St, New Orleans

This small but lively museum in the city’s Tremé district tells the story of New Orleans’s African-American population, especially its involvement in Mardi Gras. One of the highlights is a collection of films of Jazz Funerals.

See a 10-foot Russian Palace in an Antebellum Mansion

House of Broel

2220 St Charles Ave, New Orleans

Built in 1850, the House of Broel is many things. Apart from visiting the house itself, it contains a fashion museum and a large collection of dolls’ houses including a 28-room Russian Palace that is 10-feet tall. It also has a display on frog-farming, the occupation of the current owner’s father.

Kayak to a Disappearing 19th-century Fort

Fort Proctor

An hour’s drive east of New Orleans, Fort Proctor was built in the 1850s. Also known as Fort Beauregard, it was never fully manned and left to decay. The fort was built on the shore of Lake Borgne, but thanks to coastal erosion and the expansion of the lake, it now stands fully in Lake Borgne and can only be reached by canoe or kayak.

See Houses Built like Steamboats

Doullut Steamboat Houses

400 and 503 Egania St, New Orleans

In 1905 a New Orleans steamboat captain decided to build a house with the design of a steamboat. Eight years later he decided to build another. They still stand today, on the same street as each other, a testimony to the eccentricity of New Orleans.

Find the French Impressionists in a Museum

New Orleans Museum of Art

1 Collins C. Diboll Circle, City Park, New Orleans

Among the 40,000 items in its collection are works by numerous French artists, especially the French Impressionists. There are a number of paintings by Degas, who lived and worked in New Orleans for several months, and also by Monet, Renoir, Matisse, Rodin, and Gaugin.

Experience Mardi Gras All-Year-Round

Mardi Gras World

1380 Port of New Orleans Place, New Orleans

Mardi Gras in New Orleans isn’t for everyone, but you can learn all about it at any time of year at Mardi Gras World. This museum cum factory is where Mardi Gras floats are made, and you can see floats and parts of floats, as well as the process by which they are made, from computer-generated graphics to people hand-painting the models. You can read more in the piece we wrote about it for Perceptive Travel.

See a Surrealist for Free

Sydney and Wanda Besthoff Sculpture Garden

1 Collins C. Diboll Circle, City Park, New Orleans

In City Park, the Sydney and Wanda Besthoff Sculpture Garden is an open-air collection of sculptures that can be enjoyed for free. Among the artists whose work is on display are the Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte and the Colombian artist Fernando Botero.

Play Arcade Games in a Wacky Museum

UCM Museum/Abita Mystery House

22275 LA-36, Abita Springs

This roadside attraction is an eccentric museum which includes a collection of arcade machines you can play, a comb collection, and other weird objects. It’s an hour north of New Orleans and getting there allows you to cross the 24-mile bridge over Lake Pontchartrain.