7 Days in New Orleans: First-Timer Itinerary

A full week takes every day from the 6-day spine, the French Quarter, the WWII Museum, the Garden District, Treme, a food crawl, and Mardi Gras culture, then adds a genuinely slow final day around City Park before you fly out. Tighter trip? Drop to 5 or 6 days ; those cover the essentials without City Park.

Book these before you go

Day Focus
Day 1 French Quarter, Jackson Square, Preservation Hall
Day 2 WWII Museum, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1
Day 3 Garden District, streetcar, Steamboat Natchez
Day 4 Treme, jazz history, Frenchmen Street
Day 5 Creole food crawl, Marigny, Bywater
Day 6 Mardi Gras culture, Magazine Street, rest
Day 7 City Park, NOMA, slow morning, departure

Day 1: The French Quarter

  • Cafe du Monde from 7:15am (cash only), beignets and cafe au lait, $3.60-5.43 for three, closed by 11pm most nights and midnight Friday-Saturday
  • Jackson Square (free) and St. Louis Cathedral (free, 9:30am-4pm, last entry 3:45pm)
  • Royal Street’s galleries versus Bourbon Street’s bars
  • Evening: Preservation Hall, door-only, no reservations exist, $15-20 standing or $35-50 reserved, cash only, arrive 30-45 minutes early. Check tonight’s lineup at preservationhall.com

Day 2: WWII Museum And The Cemetery

Day 3: Garden District And The Streetcar

  • Ride the St. Charles Streetcar ($1.25, or a $3 day Jazzy Pass) into the Garden District
  • Walk Prytania Street’s mansions, or book the guided walking tour above if you want the history explained rather than guessed at
  • Late afternoon: the Steamboat Natchez jazz cruise booked above, from $43.50 adult

Day 4: Treme And Jazz History

Day 5: Creole Food Crawl, Marigny, Bywater

  • Morning: the French Market for produce, spices, and local goods
  • Gumbo ($8.50-17.50), jambalaya ($12-16.50), and a second po’boy round
  • Afternoon: wander Marigny and Bywater at a slow pace

Day 6: Mardi Gras Culture, Shopping, Rest

  • Morning: Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World near the Convention Center, check current tour times and prices before you go
  • Recall the parade geography: the main Mardi Gras routes run Uptown along St. Charles Avenue and on Canal Street, not through the French Quarter interior
  • Afternoon: further down Magazine Street than Day 3 covered
  • Evening: a spa hour or a slow dinner

Day 7: City Park, NOMA, Slow Morning

  • Morning: City Park, one of the largest urban parks in the US, home to the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) and its Besthoff Sculpture Garden, walk it without a schedule, this is meant to be the easy day
  • If timing allows, catch NOMA’s free Friday evening hours on an earlier day and use this morning purely for the park and the sculpture garden
  • A last coffee and beignet, Morning Call in City Park is the queue-free alternative to Cafe du Monde if you’d rather skip the Jackson Square crowd on your final day
  • Farewell lunch or dinner wherever you never made it to earlier in the week
  • Depart via Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY), budget 25-30 minutes and $35-55 for a rideshare from the French Quarter, more during Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest surge pricing

How much should you budget for a full week in New Orleans? Plan on $100-150 a day for a budget trip, $200-300 mid-range, and $400 or more if you’re doing tasting-menu dinners plus reserved Preservation Hall seating most nights. A week’s worth of streetcar rides is covered by a single $15 five-day Jazzy Pass, cheaper than paying per ride past day three.

Seven days is enough to genuinely live in the city’s rhythm instead of touring it: hit the museum and the cemetery early, save the food crawl and City Park for when the pace naturally wants to slow down, and don’t schedule anything on day seven you’d actually regret missing if you skipped it for a nap instead.