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Quick answer: If you only have time for one cemetery in New Orleans, do St. Louis No. 1 with a licensed guide (it is the only way you can legally enter, runs about 20 to 30 dollars, and is where Marie Laveau is buried). If you want a free self-guided walk, head to Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 in the Garden District or Metairie Cemetery uptown. Skip the cemetery tours that pile 25 people behind one guide with a microphone. Go with French Quarter Phantoms, Save Our Cemeteries, or Haunted History Tours if you want a guide who actually knows the families buried there. Why cemetery walking tours are a New Orleans thing New Orleans buries above ground because the water table is so high that early coffins literally floated out of the dirt during heavy rain. What started as a…

Quick answer: July in New Orleans is hot, packed with festivals, and locals-only enough to feel real. Essence Festival (the largest African-American culture and music festival in the country) takes over the first weekend. Tales of the Cocktail brings the world’s bartenders. Fireworks on the Mississippi for July 4. The trade-off: it’s brutally humid. Plan morning outdoor / midday indoor / evening outdoor or you’ll wilt. What’s the weather like in New Orleans in July? July averages highs of 91°F and lows of 76°F. Heat index regularly hits 105°F+ in the afternoon. Humidity stays at 75-85%. Daily afternoon thunderstorms (often heavy and short). UV index 10. Sunscreen, hat, water — non-negotiable. Top things to do in New Orleans in July 1. Essence Festival (first weekend) Three-day music and culture festival at the Caesars Superdome and Convention Center. Major Black artists,…

Quick answer: April is the second-best month to visit New Orleans (October is first). Perfect weather, the city’s biggest free festival (French Quarter Festival), the start of Jazz Fest weekend at month’s end, peak crawfish supply, and three Easter parades. April hotel prices are up but not at peak. Pack for warm days and cool evenings. What’s the weather like in New Orleans in April? April averages highs of 78°F and lows of 60°F. Late April starts to feel like summer with humidity climbing. Rain is moderate. UV is high — sunscreen daily. Almost every April day is good for outdoor activity all day. Top things to do in New Orleans in April 1. French Quarter Festival (mid-April) The largest free festival in the South. Four days, 20+ stages of local music throughout the French Quarter, food booths from the…

Quick answer: March is the unsung hero of New Orleans travel months. Mardi Gras has cleared out, the weather is perfect (highs in the 70s), the spring festivals (St. Patrick’s Day, Super Sunday, BUKU) bring real local flavor without convention crowds, and crawfish are at peak supply. If you want NOLA at its best without the Mardi Gras price spike, March is your window. What’s the weather like in New Orleans in March? March averages highs of 71°F and lows of 53°F. Late-month days can hit 80°F. Cold fronts still happen but milder than February. About 5 inches of rain spread across 8-9 days. Comfortable for walking, biking, kayaking, and outdoor festivals. UV climbing — start using sunscreen daily. Top things to do in New Orleans in March 1. St. Patrick’s Day parades (mid-March) New Orleans does St. Patrick’s bigger…

Quick answer: February in New Orleans is Mardi Gras month. The big parades start the second weekend of February and roll nightly through Fat Tuesday. The weather is mild, the city is packed, hotel prices spike for parade weekends, and if you can plan around it, this is one of the most singular travel experiences in the United States. What’s the weather like in New Orleans in February? February averages highs of 65°F and lows of 47°F. Cold fronts can drop overnight lows into the 30s. Daytime is generally mild. Bring layers because parades run in cool evening hours. Top things to do in New Orleans in February 1. Mardi Gras parades (Fat Tuesday is February 17, 2026) Major parades run the 2-3 weekends before Fat Tuesday. Bacchus on Sunday before Mardi Gras. Endymion the Saturday before. Zulu and Rex…

Quick answer: January is one of the most underrated months to visit New Orleans. The weather is cool but not cold, the post-Christmas crowds have thinned, hotel prices drop to their lowest of the year, the early Mardi Gras parades start rolling in mid-January, and the swamp tours are at peak bird-watching season. The trade-off: it’s the wettest month of the year, so pack rain gear. What’s the weather like in New Orleans in January? January averages highs of 62°F and lows of 45°F. Cold fronts can push lows into the 30s for a few nights but rarely lower. Snow is extremely rare (the city averages a snow flurry every 4-5 years, no accumulation). January is the city’s wettest month — about 5 inches of rain spread across roughly 10 days. Pack a rain jacket and a warm layer, but…

Quick answer: October is the best month to visit New Orleans, full stop. The weather drops to perfect highs in the high 70s-low 80s, the Halloween season turns the city into a month-long event, the Voodoo Festival brings the music, and post-summer crowds haven’t returned yet. If you can only pick one month, pick this one. What’s the weather like in New Orleans in October? October averages highs of 80°F and lows of 60°F. Humidity drops noticeably from September. The first cool front usually arrives mid-month — the day everyone notices the air feels different. Rain is less common than summer. UV is moderate. This is the only month you can comfortably do a full day outdoors without melting. Top things to do in New Orleans in October 1. Halloween in the French Quarter New Orleans does Halloween bigger than…

Quick answer: June in New Orleans is hot, humid, and surprisingly underrated. Hotel prices drop after Memorial Day before climbing again for July 4. The Creole Tomato Festival, NOLA Caribbean Festival, and Pride Month parades make it a strong festival month. Swamp tours are still excellent if you go in the morning. Skip the Quarter at 2 PM (you’ll bake), and plan around afternoon thunderstorms. What’s the weather like in New Orleans in June? June averages highs of 89°F and lows of 73°F, with humidity often above 75%. Daily afternoon thunderstorms are typical and usually clear within an hour. Expect at least one tropical disturbance per month — they rarely amount to anything in June but watch the forecast. UV index runs 9-10 (very high). You’ll want morning activity, an indoor break midday, and outdoor again after 5 PM. Top…

Quick answer: May is one of the two best months to visit New Orleans (October is the other). The weather is in the 80s, the late-spring festivals (Jazz Fest, Bayou Boogaloo, Greek Festival) are running, the swamp tours are at peak wildlife visibility before the worst summer humidity hits, and the crowds are still smaller than peak summer. Avoid the second weekend of May if you don’t want Jazz Fest crowds; book Jazz Fest weekend if you do. What’s the weather like in New Orleans in May? May in New Orleans averages highs of 84°F and lows of 67°F. Humidity climbs through the month; early May feels comfortable, late May starts to feel like summer. Rain is common but usually short — afternoon thunderstorms develop and clear within an hour. Pack a light umbrella, sunscreen, and one light layer for…

Quick answer: The best haunted walking tour in New Orleans is one led by a guide who knows the actual documented history — yellow fever, Lalaurie, the Sultan’s Palace, slavery — and tells it straight. French Quarter Phantoms, Haunted History Tours, and Free Tours by Foot are the three operators most consistently rated for substance over theater. Skip anything that hands you EMF readers or stages “ghost photography” moments. The real story is darker than that and doesn’t need help. New Orleans is the most haunted city in America by most measures, and not by accident. The yellow fever epidemics of the 1800s killed more than 41,000 people in some single seasons. The slave trade ran out of the French Quarter for over a century. The Spanish-era torture chambers, the Civil War occupation, the orphanages destroyed by disease — all…

Quick answer: The best walking tour for most first-time visitors is a French Quarter history walk (1.5-2 hours, $25-35). For something darker, take a haunted history walking tour after sundown. For self-guided travelers, the Garden District + Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 loop is free and well-marked. Skip anything that promises to fit “the entire French Quarter” into 90 minutes — you’ll get bus-tour pacing on foot. Most visitors discover too late that New Orleans is built for walking, not driving. The French Quarter is 13 by 6 blocks and you can cover it in a day. The Garden District is even more compact. A good walking tour is the highest-bang-for-buck way to see both neighborhoods, and the price (typically $25-45) is a fraction of any bus or boat tour. The 5 kinds of New Orleans walking tour Tour type Best…

Quick answer: Manchac Swamp is a 1,000-acre cypress-tupelo wetland 45 minutes northwest of New Orleans, between Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas. It’s where most of the iconic “Louisiana swamp” footage you’ve seen on TV was filmed. You can visit it by kayak (most authentic), by pontoon (family-friendly), or by airboat (loud, fast). Best months are April-May and September-October. We’ve been guiding paddlers through Manchac since 2014. Where is Manchac Swamp? Manchac Swamp sits in St. John the Baptist and Tangipahoa Parishes, between the towns of LaPlace and Ponchatoula, hugging Pass Manchac which connects Lake Pontchartrain to Lake Maurepas. It’s about 45 miles from downtown New Orleans on I-55 — roughly a 45-50 minute drive depending on traffic. The full Manchac Wildlife Management Area covers about 8,300 acres of cypress-tupelo swamp, freshwater marsh, and bayou. It’s one of the largest contiguous…