My perspective on New Orleans has changed since our family vacation. Before planning our trip I pictured a dark city with mossy trees and old mansions, ghosts, and vampires. My husband was the one who suggested New Orleans, and it is a place I always wanted to visit because I love old mansions, spooky ghost stories, vampire legends, and the South. But, I was not sure if it was the best place for a family vacation. So, began my research on Pinterest and How to Vacation in New Orleans with Kids.
Did you know children live and grow up in New Orleans? Why yes, I’m sure you did know this. New Orleans is full of safe and fun things for your kids to do and see. There are so many things, that we did not even get to make it to all of them!
This blog post is all about my family’s trip to New Orleans with a 5-year-old and a 16-year-old. I’m going to tell you how we saved money and break it down into where we stayed, what we did, and what we ate.
Where We Stayed
As usual, I scoured the internet for the perfect place to stay. From hotels to houses on Air BnB, I searched for the best location and a good deal for my family. There are so many hotels in New Orleans that were in ideal locations in the French Quarter, or near it. I really wanted to stay in the French Quarter in an older hotel, so we could get the feel of old New Orleans and it’s architecture and culture.
One of my biggest issues with the hotels was the high charge for parking. Some were as high as $50 a day. On top of the higher price for one room for the 4 of us. It seemed like too much money to spend. I looked at lots of houses from Air BnB and other similar sites, I found several I really loved, but none that truly fit everything I wanted. I wanted a pool for my kids! Especially my youngest. So, I thought that would mean a hotel or condo.
Finally, I came across Rathbone Mansions. Two old B&B style mansions near the French Quarter. The main house had a pool and hot tub! Gated parking was $20 a night, or you could park on the street for free. Plus, we could rent 2 adjoining rooms. This gave us enough space to spread out and not feel too crowded like we would in a hotel room. The price was cheaper than most of the hotels!
We loved our stay at Rathbone Mansions in the Louise Armstrong rooms. My youngest daughter loved the pool and I loved the hot tub. We were close to the French Quater, but not too close to be near the hustle, bustle, and
What We Did
Gator Tour
We did Cajun Pride Gator Tours on our way from Nottoway Plantation to New Orleans. I booked our tour through Groupon on a recommendation from a New Orleans local. Buy your ticket on Groupon, then call to make your reservation.
We got there about 30 minutes early and a storm was moving in. When we checked in, I asked if they rescheduled tours due to storms and they said not this one, it was still scheduled. I was a little nervous because it was lightning out, but everything was fine. We did get rained on, but the boat had a cover, so we didn’t get wet.
All of us enjoyed the tour. Our tour guide gave us lots of information about the swamps and the history of the area. The swamps went in all different directions and were kind of like wide canals crisscrossing each other. I could see easily getting lost in the swamps.
To get the gators to come to us, our guide would throw out marshmallows and they would glide right up to us. It was pretty cool. None of them were super huge, but they were a good size. We also saw birds and raccoons. The raccoons liked getting marshmallows too. We even got to hold a baby gator.
We were kind of lucky during our tour because the storm and cooler temperatures made for great weather. Louisiana is very humid in the Summer, which is a different type of heat than we have in Oklahoma. It took some getting used to.
Plantation Tours
You can also book a tour from New Orleans and they will come and pick you up and take you to the swamp. Many other tours
Streetcar
After checking into our rooms and settling down a bit, we headed 2 1/2 blocks from our Hotel to the streetcar stop to ride our very first streetcar. We got lucky and didn’t have to wait long to be picked up.
The streetcar costs $1.25 per trip and we needed exact change for the ride. We could also buy day passes and Jazzy passes at several nearby retailers. The streetcars pick up at each stop about every 20 minutes, so sometimes it may be faster to walk if you don’t get to the stop at the right time.
The streetcar was a neat ride and offered a quick and cheap trip across the French Quarter to several different stops. It can be a bit confusing when you get to Canal street and need to figure out which streetcar to get on to reach your destination. We ended up walking most of our trip! Bring comfortable shoes.
Ghost Tour
I booked a ghost tour for my oldest daughter and my husband. It would have have been great to go on the ghost tour, my youngest was not into it, but I knew that my oldest would love it.
We booked the ghost tour through Groupon from a recommendation from a local. She loved (and I think had a little crush) on this tour guide. You can also book your tour through Groupon, just search for “Jonathan Weiss Tours”
I booked the ghost tour for the first night we got to New Orleans. We all walked to the meeting place. We took our first ride on the streetcar, then walked about 6 blocks, heading down Saint Ann and crossing Bourbon Street. It was still daylight, around 7:00 p.m. I will have to say that Saint Ann is the gayest street I’ve ever been down. Lots of gay pride flags and gay couples. I am totally fine with all of this, but I wasn’t expecting that much. At first, I thought all of New Orleans would be like that, but on our way back to our hotel, we found that was not true.
Pool & Hot Tub
If your hotel has a pool or hot tub, this is a great way for the whole family to unwind! My youngest daughter and I were in it every evening. It was so nice and relaxing after our drive to New Orleans, tours, and walking all day.
Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium
As we were walking down Canal street we saw the Audubon Butterfly Garden & Insectarium and decided it would be a fun place to visit. It’s in a federal building, so we had to walk through a metal detector and remove all jewelry and items from our pockets, like at the airport.
The museum is dedicated to insects and also has a few other interesting exhibits, like the Louisiana Swamp. There was a really cool display of ants, kind of like an ant farm between glass. My youngest was pretty fascinated by it and so was I. It was cool to watch the ants carry leaves bigger than them across tiny tree branches and into their home under the ground.
There were a couple of tables that had insects out with an employee explaining the creature, plus you could touch them.
There was a little café with a chef who prepared bugs as food, that you could try for free! If you tried anything, you got a stamp that said: “I ate a bug”. All of us tried the bug cookies. They were really good and you could not tell that they had bugs in them. My youngest (and adventurous) and I tried several other things, like Crispy Cajun Crickets, and Hopp’n Herb dip (which also had crickets). I know it sounds gross, but everything was really good! Plus, it was a fun experience.
I think this is a perfect place to visit with kids in New Orleans!
Mississippi River Boat Tour
After the Audubon tour, we had to walk several blocks to get to the Steamboat Natchez, but luckily it was not far from the museum. There was a long line already waiting to get on the ship, so I was afraid there would not be any tickets. We still had about 30 minutes before the ship tour started. Luckily there was no line at the ticket booth and they had tickets available. I had a coupon in my bag, but could not find it. The ticket lady gave me a discount anyway! I thought that was super nice.
We waited quite a while to board, and just before we got on they take your photo in front of the ship, typical touristy stuff. We went straight to the dining room because we were all starving. It was 2:00 and the bug snacks didn’t fill any of us up. A meal is an option and you get a
Luckily the dining room was not crowded. We had to show everyone our ticket though. LOL! From going into the dining room to the buffet, and drinks. Everyone needed to see our tickets. There was quite a bit of food to choose from; southern fried fish, baked chicken, jambalaya, salad, red beans and rice, bread, and bread pudding. Everything was really good and it was nice to fill our bellies! We also got to enjoy live jazz music, which my oldest daughter really liked.
After
Both girls really liked the Steamboat Natchez, so I recommend it if you are traveling with children.
Mardi Gras World
We called the Mardi Gras World shuttle to pick us up, unfortunately, they did not pick up at our hotel. We had to go to another hotel which was quite a walk away. I think over 10 blocks, I don’t really remember. We walked to the
Mardi Gras World is in a warehouse and it is where they build a majority of floats for Mardi Gras. We started in a nice air-conditioned gift shop, then moved into a small theatre. They had some Mardi Gras clothes that you could try on for fun and take your own pics. So of course both girls did that.
We watched a movie about Mardi Gras and it provided a lot of information I did not know. They have these teams called Krews and they are groups of people who pay a fee to be on the Krew. Their fees vary from $100 to tens of thousands of dollars! The Krews fees pay for the Mardi Gras floats, plus parties and other things.
Mardi Gras has a theme every year and there is more than just one parade. They have parades all over throughout the Mardi Gras week. Some parades are not in New Orleans. They don’t just throw beads at Mardi Gras, they also throw “throws”. The Krew members that ride the floats throw special trinkets. Sometimes, something simple such as a cup or something more elaborate is made by the Krew member.
Our tour went through a large warehouse that held past floats and floats being created. It was pretty hot in there, and they only had industrial fans to cool off. They recycle old floats and turn them into new ones. There were some amazing floats!
We went into another warehouse and the interior here was air-conditioned. It was set up like the outside of a plantation. With a garden, a river-like area, and the front of a plantation. Behind the front of the plantation was the rest of the warehouse. It was pretty neat. After our tour, we got back on the shuttle and our driver dropped us off near a restaurant that was on the route.
My youngest was not thrilled with this tour. Some 5-year-olds may enjoy it, but she wasn’t that into it. This may be a better spot for older kids. I know my oldest liked it, especially the artwork that goes into the floats.
Audubon Aquarium
The Audubon Aquarium is the perfect place to take the kids! They have lots of sea creatures at the aquarium, including a Gulf of Mexico exhibit. My daughter really liked the sharks! We got to see a little sea otter performance that was super cute. The penguins are so fun to watch. We also got to pet stingrays, which was cool. They weren’t super easy to pet, sometimes they would avoid our hands. But we managed to pet a couple of them. My youngest was a little bit jumpy, but she touched a couple of them.
This was a perfect spot to visit with our youngest. She really had a good time.
If you also add the Audubon Zoo to your trip, you can get a good deal for all three of the Audubon attractions if you buy your tickets together. I had a coupon for the Insectarium and got into the Aquarium for free from a friend’s guest pass. We skipped the zoo because of the humidity. We weren’t sure we would enjoy it and wondered if the animals would even be out.
Shop, Walk, and Explore
We spent a lot of time walking! I wish I would have tracked all the miles we walked. We explored all over the French Quarter and also did a lot of walking in the Garden District. My family and I did lots of window shopping in the little shops in both areas. We also shopped at the Riverwalk Outlet Mall.
There were so many more things we could have done as a family, but we ran out of time. Which just gives us an excuse to go back again someday.
Where We Ate
Everyone in my family loves seafood, so Lousiana was a dream come true in food choices. Every single restaurant we ate at was recommended by locals, except for Cafe Du Monde, I just wanted to see what the fuss was all about!
Cafe Du Monde. We made our way to Cafe Du Monde late in the afternoon. My husband was not hungry, but we were close by and I wasn’t sure if we would be again, so I wanted to try the famous New Orleans donuts, beignets. I want to give you a little tip about Cafe Du Monde, they have a take-out window at the back of the restaurant, which did not have a line! So, if you just want to try the beignets and coffee and don’t care about sitting down, this is perfect. Bring cash though, because they only take cash at the take-out window. We really enjoyed the beignets, to me, they tasted a lot like funnel cakes.
CC’s Coffee House. We stopped by this coffee shop because my husband and oldest daughter went there with the Ghost Tour and got coffee and really liked it. So we all got an iced coffee drink and loved it! It was a nice jolt of caffeine and cool sweetness. Plus the staff was super nice and they both remembered my husband and daughter from the night before.
Johnny’s Po Boys. This is a cash-only restaurant with limited seating and was recommended by our Mardi Gras World shuttle driver. We showed up well after 1:00 p.m. there was a line and it was pretty crowded. We ended up finding seating in the back. The Po Boys are huge and you can easily share one. We ordered two, a shrimp Po Boy and a crawfish Po Boy, they were both amazing! I love how my youngest daughter was so willing to try anything! She is so adventurous.
Bakery Bar. A local woman who is a friend of a friend took us to the Bakery Bar. It is not a place you can walk to from the French Quarter like most of the places we ate. They serve these amazing cakes called Doberge. We all got a piece of this delicious cake with 6 to 8 layers, each layer separated by flavored custard/fondant (I’m not really sure what it was). Since we all got a different flavor, we tried each other’s cake. They were all delicious! The Bar serves lots of other delicious-looking food and alcoholic drinks, but we only came for the cake and walked away happy with full bellies.
The Gumbo Shop. If you want the best Gumbo, go to the Gumbo Shop. I ordered the seafood okra gumbo and it was amazing! The Gumbo Shop is located in the French Quarter and was recommended by our local friend. My husband ordered something that a neighboring table was having because he thought it looked good. It was the Complet Creole Dinner, but I don’t remember what items he chose for his plate. I do know that he ate everything on his plate and loved it.
Surrey’s Cafe and Juice Bar. Our local friend bragged about Surrey’s breakfast so much, we decided to try it. Surrey’s is in the Garden District, so we took an Uber. The Cafe is pretty small and eclectic, hidden among mansions on Magazine street. Surrey’s serves lots of varieties of fresh organic juice, so of course, we all ordered juice. My oldest and I ordered shrimp and grits because our friend bragged about how great it was. She was not wrong, it was so delicious! My youngest ordered a pancake and it was huge! My husband ordered French toast. Everything was so good! I would highly recommend breakfast at Surrey’s. Hopefully, your Uber driver will find it much easier than ours did.
Conclusion
Don’t be afraid to take your kids to New Orleans. There are so many great things for the whole family to experience. The food was amazing and I am so glad my kids got to enjoy it! I love the cultural differences of the area and exposing my children and myself to those experiences.
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