The Best New Orleans Tours, from Cemeteries to Street Art
One of the many great things about New Orleans is that it’s an eminently explorable city. Much of the downtown was designed in the 18th century, and so the streets lend themselves to walking; unlike most American cities, car travel is often unnecessary. This makes exploring all the Crescent City’s many facets an absolute delight, and there’s a thriving industry of tours in and around the French Quarter and the Garden District to educate you about most of them. Down here, the locals have a love affair with music, food, art, cocktails and tradition year-round, and the menu of tours celebrates all these things with a tangibly New Orleanian flavor.
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This gallery has been updated with new information since its original publish date.
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GettyactivityGarden District/Lafayette Cemetery Tour
Garden District/Lafayette Cemetery Tour$Spend two hours walking around the Garden District and one of NOLA's most grand burial grounds with guides whose love of history and New Orleans' rich culture rings out loud and clear. It's okay to geek out seeing the current and former homes of larger-than-life figures like Trent Reznor, Nicolas Cage, and Anne Rice. History buffs are much better suited for this tour than ghost hunters and Goths.
French Quarter Phantoms: Saints and Sinners TouractivitySaints and Sinners Tour, French Quarter Phantoms
Saints and Sinners Tour, French Quarter PhantomsTour operator French Quarter Phantoms is one of the larger tour options in New Orleans, and this is one of their more niche tours; one that dives into the seedier side of the city’s history in a way that the regular ghost and cemetery tours don’t. Learning the origins of the more hedonistic parts of the French Quarter is an eye-opening part of the experience, from the reason Bourbon Street caters to revelers, to the local burlesque scene, to pirates, corrupt politicians, and other unsavory characters (i.e. the sinners). The saints on this tour are far and few between but include Henriette DeLille, a Black Catholic nun in the 19th century. It’s an eclectic mix, delivered entertainingly and even-handedly.
GettyactivityThe Cocktail Tour – Drink & Learn
The Cocktail Tour – Drink & LearnDrink & Learn, a walking tour, kicks off in a bar in the heart of the French Quarter. Your guide will furnish you with chilled drinks, meant to savor on the route. With the perfect blend of humor and information, Elisabeth, the guide, uses cocktails to talk about the city's history and highlights. Sugar cane, absinthe, bitters: They were all a huge part of the local economy at various times.
GettyactivityLGBT Queer History Tour, No Secrets Tours
LGBT Queer History Tour, No Secrets ToursThis tour of New Orleans' LGBTQ+ history has an average group size of around four people; typically members of the LGBTQ+ community, although it can also be a cross-section of allies, people interested in local history, and those who just want a change of pace from the regular ghost tours. It meets in the middle of the historic French Quarter, just a block or two from Jackson Square, and is led by guides with encyclopedic knowledge of the queer history of New Orleans that weaves into modern day political and social context. It’s queer history, but it’s also a social history of civil rights and changing attitudes in the city and in the United States, from Stonewall-era NOLA riots to ‘the closet’ as a Southern phenomenon and queer culture in the city's Mardi Gras celebrations.
GettyactivityNew Orleans City Tour
New Orleans City Tour$Consider this a solid way to see all the best sights in the city. Greatest part: It doesn't just focus on touristy areas like the French Quarter or Jackson Square; it also covers the cold, hard realities of Katrina and shows the current state of the 9th Ward via a 14-seater van that covers an incredible amount of ground over three hours. Only have time for one tour and never been to NOLA before? Make it this one.
Carlos FundoraactivityNew Orleans Street Art & Mural Walk
New Orleans Street Art & Mural WalkAnyone with an interest in art beyond the galleries and museums would love this tour, which demystifies street art and provides meaning to the murals that you’ll see walking around the Marigny neighborhood. There’s around two hours of walking in total, with a bathroom/refreshment break in the middle; comfy shoes are a must. Some tours like this can feel voyeuristic, but the detail and well-informed tour guides here will make you feel like you are being shown a city's ‘behind the scenes.’ It’s even-handed, well-informed, and brings to life the murals and assorted art works with respect paid to various recent current events in New Orleans history. Plus you’re in the fresh air, appreciating striking paintings with fresh eyes.
GettyactivityKillers and Thrillers Ghost Tour, Ghost City Tours
Killers and Thrillers Ghost Tour, Ghost City Tours$This adults-only tour goes deep into the city's most notorious and gruesome crimes. Guides don't go overboard on the drama, but let the history speak for itself. People who enjoy true crime and the darker side of documentaries will find much to unpack on this 90-minute tour that might make you never look at the gorgeous French Quarter in the same way again, from the iconic Pharmacy Museum to more unassuming spots like the Sultan's Palace house on Dauphine Street.
GettyactivityConspiracy in the Big Easy, Strange True Tours
Conspiracy in the Big Easy, Strange True Tours$Lee Harvey Oswald lived in NOLA from April to September of 1963—just before the Kennedy assassination. This tour seeks to uncover just what exactly he was doing in New Orleans over about a mile of walking. People who like to ask questions and never stop learning will appreciate how compelling this tour is. Cynics and the easily bored, though, need not apply. In our opinion, this tour is so thorny and thought-provoking it's best experienced with no expectations at all.
Hermann-Grima House: Urban Enslavement TouractivityHermann-Grima House Urban Enslavement Tour
Hermann-Grima House Urban Enslavement TourThis new offering from the well-established Hermann-Grima House, a historic house museum in the French Quarter of New Orleans, runs five times per day with advance reservations required and group sizes capped. The tour covers the history of rural and urban slavery practices, pairing the general social and political climates of the time with deeply humanizing details of everyday existence in the very house in which the tour takes place. Visitors learn the names of those people that lived here and their familial relationships and roles in the household, and see where people slept and ate. Slavery is presented in all its brutal truth, given its full historical context, and in the end, presented as a lesson for modern day incarceration. The house itself is an interesting example of how the upper classes lived, and it has been well conserved with all the original decadent fixtures and fittings. These, if anything, underline the stark contrast at play during this dark time, and it’s a sobering, impactful tour for anyone.
ComstockactivityNew Orleans Music & Heritage Tour, Abel Tours
New Orleans Music & Heritage Tour, Abel Tours$This is for anyone remotely interested in New Orleans' rich history of jazz, blues, and rock music. The tour starts at Louisiana Music Factory and manages to cram three centuries of musical history into a few hours. Stories include those of the Royal Orleans Hotel—a longtime favorite of Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, and The Grateful Dead—plus key songs shared on a Bluetooth speaker.
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