New Orleans has a reputation that makes parents hesitate, and it is a wonderful city for kids. There is music on the street corners, a streetcar that costs pennies, doughnuts covered in sugar for breakfast and a zoo in a park of live oaks. The trick is to stay a few blocks from Bourbon Street and do the Quarter by day.
The French Quarter
Cafe du Monde for beignets and chicory coffee, with the sugar all over everyone. Jackson Square with the artists, the tarot readers and the street bands, and the cathedral to peek into. The French Market for a pralines stop. The riverfront for the steamboat Natchez, which has a calliope playing before it leaves. The Cabildo for the Louisiana Purchase story for older kids. Royal Street for the antique shops and the buskers. Bourbon Street is fine to walk in the morning and a place to avoid after dark.
Streetcars
The St Charles line runs from Canal Street through the Garden District under the oaks to Audubon Park and it is the best ride in the city for a dollar and change. Get off at Washington Avenue for the Garden District houses and Lafayette Cemetery, and ride to the end for the zoo.
Audubon
The zoo in Audubon Park has a Louisiana swamp exhibit with white alligators, and the park has a playground and a lagoon. The aquarium on the riverfront has a Gulf of Mexico tank and penguins. The Insectarium is in the same building now and kids get to eat a bug. Combo tickets cover all three.
City Park
Bigger than Central Park, with the Carousel Gardens amusement park, Storyland with fairy tale sculptures to climb, a sculpture garden, the Morning Call cafe for more beignets and the biggest oak trees in the city. The Louisiana Children’s Museum moved here and it is excellent for the under tens.
Older kids
The National World War II Museum is one of the best museums in the country and holds a teenager for a full day. The Mardi Gras World warehouse shows the floats being built. A swamp tour outside the city with alligators alongside the boat is the excursion everyone books.
Food
Gumbo, jambalaya and po boys are all kid friendly. Red beans and rice on Mondays. Snowballs from Hansen’s in summer. Every restaurant will do a plain version of something.
Where to stay
The lower Quarter near Esplanade, the Warehouse District near the museums, or the Garden District on the streetcar line. Skip anything on or near Bourbon. Spring and fall are the seasons. Mardi Gras is a family event on the parade routes uptown, and every kid should catch beads once.
Planning Louisiana with kids? Start with the full Louisiana family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.
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