The Essential Neighborhood to Explore in New Orleans

Renowned for its incredible cuisine, vibrant music scene, and stunning architecture, New Orleans is a top destination, especially in the Garden District and other nearby neighborhoods upriver along the Mississippi River.

Famous for its magnificent mansions and oak-lined streets, the Garden District emerged as a residential area in the late 1840s and was officially incorporated into New Orleans in 1852. Just a 15-minute streetcar ride from the French Quarter, this historic district is bounded by Magazine Street to the south, Carondelet Street to the north, Josephine Street to the east, and Delachaise Street to the west, according to the Historic District Landmarks Commission of New Orleans. Yet, the allure of the Garden District spills into neighboring areas upriver like the Irish Channel, the Lower Garden District, and Uptown/Carrollton, home to Audubon Park and Tulane University.

This serves as your comprehensive guide to the finest dining, accommodations, and activities in and around New Orleans’s Garden District.

Activities and Attractions

Uptown offers a plethora of activities for everyone. History enthusiasts will be captivated by the iconic mansions that define the Garden District, while fashion lovers and souvenir seekers can spend hours exploring the boutiques along Magazine Street. Nature lovers, golfers, and families will enjoy the expansive greens of Audubon Park. As night falls, music fans can choose from numerous venues to enjoy jazz, dance to zydeco, and more.

A guided exploration of the Garden District’s historic sites

Take a leisurely walking tour of the Garden District’s historical sites, including Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, the renowned Commander’s Palace restaurant, and the area’s stunning mansions. Architecture enthusiasts will appreciate the diverse styles, such as Greek Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne Victorian. While you can enjoy a self-guided tour at your own pace, joining a group tour with companies like Haunted History Tours or Two Chicks Walking Tours offers deeper insights into notable former residents like Anne Rice and the filming locations for movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Unwind at Audubon Park

Audubon Park spans 340 acres and is located near Tulane University, bordered by the Mississippi River to the south and St. Charles Avenue to the north. Established in the late 19th century, this park features a public golf course, a zoo, and over 1,000 live oaks, some dating back to the French Revolution. Birdwatchers will appreciate the park’s lagoons, which provide a haven for egrets, herons, ibises, and numerous ducks.

Enjoy live music performances

A trip to New Orleans isn’t complete without experiencing live music. Among the many venues in uptown, these three are must-visits:

• Bayou Bar: A cozy, wood-paneled cocktail bar on the ground floor of the Pontchartrain Hotel featuring live jazz five days a week—no cover charge!
• Maple Leaf Bar: A beloved local spot in Carrollton offering live music every day of the week, showcasing blues, funk, R&B, rock, zydeco, jazz, and more.
• Tipitina’s: An iconic live music venue established in 1977 that hosts major touring acts and monthly Cajun dance nights.

Shop along Magazine Street

In search of unique, non-cheesy New Orleans souvenirs? Visit Magazine Street, which boasts a plethora of small local shops. Here are a few highlights:

• DNO Garden District: A gift shop brimming with distinctive New Orleans-themed apparel, art prints, and items like a “More Jazz” baseball cap and tarot-inspired throw blankets.
• Peaches Records: A family-owned record shop since 1975 offering both new and vintage vinyl.
• Pop Culture NOLA: A vibrant boutique owned by a Black woman, featuring colorful clothing and playful beaded accessories.
• Potsalot: A creative studio and showroom showcasing functional ceramics like bread bowls and pitchers.
• Terrance Osborne Gallery: A Black-owned gallery showcasing the vivid, locally inspired works of the namesake artist.
• Trashy Diva Uptown: A women's boutique offering 1940s-inspired clothing in sizes 0 to 24, with new colors and patterns released each month.

Dining and Drinking Guide

Many visitors come to New Orleans with one main intention: to indulge in the city’s culinary delights. While the Garden District is primarily residential and offers only a few dining options within its boundaries, the uptown area is brimming with choices. Here’s a curated selection of beloved neighborhood classics and some exciting new eateries worth exploring.

Casamento’s Restaurant

Renowned as one of the top seafood destinations in New Orleans, Casamento’s is a Magazine Street landmark that has delighted diners for over a century, allowing guests to watch shuckers expertly tackle mountains of oysters right from their tables. Former resident Scott Hocker suggests trying the oyster loaf “undressed,” meaning without the usual lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise typical of a po’boy. “This way, you’re just one step away from bivalve bliss, with only two slices of buttered white ‘pan’ bread and a fantastic fry batter in between,” Hocker explains. “A splash of hot sauce is all you might need, and perhaps a wedge of lemon.” As a family-run establishment, Casamento’s operates on a cash-only basis and is closed during the summer months.

Commander’s Palace

A beloved New Orleans establishment, Commander’s Palace has played a pivotal role in the careers of chefs Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse. This Garden District landmark has been serving Creole classics since 1893, including gumbo, bread pudding soufflé, and turtle soup. On weekends, a jazz trio strolls through the dining area, while the Thursday and Friday lunches are legendary for their 25-cent martini special.

Hansen’s Sno-Bliz

Since 1939, Hansen’s Sno-Bliz has delighted customers with snowballs—cups of finely shaved ice generously topped with a rainbow of sweet flavors. Still family-run today, the shop offers an extensive variety of flavors, from strawberry to ginger cayenne to Thai tea, allowing you to mix and match to your heart's content.

Mister Mao

Opened in 2021, Mister Mao is a self-proclaimed “tropical roadhouse restaurant” situated at the corner of Tchoupitoulas and Jena streets. Chef/owner Sophina Uong, a Cambodian American, and her husband/partner William Greenwell describe their menu as “unapologetically inauthentic.” While they primarily serve dinner from Thursday to Monday, their Sunday brunch is also a highlight, featuring dishes like pani puri filled with potato masala and Louisiana strawberries, crispy lumpia, and creative cocktails such as “Thirsty Sarah” and “Uncle Butthead.”

Molly’s Rise and Shine

Chef Mason Hereford’s Molly’s Rise and Shine is a laid-back breakfast spot on Magazine Street, offering biscuit sandwiches and sides in a dining area adorned with nostalgic ’90s memorabilia. A standout dish is the Grand Slam McMuffin, which features an English muffin topped with sage pork patties, crispy hash browns, griddled onions, and American cheese.

Hereford’s other nearby restaurants are also worth exploring: Turkey and the Wolf offers creative sandwiches like the fried bologna sandwich and collard green melt just a few blocks from Molly’s Rise and Shine, while his latest venture on Magazine Street—the whimsically ’80s-themed Hungry Eyes—marks his first full-service dinner restaurant.

Mosquito Supper Club

Award-winning chef Melissa Martin operates Mosquito Supper Club out of a charming 19th-century house on Dryades Street. Here, Martin offers a multi-course tasting menu from Thursday to Sunday, served at communal tables and featuring local seafood sourced from sustainable fishing practices. Family-style meals may include Brightside oysters, smoked fish dip, crab claws, pickled shrimp, crawfish bisque with stuffed crawfish heads, and stuffed crabs.

Saba

After departing from his namesake restaurant and John Besh’s restaurant group, chef Alon Shaya launched Saba, an Israeli–New Orleans eatery, in mid-2018. It offers natural wines, fluffy pitas fresh from a wood-fired oven, and rich blue crab hummus, among other Israeli delights. The bright dining space on Magazine Street serves dinner from Wednesday to Sunday and lunch from Friday to Sunday.

Accommodation Options

While hotels in the Garden District may not be as centrally located as those near Canal Street, this area is perfect for those looking to escape the hustle and bustle of the French Quarter. Additionally, during Mardi Gras season, you’ll be conveniently close to the parades along St. Charles Avenue. Here are three of Dinogo’s top hotel picks in the Garden District and nearby neighborhoods:

Hotel Saint Vincent

Originally established as an orphanage in 1861, Hotel Saint Vincent was converted into a 75-room hotel in 2021. Now part of the MML Hospitality group led by hotelier Liz Lambert, this hotel is enjoyable year-round, but it particularly embraces the Mardi Gras spirit with its psychedelic marble wallpaper in the rooms, an outdoor pool, and vibrant neon lighting in the exclusive Chapel Club cocktail bar. Conveniently located at the intersection of Magazine and Race streets in the Lower Garden District, it’s just a two-block stroll to St. Charles Avenue.

The Chloe

Housed in a renovated 19th-century mansion right on St. Charles Avenue between Milan and Marengo streets, the Chloe is a 14-room hotel from LeBlanc+Smith, a local group known for its popular restaurants and bars, including Barrel Proof and Sylvain. Its spacious porch and communal areas like the bar and restaurant attract both locals and visitors. The pool offers day passes on a first-come, first-served basis, making it a favored summer hangout.

During a recent visit, Dinogo contributor Kristin Braswell noted that the room decor is “personal in its approach. New Orleans designer Sara Ruffin Costello ensures that every guest finds something to discover or enjoy: a bathroom accessed through a wardrobe, for instance, or a soaking tub framed by a sunlit window.”

The Pontchartrain Hotel

Situated at the intersection of St. Charles Avenue and Josephine Street, the Pontchartrain Hotel has been a host to icons like Frank Sinatra and Truman Capote since its debut in the 1940s. A renovation in 2016 preserved its vintage charm while updating it for the 21st century with 106 rooms adorned in an eclectic blend of European and Caribbean furnishings. The hotel's communal areas are particularly vibrant, drawing in both locals and visitors. The Bayou Bar on the ground floor features live music—without a cover charge—five days a week, while the rooftop bar, Hot Tin, provides sweeping 180-degree views of the downtown skyline.

Reaching the Garden District

The most straightforward—and picturesque—way to arrive at the Garden District is by taking the St. Charles Streetcar line. Departing from the Central Business District, it takes about 15 minutes to reach the eastern edge of the Garden District at St. Charles and Jackson avenues. These iconic green streetcars also stop frequently along the oak-lined St. Charles Avenue, allowing you to hop on and off to explore various attractions mentioned in this guide.

Adults can ride the streetcar for $1.25, payable with exact cash upon boarding or through the Le Pass app from the New Orleans RTA. For those planning to ride multiple times on the streetcars (as well as on buses and ferries), purchasing a Jazzy Pass from the app is advisable for unlimited rides over 1, 3, 7, or 31 days ($3, $8, $15, and $45, respectively).

New Orleans also offers a bike share program known as Blue Bikes, although stations extend only as far west as Louisiana Avenue (the western boundary of the Garden District). You can ride beyond this point—like biking to Audubon Park—but you cannot dock the bikes further uptown than the Garden District.

For a quick journey between locations in New Orleans, Ubers and Lyfts are readily accessible.