What 1st time visitors to New Orleans need to know

hey there fellow travelers mark here with walters world today we're here in new orleans louisiana what we have for you today are basically things you should know before you come to new orleans so you can have a better time when you're here now we have a lot of other videos out there the don'ts of visiting new orleans the fun culture shocks in new orleans five things you love and hate about new orleans all kinds of stuff like that to help travelers like no more but this video is specifically for just kind of the nuts and bolts mark i don't want the jokes i don't want the stuff i just want to know what do i need to know about coming to new orleans okay so we're going to start with that first thing you probably want to know is mark how do i get into town like how do i get here well you're going to fly into louis armstrong international airport okay it's msy is the code for it because you're going to be flying in i mean pretty much all major carriers do come in here also some of the low-cost carriers do fly into new orleans because this is a big convention city it's a big party city a lot of fun stuff happens here so you can get a lot of flights that come in here also you can take the amtrak train and the amtrak stations downtown so you have that so there's trains and buses to get here but i'm going to focus more on the airport okay so when you fly in what you should know is the airport there is kind of small i found that i don't necessarily need the three hours beforehand to check in to get in through security and stuff like that because it's such a small airport now if you're at mardi gras that's going to be different but it's not as like hustle and bustle and airport that you think would be for such a big city uh so there is that now when you want to come into town from the airport you do have multiple options there's taxis there's public transport there's stuff like that there's lyft and uber those things i would say if it's just you or you and two people you might just want to take a taxi in and there's a taxi stand right when you come out of arrivals and you get your luggage and stuff like that there's taxis right there a lady asks where you're going to go and then she writes down what the price is going to be gives you a map of new orleans right there and puts you in the cab because the rates for the cavs going downtown from the airport it's a set rate okay and when i compared the lift and uber rates to the set rate that the taxis had was basically the same thing okay so i can walk out and just hop right in the taxi or i can try to figure out where to meet my uber driver so i just we've just taken the taxi and to make it easier for ourselves now if you're more than two people what you should know is that set price is you know for one or two people if it's more than that it's like 15 bucks per person okay so then it starts to add up then maybe you want to maybe try the uber or lyft instead okay now if you're looking for transportation around the city because you're going to explore stuff okay and if you're going to come out here to the audubon park or go to the zoo that's out here or go to the garden district you might want to take the street cars that are here there's three main lines you get the saint charles lines street car that's the one that goes the garden district here the audubon park and stuff like that you got the canal line the canal streetcar that goes out of the cemeteries it goes out to the city park you have the river front line they'll go like from jackson square along the riverfront kind of self-explanatory there's also public buses you can use i prefer using the streetcars as a tourist to do that instead of other things so you so you have that but the thing is if it's at nighttime you're going to use lyft and uber don't worry about taxis don't worry about public transportation lift an uber everywhere okay you don't want to have to drive inside of new orleans because driving in new orleans is a pain in the butt especially trying to find parking and if you're going to be getting a hotel you're going to be driving in make sure they have parking and you're gonna have to pay for that extra okay so have a heads up for that one now if you are gonna be using the public transportation i do recommend getting the rta go online app and because that has the maps it tells you where the buses are where the streetcars are stuff like that so you can really know where things are and how long you have to wait and you can buy your tickets through there instead of having to have correct change which you need to have when you buy public transportation so do just get the app to make your life so much easier just i'm here check in you're good to go it just makes life a lot easier it's called the jazzy pass is the day pass you get that one day or three day or week long pass kind of stuff so just get some of those that will be really helpful when you are here now in terms of other stuff so we getting past transportation and getting from the airport you probably know it's mark where should we stay when we're there well the thing is there's a lot of different districts okay if you're going to be in the warehouse district it's kind of by the convention center and and down you know where the cruises come in and stuff like that there's a bunch of chain hotels there you can stay in you know the tall chain hotels you can do that if you want to be more uh near canal street and going into the french quarter if you're right outside the french quarter you have a lot more there's more chain hotels there you can stay at if you want to stay inside the french quarter there's small more boutique hotels and i'm going to tell you staying in the state in the french quarter is extremely loud okay so if you'd like to enjoy sleeping probably don't stay in the french quarter stay right outside you'll be fine or at least stay like a couple blocks off bourbon street to make your life a little bit easier okay now in terms of pricing for hotels i find the price of new orleans to be a little bit above average prices during normal times the year however there's a huge surge in pricing for a hotel accommodation and b b's and stuff like that when it comes to mardi gras okay so if you're gonna be coming for that time expect to pay insane prices all right now when you're coming here another thing people like to ask is like mark you know what about safety i've heard new orleans is a really safe place should i be worried look nora does have issues i'm not gonna lie to you about that but it's not as bad as people talk about all right but having said that some issues i think you'll see you'll see a lot of like beggars and kind of bums and stuff like that on the streets they usually don't bother you they might ask for money like no and they'll usually leave your loan which is nice because i mean i'm doing chicago i'll say no they just keep following you he was like all right you know it's kind of chillax here so you do have that do not leave anything of value if you drive here do not leave anything of value in your car take it with your hotel room or lock it in your trunk or something like that because you don't want to have anything of value in your car that you might want to break in and get that but probably as a tourist especially a male tourist i would say fisticuffs on on bourbon street at night whether people are drinking stuff like that that's actually probably one of the biggest safety things i i would look out for now aside from the chain hotels and the boutique hotels there are actually you know been breakfast that you can stay out here there's you know airbnb kind of things stuff stuff like that you can get those in here plenty of options available so you're okay um the thing is if you're looking at what you should do when you come here you need to realize new orleans got a ton of stuff to do it is not just a french quarter it is a garden district it's got city park you go to swamp tours all kinds of stuff so as a tourist what you should know is you can spend quite a few days here in new orleans and exploring if you're looking for more family-friendly stuff the audubon zoo is really great that's here over there you've got the aquarium of the americas which is nice louisiana children's museum is nice you have the world war ii museum if you're gonna go to one museum when you're here in new orleans that's the museum you go to it is amazing it's very moving as well just to give you the heads up for that uh and it's a little pricey and the line can be long but it's worth it also if you want to see some mardi gras stuff there's mardi gras museums to check out those things but one of the things i really love when i come here is to walk around and take in the architecture so you might do go to the garden district and walk around there and see the buildings or take a tour when you're there or maybe take a walking tour when you're in the french court to see all the architecture that's there going to the st louis cathedral jackson square stuff like that you have those things there's a lot of really nice stuff to see and do you got the voodoo tours you got the the cemeteries which are above ground there's all kinds of really cool stuff to see so you have plenty of things to see and do when you are here and if you want to get out i'm feeling for like some day trip kind of stuff getting to baton rouge isn't too far off you want to go see where lsu is and stuff like that or if you want to take a swamp tour and go on like on the the fan boats or a pontoon boat and see some alligators you can do those things no problem all right now next day people ask is mark when should i go to new orleans well there's kind of three times i recommend not going to new orleans one and two are july well one is july and two is august because it's so hot and so humid here at those times you're just gonna be miserable and with the bugs and stuff like that it should just don't don't just don't okay you can come the rest of the year like september through you know early june feel free to come but man july and august i do not recommend coming the other time i don't recommend coming if you're not going to go to enjoy the mardi gras festivities don't come to new orleans during mardi gras if you don't want to kind of partake in those things all right but just also you should realize that mardi gras is not just you know craziness it's actually a family affair here so you have lots of kids around and stuff like that so there is that now if you're looking at food when you come here tons and tons of food here i have a video like the five best things to eat here in new orleans and there's so much to you know you have the gumbo and the crawfish at toufete you've got oysters and charred grilled oysters oysters on the half shell oyster po boy oh my gosh they're so good so many great things to eat here to drinks of course you can have the hurricane which is you know they're like oh it's touristy you know it's fruity it's good there's that you can have a little bit of fancy or drink this from here the sazerac heck you have barks root beer that's from here there's those things they have local beers dixie beer and a pizza beer two ones you should try dixie is more of like a traditional kind of pizza lager kind of beer and then a pizza has a bunch of different beers you can try i like their amber one personally you have that oh when you're here one thing i recommend they're gonna give you water and all the restaurants you go to but if they don't just ask for it and just keep keep hydrating because it's so hot here in the summer and even other times of year with the humidity you need to stay hydrated especially drinking alcohol you want to make sure you're still drinking you know water and stuff like that now in terms of times one thing i would say is the french quarter is family friendly until about four o'clock in the afternoon that's what a lot of the museums start to close and the sites start to close it's kind of like no between four and five is that transition period in the french quarter where it goes from family friendly to party time okay so you have that now when you are here and if you do want to go out there's going to be a ton of live music you do not have to pay a cover charge for live music on bourbon street which is great there's a bunch of different options out there if you want 70s and 80s rock that's what i go listen to once we get this to rock box you know fat cats quite often um if you want like more hip-hop stuff they have that if you want zydeco they have that too so there's all kinds of great music to have when you're here and the thing is you'll see people playing on the streets okay and one thing i'd say is you're gonna take pictures and videos of the kids playing the drums or people playing music you might want to tip them just in case for that but sometimes people just walk around a little mini parade kind of thing you know playing their music and stuff like that it is really cool okay now if you want to do tours there are plenty of agencies around town that will sign you up for tours i usually recommend going through your hotel because if something goes wrong you can complain to your hotel because you're spending a lot of money there so they're probably gonna make sure you don't get screwed over but i don't really think you're gonna have too much issues with that because one thing you should know here in new orleans the people are super friendly which is awesome so if you have any issues or questions or you're lost don't be ashamed to ask somebody they'll be glad to help okay now some of the things i want to talk about one thing is you can pay with credit card in most places around here but i notice if you're going to go to bars and stuff like that it's i feel it's better to have cash when you are here because things get paid sooner your credit cards away from you less so i would have a heads up for that so do have cash there's plenty of atms around so that's not a problem it just sometimes you're going to feel uncomfortable getting money out of the atm so you might want to go during the day and then some of the banks atms are actually inside the bank not on the outside so you can check out those things for that so i think i should probably wrap things up with one thing you should know and one thing i got to remind you of when you do come here to new orleans time works a bit differently when you are in new orleans it's you know like they say the big easy kind of thing it's more of a big easy take your time kind of stuff so you're going to need patience whether you're waiting in line to get into a restaurant or you're waiting for your drinks or your food or the bill or checking your hotel and things like that you just have to have to take time okay because really everything is everything will get done it just it's not quite island time but it is kind of a little bit slower here so do have patience when you do come here so i just want to give you that one so i hope this helps you know a little bit more about what to know before you come to new orleans if you want to learn more like i said the dunks shocks love and hates five things to eat the streetcar stuff we got tons and tons of videos on new orleans because we really love coming here and so we love sharing this with our tourists when they come here they can enjoy it as well so big thank you for watching if you want to learn more we're on twitter facebook instagram youtube pinterest and we really appreciate your likes and subscriptions if you do click subscribe don't forget to hit that notification bell so every wednesday and saturday you get notified of our new travel videos we put out every week so wish all the best and a big thank you to all of our patrons on patreon who helped make videos like this possible if you want to take part in our patreon go to patreon.com waltersworld to find out more anyway bye for new orleans

Channel: Wolters World

Views: 212,383

Keywords: travel, europe, wolters world, travel advice, tourist attractions, travel vlogger, honest travel, Walters World

Id: SECRx5SVNnw

Length: 12min 30sec (750 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 09 2021