French Quarter
The oldest neighborhood, more residential than its reputation suggests if you know where to walk.
Most visitors experience six blocks of the French Quarter — Bourbon between Canal and St. Ann — and form opinions about the other 72 blocks based on those six. This is a mistake. The Quarter is a living residential neighborhood, and the parts that are not Bourbon Street are some of the most beautiful urban fabric in North America.
Walk Royal Street for galleries and antique shops. Chartres for hotels and the Old Ursuline Convent. The lower Quarter — below Esplanade is technically the Marigny, but the lower blocks of the Quarter (Barracks, Governor Nicholls, Esplanade) are quiet, residential, and full of the architectural details that make the neighborhood famous.
Mornings are the secret. The Quarter at 8am, before the first daiquiri shop opens, is a different city. Coffee at Croissant d'Or, a walk down Royal, the cathedral bells at 9. This is when people who live here remember why they live here.