New Orleans Travel Diary: Living up Mardi Gras

After a few days of catching up on sleep, I finally rolled my lazy butt out of bed and got to writing. Finally ready to share my travel diary for Mardi Gras in New Orleans and all the things you can do. This would be my second time in New Orleans and my first Mardi Gras. I was a little nervous, but so excited to escape work for a few days.

If you aren’t familiar with Mardi Gras, it’s a series of celebrations condensed mostly within two weeks in February before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, and symbolizes eating richer and being more indulgent before Ash Wednesday or when Lent finally starts. But of course, leave it up to Louisiana to make it an incredible over the top celebration and indulgent is just putting it lightly.

Walking through the French Quarters in the morning

We spent two full days exploring the city, eating our way through it, watching parades, and ending the night with hand grenades and dancing. Here are some things you need to know before heading to NOLA for Mardi Gras:

What to Wear

Unless you are going all out in a badass costume, go with comfy-casual. Especially for a trip for an event like Mardi Gras or any large festival, you do a lot of walking. Pack your beat up pair of comfy shoes you don’t mind getting dirty. Walking through the French Quarter and/or Bourbon Street at night is not where you want to wear your finest. I lived in shorts, t-shirts and sneakers for most of it. Of course, if you plan on visiting a few nicer restaurants and want to dress up, pack accordingly. But my friends and I mostly lived in comfortable clothing.

Key Essentials to Bring:

• Mini-portable charger: Total must!! As many photos and snaps you’ll be taking, a dead phone is the worse. Plus, if you get lost or separated, being stranded in a new city isn’t ideal.
• Cash, cards, ID. Duh.
• Cross-body purse. Ladies, you’re not going to want to carry a ton on you and you aren’t going to want to carry a clutch or chunky purse in the crowded streets either. Get a small cross body purse and keep it in front of you. I warned about pick-pockets more than once before my trip.
• Hand sanitizer. Because good hygiene is always key.
• This isn’t an item, but having Lyft or Uber on your phone is always key.

Now that you know what to bring and a little of what to expect, I’ll dive into some of the things you can do in New Orleans. We checked into our AirBnb on Monday and were ready to hit the streets.

We spent most of the day walking around the French Quarter, eating our way through the city (which I’ll share all about in a separate post), and being tourists. Even in the early morning, it’s already hustling and bustling and people are out in costumed. Pretty cool to see. We ran into an acapella group and they sang for us!

French Quarter

The French Quarter is the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans and there are so many unique and beautiful buildings that give the city so much character. There’s so much history here! You should definitely take a walk through the quarter. It’s definitely a main tourist spot, but there are plenty of shops and restaurants.

Even in the morning, once you get to the center of it all, it’s already busy. We loved seeing all the fun costumes. The energy is vibrant and you know everyone is here to have a good time. Of course, if you want to start drinking early, you can walk and sip with your beverage of choice. The daiquiris are delicious.

Jackson Square

After a quick lunch, we walked toward Jackson Square. It’s a cool touristy spot. You’ll see artists selling their paintings or knick knacks, street shows, musicians, and people from all over the world. I once saw a really bad ass violinist playing covers of Coldplay and other big hits. It was the coolest thing.

The cathedral is a popular landmark and there are tons going on around the square. We took a quick break and just people watched.

One of our friends was actually a volunteer in a street show! See below. He’s the dude in the red shirt. The performers asked a number of people where they were from. Many hailed from Australia, London, Alaska, and other different states and countries. It was so cool.

And of course, this is where the famous Cafe du Monde is for those delicious beignets. There’s usually a huge line during the day. It’s open 24 hours so go during the off hours like around dinner time or as a late night snack when no one is in the mood for coffee and sweets. We lucked out and got our fix around noon when there was no line. Insane!

Mardi Gras Parades

There are multiple parades that happen almost daily and they definitely stop traffic. We caught the main Mardi Gras parade on Canal Street. The procession took almost four hours just to get to where we were. My friend Claire used the Mardi Gras Parade Tracker to check on its status and to help us navigate around the traffic. It goes without saying that driving in the city during Mardi Gras SUCKS. You can be stuck for hours. You’re better off walking as much as possible. That’s where we saw amazing marching bands and beautiful floats that were throwing out beads.

I was right in front and had so much fun watching all the beautifully decorated floats and catching beads, cups, coins, and other prizes. Look at our spoils and I didn’t have to flash for them. Muahaha. As a short person, I got most of mine by seeing what fell on the floor. No luck jumping up for beads. Play to your strengths!

Harrah’s Casino

If you’re in the mood for gambling (and let’s be honest, air conditioning), drop in the Harrahs Casino. It’s right on Canal Street and you can decide to get into some trouble here.

Audobon Aquarium of the America’s

Best photo-bombing moray eels

I love their aquarium. This is a great spot for families and is something to do during the day if you just don’t feel like drinking from sun up to sun down. I went a few years back and you can catch my post for that trip here.

Tour the City

There are tons of attractions and stands everywhere available to book a tour of the swamp, New Orleans, voodoo tours, haunted house tours and more. My friends decided to do a swamp tour and were able to hold baby alligators!

Bourbon Street

The infamous Bourbon Street. It’s complete madness, but a rite of passage for anyone visiting New Orleans. We all dressed pretty casual for the night and started hitting the bars. A hand grenade is a must. It’s sweet and doesn’t taste like much, but it WILL sneak up on you. One was enough for me.

There is a “cover fee” if you want to be on the balconies. You’ll see rachetness at its finest. As a group nearing our 30s, we played it a little safer. Being in an unfamiliar city, no one wanted to be “that guy” who got lost or ended up in jail for being drunk and stupid. Had an amazing time dancing off all the booze on the dance floor. The music was pretty lit.

I was really glad we had a good group with us. There was 7 of us total. It made it feel a little safer in a large group. When you go to Bourbon, just be wary. Have food in your tummy and imbibe safely. I say this since days before I got there, a drunk driver drove a car into a crowd on Bourbon Street and there were a lot of injuries and a couple of casualties. Drink safely guys!!

One of the larger bars, The Beach.

It’s kind of insane some of the sights you’ll see. For full disclosure, you’ll see people passed out on the ground, being carried away, puking, and the occasional naked person. Drinks are relatively cheap, but you cant go wrong with a hand grenade. We went to Pat O’Briens to start, Saints and Sinners, a few more on the way and ended up at the Beach last. Pro tip: don’t buy shots from any of the shot girls in those gross little tubes. There’s no liquor in them and it’s gross. Probably expensive. And gross.

Frenchman Street

Frenchman Street is small bar area where “the locals” frequent. It’s has a more casual Deep Ellum-esque vibe and is a lot more chill than Bourbon Street. We started off one of our nights here with casual beers while listening to some amazing live music before walking over to Bourbon. Frenchman Street is pretty small and spans about 3 blocks. Definitely worth checking out.

Hope you guys enjoyed this New Orleans recap. It was such a blast and something worth checking off your bucket list and who you go with makes all the difference. Couldn’t have asked for a better crew to explore the city. It’s so colorful and has tons of character. I cannot wait to come back and get to know the city even better. I’ll be sharing my food round up later this week. So stay tuned for that!

Did I miss anything? Where should I go on my next visit that is a local’s favorite? Leave me a comment below.