Destinations / Louisiana
New Orleans
MSYThe cheapest big weekend in America, and the hardest one to survive intact.
Get what everyone owes, paste it in the group chat.
The verdict
New Orleans is the value play. You can eat the best meal of your year for $60, drink on the street legally, and stay in a French Quarter house for less than a Miami hotel room. The city does not require a plan, which is exactly right for a group that will not follow one. If your budget is under $1,000 a head and you still want the weekend to feel like something, book this.
It is wrong for a group with a fragile member. There is no natural stopping point in this city, Bourbon Street will absolutely eat a guy alive, and there is no pool to recover at. It is also wrong August through September: 95 degrees, total humidity, and hurricane season sitting on your deposit.
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Where to stay
A Marigny or Bywater double shotgun
Ten minutes' walk to Frenchmen Street, quiet enough to sleep, and half the price of the Quarter.
Book itHotel Monteleone
Royal Street, the Carousel Bar downstairs, and enough grandeur that the group behaves for one drink.
Book itThe Old No. 77 Hotel, Warehouse District
Six blocks off the Quarter, cheaper, and closer to the good restaurants than Bourbon is.
Book itGet the New Orleans blueprint
Worth timing the trip around
The things that come back every year and change the price of the weekend. Pick your dates around one of these on purpose.
Jazz Fest
Two weekends at the Fair Grounds, and the city plays music everywhere else at the same time. Beds get expensive and scarce, so decide six months out.
French Quarter Fest
Free, better run than Jazz Fest, half the crowd, and all of it walkable from the Quarter. The smart pick if you want the music without the ticket price.
Mardi Gras
Not a weekend, a season, peaking the two weeks before Ash Wednesday. If your group has never done it, do it once. If anyone in the group is fragile, do not.
On the water
Prices checked September 2026
The water here is swamp and marsh, not beach. Nobody is swimming. What you get instead is the best half day activity in the city and redfish that pull harder than anything you have caught in a lake.
Redfish charter out of Hopedale or Delacroix
Forty five minutes from the Quarter, sight casting in a foot of water, and two boats covers eight guys.
Book itAirboat swamp tour in Jean Lafitte
Ninety minutes, loud, alligators, and it costs less per head than a round of drinks on Bourbon.
Book itSteamboat Natchez evening cruise
Two hours on the Mississippi with a jazz band and a bar. The one calm night of the trip.
$58, or $107.50 with dinner · 3 hours · 10 plus get 10 percent off
Book itWhat else to do
Prices checked September 2026
Cochon Butcher for lunch
Warehouse District, no reservation needed, and the best $22 you spend all weekend.
$20 to $30 a head · about 1 hour · no reservations, counter service
Book itCemetery and voodoo history walk
Two hours, genuinely interesting, and it gets everyone vertical before noon.
from $29 a head · about 1 hour · book ahead, 20 a tour max
Book itSaints game at the Caesars Superdome
Loudest indoor stadium in the league and a fifteen minute walk from the Quarter.
$40 to $120 a head on resale · about 3 hours · buy weeks out
Book itDinner at Herbsaint or Peche
Book one real dinner for eight at 8pm on Friday. It anchors the whole weekend.
$80 to $120 a head · about 2 hours · 11 plus is semi private dining
Book itCooking class in the Quarter
Three hours, gumbo, and every group is surprised by how much they liked it.
$40 to $45 a head, demo class · 2 to 2.5 hours · hands on caps at 10, demo fits 12
Book itAlso worth doing
Frenchmen Street, not Bourbon
Three blocks of real live music where locals actually go. The Spotted Cat first.
Streetcar up St. Charles to the Columns
Ninety minutes round trip, $3, porch drinking at the far end.
Tours and activities in New Orleans sell out for groups, so book the ones you care about before you fly.
Browse New Orleans on ViatorGetting around
No car. Parking in the Quarter is $45 a night and there is nowhere you need to drive. MSY to downtown is 25 minutes and about $40. Charter days come with a meeting point out in St. Bernard Parish, so book the captain's shuttle or take two rideshares.
The one thing people screw up
Everyone assumes the fishing charter leaves from the city, then finds out at 3am that the boat launches in Hopedale, 45 minutes southeast, at 6am, with no rideshare coverage out there for the return. Book the charter for a morning after a deliberately quiet night, and arrange the ride both directions when you book the boat.
Cost per head, 3 nights, no flights
Per head, based on eight guys on a three night trip. It is a range because a trip is a range.
| Category | Per head |
|---|---|
| Lodging | $270 to $500 |
| Activities | $150 to $400 |
| Food and drink | $300 to $650 |
| Transport | $60 to $120 |
| Total | $717 to $1,233 |
Planning New Orleans?
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If not New Orleans
Nashville
The strip everyone goes to, and how not to spend the whole weekend on it.
Charleston
The grown-up version of this trip. Golf, boats and the best food per dollar in the country.
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