Free Walking Tour New Orleans: Quarter, Tombs and Jazz

Six Stops in New Orleans, One by One

1. 1

   Jackson Square

   

   You start where New Orleans itself started. Under the French this was the Place d'Armes, the weapons square, and under Spanish rule the Plaza de Armas, both names for a military parade ground. Today it is a park roughly the size of a city block, and in the middle Andrew Jackson rears up on horseback. Clark Mills' equestrian statue went up in 1856, a recasting of his statue of Jackson in Washington, D.C., honoring the man credited with winning the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 who later became the seventh president of the United States.

   Look at the details around you, because much of it is original. The iron fences, the walkways, the benches and the Parisian-style planting go back to 1851 and the design of Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba. She also built the Pontalba Buildings that flank the square on two sides, so one woman shaped most of what frames your view here. The park layout itself is credited to architect Louis H. Pilié.

   Then find the flagpole. It recalls 1803, when Louisiana passed in ceremonial transfers from Spain to France and, weeks later, from France to the United States under the Louisiana Purchase. That handover is why the square became a National Historic Landmark in 1960, and in 2012 it was named one of the Great Public Spaces in the United States. The church and the Cabildo, the old town hall, are Spanish rebuilds after the Great New Orleans Fire of 1788; the church became a cathedral in 1793.

   The traffic-free calm is newer than it looks: Chartres, St. Peter and St. Ann streets were closed to cars only in 1971, after the WPA had already freshened facades and gardens in the 1930s. The square is free. From here it is 380 m, 5 min, through the heart of the French Quarter to Bourbon Street.

   Hours

   Daily 8:00–18:00 (winter), Daily 8:00–19:00 (Daylight Saving Time)

   Price

   Free

   Website

   nola.gov ↗

   Location

   Jackson Square on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Bourbon Street

   

   Bourbon Street runs twelve blocks from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue and draws millions of visitors a year with its bars, restaurants and strip clubs. But look past the neon at the street plan itself. In 1721 the French engineer Adrien de Pauger laid out the city's grid and named its streets after French royal houses and Catholic saints. This one honored the ruling House of Bourbon.

   Now the twist worth knowing: the buildings around you are mostly not French. New Orleans passed to Spain in 1763 after the Seven Years' War, and the Great Fire of 1788 destroyed 80 percent of the city. The Spanish rebuilt, and many of those structures still stand, so the so-called French Quarter shows more Spanish than French influence. Watch the balconies and courtyard entrances with that in mind and the street reads differently.

   After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 the Americans translated the street names, and Rue Bourbon became Bourbon Street. In the 19th century sugar and tobacco money made New Orleans the third largest metropolis in the country by 1840, with the nation's second busiest port after New York. Its French and Spanish heritage set it apart from other Southern cities, and promoters soon sold exactly that, the architecture, food and traditions, to visitors. You are walking through the result.

   After Hurricane Katrina in 2005 visitor numbers fell and took about a decade to recover. The street is free and always open. Brennan's is 290 m away, 4 min, and its founder's story begins right here on Bourbon Street.

   Hours

   Always open

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Bourbon Street on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Brennan's

   

   Brennan's is a Creole restaurant, and its story is a very New Orleans one. Owen Edward Brennan Sr., eldest of six children, started working young to support his family. In 1943 he bought the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street and became known across the city as a host who made people feel welcome.

   In July 1946, spurred by a friend's challenge, he opened Owen Brennan's French & Creole Restaurant, better known as the Vieux Carre, and staffed it with family. It was there that Bananas Foster was created, the dessert most people associate with the name Brennan. In 1954 his landlord demanded half the restaurant's profits at lease renewal. Brennan refused, moved to Royal Street and converted an old building into the restaurant you see now.

   He never saw it open. Brennan died in his sleep of a heart attack on November 4, 1955, at forty-five, and the restaurant opened the following spring, carried on by his sons. He left another legacy too: in 1949 he founded the Krewe of Bacchus, because he saw that tourists arriving for Mardi Gras were shut out of Carnival balls reserved for local society. He held Bacchus balls in 1949 and 1950 so visitors had a party of their own.

   Is it worth going in? If Creole dining is part of your trip, yes; Brennan's serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the bar and courtyard are open through the day if you just want a drink and a look. Otherwise admire it from outside and keep walking: St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is 520 m away, 8 min.

   Hours

   Mon–Fri: Breakfast/Lunch 9:00–14:00, Dinner 18:00–22:00, Roost Bar & Courtyard 9:00–22:00 (Happy Hour 14:00–18:00); Sat–Sun: Breakfast/Lunch 8:00–14:00, Dinner 18:00–22:00, Roost Bar & Courtyard 8:00–22:00

   Price

   Dining à la carte (appetizers $13-$22, entrées $36-$120) or multi-course menus ($80)

   Website

   brennansneworleans.com ↗

   Location

   Brennan's on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

   

   This is the stop that rewards planning. St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is closed to self-guided visitors: there is no casual gate, and you cannot walk in alone. Since 2015 solo visitors have been turned away under a policy to protect the site from vandalism, which made the whole cemetery guided only.

   Entry runs exclusively through official licensed tours booked via New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries or Basin St. Station. Tours leave from the Basin St. Station Visitor Information Center on Basin Street, depart frequently through the day, and there are select night tours as well. The real constraint is booking, not timing, so reserve before you arrive and build the slot into your walk.

   Who should pay? Anyone curious about how New Orleans honors its dead: this is the one stop on the route where the ticket decides whether the stop exists for you at all. Without a booking you have walked to a gate. From here the longest leg begins, 4,970 m and 70 min to Frenchmen Street.

   Local name

   Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1

   Hours

   Daily tours 9:00–16:00 (departures every 15 minutes; select night tours 19:00–21:00)

   Price

   Walking tour from $29 adults, $22 children (ages 3-12), free for children 2 and under

   Location

   St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Frenchmen Street

   

   Frenchmen Street is where locals went when Bourbon Street became a tourist stage. Its best-known stretch, about three blocks in the Faubourg Marigny, has grown since the 1980s into a cluster of live-music venues aimed at authentic New Orleans music and food rather than spectacle.

   The name carries a grim story. It honors six Frenchmen executed after leading an uprising when France ceded Louisiana to Spain following the Seven Years' War. The neighborhood around you was once the plantation of Bernard de Marigny, a wealthy Creole political leader, who in 1806 cut his land into lots for houses. Many of the homes you pass date from the 19th century.

   The ground here is among the highest in the city, and in 2005 Frenchmen Street came through Hurricane Katrina relatively unscathed. During the recovery the city made it an official arts and entertainment district, and it filled with people who had come to help rebuild and with visitors looking for real local music. If you know the HBO series Treme, you have seen it on screen.

   The street is free and always open; it comes alive with music, so it is worth returning in the evening if your day allows. To finish, it is 4,820 m and 69 min to the New Orleans Jazz Museum.

   Hours

   Always open

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Frenchmen Street on Google Maps ↗

6. 6

   New Orleans Jazz Museum

   

   You end in the Old U.S. Mint at 400 Esplanade Avenue, on the edge of the French Quarter, which now houses the New Orleans Jazz Museum. Its mission is to celebrate jazz in the city where it was born, through interactive exhibits, education, research facilities and live performances.

   The collection had a restless life. Members of the New Orleans Jazz Club, founded in 1948, began planning a museum in the 1950s; Edmond 'Doc' Souchon, Myra Menville and Helen Arlt drove it. It opened in 1961 at 1017 Dumaine Street, where plaques at the Hotel St. Pierre still mark the spot, then moved to the Royal Sonesta Hotel in 1969 and to Conti Street in 1973, before closing in bankruptcy.

   On September 15, 1977, the entire collection was donated to the people of Louisiana and became part of the Louisiana State Museum. It found a permanent home in the Mint in the early 1980s. Hurricane Katrina damaged both building and collection in 2005; the Mint reopened in 2008, and from 2015 most of the building was turned over to the jazz museum.

   Go in if music is why you came to New Orleans: give it at least an hour. Admission is charged, children 6 and under are free. When you are done, the GPS navigation can lead you back to Jackson Square.

   Hours

   Tue–Sun 9:00–16:00, Mon closed

   Price

   $15 adults, $13 Louisiana residents, $2 discount for seniors/military/students with ID, free for children 6 and under

   Website

   nolajazzmuseum.org ↗

   Location

   New Orleans Jazz Museum on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways to Walk New Orleans

Not everyone has a full day. These cuts keep the logic of the route and drop the long legs where you choose to.

The old core in under twenty minutes of walking

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4

For a first morning in town: Jackson Square, Bourbon Street, Brennan's and the cemetery gate are only 1,190 m apart, 17 min on foot. Everything is free except the cemetery tour, which you book ahead, and whatever you order at Brennan's.

No booking, no tickets

Stops: 1, 2, 3

For a spontaneous hour: the square, Bourbon Street and Brennan's from outside take 9 min of walking over 670 m. Nothing costs money unless you sit down for a meal or a drink in the courtyard.

The music half

Stops: 5, 6

For jazz lovers: Frenchmen Street and the New Orleans Jazz Museum, linked by a 69 min walk. The street is free, the museum charges admission, so give it at least an hour inside.

How Long This New Orleans Walk Really Takes

The order follows the city's story: colonial square first, then the streets and table of the old town, then the cemetery, and finally the music. The first three legs are short, 17 min combined, so the French Quarter part feels like a stroll. After that come the two long legs, 70 min to Frenchmen Street and 69 min on to the museum, which together make up most of the 2 h 36 min of pure walking.

Counting short looks at the free stops, plan about three and a half hours. Add a booked cemetery tour, an hour in the museum and perhaps a meal at Brennan's, and the walk fills the better part of a day. The core variant takes a morning with the cemetery tour included, the no-ticket version about an hour, the music half around two and a half hours with the museum.

Before You Set Off in New Orleans

• Start and finish: The recommended start is Jackson Square, the finish is the New Orleans Jazz Museum. You can join at any stop, and the GPS navigation leads you back from the museum to the start if you like.
• Book the cemetery first: St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is guided only. Reserve a tour through New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries or Basin St. Station before you go and fit the time slot into your walk.
• Time of day: Start in the morning. Cemetery tours run during the day and the museum is a daytime visit, and both come later on the route. Check the museum's opening days before you set off.
• What costs money: Jackson Square, Bourbon Street and Frenchmen Street are free. The cemetery tour and the museum charge admission, Brennan's is a restaurant with dining at its own prices.

Common Questions About Walking New Orleans