If so, we highly recommend that you start with a minimum of 4 full days in New Orleans and work your way up from there. It's a big city and there's a good reason why it's known as “The Big Easy”: it's one of the worst places to go fast. NOLA's culture is relaxed and time goes by slowly when you're there. If you're visiting New Orleans for the first time, today I'm sharing tips and tricks to help you have an incredible trip.
If the visit lasts less than 3 days, you'll have to make some sacrifices as to what you can reasonably do. That said, 3 days in New Orleans is the perfect amount to get an overview of the tourist highlights and, at the same time, leave enough time to rest so that you don't end up completely exhausted and skip the trips to sleep before the last day of the trip. Some consider it to have even better beignets than Café du Monde, Café Beignet is very popular and worth visiting during your 3 days in New Orleans. Any trip, especially one as brief as spending 3 days in New Orleans, will be heavily influenced by where you stay.
The cupcakes are big (half of one of them fed Jeremy and me) and are absolutely unmissable for 3 days in New Orleans. If you're willing to spend time and money, a stay of more than 7 days in New Orleans will give you plenty of time to see and do just about everything. You won't have enough time to see everything comfortably in 4 days, but you'll surely be able to visit the main sights of New Orleans at a reasonably comfortable pace. While you could easily spend more than 3 days, this is plenty of time to see New Orleans' major attractions and major points of interest.
You'll quickly know if you're going to achieve what you want in 4 days or if you need to add more days. This quick guide will tell you everything you need to know to plan the perfect number of days for your vacation. The restaurant is small and has an odd schedule (10:00 to 17:00, Monday to Saturday), so plan to stand in line outside before entering. If you only have 1 day to spend in the city, then this is a great option to see everything that's on your itinerary.
I'll share a 3-day New Orleans itinerary with ideas on how to spend one more day if you're looking for a 4-day New Orleans itinerary.