48 Hours in New Orleans, LA
We accidentally found the best time to visit New Orleans…
Lawrence, my mom, and I recently took an impromptu road trip to New Orleans (it took us over 16 hours to get there) to celebrate the nuptials of our family friends. The ceremony was of course beautiful and we had such a great time celebrating love.
We knew we’d enjoy ourselves due to the occasion, but what we didn’t know was that we’d entered (what I think anyway) the best time of year to visit this culturally rich city.
Having been to the city during the epic season of Mardi Gras as well as a trip earlier in life in the summertime, this trip was by far the best time I’ve been, and here’s why:
The Weather
While coming from 30-degree weather in the Washington, DC area may make me a little biased, there was nothing but good weather and sunshine during our NOLA weekend. The Upper 60s and lower 70s create the perfect no jacket needed weather with the perfect mix of vitamin D. In the mornings a light jacket may be required, but all jackets are off and arms are out by lunch. We may have gotten lucky but simply put, there was no shortage of beautiful weather.
2. The Crowds:
NOLA will never be an “empty” city. While there were people on Bourbon every single night, it was nowhere near the shoulder-to-shoulder experience of the Mardi Gras season. Don’t get me wrong, if you have the chance to experience Mardi Gras DO IT! However, we much prefer to experience the lively clubs and dancing security guards with just a little more elbow room. The lines for the epic boozy slushies take half the time to navigate. You can get your chicken wings or slice of pizza in no time, but there are still plenty of drunk people lined up throwing beads and shouting plenty of inappropriate things at you.
Still PLENTY of space to walk the popular Bourbon Street
And if you’re like us and have to get all of your selfies at the major attractions - no shame in our game - you have way fewer people fighting you to get to the perfect spot for your photos.
3. The Restaurants:
There was absolutely NO waiting time for the delicious food that we devoured during our time. While we did seek out a few vegan restaurants, which admittedly aren’t the main attraction (but they definitely should be), even the more popular places like Mother’s Restaurant infamous for their specialty po’boy sandwiches and baked ham, had no wait time. While we did wait 30 minutes for the MUST NOT MISS Cafe Du Monde (go to the original one in the French Market) I waited over an hour the last time to devour these delicious fried pieces of dough covered with powdered sugar.
The wrap up:
Not leaving this post without telling you that whether you’re vegan or not, you have to go to these delicious restaurants below:
Cafe Carmo - “Founded in 2010 by Dana & Christina Honn, Carmo is a New Orleans-based tropical restaurant, bar and cultural space with a commitment to providing vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike with healthy, delicious dishes featuring the finest local ingredients in a warm, friendly and casual atmosphere.” This quote directly from their site is EXACTLY what you get.
True Food Kitchen - Definitely a chain restaurant with an abundance of locations all over the USA, but delicious nonetheless. We ordered the vegan butternut squash pizza, roasted Brussel sprouts, cauliflower bites, and the vegan double cheeseburger. They were ALL delicious.
Honorable mention- Breads on Oak - Although we didn’t get to actually go to the restaurant, it was high on our list to try. Rated 4.7 stars with mostly nothing but positive news we will be sure to go next time we are in the NOLA area.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for taking the time to read this! We hope you get to experience New Orleans in any season as it is a wonderful city with beautiful people.
