45 Minute Highlights Tour of the French Quarter

Start your whirlwind tour in the heart of the city, Jackson Square. From here you can see St. Louis Cathedral, two Louisiana State Museums, the iconic Pontalba Apartments, and the statue of Andrew Jackson (of course). Your guide will give you a brief history of New Orleans, then it's off you go!

Continue up Chartres Street for some examples of iconic New Orleans architecture and great shops and restaurants, including a home that was prepared as a refuge for Napoleon (spoiler: he stood us up), a museum dedicated the stranger aspects of 19th Century pharmaceutical profession(leeches!) and the Louisiana State Supreme Courthouse.

Zoom down Bourbon Street for a taste (not literally - that would be gross) of the center of nighttime revelry in New Orleans, including the most notorious music halls and drinking establishments. Don't worry, it's usually not that shocking during the day.

Royal Street has the most beautiful examples of French Quarter townhouses with iron-lace balconies, street performers, and art galleries. This is the street of your New Orleans dreams!

Pause long enough to get a few pictures of New Orleans' "most haunted" house - the former residence of 19th Century serial killer Madame Delphine LaLaurie. Maybe you'll get the shivers!

Here is the oldest building in the region, originally built for the Ursulines nuns who came to New Orleans in 1727 to add some respectability to the town - good luck, poor nuns!

Get some ideas for future snacking and shopping at the French Market, the open-air market near the river where New Orleans has shopped and eaten for centuries. Scope out the alligator heads, voodoo dolls, pralines, crepes, shot glasses, and oysters you have been looking for! But you'll have to come back later - we have more to see!

Experience a little of the "grit" of the French Quarter on Decatur Street, where there are interesting shops, seafood restaurants, cafes, candy shops, music everywhere, and a golden statue of Joan of Arc! Follow the powdered sugar to world-famous Cafe Du Monde, the very best place for sipping cafe au lait while eating beignets and people-watching and listening to live jazz. If your grandma came here she did it - you have to do it, too! Hungry yet? We are almost done!

This park is now called Oscar Dunn Park (but Google hasn't gotten the memo), and it's the perfect place to end your super-fast tour of the French Quarter, with views of Jackson Square and the Mississippi River. You have earned those beignets and you are SO much smarter and fitter than you were an hour ago!