New Orleans isn't just another pretty face. She's fascinated people for years, with tales of vampires and voodoo, ghosts and gastronomy. But this is a beautiful city, more European than American, and she will continue to delight for decades to come.

This Southern Belle has more than 35,000 listings in the National Register of Historic Places, far more than any other place, even Washington, DC. Between the Vieux Carre, the Garden District, and the plantations, you'll find enough architectural delights to leave you both stunned and hungry for more.

This is the home of the oldest continuously active Roman Catholic Cathedral in the US (St. Louis), the oldest building in the Mississippi River Valley (the Old Ursuline Convent), the oldest continuously operating rail system in the world (the New Orleans Streetcar line), and was for 185 years owner of a canal system more extensive than that of Venice, Italy. New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz, where early greats like Louis Armstrong, Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver got their starts in the nightclubs of Storyville, a red-light district. The Crescent City has more than 3,000 restaurants, many owned and operated by the same families for generations. Tens of thousands of live oak trees line the streets, many dating back to before the Civil War, surviving hurricanes, droughts, insects and fires.

You'll need a map to find your way around, as traditional street layouts simply don't exist here. But even if you get lost, you'll find much of interest wherever you are.

New Orleans, LA
Houma, LA