A carriage carries tourists through the French Quarter of New Orleans in winter 2024. Pam LeBlanc photo

My in-laws live in Baton Rouge, and whenever my husband and I head over for a visit, we try to swing down to New Orleans to get our fix of raw oysters, live music, and wrought iron balconies.

From Austin, it takes about 8 hours to drive to New Orleans. We were tired and slightly cranky when we arrived, but things turned up when we checked into the Kimpton Hotel Fontenot, where the clerk handed us two cans of beer from nearby Urban South Brewery along with the room keys.

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We flopped onto the couch in our suite, which had a decidedly art deco vibe, popped open one of the beers, and chilled for 30 minutes. Then we headed to the French Quarter, just three blocks away.

Winter is the best time to visit the Crescent City. The weather can vary from cold and sunny to drizzly and warm, but that’s preferable to the blistering heat and humidity of summer. (If you’re not into huge crowds also avoid Mardi Gras. Fat Tuesday falls on March 4 in 2025.)

Here were the highlights of this year’s 18-hour layover in New Orleans…

1. Staying at the Hotel Fontenot, 501 Tchoupitoulas Street. The hotel is named for Canray Fontenot, an American Creole fiddle player who once explained that he learned to play on a fiddle he built from a wooden cigar box and strands of wire from a screen door. Besides the two beers, all hotel guests get a pair of streetcar passes and a free tasting at Seven Three Distilling Co.
2. Wandering the French Quarter without an agenda in mind. I love Royal Street best, with its antique stores and museum shops. Jackson Square always looks lovely decked out for the holidays, and green garlands adorn tourist carriages and balconies.
3. Stop by The Shop at the Collection, 520 Royal Street. The French Quarter has its share of touristy souvenir shops, and this is not that. The store sells an assortment of Louisiana-themed gifts, from books and jewelry to cards and art. I’ve nabbed all kinds of treasures here, frame-worthy notecards to a faux reindeer head.
4. Dinner at Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar. We were headed to Acme Oyster House on Iberville Street but didn’t want to wait in the line, which wrapped down the sidewalk. We beat the crowd by heading across the street to Felix’s, which opened in the 1940s. After some deliciously fresh raw Gulf oysters, I dug into a platter of fried shrimp, oysters and hush puppies. Next time I visit the French Quarter I’ll head to Felix’s first.
5. Even if you don’t drink alcohol, drop by some of the famous bars. I always poke my head into Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar, a dimly lit hideout housed in a structure reportedly built in the 1770s. Consider yourself lucky if you nab a seat at the slowly whirling Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone, 214 Royal Street, where the bar makes a full revolution every 15 minutes. During the holidays, don’t miss the tiny white lights and a forest of Christmas trees at the Roosevelt New Orleans, 130 Roosevelt Way, where you can grab a cocktail at the Sazerac Bar.

Pam LeBlanc eats hot beignets at Cafe Beignet in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Chris LeBlanc photo

6. For beignets, skip the always crowded Café du Monde and head instead toCafé Beignet, 334 Royal Street. You’ll get piping hot, denser-than-most beignets doused in an avalanche of powdered sugar. I love the cozy vibe and low arched ceiling, which is adorned with paintings of vines. Morning Call, another favorite, closed its Metairie location in 2018 but opened a sleek new one (with the same gorgeous old marble counters) at 5101 Canal Street near City Park area, in 2020.
7. Poke your head inside The Peacock Room at the Hotel Fontenot. It’s fabulously retro, with a sophisticated white peacock sculpture or three parading against a backdrop of teal and gold. Check out the mosaic-tiled floors, and time your visit to catch the resident band, Da Lovebirds, who play every Thursday evening.

The Peacock Room at the Hotel Fontenot in New Orleans is decked out in teal and gold. Pam LeBlanc photo

8. On the way out of town, we zipped over to St. Charles Avenue, where we watched street cars rolling up and down the boulevard, admired huge old mansions, ogled the campuses of Tulane and Loyola universities, and drove past the Audubon Zoo (where the animals all asked for you, as the lyrics of the old Meters song go.)

9. If you need lunch, beeline over toParkway Bakery and Tavern, 538 Hagan Avenue, which serves the best shrimp po-boy you ever ate. (My husband prefers the roast beef, but that’s his problem.) The impossibly airy bread somehow retains a crusty exterior, and the chef certainly doesn’t scrimp on the shrimp. Get the small, unless you think you can pack away a sandwich as big as a loaf of Wonder Bread.

10. Another no-brainer? Take a minute to absorb the fast-moving river known as the Mighty Mississippi. A constant parade of paddle wheelers, barges and pleasure boats ride its muddy brown waters, which flow into the Gulf of Mexico just downstream of New Orleans.