Is the French Quarter overrated? As a place to spend your entire trip, a little, yes. As a place to walk at eight in the morning on a weekday, it's one of our favorite places on earth. Both of those things are true, and most visitors only ever see the first one.
We should say up front that we have a shop at 630 Chartres Street. We are aware of how this sounds. Telling people not to hang out in the French Quarter while running a store in the French Quarter is a bold business strategy. But we've watched a lot of visitors from that counter, and the ones who leave happiest usually aren't the ones who never left those blocks.
The Case Against Staying There
Here's our problem with booking your whole trip in the Quarter: you end up orbiting Bourbon Street whether you want to or not. Every walk back to the hotel at night routes you through the loudest, most crowded part of the city. You eat where the foot traffic is. You start to think the whole place looks like that.
It doesn't. New Orleans is a city of neighborhoods, and the Quarter is one of them. Stay along the St. Charles streetcar line, or in the Marigny just across Esplanade, or across the river in Algiers Point, or in Mid-City near the park, and you get something the Quarter can't give you at night: a block where people are sitting on their stoops and nobody is yelling "woo." The Quarter is a short ride away whenever you want it.
We've written plenty about the stuff in and around the Quarter that locals quietly avoid. Rather than repeat it, here's that list and our what not to do guide. This post is about the part we'd keep.
The Case for Going in the Morning
The French Quarter at night belongs to visitors. The French Quarter in the morning belongs to the people who work there and live there, and it's a completely different neighborhood.
The streets are quiet. Delivery trucks double-park. Somebody's watering ferns on a second-floor balcony, and the light comes in low off the river and hits the ironwork in a way that makes even locals stop and look. You can actually see the buildings, which is the whole reason the Quarter matters. The neighborhood was laid out in the early 1700s, and some of what's standing is close to that old. The Old Ursuline Convent was finished in 1752 and is, according to 64 Parishes, one of the oldest buildings in the Mississippi Valley.
Walk Royal and Chartres before the shops open. Look down at the corners, where the street names are set into the sidewalk in tile. (We turned those into a magnet set, if you want to take a corner home.) Get a coffee and sit somewhere. By the time the crowds show up around lunch, you'll have seen the Quarter most visitors don't.
The Quarter People Live In
This is the part nobody puts on a brochure. Past the busiest blocks, especially toward Esplanade in the lower Quarter, the neighborhood gets residential fast. It's townhouses with shutters closed against the heat. There are neighborhood bars where the bartender knows everybody's order, a few small groceries and galleries, and people walking dogs.
The Preservation Resource Center notes that the lower Quarter was largely Italian-American in the 1920s, and that by the 1930s the whole Quarter had declined so badly that people were calling for it to be torn down. Preservationists fought back, and the Vieux Carré became a protected historic district in 1936. The PRC's guide counts more than 4,000 residents. That's a small town living inside a tourist destination, and they'd appreciate it if you didn't sit on their steps for a photo.
Walk these blocks the way you'd walk any neighborhood where people live. Keep your voice down, and pick up your go-cup when you're done with it.
Then Go Somewhere Else
Spend a morning in the Quarter and an afternoon somewhere it isn't. Take the streetcar up St. Charles and watch the sun go down from the Fly.
You'll figure out pretty quickly that nobody here navigates by north and south. It's toward the river, toward the lake, uptown or downtown, and once you get it, the whole city opens up. We've got that on a shirt and, for the people who keep losing their car, a keychain.
And yes, come see us on Chartres Street. Just come in the morning, then go find the rest of the city.
French Quarter Overrated: FAQ
Is the French Quarter overrated?
As a home base, it can be. Staying there keeps you close to the crowds and noise around Bourbon Street. As a place to walk in the early morning, or in the quieter residential blocks of the lower Quarter, it's one of the best parts of New Orleans.
Where should I stay in New Orleans instead of the French Quarter?
Many visitors like staying along the St. Charles streetcar line, in the Marigny, in Algiers Point across the river, or in Mid-City. All are a short ride from the Quarter and give you a better sense of everyday neighborhood life.
What is the best time to visit the French Quarter?
Early morning on a weekday. The streets are quiet and you can actually see the historic architecture before the midday crowds arrive.
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