5 Hidden Gems in New Orleans Most People Walk Right Past
5 landmarks with verified facts and stories
Algiers Point & the Canal Street Ferry
Canal St Ferry Terminal, New Orleans, LA 70130
The Canal Street Ferry is the best free experience in New Orleans — a 15-minute ride across the Mississippi River to Algiers Point that provides the only view of the French Quarter skyline from the water, and it costs absolutely nothing.
Backstreet Cultural Museum
1116 Henriette Delille St, Treme, New Orleans, 70116, United States
The Backstreet Cultural Museum is a small, essential museum in Tremé that preserves the traditions that make New Orleans' Black culture unlike anywhere else in America — Mardi Gras Indian suits, second-line parades, jazz funerals, and the Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs that have been the organisational backbone of the Black community since the 19th century.
Central Grocery & Deli
923 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70116
Central Grocery is a single-counter Italian deli on Decatur Street that has been making the same sandwich since 1906 — and that sandwich, the muffuletta, is one of the foundational foods of New Orleans.
Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar
941 Bourbon St, French Quarter, New Orleans, 70116, United States
Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop is one of the oldest structures in the French Quarter — a crumbling brick-between-posts building from around 1772 that legend says was used as a front for the pirate Jean Lafitte's smuggling operation.
The Spotted Cat Music Club
623 Frenchmen St, Marigny, New Orleans, 70116, United States
The Spotted Cat is a tiny Frenchmen Street music club that embodies everything New Orleans jazz is supposed to be — intimate, sweaty, acoustic, and played by musicians who are so good that their refusal to pursue fame in a bigger city feels like an act of civic loyalty.
Explore hidden gems in New Orleans
GPS-guided narration at every landmark. Tap a spot on the map, hear the story. Every fact verified.