New Orleans: Family fun on a budget
Last fall, our family decided to spend a long weekend in New Orleans. My husband travels there for work a few times a year and raves about the food and the architecture each time he comes back. So we decided to take advantage of a long weekend break in October to visit.
We used our Hilton Honors points and treated ourselves to a fancy hotel, the Waldorf Astoria!
We took advantage of the one sunny afternoon to enjoy some pool fun. As it turned out, our visit coincided with the beignet festival which made our trip even more fun. The event was free but you had to purchase the different beignets you wanted to try. We purchased 20 dollars in food tokens and shared 4 differents beignets.
While the Audobon Zoo is not free, it definitely was worth the expense for us since we love visiting zoos in every city we travel to.
Here are a few free or inexpensive suggestions:
- ride the trolley to the garden district and take a self guided walking tour
- visit the Saint Louis cathedral and square
- walk around the French quarter (but stay away from Bourbon Street if with children)
- walk to the riverfront at the Woldenberg Park and watch the ships
- Eat a beignet at Cafe du Monde
And don’t forget to enjoy some food! The food was delicious and that is where most of our budget went!
Bon appétit et à bientôt!
13 Comments
jodie filogomo
I love how you visit a zoo everywhere you go. That’s such a cool tradition.
XOXO
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
mimifce
We have seen some pretty cool ones. There is a feline zoo close to where my friends live in France so we are hoping to go to that one! I think my favorite zoo so far has been the Jacksonville zoo in Florida.
Rob Filogomo
Wow great post. Why didn’t anyone tell me about the beignet festival. LOL. The food looks amazing especially the gold brick sundae. Did you know I am an ice cream fanatic?
mimifce
I have seen lots of your pictures of icecream and Jodie has mentioned it on the blog, lol! That sundae was so big but wow! I love creme brulee but I think that sundae beats it and even with 5 of us eating it, we could not finish it! Now I need to make sure I add my picture of my icecream and strawberry to my blog post on the food in the Republic of Georgia!
Amy Ann Arnold
Great guide with budget friendly tips!
Amy Ann
Straight A Style
mimifce
Thank you! We love traveling but with 4 kids, we do need to watch where and how much we spend while traveling!
Rob
Hi,
I had some issues getting subscribed to your site with my last comment. I will try again. BTY I love the color scheme of you blog.
mimifce
strange! i will see if i can figure it out. thanks for letting me know. purple is my favorite color and i love lavender so my friend went with that for the design.
mimifce
btw did you go about signing up the same way as jodie did?
Jacqui Berry
How marvellous! So nice to be able to go somewhere like this for the weekend! We recently drove to The Alps for a weekend there to ski – fab time with the hubby. Thanks for joining the #chicandstylish party this week. See you again Hun. Jacqui Mummabstylish
mimifce
Thanks for stopping by and yes, I will come by your blog again!
Shea
I’ve always wanted to go to New Orleans and I appreciate that you shared some family friendly and budget ideas!! I know my kids would love riding the trolley.
mimifce
I was definitely impressed! I was such an enjoyable trip that I hope to go again in the fall another long weekend if I can save enough money for all that yummy food, lol!