Chic Hotel in the Bustling Center of New Orleans

The forest-green St. Charles streetcar, one of the world's oldest continuously operating streetcars, rumbles down the street outside the Royal St. Charles Hotel, just one block away from the historic and happening French Quarter and bawdy Bourbon Street. Riders hop up from their mahogany seats and disembark the streetcar before strolling past the steel balustrades that buttress the entrance of the upscale boutique hotel in New Orleans's central business district. Motorists who roll up in automobiles receive half off valet parking ($29/night normally).

Upstairs, in a Deluxe queen room, a color scheme of reds, whites, and tans complements original artwork and handmade light-wood furnishings. A queen bed coddles weary travelers with a restful night's sleep as well as a place to craft sheet angels.

Half a mile from the Royal St. Charles Hotel, the boisterous Mississippi River still thunders along as a major seaway. Morning mavens pop into PJ's Coffee within the lobby for a quick coffee or pastry on their way out the door to hitch a ride on the riverboat. This Groupon includes up to two free admission tickets to board the Jean Lafitte swamp boat tour, an open-air pontoon boat that ferries landlubbers into southern Louisiana's swamplands on a 1.5-hour adventure. In Jean Lafitte's private preserve about 16 miles south of downtown, a native Cajun swamp boat guide pontificates on the resident flora and fauna, and passengers can photograph moss-draped cypress trees, alligators, and egrets.

New Orleans's Central Business District: Steps away from Historic Sites and Cultural Landmarks

New Orleans's unofficial motto is "Laissez les bons temps rouler," which translates roughly to "Let the good times roll," a Cajun French phrase that slips effortlessly off the tongue in fitting fashion. The southern metropolis glitters as a cultural feast that engages and tickles all five senses. Meals unravel as a grand affair with a bounty of restaurants and eateries competing for travelers' olfactory attention, as the aromas of French, American, and Caribbean cuisines mingle together and wallop one another in the air.

A block north of the hotel, the iconic French Quarter attracts throngs of sightseers with its historic homes, courtyard cafés, and pulsating nightlife. To the south, the nearby Garden District hums as a less-traveled thoroughfare with a speckling of classic Greek Revival and Italianate homes built in the mid 19th century alongside antique shops, restaurants, and spacious gardens.

Music lovers march to Frenchmen Street, a two-block-long entertainment district where the melodious sounds of jazz, blues, and reggae pour onto the street from a bevy of venues. Another cultural institution, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, showcases an extensive collection of southern art, growing from founder Roger Ogden's original purchase more than 30 years ago of a southern landscape by painter Alexander Drysdale to now roughly 1,200 pieces by 400 artists. The paintings, prints, photographs, ceramics, and sculptures primarily represent 15 states south of the Mason-Dixon line as well as Washington, DC.