Hotel at a Glance: Days Inn Gretna New Orleans

Just across the Mississippi, a short 10-minute drive from the French Quarter, sits the Days Inn Gretna New Orleans. Free parking makes traveling to and from the heart of the Big Easy a cinch. If it’s nature you want to explore, the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve is just 20 minutes away. There, you can hike trails that wind through shady hardwood forests and mossy swamps.

• Wake up to a free continental breakfast each morning.
• In-room amenities: refrigerators, coffeemakers, high-definition TVs, and free WiFi
• Dive in to the outdoor pool.
• Grab a beer and a slider across the street at Twin Peaks Gretna, a lodge-style sports bar.

New Orleans’s French Quarter: Let the Good Times Roll

“Stop thinking of New Orleans as the worst-organized city in the United States,” writes author Dan Baum in Nine Lives, his post-Katrina book. “Start thinking of it as the best-organized city in the Caribbean.” Some folks think there is something distinctly foreign about New Orleans, a place where people’s priorities seem inclined toward enjoying life and relishing the moment at hand. Nothing says it better than the town’s unofficial Cajun creed: “Laissez les bons temp rouler,” or “Let the good times roll.”

Historical buildings with intricate wrought-iron balconies line the narrow streets of New Orleans’s French Quarter. Here, street musicians often fill the air with jazz music, their trombones and tubas swinging back and forth. Just off the Jackson Square park and near the towering St. Louis Cathedral, the legendary Café Du Monde serves beignets under heaping piles of powdered sugar, as well as cups of iced or steaming café au lait.

And then there’s Bourbon Street, where neon lights advertise frozen cocktails and crowds gather along 13 city blocks. The nearby Frenchmen Street, just north of the Quarter, provides a slightly less touristy taste of New Orleans nightlife. Some of the city’s most popular live jazz and blues bars dominate this historic two-block district, with each venue hosting world-class musicians nearly every night of the week. Jazz fills the air at the Spotted Cat Music Club, where a sign warns that both drinks and drunks are barred from the piano—but like all rules in New Orleans, it’s one that’s bound to get bent from time to time.