Visitor Information

For general information and brochures, contact city and state tourism bureaus. The New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau's website is a comprehensive resource for trip planning, hotel and tour booking, and shopping in the city; you can also download brochures, coupons, walking tours, and event schedules, as well as find links to other helpful websites. The Louisiana Office of Tourism offers the same with a statewide focus.

Online Resources

The Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism's website gives a general overview of tourism in Louisiana.

New Orleans Online provides basic trip planning and travel tools. The city's official site has updates on local issues and government affairs.

The website of the Gambit weekly newspaper does a good job of representing varying perspectives on life in the city, with a comprehensive events calendar.

The French Quarter website gives great links to event, lodging, and parking information, as well as an interactive French Quarter map. And for that something extra, Experience New Orleans has links to a blog, podcast, and fun video tours, in addition to the standard tourist sites. Very Local New Orleans connects its readers to the people, events, food, culture, and entertainment that makes the city special. Visitors can use the website to see what's going on around town, as well as to gain in-depth information on what makes those events so interesting and important to the city.

For general information about events, hotels, and restaurants, check the official New Orleans travel site, www.neworleans.com. For Louisiana music coverage (plus other entertainment news), OffBeat magazine's website is a good bet, as is the radio station WWOZ, which streams online and maintains a music calendar. Everything you need to know about the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival can be found at its website. A site devoted entirely to Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras New Orleans, includes histories, parade schedules, and other specific Mardi Gras information.

For arts happenings around town, the Arts Council of New Orleans website has a calendar of art, music, dance, film, theater, literature, and culinary events in the city. The site also includes an artist directory and other resources.