New Orleans is a favorite destination for so many of us. There’s so much to do – from the French Quarter to the French Market, the street cars and Magazine Street, Jackson Square, the Mississippi and of course Cafe du Monde, we’ve done it all.
But if you want actual offbeat/less-touristy New Orleans, rather than “Bourbon Street but slightly less crowded,” try these:
House of Dance & Feathers — A tiny, deeply personal museum in the Lower 9th Ward devoted to Mardi Gras Indians, Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, and Black New Orleans parading traditions. One of the most culturally meaningful stops on this list.
Music Box Village — An absolutely bizarre outdoor “musical architecture” playground in the Bywater. You can actually interact with the structures and make them produce sounds.
The Bywater Museum Of Unnatural History — Tiny cabinet-of-curiosities-style museum full of handmade dioramas, oddities and taxidermy. Very weird, very NOLA.
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Beanlandia — The headquarters/museum of the Krewe of Red Beans. It gives you a look at the city’s contemporary carnival culture and the community work behind it.
Dr. Bob’s Folk Art — Wander into this colorful Bywater folk-art studio for handmade signs, paintings and wonderfully strange New Orleans artwork.
Backstreet Cultural Museum — A neighborhood museum centered on second lines, Mardi Gras Indians, jazz funerals and Black cultural traditions. It’s much more intimate than the big museums.
The Shop: Oddities at Unique NOLA — For the macabre side of New Orleans: oddities, vintage objects, occult-related items and taxidermy packed into a tiny French Quarter shop.
New Orleans Pharmacy Museum — An old apothecary turned museum filled with bizarre 19th-century medical artifacts and stories. It’s surprisingly fascinating and slightly creepy.
Congo Square — Easy to overlook because it’s next to the more obvious attractions, but historically extraordinary. This was a gathering place for enslaved and free Black people whose music and traditions helped shape New Orleans culture.
Dark Matter Oddities & Artisan Collective — A small, eclectic collection of oddities and local art in the French Quarter. Great place to browse if you’re into the stranger side of NOLA.
My three “don’t tell everyone” picks: 🥇 House of Dance & Feathers, 🥈 Music Box Village, 🥉 Bywater Museum of Unnatural History.
Until next time. . .
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