Good time to visit New Orleans in January or February for a few days? (Metairie: 2014)

[OyCrumbler]

Hi everyone,

GF and I are thinking about visiting New Orleans sometime in January or February to get out of the NYC winter. Do you guys have any recommendations for a particularly good weekend plus a few days off for a trip to New Orleans? Maybe there are some particular events or things to check out?

[Neworleansisprettygood]

Here's a searchable listing of events:
Things To Do In New Orleans and Louisiana | NOLA Local Events - NOLA.com

Also Mardi Gras is on March 4th next year so if you come in the second half of Feb. you can catch some parades.

[Chilly Gentilly]

This allows you to search based on your date of visit:

New Orleans Events Calendar | Concerts, Festivals and Special Events

[moiraesfate]

I work in the hotel industry. It depends on what dates you're looking for. January to middle of July is the busy season so rates are higher, including a corresponding increase in the cost of parking.

Mardi Gras begins at the end of February this year. Keep in mind that this means a huge hike in rates. My hotel rates for the second week of Mardi Gras start at $359 for the Friday and Saturday with $329 for the remaining nights. Of course, we are on the main parade route and this is the common along that route.

Rates are lower during the week and higher on the weekend.

It also depends on the area you're looking at staying in. Staying in Kenner will generally have great rates (the international airport is in Kenner, not New Orleans), with Metairie being a bit higher and New Orleans being the highest.

Avoid any hotel advertising rates of $29-$39 at any time.

Check reviews online but don't rely on them. The problem with online reviews is that hundreds of thousands of people go through these hotels and most of them have wonderful stays but only the people that have issues go online to complain.

One thing to also realize is that complaints of roaches are usually just people that don't know the city. There are cockroaches that live on the banana trees. They are generally an inch to two inches long and have no interest in you whatsoever because they eat the wood and the bananas. Sometimes though, they get inside just like other insects. The staff in the hotels do the best they can to catch them but its never 100%.

If you stay in the French Quarter, it is going to be loud and its going to be busy so expect that you likely won't get a whole lot of rest.

If you stay on a parade route during Mardi Gras, it is going to be LOUD. I cannot emphasize that enough. Don't expect that you will find any place that's quiet on a parade route no matter where you stay or the time of day.

If a place says that's its historic, it means that its old. But it will also feel much more warm and homey than the downtown hotels. The downtown hotels are what I call "fantasy New Orleans". They aren't reality. They are also more expensive than the smaller hotels further out. The downtown hotels all charge for the internet, breakfast, and parking. Many of the smaller hotels or those further from the downtown will refrain from charging for one or more of those.

Then again, if you stay downtown, you will be right in the middle of everything and within easy walking access to much of what tourists are most interested in (save for maybe the swamp tours, and the zoo).

If you stay on St Charles, you will be on the most famous Street Car line in the country and that will take you to the Quarter and you can avoid the noise and massive amounts of people while still have the New Orleans feel. The Street Car line goes straight through the Garden District.

Hope this helps.