Recommend me a trip to New Orleans and Texas
Discussion
Hi,
Mrs 2BToo and I are planning a trip to the USA to see some friends. We're meeting one set in New Orleans from the 28th April - 4th May (bit of flexibility in the dates), and seeing two other sets in Texas from the 4th - 11th May. The Texas friends are in Dallas and Waco.
We will need to travel from the UK (preferably from Heathrow or Bristol airports) to New Orleans, then a week later travel on to Texas, and a week after that come back to the UK.
The questions I have are ....
- Where would you stay in New Orleans? It seems that the French Quarter is the place to head for and someone has said that the Hotel Monteleone used to be good. Is there anywhere else anyone would recommend? We'll need two double rooms but will spend most of the time in the town so don't need anything hugely high-end.
- We probably won't hire a car in New Orleans but will need to travel to Texas, and then travel around in Texas. Would we do best to hire in N.O. and drive to Texas, or fly to Texas and hire a car for the duration of our stay there.
- If anyone has any wisdom on how to book flights to the USA without paying a fortune then I'd be more than happy to hear it!
Thanks.
Mrs 2BToo and I are planning a trip to the USA to see some friends. We're meeting one set in New Orleans from the 28th April - 4th May (bit of flexibility in the dates), and seeing two other sets in Texas from the 4th - 11th May. The Texas friends are in Dallas and Waco.
We will need to travel from the UK (preferably from Heathrow or Bristol airports) to New Orleans, then a week later travel on to Texas, and a week after that come back to the UK.
The questions I have are ....
- Where would you stay in New Orleans? It seems that the French Quarter is the place to head for and someone has said that the Hotel Monteleone used to be good. Is there anywhere else anyone would recommend? We'll need two double rooms but will spend most of the time in the town so don't need anything hugely high-end.
- We probably won't hire a car in New Orleans but will need to travel to Texas, and then travel around in Texas. Would we do best to hire in N.O. and drive to Texas, or fly to Texas and hire a car for the duration of our stay there.
- If anyone has any wisdom on how to book flights to the USA without paying a fortune then I'd be more than happy to hear it!
Thanks.
We stayed here in New Orleans at the end of last year:
https://brakemanhotel.com
Great hotel, clean rooms, inexpensive and bit of character (the ground floor and Reception is a railway museum).
No real facilities at all (even food), but you don't need any, since the French Quarter is about 100 metres away and the walk between is past the Police Station.
If you want to road-trip between Texas and NO, then drive (and pay the car hire one-way surcharge). Otherwise fly and hire a car in Texas. Depends on where you want to spend your time really.
Do not get a car when in NO, it's impossible to park anywhere. It's best to hire cars from Airports (price, ease, car selection and opening times) and just get an Uber there and back as required.
https://brakemanhotel.com
Great hotel, clean rooms, inexpensive and bit of character (the ground floor and Reception is a railway museum).
No real facilities at all (even food), but you don't need any, since the French Quarter is about 100 metres away and the walk between is past the Police Station.
If you want to road-trip between Texas and NO, then drive (and pay the car hire one-way surcharge). Otherwise fly and hire a car in Texas. Depends on where you want to spend your time really.
Do not get a car when in NO, it's impossible to park anywhere. It's best to hire cars from Airports (price, ease, car selection and opening times) and just get an Uber there and back as required.
We stayed at the Virgin Hotel in New Orleans last week for Mardi Gras. I would say the location is ideal. The area around the hotel is peaceful but it's only about 10 mins to walk to the French Quarter. There's a really nice rooftop bar / pool.
If you can't find a reasonably priced flight direct to New Orleans, then consider going in-direct via somewhere you like the look of, spending a couple of days there and then getting an internal flight. We flew from Las Vegas to New Orleans with Southwestern - the flight was cheap, comfortable and painless. We also flew with Southwestern from New Orleans to Fort Lauderdale, again - perfectly fine. Maybe you could fly into Miami.
If you can't find a reasonably priced flight direct to New Orleans, then consider going in-direct via somewhere you like the look of, spending a couple of days there and then getting an internal flight. We flew from Las Vegas to New Orleans with Southwestern - the flight was cheap, comfortable and painless. We also flew with Southwestern from New Orleans to Fort Lauderdale, again - perfectly fine. Maybe you could fly into Miami.
So we did similar to you last November and travelled from Dallas, TX to NOLA. We stayed at the Hyatt Centric French Quarter in New Orleans and can't recommend it highly enough. Very central to Bourbon Street (if that's your thing) and everything you could need was within walking distance.
We flew from Dallas to NOLA but if I was doing it again I'd drive. It's so easy to drive around the States and if you were to hire a car on arrival to Texas anyway, you may as well take it that little bit further to Louisiana. I don't think the drive is too long (by American standards)
We stayed at The Ashton hotel in Fort Worth. Again, would go back.
We flew from Dallas to NOLA but if I was doing it again I'd drive. It's so easy to drive around the States and if you were to hire a car on arrival to Texas anyway, you may as well take it that little bit further to Louisiana. I don't think the drive is too long (by American standards)
We stayed at The Ashton hotel in Fort Worth. Again, would go back.
Did this exact trip in November!
Stayed in the Wyndham New Orleans which was very basic but catered for everything we needed.
We did a swamp boat tour which was great (felt like I was strapped to a V8 desk fan) as we saw loads of alligators/wildlife. We also did a general tour of New Orleans by bus which was really interesting, they showed us the levees and where/why they breached during hurricane Katrina, the cemetery's, shotgun houses etc.
I watched "Your Honour" on the plane there which was cool as it was filmed in New Orleans.
To be honest we had a great time just wandering around and soaking up the atmosphere.
At night there were definitely places I didn't feel 100% safe, from memory there were a lot of homeless people around the french quarter market and I witnessed more than one injecting but I've got to say they were polite and didn't bother us.
We flew to Dallas fort worth, hired a car and over 2 days drove to Madisonville (don't ask), Austin (stayed overnight), Waco and finally back to downtown Dallas where we had a hotel for a couple of days. Austin and Waco were great but downtown Dallas was a little boring if I'm honest, it felt more like a business district so we just did the tourist bit around Dealey Plaza. Dallas Fort Worth Stockyards was fantastic (and where I would stay if I went again), to be honest I was expecting it all to be cowboys dressed up a bit like the American adventure theme park we had in the UK but it was nothing like that, it was all genuine and the cars that drove down the main street were amazing (pick up trucks, Ferraris, Corvettes and even an old school V8 drag car).
Driving was the best way to see everything and fuel is so cheap, $20 took us way over half a tank in a 2.5 litre Toyota Rav 4 , not the most exciting car but it was comfy, spacious and didnt scream tourist to tempt any thieves as we had all our cases in the boot.
Stayed in the Wyndham New Orleans which was very basic but catered for everything we needed.
We did a swamp boat tour which was great (felt like I was strapped to a V8 desk fan) as we saw loads of alligators/wildlife. We also did a general tour of New Orleans by bus which was really interesting, they showed us the levees and where/why they breached during hurricane Katrina, the cemetery's, shotgun houses etc.
I watched "Your Honour" on the plane there which was cool as it was filmed in New Orleans.
To be honest we had a great time just wandering around and soaking up the atmosphere.
At night there were definitely places I didn't feel 100% safe, from memory there were a lot of homeless people around the french quarter market and I witnessed more than one injecting but I've got to say they were polite and didn't bother us.
We flew to Dallas fort worth, hired a car and over 2 days drove to Madisonville (don't ask), Austin (stayed overnight), Waco and finally back to downtown Dallas where we had a hotel for a couple of days. Austin and Waco were great but downtown Dallas was a little boring if I'm honest, it felt more like a business district so we just did the tourist bit around Dealey Plaza. Dallas Fort Worth Stockyards was fantastic (and where I would stay if I went again), to be honest I was expecting it all to be cowboys dressed up a bit like the American adventure theme park we had in the UK but it was nothing like that, it was all genuine and the cars that drove down the main street were amazing (pick up trucks, Ferraris, Corvettes and even an old school V8 drag car).
Driving was the best way to see everything and fuel is so cheap, $20 took us way over half a tank in a 2.5 litre Toyota Rav 4 , not the most exciting car but it was comfy, spacious and didnt scream tourist to tempt any thieves as we had all our cases in the boot.
BA fly direct to NOLA but not every day of the week. You can do an open jaw flight ie into New Orleans and out of Austin/Dallas/Houston. Use the multi city option on Google flights. There’s a date matrix available on there so you can see if shifting your dates would make things cheaper.
I wouldn’t stay in the French Quarter, I prefer just outside to steer clear of the madness. The best hotel I’ve stayed in across my multiple visits was The Cambria, it’s a short walk to the French Quarter but doesn’t suffer from the same room size constraints of being in a very old building or the noise that you get in the FQ.
For beignets go to Loretta’s.
A cycle tour of NOLA is a good way to see the city, it’s as flat as a snakes arse so very little effort required. These guys have always done a good job
Restaurants wise it can be a good idea to look and book in advance for anything special. Somewhere like GW Fins you can rock up but you could end up waiting a long time.
Getting from MSY airport to town taxis have a fixed rate, look up what it is and then weigh up against an Uber, sometimes the taxi can be a lot cheaper!
The drive to Texas is long and largely featureless. It’s obviously up to you but flying and then renting a car would probably be my choice with a partner in tow. I drove the full length of the I-10 last year, that part of it isn’t going to offer you much.
I wouldn’t stay in the French Quarter, I prefer just outside to steer clear of the madness. The best hotel I’ve stayed in across my multiple visits was The Cambria, it’s a short walk to the French Quarter but doesn’t suffer from the same room size constraints of being in a very old building or the noise that you get in the FQ.
For beignets go to Loretta’s.
A cycle tour of NOLA is a good way to see the city, it’s as flat as a snakes arse so very little effort required. These guys have always done a good job
Restaurants wise it can be a good idea to look and book in advance for anything special. Somewhere like GW Fins you can rock up but you could end up waiting a long time.
Getting from MSY airport to town taxis have a fixed rate, look up what it is and then weigh up against an Uber, sometimes the taxi can be a lot cheaper!
The drive to Texas is long and largely featureless. It’s obviously up to you but flying and then renting a car would probably be my choice with a partner in tow. I drove the full length of the I-10 last year, that part of it isn’t going to offer you much.
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