My Mom's whole extended family was born and raised in New Orleans so it's kind of in my blood. New Orleans has always felt like a second home to me, but up until a few years ago, I had never visited as a tourist. Back in 2016, my best friend decided she wanted to have her bachelorette weekend in New Orleans. I was SO excited. I knew we had to do a tour of bars in the Quarter, but we had 14 girls and it was going to be... well, a lot, to decide where to go every time we wanted to try a new place. So I put together this pub crawl instead. This gave us a chance to hit so many amazing and unique places, taste the local concoctions, and move on to the next exciting bar. We were on a mission. Keep in mind, this pub crawl was planned to last us all day and into the night so pace yourself! ;)
We started with brunch at 91 Seafood House (who are great with groups, by the way!) and with full stomachs, started off on our pub crawl.
We strolled through the French Market on our way to our first stop: Tujague's! Tujague's is known for Sazeracs, Old Fashions, and Grasshoppers. It has been open since 1856 and has an incredible history including a mirror "behind the bar that is said to be older than the United States itself." Learn more about the history of this bar here.
After grabbing one of their classic drinks, we started making our way through Jackson Square to Napolean House to get ourselves a famous Pimm's Cup which was created here. Fun fact about Napoleon House: the original owners owned the bar for 101 years!
From there, we made our way to my personal favorite: Carousel Bar inside the Hotel Monteleone. This is the first and only rotating bar in New Orleans. Carousel Bar's signature drinks are Viewux Carre or Fleur Des Lis. Fun fact: this gorgeous spinning bar was frequented by Earnest Hemmingway.
We spent quite some time at Carousel Bar, but eventually we peeled ourselves away and headed back down Royal Street toward Pat O'Brien's. Pat O'Brien's is known for their Hurricanes and Bloody Mary's. Fun fact about Pat O's: they operated illegally during prohibition! It was about this time that we sat down for dinner to refuel.
After refueling, we were on our way to Bourbon Street to the Cat's Meow. Cat's Meow is known for karaoke and their 3-for-1 happy hour specials. Needless to stay, we stayed here for a while.
At this point, our night went a little off the rails and the structure of our pub crawl started to fade. It had been a long (amazing) day, can you blame us? I did have two more things on the list though. The first was to grab a Fishbowl to go on Bourbon Street at Fais Deaux Deaux. I would highly recommend sharing these with a friend, they are no joke!
The last stop was meant to be Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar, but honestly we never made it. I've been on separate occasions to the New Orleans though and it is such a cool place to visit. Lafitte's is known for their Purple Voodoo. It was built between 1772-1732 and survived not one, but TWO French Quarter fires.
Top your night off with a late-night stop at Cafe du Monde for some cafe au laits and beignets and you have yourself a pretty great day.
I hope this helps make your trip to the French Quarter memorable. Obviously this is just one short list of my favorite bars in the Quarter. New Orleans has more bars per capita than any other American city so you are sure to find some excellent drinks and a fun atmosphere no matter where you go. Just remember to live by the New Orleans motto: l'aissez le bon temps roulez! (Let the good times roll!)
If you're looking for more fun things to do in New Orleans, check out this post.
Until next time!
Jess
