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What are the best museums in New Orleans?

Writer: Guide Michelle
Guide Michelle
Dec 16, 2022
7 min read

Updated: Sep 29


New Orleans food tour in French Quarter

Start your visit to New Orleans with one of my walking food tours or bar crawls and get lots of amazing tips on things to do, eat great food, and learn exciting history from a local guide!


We're the city that makes plans for dinner while at lunch, but there's also quite a few lesser-known things to see & do in New Orleans when you need a break from eating and drinking. Beyond top attractions like the WWII Museum and NOMA, we have museums focused on local culture, food, and history. Here's some hidden gems for locals and tourists seeking afternoon activities that don't come with a check at the end.


The Storyville Museum

  • What it is: This museum highlights the red light district of old New Orleans- the brothels, the jazz and the not-so-pretty history of the city's most popular vices. It takes 1-2 hours to visit.

  • What you'll see: it offers a thoughtful, deeply researched look into the complex socio-economic realities of the sex trade and vice in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

    • Immersive Recreations: Walk through highly detailed, atmospheric environments—from an opulent Basin Street bordello parlor to a cramped, turn-of-the-century Franklin Street "sex-crib"

    • Holographic Experiences: Local theater professionals and artists utilize hyper-realistic holograms and life-sized projections to voice historical workers, bringing the "lewd and abandoned" figures of Pepper's Parlor back to life

    • The Birth of Jazz: Explore a dedicated exhibition on how the vice district inadvertently incubated early jazz by providing vital employment for legendary trailblazers like Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton

    • Rare Historical Artifacts: Browse through a collection of original "Blue Books" (historical brothel directories), digitized records, E.J. Bellocq’s poignant photographic portraits, and authentic 19th-century opium pipes

  • Location & Admission Fees: Near the Armstrong Park edge of the French Quarter at 1010 Conti St. General admission is $31.50, while VIP guided tours are $45.00. Local residents with a valid ID get $10.00 off, and seniors (65+), military members, and groups of 6+ receive a $5.00 discount.

  • Age Requirement: Because of the explicit nature of the adult historical subject matter, the museum enforces an 18+ age limit (though teenagers aged 13–17 are permitted if accompanied by an adult guardian).


JAMNOLA, Dr. Bob's & Studio Be

  • What it is: A funhouse of culture and Instagram photo ops, JAM NOLA's new home on Frenchmen St. is a hop, skip and jump from the French Quarter. It takes about 1 hour to visit JAMNOLA & costs $29/adult & $21/child - use the discount code JAM15 for 15% off. Reserve online.

  • What you'll see: It'sifull of immersive exhibits showcasing the iconic art, music, food and theatrics of the city through the eyes of over 30 local artists.

  • Highlights: Also check out Studio Be a short distance away for Be Mike's murals, activist art installations and community collective works. Steps away is Dr Bob's shop- a folk art icon whose "Be Nice or Leave" signs you'll see in plenty of bars around town. Bon Moment NOLA's Marigny Bywater Food & History tour includes lots of history over eating & drinking through this bohemian neighborhood.


Vue Orleans

  • Cost & Location: Riverfront museum Vue Orleans (pronounced like NEW Orleans) is $25 for adults, $15 for kids, under 3 is free, LA residents $20. Its proximity to the Quarter makes it an ideal tourist spot with some educational yet memorable exhibits that kids especially will enjoy.

  • What you'll see: It's not just for kids- the new tech makes the museum experience anything but dull: interactive screens show actors narrating the stories of historic New Orleans figures, storytelling that's interesting & engaging.

  • Interactive Exhibits: The diner counter features Chef Kevin Belton & local food personality Poppy Tooker, chatting about the classic NOLA dishes you "order" from the digital menu.

  • Highlights: The real draw is the elevator ride to the observation deck- once the doors close, it tells a vivid story of the city Willy Wonka style, while taking you to the top floor for a full 360 view of New Orleans. You can overlook the Mississippi and play a simulation game of driving barges through the risky hairpin turns of the river before wrapping up your visit, which should take about 1-2 hours. Buy Tickets here- reservations recommended since this has become a popular spot for convention groups & field trips. Parking, directions, etc. click here.


Backstreet Cultural Museum

  • What it is: The Backstreet Cultural Museum holds the world’s most comprehensive collection of New Orleans’ African American community-based masking and processional traditions.

  • What you'll see: Costumes and memorabilia of the Mardi Gras Indians, jazz funerals, social aid and pleasure clubs (second-lines), Baby Dolls and the Skull and Bone gangs. Don't know what most of those words mean? Even more of a reason to visit the museum!

  • Highlights: In short, it is a must-do for anyone wanting a "true" experience of this aspect of New Orleans culture- a place many tourists miss and locals miss.

  • Location: 1531 St. Philip St. & open 10-4pm Tues. - Sat. ($20 Entry / $15 Locals, Seniors & Veterans / $10 Children 12 & under).

  • Special Events on Mardi Gras Day: There’s no better place to be than the Backstreet Cultural Museum. At the museum, you will catch the Mardi Gras Indians in their new suits, the North Side Skull and Bone gang, Baby Dolls, musicians, culture bearers, and just about everyone else. The annual Mardi Gras Day Open House begins at 8 a.m. with “Breakfast with the Bone Gang.” Come witness and partake in the music and dances that honor New Orleans’ cultural heritage.


Sazerac House

  • What it is: A free, 1-2 hour interactive museum experience located at Canal St & Magazine St near the French Quarter, celebrating New Orleans’ official cocktail, the Sazerac.

  • What you’ll learn: The history and culture of cocktails in New Orleans through three stories covering the role of coffee houses, pharmacies and tinctures, early rum introduced by Spanish monks, and how a poor cognac harvest shifted local tastes toward American whiskey.

  • Highlights: Interactive bartender displays, complimentary small tasting pours (Sazerac, whiskey, and rum drinks) on each floor, and an on-site distillery and shop featuring bar tools and supplies.

  • Reservations required (since it's free, there's always no-shows so don't worry if the date/time you want is full).


New Orleans Pharmacy Museum

  • Location: This historic French Quarter building at 514 Chartres St., hasn’t changed much since the 19th-century & is a popular spot for weddings.

  • What you'll see: Once home to America’s first licensed pharmacist, the museum celebrates this history through a treasure trove of antiques and ephemera and feels like stepping back in time.

  • Highlights: The collection includes hundreds of artifacts, from hand-blown apothecary bottles, potions once used by Voodoo practitioners, surgical instruments, prosthetic devices, old wheelchairs and a reconstruction of a 19th-century pharmacists’ work area. Try and book a tour for the best experience!

  • Hours: Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm ($10/adult, $7/seniors 65+, students, & military / Children 6 and under free).


Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC)

  • What it is: Another amazing free museum located in the Quarter

  • What you'll see: The exhibits at the HNOC are well-curated and meet a variety of interests- check to see what is on current display.

  • Highlights: Their virtual exhibits are a invaluable resource to anyone interested in Louisiana history & culture and for those who live all over the globe but have their heart in NOLA. This was one of my faves: https://www.hnoc.org/virtual/dancing-in-the-streets

  • Located: 520 and 533 Royal St, open Tuesday–Saturday, 9:30am –4:30pm and Sunday, 10:30am–4:30pm, free.


Mardi Gras World

  • Hours & location: Open 9am-5:30pm, 7 days a week. Located next to the Convention Center, it's easy to get to from the French Quarter, CBD & Warehouse District. Mardi Gras World is "where Mardi Gras is made".

  • What it is: The warehouses hold artisans, equipment and supplies to create the floats for Kern Studios, along with numerous floats, float pieces (many reused and repurposed year after year) and Mardi Gras history.

  • What you'll see: Mardi Gras through historical exhibits and workshops full of artisans in action

  • Highlights: It is truly magical to wander their maze of float pieces in the warehouses and so cool to see the magic get made, definitely a must-do for kids.

  • Takes about 1.5 - 2 hours to visit. Adults $22 / Ages 2-12: $14 / Military/Students/Seniors: $17 click here for tickets.


And now, some French Quarter secrets to explore...


MS Rau

Since 1912, this antique store has housed fine art, antiques and jewelry. Not just a shop, it extends 40,000 sq ft., far behind its shopfront doors at 622 Royal St., to a gallery filled with rare, museum-quality antiques, important fine art and breathtaking jewelry. Even if you think "ew, snore, antiques" THIS is the one place you should let surprise you. Be sure to watch this video before you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvAcOL_7gV8&feature=youtu.be


Arnaud's Restaurant

The daughter of Count Arnaud, Germaine Cazenave Wells, was a vivacious society lady. When it came time for her to take over Arnaud’s, she learned all that she could in order to maintain the restaurant legacy her father had so carefully built and it was her public-relations savvy that landed Arnaud’s on lists of “the world’s best restaurants” multiple times. And of course, as a high-society woman, she was a figure in Carnival balls. During the renovation by the restaurants current owners, Wells’ Mardi Gras costume collection was discovered in a storage space. Over the years, Wells had acquired two dozen Mardi Gras costumes including 13 of her own queen costumes, one of her mother’s, one of her daughter’s, six children’s costumes and four king’s costumes worn by Count Arnaud himself. The simple storage space that holds all of these Mardi Gras treasures was renovated in 1983 and converted into a full museum, named in Germaine Cazenave Wells’ honor. Read about it here, but to see the collection you just need to ask your server or bartender at the restaurant.


 
 
 

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