Carousel Bar Hotel Monteleone New Orleans
French Quarter Royal Street
Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone is one of the most beloved bars in America — a revolving French Quarter bar that rotates 360 degrees over the course of 15 minutes. The Monteleone's extraordinary literary heritage (Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, William Faulkner, and Ernest Hemingway all wrote about the bar) and the Carousel Bar's remarkable rotating mechanism create a cocktail bar experience of singular American literary and architectural significance.
Bar Tonique Rampart New Orleans Lounge
North Rampart New Orleans
New Orleans's craft cocktail lounge scene extends from the French Quarter into the Marigny and Bywater — a city where the extraordinary invention of the Sazerac, the Ramos Gin Fizz, the Hurricane, and dozens of other American cocktail staples gives cocktail culture a depth unmatched in any other American city. New Orleans's remarkable cocktail invention legacy and its extraordinary living cocktail culture create lounge experiences of singular American mixological historical significance.
Blue Nile Frenchman Street New Orleans
Frenchman Street Marigny
Blue Nile is Frenchman Street's most beloved music lounge — a Marigny establishment presenting the finest funk, soul, R&B, and hip-hop alongside traditional jazz in an intimate two-floor setting that represents New Orleans' music culture at its most genuinely diverse. New Orleans' extraordinary musical ecosystem creates venues like Blue Nile where multiple musical traditions coexist in a single room, reflecting the city's unique capacity to contain all of American music within its borders.
Maison de Macondo New Orleans Bar
Bywater New Orleans
New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood is one of the most authentically creative communities in the American South — a Creole cottage neighborhood where artists, musicians, and writers have created one of the most genuinely alternative entertainment cultures in Louisiana. Bywater's concentration of independent bars, natural wine shops, and creative studios creates an entertainment environment shaped by the city's most genuinely experimental creative community.
Port Orleans Brewing New Orleans Louisiana
Mid-City New Orleans
Port Orleans Brewing Company is New Orleans's most vibrant neighborhood craft brewery — a Mid-City institution producing outstanding ales that capture the essence of New Orleans neighborhood culture. Port Orleans's extraordinary community investment and its remarkable integration into the fabric of New Orleans neighborhood life create a brewery bar of genuine Louisiana urban community significance.
Jewel of the South New Orleans Cocktail
Tremé New Orleans
Jewel of the South is New Orleans's most acclaimed craft cocktail bar — a Tremé neighborhood institution named for an 1840 punch recipe discovered by cocktail historian Philip Greene. Jewel of the South's extraordinary cocktail research (it serves historically accurate 19th-century New Orleans cocktail recipes) and its remarkable Tremé location (the oldest African American neighborhood in America) create a cocktail lounge of genuine New Orleans cultural and historical significance.
The Loa Bar
CBD / Warehouse District
The Loa Bar at International House Hotel is one of New Orleans's most creative cocktail lounges — named for the spirits (loae) of Haitian Vodou, with cocktails built around seasonal Louisiana produce, local spirits, and voodoo-inspired naming. The hotel bar's intimate scale and inventive programme make it a destination for serious cocktail drinkers visiting the city's gaming district.
Sazerac Bar
Central Business District
The Sazerac Bar at The Roosevelt New Orleans (Waldorf Astoria) is home to the Sazerac — considered the world's oldest cocktail and New Orleans's official drink. The fully restored Art Deco room with Paul Ninas murals and rye whiskey-focused programme is a landmark for serious cocktail drinkers, located next to Harrah's casino on Canal Street.
The Bombay Club
French Quarter
The Bombay Club is a sophisticated cocktail lounge in the French Quarter renowned for its martini menu — over 100 variations — and nightly live jazz piano. The British colonial-themed interior with leather chairs and dim lighting creates an intimate atmosphere for cocktail connoisseurs visiting the gaming and entertainment district.
Buffa's Bar New Orleans
Tremé / Marigny
Buffa's is one of New Orleans' most beloved neighborhood bars — an Esplanade Avenue institution presenting live music seven nights a week in the most authentic non-tourist New Orleans bar atmosphere available to visitors. The Tremé neighborhood's extraordinary African American cultural heritage (the oldest continuously inhabited African American neighborhood in the United States), combined with Buffa's genuine community spirit, creates a bar experience that represents the most authentic face of New Orleans hospitality.
Carousel Bar & Lounge
French Quarter
The Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone is one of the world's few rotating bars — a 25-seat merry-go-round bar that completes one full revolution every 15 minutes. In continuous operation since 1949, it was a favourite of authors Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote. A French Quarter landmark for cocktail lovers visiting New Orleans.
NOLA Brewing Tap Room New Orleans
Irish Channel New Orleans
NOLA Brewing Company is New Orleans's most well-established craft brewery — an Irish Channel institution producing outstanding ales that are deeply integrated into the fabric of New Orleans bar culture. NOLA Brewing's remarkable Friday afternoon tap room tradition (free tastings, open to all) and its extraordinary community spirit create a brewery bar of genuine New Orleans neighborhood community significance.