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 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.
Republic New Orleans
CBD / Warehouse District
Republic New Orleans is the city's most important electronic music venue — a Warehouse District club presenting world-class DJs and electronic music producers in a beautifully designed 1,100-capacity space. New Orleans' extraordinary musical heritage creates a particularly rich context for electronic music — a city where DJ culture emerged from the same African and Caribbean rhythmic traditions that created jazz, creating one of the most musically sophisticated electronic music communities in America.
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.
Tropical Isle New Orleans Nightclub
Bourbon Street New Orleans
Tropical Isle is Bourbon Street's most beloved entertainment institution — the home of the Hand Grenade (the most powerful drink in New Orleans, as boldly advertised). Bourbon Street's extraordinary 24-hour entertainment culture and Tropical Isle's remarkable role as a French Quarter landmark create a nightclub experience of genuine New Orleans tourist entertainment cultural 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.
Maison Frenchman Street New Orleans
Marigny / Frenchman Street
Frenchman Street is New Orleans' most authentic contemporary music destination — a Faubourg Marigny corridor of clubs, bars, and jazz rooms where the living tradition of New Orleans music is performed nightly by working musicians who represent the city's extraordinary musical inheritance. In contrast to Bourbon Street's tourist-focused entertainment, Frenchman Street presents music rooted in genuine New Orleans traditions for an audience that spans local musicians, serious music lovers, and visitors seeking the real New Orleans.
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.
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.