ATLANTA’S COUNTRY COUSIN KNOWS HOW TO HAVE A GOOD TIME

New Orleans feels a little like Atlanta's country cousin. We're close enough to be family, similar enough to understand each other, and competitive enough to argue every time we're in the same room. Atlanta might have the polish, but New Orleans has something we cannot manufacture: a culture so strong that you know exactly where you are before anybody tells you.

This is one of the rare American cities that genuinely feels like you traveled somewhere. The architecture changes. The food changes. The music changes. The accent changes. The rules loosen up a little. New Orleans can take a regular three-day weekend and somehow turn it into a story your friends are still laughing about six months later.

For Black travelers, the connection goes much deeper than Bourbon Street. Black and Creole people helped create the food, jazz, second lines, neighborhoods, spiritual traditions, celebrations, language, and culture that made New Orleans famous in the first place. Black culture isn't an attraction in New Orleans. It's part of the foundation. And there is plenty to build a trip around. Eat your way through the city. Find live music. Explore Black history. Take a swamp tour. Stay out entirely too late. Catch a Falcons game while you're here and watch Atlanta handle the Aints if the schedule happens to cooperate. We said what we said.

Where you stay matters too. The French Quarter puts you directly inside the action, while the CBD and Warehouse District offer some of the city's best upscale hotels without putting much distance between you and the party. New Orleans also has something we love in a hotel market: properties with actual personality. Historic buildings, courtyards, balconies, rooftop bars, boutique hotels, and grand old names all make staying here part of the experience.

Our Top New Orleans Hotels are the places we'd consider when we want to experience one of America's most unapologetically Black, Southern, historic, weird, delicious, and entertaining cities. We might talk trash about our country cousin, but we're still coming to visit. Just don't ask us to wear black and gold.