Planning a New Orleans family vacation? Contrary to popular belief, NOLA is loaded with lots of kid friendly activities! This itinerary will outline plenty of things for your kids to do in New Orleans!
This is Day 3 of our kid friendly three day New Orleans itinerary. See Day 1 Activities here and Day 2 Activities here.
Our last day in New Orleans. *sigh*
With any trip, including this one, I like to leave the last day low key and open for the most part so we can cross anything off our list we weren’t able to do yet or to just relax and take in the city.
So that’s what we did! We had one scheduled tour for the day, but it was in the evening, so we had the whole day to do whatever we wanted. It was the perfect ending for this trip!
If you haven’t read about our previous two days in NOLA…
For reference, we took our seven year old on this trip. She’s proven herself a fantastic little traveler over and over before. New Orleans is a walking city, so if your kid won’t do well with lots of walking, I don’t suggest making this one of your first family trips. If you are taking kids that are younger or older or taking multiple kids, then modify accordingly.
Adults, don’t worry – there are plenty of things here that will also keep your attention!
New Orleans 3 Day Itinerary
See Day 1 in New Orleans HERE!
See Day 2 in New Orleans HERE!
Day 3 – Free Time & Ghost Tour in the Evening
Sleep in!
This was the first and only day of our trip we didn’t have a morning tour already scheduled. We opted to sleep in and get up and ready at our leisure.
Breakfast at Cafe du Monde
Enjoy those glorious beignets and cafe au lait one more time before you have to leave. I also wouldn’t turn my nose up at you if you went back later in the day for more. 😉
There’s usually a live band playing just outside the cafe so sit back, take it all in and enjoy! Don’t forget to tip them before you leave though – these guys are a huge part of the New Orleans experience.
After breakfast…
As I said, I planned our trip so we had most of this day free to do whatever we wished. I’m going to share how we used our time below. Be sure to read our Day 2 itinerary for more kid friendly things you can take advantage of in New Orleans.
Stroll around Jackson Square
Damn, it’s gorgeous. As I said in our previous day’s itineraries, morning is the best time to take pictures and really breathe in the city. It’s less crowded and cooler too.
The Presbytere
The Presbytere is a museum to the right of St. Louis Cathedral. It has two exhibits – one about Mardi Gras and one about Katrina. The image above is a display you see as soon as you walk in which perfectly grasps the heart of both exhibits.
While the Circus throughly enjoyed the Mardi Gras exhibit, she was also intrigued by the Katrina exhibit. It’s a wonderful exhibit that will pull at your heart and accurately depicts the resilience of New Orleans and its people.
If you look closely at the costume above, you can tell portions are made of blue tarps which were a staple in New Orleans after Katrina.
There are countless costumes in the Mardi Gras exhibit that will leave you in awe.
The Circus loved seeing it all and it only more solidified her stance on her need to come back for Mardi Gras.
Stroll around the French Quarter
We spent a good bit of this day also just strolling around the French Quarter.
I adore the architecture that one can only find in the Quarter.
The courtyards of New Orleans are one of my absolute favorite parts of homes in the area. I’ve decided a courtyard is a future must for me.
Shopping
After lunch, we did a bit more strolling through the quarter and some shopping at the same time. Here are some of our favorite shops to visit in the quarter….
Faulkner House Books
If you’re a book lover, and especially if you’re a Faulkner fan, you must visit Falulkner House Books. Yes, Faulkner did live here at one time. This is a charming little book shop that of course has lots of books centered around New Orleans.
The Mask Company
After discovering Mardi Gras, the kid was intent on finding a mask to take home. I am not a fan of all the cheesy souvenior shops throughout the Quarter, so every time she wanted to go in one for a mask, I would say no, we’ll find a better one and drag her on down the road. We lucked upon the Mask Company just down from Faulkner House books on Pirate’s Alley. It’s a small little shop filled with only masks and the sweet man who runs it. Both she and I bought a mask here.
Southern Candymakers
If you want pralines or anything sweet, hands down, Southern Candymakers is the place to go! Don’t you dare stop at any other candy shop! I promise you won’t regret it! And while you’re there, just go ahead and have them pack up a box of pralines and send to me!
Nola Couture
I mentioned this fantastic little store as well in our day two activities. I wanted to mention it again here because they also have a location in the French Quarter. I adore this store.
Forever New Orleans
This is a fantastic little shop for alll things New Orleans, but not cheesy souvenir type things. I got a pretty little fluer de lis butter spreader here, and a NOLA hat I adore. Forever New Orleans is on Royal Street and there are loads of other stores along Royal as well that you might enjoy perusing.
What’s New Nola
This was a cute little shop filled with more New Orleans related items and also items from local NOLA artisans. I snagged a great little tray from here depicting the French Quarter.
5-in-1 New Orleans Ghost and Mystery Tour
While planning our trip, the Circus had requested a ghost tour. You all know that made me as happy as a clam! We opted to do this 5-in-1 ghost and mystery tour. It covered a little bit of everything – ghosts, voodoo, vampires and more.
This is a walking tour, so if you’re taking kids along, make sure they are prepared. My kiddo had to sit a couple times when we stopped to listen to a story from the tour guide. And although she didn’t see an actual ghost like she wanted to on the tour, she did enjoy it. The tour guide really got her hopes up at one point when he told us all that he “guarantees we’ll see some spirits at our next stop.” Turns out, we were taking a break at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, which is a bar. The Circus’ face dropped and was not amused. Her reaction was priceless. 😂
Dinner at Meauxbar
For dinner, we went to Meauxbar in the Quarter – another absolutely delicious restaurant we discovered on this trip!
First off, and I can’t stress this enough, get the duck fat popcorn. It’s exactly what it sounds like – popcorn tossed in duck fat. And it is everything. We all ate that up as fast we could, thus the nearly empty bowl there. As far as entrees, Grunt had the French onion grilled cheese and I had the steak – both were fabulous.
That’s a wrap for this visit to New Orleans – until next time, NOLA!
See the Day 1 New Orleans itinerary here.
See the Day 2 New Orleans itinerary here.
Want to plan another adventure?
Isle of Palms Beach Vacation – our most favorite beach! It’s beautiful and no crowds!
Things to Do in Pigeon Forge – fun family friendly things and of course – Dollywood!
Things to Do in Chattanooga – you’ve never seen the underground waterfall?!
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