
Visiting New Orleans for the First Time? Here's What to See and Do
Keep your cool in New Orleans with our picks for the best first-timer activities.
A 4-star luxury hotel dripping with antebellum charm, Hotel Monteleone is a family-owned slice of quintessential New Orleans. Built in the Beaux Arts style, this beautiful and stately building opened in 1886 and is now part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The local literary crowd loves the hotel and its revolving Carousel Bar for its ties to renowned Southern writers.
This grand hotel is as much a literary landmark as it is an architectural one. Writers like Tennessee Williams, Ernest Hemingway, and William Faulkner were all regulars at the lobby Carousel Bar in its heyday, and the hotel offers literary author suites, each dedicated to a famous writer from the American South who either visited or wrote about Hotel Monteleone. The hotel is also a popular high-end option for overnight visitors looking for luxurious rooms with amenities like a fitness center, pool, and room service just steps away from French Quarter attractions.
Hotel Monteleone is located in the French Quarter at 214 Royal Street. Paid valet parking is available for a nightly fee, and airport shuttles can be booked to reach the hotel from Louis Armstrong International Airport. The hotel is within walking distance to all French Quarter attractions, and on public transit lines including streetcar 12 and buses 15, 16, 32, 62, 65, and 106.
The hotel accepts reservations 365 days a year and the Carousel Bar is open from 11am until midnight. Check-in time is 4pm and checkout time is 12pm.
The Hotel Monteleone sits right on the most fashionable street in the French Quarter—the aptly named Royal Street. A favorite destination for antique shoppers and art collectors, the street is packed with galleries and other eye-catching storefronts displaying vintage goods and locally made merchandise. To make a shopping stroll even easier, the blocks between St. Louis and St. Ann streets are closed to car traffic between 11am and 4pm. Fuel your treasure hunt with a classic Creole lunch at standout eateries like Brennan’s or the Court of the Two Sisters.