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Hotel at a Glance: The Troubadour Hotel - Premium Collection

Forget dingy carpets and dated decor when you stay at The Troubadour Hotel; opened in late 2016, it puts the emphasis on design. Rooms feature warm wood accents, funky light fixtures, and bathrooms with colorful tiles and mod-looking vanities. Designer bath amenities and seersucker robes are just the icing on the cake. And anywhere you look, you’ll be sure to find original artwork made by local artists. Plus, the hotel is just a 5-minute walk from the Orpheum Theater where you can see live music and a 15-minute walk from the Superdome, home of the Saints.

• Live like Don Draper: Every room has a signature cocktail setup, complete with shaker and funky glassware, plus a mini bar and retro-compact fridge.
• Enjoy the view from Monkey Board, the rooftop bar that slings drinks along with food-truck-inspired cuisine.
• Petit Lion: Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it’s the perfect spot to enjoy casual bistro fare in a cozy and welcoming environment.
• High-tech perks: HomTime M9 wooden bluetooth speaker and alarm, free WiFi, and 42-inch HDTV

New Orleans’s French Quarter: Let the Good Times Roll

“Stop thinking of New Orleans as the worst-organized city in the United States,” writes author Dan Baum in Nine Lives, his post-Katrina book. “Start thinking of it as the best-organized city in the Caribbean.” Some folks think there is something distinctly foreign about New Orleans, a place where people’s priorities seem inclined toward enjoying life and relishing the moment at hand. Nothing says it better than the town’s unofficial Cajun creed: “Laissez les bons temp rouler,” or “Let the good times roll.”

Historical buildings with intricate wrought-iron balconies line the narrow streets of New Orleans’s French Quarter. Here, street musicians often fill the air with jazz music, their trombones and tubas swinging back and forth. Just off the Jackson Square park and near the towering St. Louis Cathedral, the legendary Café Du Monde serves beignets under heaping piles of powdered sugar, as well as cups of iced or steaming café au lait.

And then there’s Bourbon Street, where neon lights advertise frozen cocktails and crowds gather along 13 city blocks. The nearby Frenchmen Street, just north of the Quarter, provides a slightly less touristy taste of New Orleans nightlife. Some of the city’s most popular live jazz and blues bars dominate this historic two-block district, with each venue hosting world-class musicians nearly every night of the week. Jazz fills the air at the Spotted Cat Music Club, where a sign warns that both drinks and drunks are barred from the piano—but like all rules in New Orleans, it’s one that’s bound to get bent from time to time.

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