New Orleans hotels

Occupying a stately Beaux-Arts building, the Ritz Carlton sits on a full city block on Canal Street – and underwent an extensive $40 million renovation a few years back. These days, the property’s antique-inspired rooms are decked out in blue and gold, many offering stellar French Quarter views, alongside plush velvet armchairs and embroidered headboards. Outside, an interior courtyard filled with sago palm trees provides a shady place to relax.
Alternatively,you can opt for relaxation inside the hotel’s 22-room gold-accented spa where you’ll find unique treatments like a Voodoo Ritual and Southern Ceremony (including a zesty body scrub and anti-aging facial). The hotel also boasts a state-of-the-art gym and a large subterranean lap pool that conjures a visit to a European bathhouse.
To eat, M Bistro offers organic farm-to-table classics and seafood from Louisiana purveyors. Later in the day, don’t miss a cocktail and legendary jazz trumpeter Jeremy Davenport playing inside his namesake lounge.

Inside a landmark 1967 modernist building along the Mississippi River, and anchored in the heart of the Central Business District, the towering new Four Seasons hosts a serene sprawl of 341 rooms and suites. Thanks to large floor-to-ceiling windows you’re practically guaranteed a great view from each vantage point.
Calming, neutral-toned accommodations feature modern white-oak furniture while Carrara marble bathrooms are kitted with oval soaking tubs. In line with the brand’s luxe amenities, you’ll find a crescent-shaped rooftop pool alongside an eight-room spa (you might consider the Detox massage after a night of revelry).
Meanwhile, the lobby’s fashionable Chandelier Bar is ideal for sipping a Sazerac while admiring the pièce de résistance: a custom 15,000-piece crystal chandelier. To eat, award-winning chef Alon Shaya’s Miss River offers classic New Orleans fare; while Chemin à la Mer serves Louisiana cuisine executed with French technique.

A few years ago, the Kimpton Hotel Fontenot opened in the Central Business District. A quick jaunt to the French Quarter and hip Warehouse District, the property’s modern 202-rooms weave a clean palette of blacks, whites, and pops of soft pinks and purples. You’ll also find chic tambour armor and French-inspired cane beds kitted out with soft Frette linens. In the mornings, take a stretch on in-room yoga mats and enjoy bathing with custom Atelier Bloem toiletries.
The lobby features a butterfly installation and a musically-inclined art piece paying homage to Louis Armstrong and King Oliver. Later, draped in a poppy menagerie of patterns, drop by the regal blue-and-green-hued Peacock Room for a taste of elevated blue crab pimento cheese or dig into a hearty oyster gumbo.
Meanwhile, just off the lobby, you can sip a coffee (with an optional boozy spike) at the aptly-titled Gospel Coffee and Boozy Treats. Rest and repeat.

Drop your bags at this venerable grand dame whose ornate 19th-century British-flared decor (antiques and artwork) certainly conjures up an English retreat. A short walk from the French Quarter, you’ll uncover a formal lobby featuring vignettes of plush oversized armchairs, oil paintings, and fresh flowers.
The hotel’s collection of 316 rooms are mostly suites and include spacious seating areas with Louis XVI chairs and writing desks. A handful of rooms also have private balconies. Just off the lobby, Le Salon offers a traditional afternoon tea service while The Grill Room is usually reserved for a boozy Sunday Jazz brunch and the Polo Lounge offers elevated bar nibbles and top-notch martinis.
On the rooftop, you’ll find a state-of-the-art gym, a 65-foot saltwater pool (heated in the wintertime), and a bar pouring high-end cocktails (after all, you’re in New Orleans).

Situated in a 19th-century, red-brick former Catholic church complex in the bohemian-vibed Faubourg Marigny neighborhood, you’ll find a foursome of structures: a church, convent, schoolhouse, and rectory. A savvy boutique collaboration between native New Orleanian Nathli Jordan and Ash NYC, the hotel’s 71-rooms are kitted out in a variety of European accents – Swedish, French, Italian – and include gingham prints, antique chandeliers, and trompel’oeil murals.
And, while no two rooms are alike, all feature luxurious marble bathrooms. Clawfoot tubs in the bedrooms provide further welcome respite. The old church, complete with stained-glass windows, doubles as a space for events and weekly yoga classes. Inside an intimate parlor you’ll find the Elysian Bar (from the folks who run the nearby wine shop Bacchanal) pouring niche libations, bespoke cocktails, and inspired nibbles.
In the morning, grab a caffeinated beverage at the small on-site coffee shop before you take off for a stroll in neighboring Bywater.

One of the first boutique hotels to open in the Warehouse District in 2016, this 9-story, 1928-Art Deco building was re-imagined by the famed New York-based design firm Roman + Williams. Amid vintage furniture, soft lighting, and a decidedly industrial vibe, creatives and locals gather in the communal spaces, including the lobby, which hosts a buzzy happy hour.
Upstairs, the property’s 234 rooms are kitted out with French Deco wooden furniture and chic dark-tiled bathrooms. Atop the building sits a rooftop pool surrounded by greenery, doubling as a fun spot (and a personal favorite) for sipping a refreshing cocktail from the on-site bar Alto.
You certainly won’t go hungry at the Ace New Orleans: the French-Italian eatery Josephine Estella serves up seafood and pasta; while the cozy, warmly-lit Seaworthy pairs wild-caught oysters with domestic wines.

Located on the eastern edge of the French Quarter and near the Audubon Aquarium and Woldenberg Park, this new boutique hotel mixes its contemporary aesthetic with historic roots. Set in a handsome former sugar factory, the hotel’s hushed, neutral-toned rooms and “sweets,” 83 in total, pay homage to its former tenant with flourishes including exposed wooden beams, large picture windows, and industrial iron.
You’ll also find a sprawl of mid-century modern furniture, glass walk-in showers, and Malin + Goetz bath products. Downstairs, there’s a leafy courtyard with a swimming pool and a fire pit for lounging. Later, drop by the hip Batture Bistro + Bar for hand-crafted cocktails, New Orleans staples, and a Creole-inspired Sunday brunch. Or journey to the eighth-floor rooftop terrace for unobstructed views of the Mississippi River and stately Saint Louis Cathedral.

Set in the Lower Garden District, this charming hotel once hosted literary giant Tennessee Williams – in fact, he wrote parts of his famed A Streetcar Named Desire at this site. Inside, you’ll find a jewel-toned, emerald-and-crimson palette mixed with crystal chandeliers and gilded mirrors.
The decor of the hotel’s 106 rooms is accented with pinks and mints and asymmetrically-hung artwork. Bathrooms feature glass cabinets with old-fashioned pill bottles and Le Labo toiletries. To eat, the Jack Rose (whose name pays homage to a Williams play) serves European-inspired cuisine. After dinner, an analog-style elevator whisks you to the eleventh-floor rooftop where the buzzy Hot Tin bar pours champagne and innovative cocktails with skyline views.
Outside, listen to the streetcar rumble along St. Charles Avenue and venture to one of the area’s local po-boy shops (just don’t forget your old-school, red-tasseled room key).

Channel a bygone European age inside this former Beaux Art-flourished building (established 1908) in the Warehouse District. A savvy collaboration between the Ace Hotel Group and LA-based Shamshiri Studio, you’ll be wowed by a dramatic duo of staircases and Art Deco lighting.
Upstairs, the hotel’s 67 rooms are accented with blue bed frames, zodiac-symbol etched coffee tables, and tiled bathrooms employing coiled-serpent shower doors. In the mornings, a light-filled, Parisian-inspired breakfast room with parquet floors serves à la carte pastries, warm sugar-dusted beignets, and coffee.
Come evening, just beyond a secret doorway in the library room, guests will find their way into the red-hued, cheetah-print Bar Marliou where craft cocktails are compliments of the hip Parisian group Quixotic Projects. Stretch your legs and hop a streetcar to visit the Lower Garden District’s famed antebellum mansions. Don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers too.

Regal and royal come to my mind when arriving at this Royal Street institution. Dating back to the 1880s, a bustling, marble-encrusted lobby features swanky crystal chandeliers and dramatic gilded ceilings. A few steps away, sip a French 75 inside the classic Carousel Bar, a popular haunt featuring a revolving carousel.
The hotel’s whopping 522 guest rooms, dressed in floral patterns and striped wallpapers, offer a quiet respite from the bustling French Quarter action. Meanwhile, larger Literary Suites, whose names nod to writers like William Faulkerand Eudora Welty, feature spacious parlors and posh granite bathrooms.
The on-site eatery Criollo doles out many of my favorites including Creole eggs benedict and decadent desserts à la bread pudding. In the afternoons, retreat to the rooftop pool surrounded by leafy plants and take in the stellar French Quarter and Mississippi River views.