A five-day New Orleans plan built around Carnival limits: when the streetcar detours, which sites close on Fat Tuesday, and which cemetery tours to book first.
Fortrip Editorial Team
By the Fortrip itinerary desk. Photos from Unsplash contributors, credited at the end.
This 5 day New Orleans itinerary fits first-timers who want the neighborhoods, the cemeteries and the live music, and who do not want a parade to dictate every hour. The pace is one neighborhood a day, one booked entry at most, and evenings left loose.
Five days in New Orleans is enough to give the Quarter, the Warehouse District, the Garden District and Treme one day each, with Mardi Gras Day left open.
Sleep in the French Quarter, on the Canal Street edge if you can, so most days start on foot and the St. Charles streetcar stop is a short walk away on Day 3.
The trade-off is plain: you will see parades in passing rather than staking out a curb, and Days 3, 4 and 5 are pinned to the parade calendar and the cemetery rules.
Frequently asked questions
Is the National WWII Museum open on Mardi Gras Day?+
No. The museum is closed on Mardi Gras Day, so this plan puts it on Day 2, the Saturday before. Check the museum's Plan Your Visit page for current hours and booking.
Can I walk into St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 on my own?+
No. Entry is by official guided tour only, per the New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries. The cemeteries are closed on Mardi Gras Day and close early on the Saturday before it, so the plan books the tour for Monday afternoon.
How do I book Lafayette Cemetery No. 1?+
Book a guided slot through Save Our Cemeteries before you travel. Do not rely on older listings that call the cemetery free and self-guided.
Does the St. Charles streetcar run normally during Mardi Gras season?+
Not always. The RTA announces Carnival detours on its Mardi Gras detour page, so read the current season's notice the night before you ride and keep a rideshare as the fallback.
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Fit “5 day new orleans itinerary” to your dates, pace, and hotels, then check every transfer before you book.
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Day
Base
Key stops
Transit
1 (Friday)
French Quarter
Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral, Pontalba Buildings, Royal and Chartres streets
On foot
2 (Saturday)
Warehouse District
National WWII Museum, Mardi Gras World
Walk across Canal Street or take a rideshare
3 (Sunday)
Garden District
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 guided tour, Prytania Street, Magazine Street
St. Charles Avenue streetcar, out in daylight and back before parades
4 (Monday, Lundi Gras)
Treme and Frenchmen Street
Basin St. Station, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 afternoon tour, live music
On foot from the Quarter
5 (Tuesday, Mardi Gras Day)
French Quarter
Costumed groups, one stretch of parade route
On foot
How this Mardi Gras itinerary handles Carnival season
Carnival changes what is open, how the streetcar runs and which mornings you can realistically be upright. This plan is built around those limits, not around a list of sights. To compare it with other routes, browse the day-by-day plans in our itinerary library.
How the days map to the calendar
The days are counted back from Mardi Gras Day, the Tuesday that ends Carnival. A Friday arrival puts Day 2 on the Saturday before Mardi Gras, which is Endymion day, Day 3 on the Sunday, Day 4 on Lundi Gras and Day 5 on Fat Tuesday itself. If you arrive on another day, keep the same order relative to Fat Tuesday rather than the same weekdays.
Parade dates and routes are published season by season. NewOrleans.com lists Endymion on the Saturday before Mardi Gras on its parade schedule page, and that page is where final routes and start times appear. Read it before you book flights.
What closes
Closures to plan around
The National WWII Museum is closed on Mardi Gras Day. Its Plan Your Visit page is where hours, admission options and booking are published.
First, ride the streetcar to the Garden District only outside parade hours. Second, never put a late parade night before an early booked cemetery tour.
Here is how the plan keeps both. Saturday evening, Endymion night, is left quiet, so Sunday's Lafayette tour starts from a normal night's sleep. Sunday evening is quiet too, and Monday's St. Louis tour is in the afternoon. The one late night is Lundi Gras, the evening of Day 4, and Day 5 has no timed bookings at all.
Day 1 — French Quarter: Jackson Square and the back streets
Arrive, drop your bags and walk the Quarter without trying to cover all of it. One neighborhood, a slow pace, an early night.
Morning: Jackson Square
Start at Jackson Square before mid-morning, when the square is still quiet, and face St. Louis Cathedral from the middle of the grass. The Cabildo and the Presbytère flank the cathedral on either side. They are museums, and their hours were not confirmed for this plan, so check with the operator before you plan to go in.
Then turn to the Pontalba Buildings, the rows that line the upper sides of the square. Their iron-lace galleries show how the Quarter was meant to be lived in: shops below, apartments above. Finish at the river end of the square, where the street gives way to the Mississippi.
Afternoon: Royal and Chartres
Walk Royal Street and Chartres Street away from Bourbon. On Chartres, look for the Old Ursuline Convent, and check its hours with the operator before you go. Royal Street holds the balconies, galleries and glimpses into courtyards that make the Quarter worth walking, and the lunch options are calmer than anything on Bourbon.
Evening
Eat dinner early, keep the first night quiet and sleep well, because Day 2 is a full museum day. Bourbon Street is crowded in Carnival week, so the better move is a table on a side street. If a late parade falls on your first night, keep Day 1 to Jackson Square and an early dinner, and move the Royal and Chartres walk to the morning of Day 5.
Day 2 — Warehouse District: the WWII Museum and the floats
This is the museum day. It works in rain and in Carnival crowds, and it suits the Saturday before Mardi Gras, when the Catholic cemeteries close their gates early.
Morning: National WWII Museum
Cross Canal Street on foot into the Warehouse District and plan most of the day here. The museum publishes hours, admission options and how to reserve entry on its Plan Your Visit page, so book your slot there before you travel. It is closed on Mardi Gras Day, so this day cannot move to Day 5.
Afternoon: Mardi Gras World
Mardi Gras World is the studio where parade floats are built, so you see the work behind the parades in the weeks when the parades are everywhere. Take it after the museum, once your head is clear. Hours and tour booking come from Mardi Gras World itself, so confirm both with the studio before you commit the afternoon. If the museum runs long, drop this stop and keep the museum.
Evening
Endymion is the parade on the schedule for this Saturday, per the NewOrleans.com parade schedule. Check its route there before you pick a restaurant, and eat on the side of town it does not cross. Skip the curb. Go back to the Quarter and sleep, because Sunday starts with a guided cemetery tour.
Day 3 — Garden District: streetcar and Lafayette Cemetery, outside parade hours
The Garden District is the stop most exposed to the parade calendar. St. Charles streetcar detours begin well before Uptown parades, so this day is a daytime outing with an early return.
Morning: the streetcar
Take the St. Charles Avenue streetcar from the Canal Street end of the line. The RTA publishes its Mardi Gras notices on its detour info and schedule page. That page is the 2026 edition, and it shows how detours are announced. Read the current season's notice the night before you ride, along with the fare and ride time the RTA lists.
Late morning: Lafayette Cemetery No. 1
Treat this as a guided visit and do not count on walk-in access. The Preservation Resource Center names Save Our Cemeteries as the tour provider, so book your slot with Save Our Cemeteries before you leave home. Some older guides call the cemetery free and self-guided. Those listings may be out of date, so go by the tour booking. Pick a slot that lets you ride out after breakfast, not an opening-hour slot, so Saturday's Endymion night cannot cost you the tour.
Midday: Prytania Street and Magazine Street
After the tour, walk the residential blocks around Prytania Street. The big houses sit back behind gardens and iron fences, with deep galleries and raised foundations, and the contrast with the Quarter's lot-line townhouses is the point of the walk.
Then walk to Magazine Street for lunch. The shops along it fill the rest of the afternoon.
Afternoon and evening: back before the parades
Head for the streetcar early and ride back in daylight. If an Uptown parade is rolling, the RTA's detour notice decides whether the streetcar runs the way you expect, and a rideshare is the fallback.
Sunday is the night before Lundi Gras, and a parade is likely. Eat dinner in the Quarter or on the walk back, watch any parade only as it passes, and be in bed early.
Day 4 — Treme and Frenchmen Street: St. Louis No. 1 by guided tour, then live music
One neighborhood, one cemetery and one music street, in that order, at an easy pace. This is Lundi Gras, so the Quarter is busy. The morning is slow on purpose, because the cemetery tour is in the afternoon and the late night comes after it.
Morning: Treme
Walk from the Quarter into Treme and start at Basin St. Station, the visitor center, for orientation. Treme is central to the city's music and Black culture, and a slow morning on foot here is a better use of the hours than an early tour.
Afternoon: St. Louis Cemetery No. 1
Entry is on an official guided tour only, per the New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries page. Book an afternoon slot ahead and arrive early. Cemetery Tour New Orleans runs the tour in cooperation with the New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries, and its FAQ is where tour length, price and booking are posted.
Do not book this tour on the Saturday before Mardi Gras or on Mardi Gras Day, when the cemeteries are closed or close early. Do not book a morning slot after a late parade night either.
Evening: Frenchmen Street
Frenchmen Street is a stretch of live music rooms within walking distance of the Quarter. Each venue sets its own lineup and hours, so check the venue's own calendar before you set out. Go early for a seat, then leave room for a late set. This is the one late night in the plan, and Day 5 has no timed booking to protect.
Day 5 — Mardi Gras Day: costumes and one stretch of route
Walk the Quarter from Jackson Square toward Bourbon Street and watch the costumed groups gather. It is the place to see people in elaborate dress rather than in parade lines, and it needs no ticket and no plan.
Midday: Rex and Zulu
Guides place Rex and Zulu on Fat Tuesday, but their start times and routes are not official until they appear on the NewOrleans.com parade schedule. Read that page the evening before and pick one stretch of route within walking distance of the Quarter.
Parade-route rules to carry into the day
The New Orleans City Council sets parade-route rules each season, posted on council.nola.gov. The 2026 motion barred pets other than service animals, confetti, tents, generators and open flames, and throwing past Tchoupitoulas. It also required ladders to be set back from the curb. Treat that as a template and read the current season's notice before you pack a bag.
Evening and departure
Go back to the hotel before the crowd thickens and pack that night. Check out early on departure morning and, if your flight is later, store your bags with the front desk. Leave a generous buffer for the airport transfer, because closures can slow every route in the center of town.
How to choose: who should cut, swap, or extend a day
This itinerary is a frame, not a script. You have three decisions: what to cut, what to swap and what to add. To test your own order of days against the closures above, run it through the itinerary validator, or start from scratch with the AI trip planner.
Cut a day (a 4-day trip)
Cut Day 2 if the museum is a lower priority, and keep the rest in order. The Garden District is the day to protect, because it needs a daylight window and a streetcar that is still running before parade detours. Keep one cemetery tour as well.
Swap days
Swap Day 3 and Day 4 only if the RTA's detour notice shows the streetcar detoured earlier on Sunday than on Monday. Never move the St. Louis tour onto the Saturday before Mardi Gras or onto Mardi Gras Day. If you end up out late at a parade, move the Lafayette tour to your latest available slot, or trade it with Day 4's afternoon tour.
Extend (6 or 7 days)
Add a second Garden District or Magazine Street day, a longer Treme and music day, or more time at the museum. Add nothing that depends on unconfirmed hours until you have checked them with the operator.
Who this plan suits and who it does not
It suits first-timers who want the neighborhoods, cemeteries and music without a parade every day. It does not suit anyone planning to stand at a parade for most of each day. Those readers should work from the official parade schedule and route maps instead.
