A free walking tour of the French Quarter in New Orleans that you can do on your own: ten landmarks on a one-mile loop from Jackson Square, each with its story and the sources behind it, plus the whole route in Google Maps. No booking, no group, nothing to install.
Decatur Street, between St. Ann and St. Peter · Open in Google Maps
Start in the heart of the old city. Engineer Adrien de Pauger's 1721 plan for New Orleans set this block aside as the Place d'Armes, a parade ground facing the river. It was renamed in the 1850s for Andrew Jackson, who led the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, and Clark Mills' statue of him on horseback has stood at the center since 1856. The matching red-brick Pontalba Buildings on either side were built around 1850 by the Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba, who also drove the redesign of the square. Look up at their iron balconies: her initials, A and P, are worked into the railings.
Sources: A Brief History of Jackson Square — The Historic New Orleans Collection · Jackson Square (New Orleans) — Wikipedia
Chartres Street, facing the square · Open in Google Maps
A church has stood on this spot since the city's first years; the parish dates to 1720. The Good Friday fire of 1788 destroyed the earlier church, and its replacement became a cathedral in 1793. Much of what you see today comes from a rebuilding around 1850, which gave the façade its three spires. In 1964 it was named a minor basilica, and it is often described as the oldest cathedral in continuous use in the United States.
Sources: Our History — St. Louis Cathedral · History — Archdiocese of New Orleans · St. Louis Cathedral (New Orleans) — Wikipedia
701 Chartres Street, left of the cathedral · Open in Google Maps
The Cabildo was built between 1795 and 1799 as the seat of Spanish colonial government in Louisiana. In 1803 it hosted the ceremonies that handed Louisiana first from Spain to France and then, weeks later, from France to the United States: the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana Supreme Court later sat here, and heard the case that became Plessy v. Ferguson. The mansard roof was added in 1847, and the building was restored after a fire in 1988 badly damaged its top floor. It is now part of the Louisiana State Museum.
Sources: The Cabildo — Wikipedia · Archaeology at the Cabildo — Louisiana Office of Cultural Development (PDF)
751 Chartres Street, right of the cathedral · Open in Google Maps
Built as the Cabildo's twin, the Presbytère was designed in 1791 as a residence for the cathedral's clergy, but they never lived here. Work stalled after the ground floor and wasn't finished until 1813; the building then served as a courthouse, and it joined the Louisiana State Museum in 1911. Its exhibits today cover Mardi Gras and Louisiana's long history with hurricanes.
Sources: The Presbytère — Wikipedia · The Presbytère, New Orleans, Louisiana — National Park Service
800 Decatur Street, across from the square · Open in Google Maps
Cross Decatur Street to Café du Monde, a coffee stand in the French Market since 1862. It is known for two things: beignets, square doughnuts buried in powdered sugar, and café au lait made with chicory. New Orleanians took to stretching coffee with roasted chicory root when coffee was scarce, including during the Civil War, and the taste stuck.
Sources: Our History — Café du Monde · Café du Monde — Wikipedia
Decatur Street, heading downriver toward Ursulines Avenue · Open in Google Maps
Follow Decatur Street downriver along the French Market. Trading happened on this riverbank before the city existed, and a public market has operated here since 1791, which is why the French Market calls itself the oldest public market in the country. Its long colonnaded sheds have been rebuilt many times and now stretch for several blocks. Walk as far as Ursulines Avenue, then turn left, away from the river.
Sources: History — French Market · French Market — Wikipedia · New Orleans Then and Now: The French Market — Library of Congress
1100 Chartres Street, at Ursulines Avenue · Open in Google Maps
Ursuline nuns arrived from France in 1727 to run a hospital and a school for girls. The convent in front of you was completed around 1752 and is considered the oldest surviving building in the Mississippi Valley. It came through both great fires that destroyed most of the colonial town, in 1788 and 1794. After the nuns moved out in 1824, it served as the archbishop's residence and, for a time, as a meeting place of the Louisiana legislature.
Sources: History — Old Ursuline Convent Museum · History — Archdiocese of New Orleans
632 Dumaine Street, between Chartres and Royal · Open in Google Maps
Walk two blocks along Chartres Street to Dumaine and turn right. Madame John's Legacy was rebuilt after the fire of 1788 in the French colonial style: living quarters raised above a brick ground floor, a gallery under a wide hipped roof, and outbuildings behind. It is one of the finest surviving French colonial homes in the city. The name comes from fiction, George Washington Cable's 1879 story "'Tite Poulette," in which a character leaves a house like this one to her daughter. It is part of the Louisiana State Museum.
Sources: Madame John's Legacy — Wikipedia · Madame John's Legacy — Louisiana State Museum
Bourbon Street, at Dumaine Street · Open in Google Maps
Continue up Dumaine to Bourbon Street. It was part of Adrien de Pauger's 1721 street plan too, and named it for France's royal House of Bourbon, not the whiskey. Now look at the buildings: despite the neighborhood's name, most of the old French Quarter isn't French. The fires of 1788 and 1794 destroyed most of the French-era town, and it was rebuilt under Spanish rule in brick and stucco around private courtyards. Many of the lacy iron balconies came later still, in the 1800s.
Sources: Bourbon Street — Wikipedia · How the fires of 1788 and 1794 changed New Orleans — The Historic New Orleans Collection · Great New Orleans Fire (1788) — Wikipedia
Between Royal and Chartres Streets, beside the cathedral · Open in Google Maps
Head one block back toward the river to Royal Street, known for its antique shops and art galleries, and follow it to the narrow paved lane that runs beside St. Louis Cathedral. Its official name was Orleans Alley until the city adopted the popular one, Pirate's Alley, in the 1960s. In 1925 a young William Faulkner rented rooms at 624 Pirate's Alley and wrote his first novel, Soldiers' Pay; the ground floor is now a bookshop named for him. The alley brings you out on Chartres Street at Jackson Square, where you started.
Sources: William Faulkner — 64 Parishes · Faulkner House, New Orleans — American Library Association Literary Landmark · Soldiers' Pay — Wikipedia
This tour covers the classic landmarks. For a French Quarter walk built around what you love, such as ghost stories, jazz history, architecture or food, tell AI Walking Tour what you want. It builds a narrated tour from real places on Google Maps, with every story researched and its sources linked, in your language. Your first tour is free.
Yes. The French Quarter is compact and walkable, and every stop on this tour is a public landmark you can see from the street for free. Follow the stops in order, or open the full route in Google Maps.
The loop is about 1 mile (1.6 km). Allow 1.5 to 2 hours with time to stop and look, and longer if you go inside the museums at the Cabildo, the Presbytère or the Old Ursuline Convent.
It starts and ends at Jackson Square, on Decatur Street between St. Ann and St. Peter.
Yes. The route and stories on this page are free, and the stops are free to see from outside. If you want a narrated version built around your own interests, such as ghosts, jazz or food, AI Walking Tour makes one, and your first tour is free.