New Orleans

New Orleans is America's most distinctive city — a place where French, Spanish, African, Caribbean and American cultures have blended over 300 years into something entirely unique: jazz and zydeco music floating from every bar, cuisine of extraordinary originality, a Mardi Gras tradition of surreal excess, and an architecture of Creole and Spanish Colonial townhouses with elaborate iron lace balconies that exists nowhere else in North America. The French Quarter (Vieux Carré) is the oldest surviving neighbourhood — Bourbon Street is the famous and raucous entertainment strip, but the more interesting streets are Royal (antique galleries, jazz clubs) and Frenchmen Street in the Marigny (the best live music scene in the city, genuinely local). Jackson Square, with St. Louis Cathedral and the Mississippi River beyond, is the city's symbolic heart. The Garden District, with its antebellum mansions, is the best for architectural walks. New Orleans cuisine is extraordinary — beignets and café au lait at Café Du Monde, Creole classics (gumbo, jambalaya, étouffée, red beans and rice), po'boys from Parkway Bakery, muffulettas from Central Grocery, oysters from Casamento's. Commander's Palace is the grandest dining institution. The National WWII Museum (one of America's finest history museums) is essential. Mardi Gras (February/March) is one of the world's great festivals. The city has a languid, humid beauty that is unlike anything else in America.