Stranger's Guide Magazine

For tourists, New Orleans can feel like America’s best playground. Whether it’s Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest or just a long weekend in spring, it’s a city to visit, to let loose and to be entertained. Come with us to encounter a different New Orleans, where fights over climate change, queer politics and racial justice unfold alongside music, tradition and joy. The more you love the Big Easy, the more meaningful it is to see this special place holistically—its cultural institutions, its longstanding Black history, its music, its poverty, its food. New Orleans has always occupied a unique place in American identity, a crossroads for some of the country’s best and worst qualities.