New Orleans, Louisiana
From distinctive delicacies to its ever-changing soundtrack improvised on street corner after street corner, this place has iconic weaved into its every fiber. Never been to the Big Easy? Start your sightseeing in the French Quarter. Here, cast-iron balconies laden with greenery overlook the happenings below: steamboat cruises chugging along the Mississippi and visitors gleefully devouring Café du Monde’s powdered sugar beignets. Half a mile (.8 kilometer) away, see the above-ground tombs of St. Louis Cemetery for a beguiling look into the residents of NOLA’s past.
If you’ve visited before, check out the city’s more serene sights: the idyllic New Orleans City Park, complete with a botanical garden and minigolf course, the jazz venue Preservation Hall, and the grandiose homes of the Garden District, to name a few.