The Best Places to Take Photos in New Orleans
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New Orleans is a stunning city of blues and jazz music, French colonial architecture, and home to some fantastic food and theatre. It’s also gorgeous! Because of its French history, so much of New Orleans is architecturally stunning.
The squares, gardens, balconies, streets and alleys, mansions, and manor houses. There is so much beauty to discover in New Orleans, and that means so many instagrammable places in New Orleans to photograph!
Instagrammable Places in New Orleans
Here are twenty of the most instagrammable places in New Orleans:
The Garden District
This area of New Orleans is a peaceful little wonderland of green grass, tall and shady oak trees, little French cottages, and traditional townhouses. Every house, street, and tree here has been perfectly placed and presented to be as picturesque as possible!
And that means lots of photo spots, great angles in daylight and twilight, and the happiest shots you’ll find in New Orleans. The best part of the Garden Districts is the big old manor houses with their columns and balconies – the most iconic and instagrammable parts of New Orleans.
Brennan’s
Not every city has a famous landmark of a restaurant, but New Orleans does. Brennan’s is famous for its Creole cuisine but what makes it so instagrammable is the inside decor. Brennan’s is all about that fine dining aesthetic, with French columns inside, chequered floors, elegant white tablecloths, and, best of all, the incredible chandeliers and old-timey wallpaper.
There are frescoes on the walls and huge potted plants at the bar. Everything about Brennan’s takes you back to the New Orleans of its heyday. It is classic, authentic New Orleans style, and decor.
417 Royal St, New Orleans, LA 70130, United States
Cafe du Monde
Found in the New Orleans French Quarter, Cafe du Monde is a traditional French cafe that’s been open since 1862. It has a huge outside seating area that’s covered and shaded and always packed full of people enjoying hickory coffee and French pastries.
The food, a blend of traditional French and French-American, is extremely instagrammable – being as unique to this place and city as it is. At night, Cafe du Monde lights up in a classy Great Gatsby kind of way with lamps that bring out the colors of place beautifully.
800 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70116, United States
French Quarter Balconies
The balconies of New Orleans’ French Quarter are perhaps the most iconic aesthetics of the whole city. They’ve featured in countless films and plays, and they might be the very first thing you think of when you picture New Orleans! Well, they are just as beautiful as you’d expect.
Wrought iron railings, filigree, hanging plants, wood furnishings, climbing ivy. There’s really nothing else like them in the entire country! If there is one most instagrammable place in New Orleans, it’s the French Quarter balconies.
Cute Houses
New Orleans might have some impressive townhouses and grand hotels, but it also has some of the cutest little houses in America. Woodhouses just two rooms in size, painted in bright and happy colors, with little porches. On those porches are rocking chairs and swings.
You’ll find proudly waving American flags and maybe even smoking gently flowing from the chimneys. These cute houses of New Orleans are so quintessentially old America and that’s what makes them some of the most instagrammable places in New Orleans.
Jackson Square
At a glance, Jackson Square looks an awful lot like Disneyland. That’s because of the magnificent Saint Louis Cathedral that stands at the end, behind the Jackson statue at the center of Jackson Square.
Saint Louis Cathedral is a tall, white building of spires stretching into the sky, and the square itself is a wide-open space of perfectly maintained grass and pathways that connect to different parts of the French Quarter. Framed by various iconic streets and buildings, Saint Louis Cathedral most of all is a fantastic and photogenic place to explore and enjoy in New Orleans.
The Bywater
Bywater is called such because it’s, well, by the water. This infamous area is a bohemian place dominated by cafes with outdoor seating, traditional Louisiana buildings of wood and brick, and the aforementioned cute houses of Americana New Orleans.
Some of the city’s best bars, clubs, and cafes all conglomerate in the Bywater area, making for one of the most lively and diverse places to photograph in New Orleans. If you like your photos vibrant, varied, and full of life, this is the place you want to be photographing.
The St. Charles Streetcar
Streetcars are ubiquitous with New Orleans culture and aesthetics. Tennessee Williams didn’t set A Streetcar Named Desire here for nothing, after all. And the most important streetcar line is the St. Charles Streetcar, which is the oldest line in the city.
As such, its streetcars are almost ancient relics that still run every day. These old metal carriages have remained the same since the days where New Orleans was in its prime, and they make for some of the most romantic photos you could ever take in the city.
Commander’s Palace
Despite its name, this place is actually a restaurant of real traditional New Orleans fare. It serves creole food, has stood for well over a hundred years, and is nestled in the heart of the Garden District.
Moreover, it’s one of the most eye-catching and stunning buildings in the city. Painted in garish and bright blue and white, with awnings, wood pillars, and even a tower, it is a picture of Louisiana aesthetics and architecture and an incredible place to photograph.
1403 Washington Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130, United States
The Vintage Coffee Shop
Simply known as The Vintage, this delightful coffee shop is a real grand space that wouldn’t look out of place in a steampunk novel or a Western. It’s a wide-open space of wood walls and ceilings, hanging paintings, chandeliers, and long wooden tables.
There isn’t another interior like it in all of New Orleans, making it a wholly special instagrammable place in New Orleans.
3121 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70115, United States
The Country Club
If you want an example of why Bywater is such a great area for bars and restaurants, The Country Club is it. This restaurant and bar offer the finest local cuisine, an outdoor seating area, and even a poolside area. Its wood exterior and luscious green garden make for a place that looks very much lost in time – perfect for Instagrammers looking for the perfect spot in New Orleans.
634 Louisa St, New Orleans, LA 70117, United States
City Park
50% larger than Central Park, New Orleans City Park is one of the largest city parks in the US! A place of endless green, flowing streams, and meandering paths. A relaxing and romantic place to take some great photos.
Carousel Bar and Lounge
You’ll find this bar at the Hotel Monteleone. As the name implies, it’s a round bar that actually rotates like a carousel. It’s also lit up in yellows and golds like one, too, making for what is easily one of the most unique instagrammable places in New Orleans.
214 Royal St, New Orleans, LA 70130, United States
With Love From Nola Sign
If you don’t know, NOLA is a slang name for New Orleans Louisiana (like the ‘I Heart NY’ slogan). You’ll find the ‘With Love from Nola’ sign at Canal Place, framed by a big green moss wall. It’s the ultimate place to take a fantastic instagrammable selfie.
333 Canal St., New Orleans, LA 70130
The Buckner Mansion
If you’re a fan of American Horror Story, you may recognize this iconic building from Season 3. In the show, it was Miss Robicheaux’s Academy but in real life, it’s The Buckner Mansion. In many ways, this building is the ultimate New Orleans building, with so many columns and large balconies framing the entire place!
1410 Jackson Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130, United States
Audubon Park
This peaceful New Orleans park is located far from the city center, in a quiet uptown neighborhood with an atmosphere that matches the elegance and beauty of the park. Massive trees of every kind found in Louisiana grow in magnificent splendor in this huge park, making for epic and scenic walks. The photo opportunities here are sweeping and beautiful, to say the least.
Pirate’s Alley
President Andrew Jackson and author William Faulkner both lived along this historic alley. Pirate’s Alley is a highlight of the French Quarter. It’s a chance to see the secret side of the area, with gas lamps and glistening cobblestones, hanging signposts, and quiet balconies.
Longue Vue House and Gardens
What was once private home is now a museum, and also the site of some of the most impressive gardens in New Orleans. With long and flowing water features in gorgeous symmetry, a dazzling stately home of large columns and balconies, and thick foliage framing the entire garden area, this is one of the true romantic spots in New Orleans.
7 Bamboo Rd, New Orleans, LA 70124, United States
Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop
Despite its name, this is in fact a bar. Specifically, one of the oldest bars in New Orleans. A place dripping with an atmosphere that almost looks like an abandoned and haunted house from the outside. The soft lighting, emphasis on shadows, and rustic decor make for a real pirate’s tavern experience!
941 Bourbon St, New Orleans, LA 70116, United States
