How do I get around New Orleans?

The St. Charles streetcar has been grinding along its tracks since 1835. It runs from Canal Street at the edge of the French Quarter all the way to the Riverbend at South Carrollton Avenue, through the Garden District and Uptown. You'll hear the bell clang a block before it arrives, and the wooden seats and open windows feel like riding through 1920. A single ride costs $1.25 in exact change or on the RTA's Le Pass app. The Canal Street line runs north to the cemeteries near City Park Avenue. That said, these things move at about 9 mph and share the road with turning cars, so treat them as scenery that happens to transport you. If you need to get from Canal Street to Magazine Street in the Lower Garden District, the streetcar takes 35 minutes. Uber takes 12.

Uber and Lyft are your real workhorse for anything after dark or any cross-neighborhood trip longer than 15 minutes on foot. A ride from the French Quarter to Frenchmen Street in the Marigny runs about $8 to $10. Airport to the Quarter costs $25 to $35 on the app, compared to the flat $36 taxi fare for up to two passengers, with $15 for each additional person. Worth noting, the taxi stand at Louis Armstrong International has that fixed-rate structure, which tends to be cheaper for groups of 3 or 4 than the app during Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest. Hailing a cab off the street outside the Quarter is unreliable. Download the United Cabs app before you arrive as a backup for the nights when the ride-hail multiplier hits 3x on Bourbon Street at 2 AM.

The French Quarter covers a tight grid of roughly 13 blocks by 6 blocks. About 1 mile long, half a mile deep. You can walk from Jackson Square, which has been a public space since 1721, to Café Du Monde in 3 minutes flat. Bourbon Street to the Mississippi River takes about 5. The sidewalks are another story. Tree roots crack through old brick and concrete, and after rain the low sections near Decatur Street collect ankle-deep water that smells faintly of the river. With temperatures currently at 32°C that feel closer to 37°C in the humidity, walking more than 20 minutes at midday means arriving drenched. Carry water and plan indoor stops every few blocks. Outside the Quarter, walkability drops. Magazine Street in the Garden District is pleasant, lined with live oaks that throw some shade, but getting between neighborhoods means long residential stretches where the only sound is window air conditioners humming.

Blue Bikes, the city's bike-share system, has roughly 70 stations. A single 30-minute ride costs $1.50. The Lafitte Greenway runs 2.6 miles from Louis Armstrong Park near the Quarter to Bayou St. John, with a separated path that keeps you off the road. It is the safest cycling corridor in the city by a wide margin. For a different angle on the Mississippi, the Algiers Point ferry departs from the Canal Street terminal and crosses in about 5 minutes for $2. It drops you on the West Bank in a quiet neighborhood where you can sit on the levee and watch container ships pass close enough to read their hull markings. The breeze off the water drops the felt temperature by a good 5 degrees. Mind you, the ferry runs roughly every 30 minutes and service ends around 9:45 PM, so check the schedule before heading over.