Heading to NO for a Bachelor Party, what should we do?

February 4, 2009 7:04 AM

Give me your unique bachelor party ideas for New Orleans in late April

Hey guys!

So... all of my friends are getting married these days and I'm always the one in charge of the Bachelor Party planning. This time, we decided on New Orleans. We're going to fly in on a Thursday in April and stay through Sunday evening. I don't know much about New Orleans other than the fact we want to stay near Bourbon Street and that I love Crawfish. We want to do some golfing, some drinking, and maybe even some fishing. We'd also like to do any kind of activity that is unique to the New Orleans area. Can you make any recommendations?

Also, there will be about 10-12 dudes (some married, some single), and we'd love to rent a hotel suite/town house for our stay. Does anyone recommend any reasonably priced accommodations out near Bourbon street?

posted by JakeTimberlake to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

Well Jazzfest starts last weekend of April through first week of May. This provides a wealth of music-related stuff to do, but you may be booking things a bit late at this point. Hurry, dude.
posted by poppo at 7:24 AM on February 4

Take a tour of Mardi Gras World. It's so fun!
posted by radioamy at 8:09 AM on February 4

The French Quarter Festival is April 17-19. Less music and more food than Jazzfest, as I understand it.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:13 AM on February 4

we booked rooms at the W Hotel in the French Quarter for my buddy's bachelor party last August, but that was the off-season for New Orleans. You could probably get a suite there.
posted by LilBucner at 8:15 AM on February 4

Rent out a small party boat and take a booze cruise on the river.
posted by chrisamiller at 8:27 AM on February 4

"Unique to New Orleans area" = Dixieland jazz, in my mind. If you like jazz, or are even mildly interested in our American musical heritage, support the musicians who preserve this unique bit of Americana.

Preservation Hall has concerts every evening for a mere $10, offering the best traditional New Orleans jazz in a funky little room. It's usually packed to the gills, standing room only, and there's no booze inside the hall so it may not be exactly what you had in mind, but drag your buddies in there anyway. You can always hit the bars on Bourbon Street on your way back to the hotel.

Any interest in hiring a band? The Loose Marbles are a fabulous group of buskers who usually play in the afternoons on Royal Street in the French Quarter (sample video here) but they're also available for hire. I've never hired them, but I can vouch for their music. At least try to catch one of their gigs - they're terrific. They've played at Preservation Hall too, which should give you an idea how good they are.
posted by Quietgal at 10:02 AM on February 4

I visited a few years ago and went on a swamp tour. There are tours that will pick you up in a van from the hotel. It was incredibly hot that day (in July), but still so much fun to see the gators chomp on marshmallows! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining. Might be fun to do drunk? Also, it seemed minimally invasive to the wildlife (with the exception of the deafening noise of the boat's fan), which I appreciated.

I would also recommend beignets at Cafe Du Monde.

I am currently trying to plan my first bachelorette party for the summer. I feel your pain.
posted by Isingthebodyelectric at 8:06 PM on February 4

I went on bachelor party a few years back in December. Dixieland Jazz isn't really my scene but Preservation Hall was quite the neat experience (although I would have gotten the same out of it in only 30 minutes). We also took a Voodoo tour (basically some history on Voodoo and tours/stories about haunted events). I imagine your enjoyment of this depends on your tour guide's storytelling abilities. We also took in a LA State High School Football championship game at the Superdome. It was a cheap way of seeing the inside of Superdome in all its immense and vertigo inducing glory. Wandering around Old St. Louis Cemetary #1 was also pretty amazing. Beignets are a must and Cafe Du Monde makes good ones but they can be crowded and the service was kind of poor. However lots of places have good beignets so keep your eyes open.

Now some negatives. We found the novelty drinks served on Bourbon Street (like the Hand Grenade) to be fairly poor. Overly sickly sweet. Perhaps it isn't bad after you are far gone but stick to real drinks to start off. Not sure if it was December but we found the adult "entertainment" to be lacking especially in personality. I am sure that biz is highly cylical so things have no doubt changed. I am sure a local could pipe up about where to go. The city has several professional sport teams so you know there has to be some place good to go. ;-)

As for where to stay, we rented a real old house (I want to say the 1820s) that was a few blocks away from Bourbon (All the streets in the quarter are really small). If I can find the address I will forward the address. It was run by a really nice retired guy who brought us fresh pastries every morning. Crazy good.
posted by mmascolino at 9:36 PM on February 4

Here it is, the Gentry House. I was off by a decade. It was built in the 1830s.
posted by mmascolino at 2:45 PM on February 5 [1 favorite has favorites]