The French Quarter is unlike anywhere else you've been. It's loud in the best way, full of history that goes back hundreds of years, and small enough that you can walk every block of it in an afternoon if you really wanted to. We're an ice cream shop on Decatur Street, so we see thousands of visitors walk by our door every week. People always ask us what they should do while they're here, so we figured we'd write it down. This is our honest guide to the neighborhood we work in, live around, and love.
Jackson Square
Jackson Square is basically the living room of the French Quarter. You've got street performers doing magic tricks, tarot card readers set up along the fence, portrait artists sketching tourists, and brass bands playing for tips. It's free to just wander around and take it all in. The view of St. Louis Cathedral from across the square is the most photographed spot in New Orleans, and honestly, every time we walk past it on our way to work, it still looks incredible. If you only have an hour in the Quarter, spend it here.
St. Louis Cathedral
St. Louis Cathedral sits right at the head of Jackson Square and it has been standing there since 1727, which makes it the oldest continuously active Roman Catholic cathedral in the country. The outside is beautiful, but it's worth stepping inside too. The interior is quiet and cool, and the stained glass and painted ceilings are something you don't expect until you see them up close. Free tours run during the day. Even if you don't go in, just standing in the square and looking up at the three steeples is one of those moments that sticks with you.
French Market
The French Market is right down the street from us on Decatur. It's been a trading post and gathering place since the late 1700s, and today it's an open-air market with local vendors selling handmade jewelry, hot sauce, artwork, leather goods, and all kinds of Louisiana-made stuff you won't find in a chain store. There are food stalls too if you want to grab a bite while you browse. The covered walkway makes it comfortable even when it's 95 degrees outside. It's the kind of place where you walk in planning to spend ten minutes and end up staying an hour.
Cafe Du Monde
You already know about Cafe Du Monde. Beignets and chicory coffee since 1862. Three beignets come out hot and absolutely buried in powdered sugar, and yes, it will get all over your shirt. That's just how it goes. The cafe is open almost 24 hours and sits right on the edge of Jackson Square, so you can eat your beignets with a view of the cathedral. Try to go early in the morning or late at night if you want shorter lines. The coffee is strong, the beignets are perfect, and it's one of those places that lives up to the hype. If you want more sweet spots in the Quarter, we put together a French Quarter dessert guide with some of our favorites.
Bourbon Street
Bourbon Street is exactly what you think it is, and then some. Live music pours out of every doorway, the bars are open all day, and the crowd doesn't slow down until well after midnight. It's loud and chaotic and honestly a lot of fun, even if you're not a big nightlife person. Just walking a few blocks in the evening to take in the energy is worth doing at least once. During the day it's calmer and you can actually appreciate some of the older buildings and balconies along the way. At night, it's a whole different animal.
Royal Street
Royal Street runs one block parallel to Bourbon, but it feels like a completely different world. This is where you go for art galleries, antique shops, and some seriously talented street musicians playing jazz and classical guitar on the sidewalk. The architecture on Royal is gorgeous, with wrought-iron balconies and old storefronts that have been there for over a century. The pace is slower, the shopping is actually interesting (not just souvenir shops), and it's the street in the Quarter that locals tend to walk when they want to enjoy themselves. Definitely worth an afternoon stroll.
O.K. Ice Cream
This one is us, and we're not going to pretend to be modest about it. We opened O.K. Ice Cream in 2024 at 1129 Decatur Street because we wanted to bring really good, all-natural ice cream to the French Quarter. We serve Quintin's ice cream, which has been made right here in New Orleans since 1998 with no artificial flavors or colors. You can get a scoop in a cup or cone, one of our Screamers (that's our ice cream sandwich, made to order with fresh-baked cookies, brownies, or cake), a thick hand-spun milkshake, or a frozen coffee for when the heat starts getting to you. We're small, we're local, and we're proud of what we scoop. Come by and say hi. Check out our current flavors before you visit.
Mississippi Riverfront & Moonwalk
The Moonwalk is a paved walking path that runs right along the Mississippi River, just across Decatur Street from the French Market. It's one of the best places in the city to just slow down for a few minutes. You can watch massive cargo ships and riverboats drift past, look out at the Crescent City Connection bridge, and feel the river breeze that makes a hot day in New Orleans a lot more bearable. If you're here around sunset, make a point to come to the riverfront. The view of the sun going down over the water with the city behind you is seriously one of the best things about this neighborhood.
The Presbytere & Cabildo
These two buildings sit on either side of St. Louis Cathedral, right on Jackson Square, and they're both Louisiana State Museums. The Cabildo is the building where the Louisiana Purchase transfer was actually signed, and walking through it gives you a real sense of how deep the history runs in this city. The Presbytere, on the other side, has a permanent Mardi Gras exhibit that is genuinely one of the best things to see in New Orleans. They've got real floats, costumes going back decades, and a whole section on the traditions and krewes that make Carnival what it is. Even if you've never been to Mardi Gras, you'll walk out of there understanding why people love it so much. Admission is affordable and it's easy to spend a solid hour in each building.
Preservation Hall
Preservation Hall is tucked onto St. Peter Street in a small, weathered building that doesn't look like much from the outside. But inside, it's one of the most important music venues in the country. They've been hosting traditional New Orleans jazz here every night since 1961. There's no bar, no fancy sound system, no big stage production. Just musicians who have spent their whole lives playing this music, performing in a small room where you can feel every note. It's the kind of experience that reminds you why live music matters. Shows run most nights and they do sell out, so grab tickets ahead of time if you can. It's worth planning around.
Frenchmen Street
If you ask someone who lives here where they go to hear music, they're going to say Frenchmen Street. It's just outside the French Quarter in the Marigny neighborhood, about a ten minute walk from our shop. Frenchmen is a stretch of bars and music clubs where you can hear jazz, blues, funk, and brass bands pretty much every single night of the week. A lot of the clubs don't even charge a cover, so you can walk down the street and pop into whichever place sounds best from the sidewalk. On weekend nights there's also an outdoor art market where local painters and craftspeople sell their work. It's the real deal, and it's absolutely worth the short walk from the Quarter.
Decatur Street
This is our home street, so we might be a little biased, but we think Decatur is the best street in the French Quarter. It runs the full length of the neighborhood along the river side, and it's got a completely different energy than Bourbon. Decatur is where you'll find the French Market, local restaurants, independent shops, street performers, and a mix of tourists and locals that makes the whole street feel alive without being overwhelming. The people-watching is incredible. You can sit on a bench with an ice cream cone and just watch the whole city walk by. We're at 1129 Decatur, right in the middle of it all, and we wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
Cool Down at O.K. Ice Cream
After all that exploring, you've earned a scoop. Find us at 1129 Decatur St in the heart of the French Quarter — we're open daily and we'd love to see you.
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