OliverB

My wife and I are planning a 10 might trip to NOLA sometime in the next year.

We are somewhat restricted by a trip to Japan, for which we'll be gone from late October to the first week of December, 2014.

We are not able to travel prior to this trip, which means we're probably looking at sometime in the new year.

Here's where I'm having a bit of difficulty with regards to the planning:

We do not want to be anywhere near New Orleans during the festival seasons. That includes Jazz Fest, Mardi Gras, and any other time of year when there's a high influx of tourists flooding the fratty dive bars of the French Quarter.

We also would like to travel at a comfortable and temperate time of the year, avoiding the sweltering summer heat. Our San Francisco climate is well suited to us!

Lastly, we'd like to visit at a time of year when we can experience the gothic foliage of the willows and cypress trees covered in Spanish moss, and tour the Manchac Swamp and Louisiana bayous with the red eyes of alligators floating above the murky waters.

I understand that this will require some compromise on our end, but I would greatly appreciate your advice on what would seem an ideal time of year to plan for in order to get the most from our experience?

Thanks so much!

Smaug

Living here, I've always thought the best months to visit are March and October.

Just FYI, Mardi Gras 2015 is February 17 so rule out anything before then. Jazz Fest is late April and early May.

My personal choice would be mid-late March.

OliverB

Thanks Smaug!

Is that a good time to tour the swamps and bayous as well?

Smaug

That should be good. The wildlife should be active by then, and everything will be blooming (or about to). I think this year, everything bloomed a bit late (in early April), but that may have been due to the extended cool winter we had.

OliverB

Thanks again, you've been a great help and now we can go ahead and book our reservations!

swag

I'd avoid St Patrick's Day and the preceding weekend, though.

FLYMSY

Then you'll want to exclude Saints' home game weekends, if you come during Fall. Also, French Quarter Festival in mid-April which had a record breaking crowd this year ( well over 700,000 people for the weekend).

BTW, you'll see a helluva lot more oak trees rather than willows here.

Edited to add: I hope you realize that if you want to see "the red eyes of alligators floating above the murky waters", that you'll be doing this in the swamps at night. Bring a flashlight because you'll need to shine it in their eyes to see the red color.

Blumie

If you've never been to New Orleans before, you need to dedicate 20 minutes one night to walking down Bourbon Street. That way, you'll know to cross it off your list and you'll never have to (or want to) do it again, whether or not its festival season when you visit. (I feel the same way about Pat O'Brien's and Cafe du Monde, but others may disagree, particularly about the latter.)