Historic Mardi Gras Inn

Forty steps from Elysian Fields Avenue, the Historic Mardi Gras Inn occupies a raised-basement Creole cottage on Marigny Street, one block off Frenchmen Street's live-music corridor. The three-story property suits musicians and festival travelers who want walking access to the Faubourg Marigny scene without French Quarter hotel prices.

Rooms keep original heart-pine floors and twelve-foot ceilings; shutters, not curtains, cover the street-facing windows. A wraparound gallery overlooks the corner intersection, useful for parade-route viewing during Carnival season.

Washington Square Park sits two blocks north; the streetcar into downtown runs along Rampart, a ten-minute walk away.