New Orleans: City Bike Tour French Quarter & Garden District

4.90

(159 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I didn’t expect to laugh so much on a New Orleans city bike tour, honestly. Right from the start, our guide (his name was Marcus — he owns the company) handed me a helmet and said, “Don’t worry, we’ll dodge potholes together.” The French Quarter hit me first with that mix of sweet beignets in the air and brass music leaking from open doors. We stopped at Jackson Square where an old man played trumpet under this crazy blue sky, and Marcus told us about pirates and painters who used to haunt these streets. I tried to repeat “Vieux Carré” like he did but just mangled it — he grinned and said I sounded like his cousin from Baton Rouge.

We rolled on toward Congo Square, which I’d only read about before. There’s this real hush there for a second — you can almost hear drums if you stand still long enough. Marcus talked about how jazz started right here, not in some fancy hall but out in the open with everyone listening. The ride wasn’t hard (about 9 miles total), though my legs did complain a little when we crossed into the Garden District. Suddenly it’s all shade from giant oaks and these wild old mansions with ironwork balconies. He pointed out one house where some movie star lived — I forget who now because I was distracted by a cat sleeping on the gatepost.

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 was our last big stop. We couldn’t go inside but stood by the gates while Marcus explained why people are buried above ground here (something about floods — makes sense). The air smelled faintly of moss and something sweet I couldn’t place. There were flowers tucked into cracks in the stone; someone must come by often. We finished up near Frenchmen Street where live music started up as soon as dusk hit — you could feel it vibrating through your handlebars.

I still think about that moment in Congo Square when everything went quiet except for distant laughter and birds overhead. If you’re curious about New Orleans or just want to see it without feeling rushed, this city bike tour is probably your best bet — plus you get bottled water and ponchos if it rains (which it did for five minutes, then the sun came right back out).