The Experience
Nothing in New Orleans happens in ordinary time — Mardi Gras is the day, Carnival is the season, and it starts on January 6th, when nobody knows it's Mardi Gras but the people who live here.
Go out and have adventures. Our boutique hotel accommodations on Esplanade Avenue are part of the real New Orleans, not Bourbon Street. From here, experience a city rich with possibilities, where everything thrives and everybody needs a secret of their own.
When all is said and done, you should stay at La Belle Esplanade. Home is where the heart is.
- Carnival Begins
- Mardi Gras
- Beyond Carnival
Carnival Season Begins
Things become famous for good reason. In New Orleans, it's usually because the more things change, the more they stay the same. Plop a Marie Antoinette in New Orleans today and she'll be part of a marching krewe, the Merry Antoinettes, out every Mardi Gras Day. One of them used to live in the green house next door, upstairs in front. Ours is a city that is kind to eccentrics.
The Mardi Gras season starts with the Phunny Phorty Phellows, who take the St. Charles Streetcar with a brass band in front, throwing beads out the back since 1898. That same night, the Krewe de Jeanne d'Arc rolls through the French Quarter in a candlelit walking parade, everyone dressed in medieval costume. Then it's quiet. If you work in an office, you'll eat king cake every day until Lent. There are things percolating under the surface — little traditions, anticipation. You'll catch glimpses, but you won't really know what you're seeing.
Mardi Gras isn't just Bourbon Street; outside the French Quarter, it's a family holiday, and Uptown you'll see children sitting on ladders in special seats so they can see the floats and catch the throws.