Fun Things to Do in New Orleans With Teenagers: A Local’s Guide
New Orleans is usually pictured as a city for adults—Bourbon Street, late nights, cocktails, and live music. But if you’re visiting with teenagers, there are plenty of ways to experience the city without feeling like you’re dragging them from one historical landmark to another.
The trick is finding experiences that are interesting enough for adults but still fun for teens.
If you’re looking for fun things to do in New Orleans with teenagers, here are some of our favorite ways to explore the city.
1. Explore the French Quarter on Foot
The French Quarter is one of the best places to start a family trip to New Orleans because there’s something interesting around almost every corner.
Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral, the Mississippi River, Royal Street, the French Market and the narrow streets of the Quarter are all within walking distance of one another.
Don’t just stick to Bourbon Street. Wander down Royal and Chartres streets, explore the riverfront, and duck into some of the smaller streets and alleys.
One of our favorites is Pirates Alley, the tiny passage running alongside St. Louis Cathedral. Today it’s one of the most photographed little streets in the French Quarter, but its location puts you right in the middle of centuries of New Orleans history.
For families looking for things to do in the French Quarter with teenagers, simply exploring on foot can fill several hours.
2. Take a Pirate Walking Tour
Okay, we’re admittedly a little biased about this one.
But there’s a reason our tours work particularly well for families with teenagers: the history is anything but boring.
New Orleans has a past filled with smugglers, pirates, privateers, duels, battles, crime, political intrigue and larger-than-life characters.
Our Pirate Guided Walking Tour begins in Pirates Alley and explores the historic French Quarter through the stories of the people who actually lived here—including Jean and Pierre Lafitte and the Baratarians who helped defend New Orleans during the War of 1812.
This isn’t a costume character leading kids on a treasure hunt. The stories are based on real history, but they’re told the way good stories should be told.
That’s why the tour can work for a 14-year-old, a 17-year-old, their parents and their grandparents at the same time.
If you’re searching for a family-friendly New Orleans attraction that lets you experience the French Quarter rather than simply look at it, this is a fun way to do it.
3. Visit the National WWII Museum
You could easily spend several hours at the National WWII Museum, and it’s one of the New Orleans museums that tends to work especially well with teenagers.
The museum goes far beyond display cases filled with artifacts. Immersive exhibits, aircraft, vehicles, personal stories and multimedia presentations help tell the enormous story of World War II through the experiences of the people who lived it.
It’s also a good change of pace if you’ve already spent a day exploring the French Quarter.
For history-loving families, this can easily become one of the highlights of a New Orleans trip.
4. Get Out on the Mississippi River
You can’t really understand New Orleans without understanding the Mississippi River.
Walk up the steps behind Jackson Square and you’ll suddenly see the enormous river on the other side of the levee, with ships moving past surprisingly close to the city.
You can simply walk along the riverfront, take the ferry across the Mississippi, or turn it into a larger experience with one of the sightseeing cruises operating from New Orleans.
5. Eat Something You Can’t Get at Home
One of the easiest family activities in New Orleans is simply eating your way through the city.
Teenagers may not care about the architectural significance of every building you pass, but tell them you’re stopping for beignets and suddenly enthusiasm improves considerably.
Try some of the things that make New Orleans New Orleans: beignets, po-boys, gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, muffulettas, pralines and local seafood.
You don’t need every meal to be at a famous restaurant, either. Part of the fun is finding the little neighborhood place or counter that you didn’t know existed.
Give everyone in the family a turn choosing what you’re trying next.
6. Go Behind the Scenes of Mardi Gras
If your family isn’t visiting during Carnival season, you can still get a sense of just how enormous Mardi Gras really is.
Seeing the floats and learning how they’re constructed gives teenagers something much more tangible than simply hearing someone explain Carnival traditions.
It’s colorful, strange, enormous and very New Orleans—which makes it a nice option when you’re trying to find fun activities in New Orleans for the whole family.
7. Take a Swamp Tour
The French Quarter gets most of the attention, but you don’t have to travel very far outside New Orleans before the landscape changes completely.
A swamp tour gives families a chance to see another side of Louisiana: bayous, cypress trees, wildlife and, depending on the season and conditions, alligators.
For teenagers who have already spent several days looking at historic buildings, getting onto a boat and into the Louisiana wetlands can be a welcome change.
8. Let Them Explore Something Weird
New Orleans is at its best when it’s a little unusual.
You’ll find small museums, antique stores, art galleries, street performers, unusual shops and things you probably weren’t planning to see.
Leave some room in the schedule for that.
One of the biggest mistakes families make when visiting New Orleans is scheduling every hour of every day. Teenagers generally aren’t going to enjoy being marched through a checklist of attractions.
Walk around. Stop when something looks interesting. Change the plan.
Some of the best New Orleans experiences happen because you weren’t looking for them.
9. Experience New Orleans After Dark
Traveling with teenagers doesn’t mean everyone needs to be back at the hotel at 7 p.m.
The French Quarter feels completely different after dark. The gas lamps come on, musicians are playing, restaurants are busy and the streets take on an entirely different atmosphere.
There are plenty of ways for families to experience New Orleans in the evening without making Bourbon Street the center of the trip.
Have dinner, listen to music where minors are permitted, walk through Jackson Square and the riverfront, or take an age-appropriate evening tour.
Older teenagers especially will appreciate getting to experience some of the city at night.
10. Don’t Try to Make New Orleans Feel Like Everywhere Else
This might be the most important advice on the list.
New Orleans is old, messy, beautiful, loud, historic, strange and occasionally ridiculous.
That’s the point.
If you’re visiting New Orleans with teenagers, let them experience the city rather than simply observe it.
Walk the old streets. Listen to musicians. Eat something unfamiliar. Stand beside the Mississippi. Hear some strange stories. Ask questions. Get a little lost.
There are plenty of New Orleans attractions for families, but the city itself is the biggest attraction of all.
Looking for Something Different to Do in the French Quarter?
Pirates of the Quarter’s family-friendly Pirate Guided Walking Tour departs from historic Pirates Alley beside Jackson Square.
Our pirate guides tell the real stories of Jean and Pierre Lafitte, the Baratarians, smugglers, battles and characters who helped shape New Orleans—all while exploring the streets where much of that history actually happened.
If you’re looking for fun things to do in New Orleans with teenagers, adults, or the whole family, come spend a couple of hours exploring the French Quarter with us.