10 Best New Orleans Festivals (2023 Update)

With over 130 New Orleans festivals throughout the year, that’s about one every three days! I absolutely love festivals. In fact, I skipped my senior prom to go to my first music festival. Oh yeah, and I met my wife at one as well! I’ve been to New Orleans four times now and have had … Read more

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With over 130 New Orleans festivals throughout the year, that’s about one every three days!

I absolutely love festivals. In fact, I skipped my senior prom to go to my first music festival. Oh yeah, and I met my wife at one as well!

I’ve been to New Orleans four times now and have had a great time at their festivals. Of all the cities I’ve traveled to for a good party, I’d say New Orleans is one of the best places in the United States for festivals.

10 Best New Orleans Festivals

New Orleans is a city with many names, including the Crescent City, NOLA, and the Big Easy. Another nickname that deserves to be on the list is Festival Capital of the World.

While New Orleans is most well-known for its raucous Mardi Gras celebration, there are tons of other awesome festivals to experience here. Whether you’re into music, food, literature, art, or booze, there’s a festival for you in the Big Easy.

With so many excellent New Orleans events to choose from, there’s likely to be something cool going on in the city when you visit — even if it’s just for a weekend.

In this guide, we’ll take a look at some of the best New Orleans festivals to help you plan the perfect trip.

1. Mardi Gras: New Orleans Carnival Celebration

Mardi Gras is the granddaddy of them all. This is definitely the most famous of all the New Orleans festivals, bringing in over 10 million people to the city each year.

The name Mardi Gras is French for “Fat Tuesday”, which is the common name for the final day before the start of Lent.

On this day, many people eat rich and fatty foods before the fasting of Lent begins. Mardi Gras in New Orleans lasts for far longer than one day, though.

Once the 12 days of Christmas are finished, the Mardi Gras celebrations begin.

The first parades kick off on January 6th, which is also known as Twelfth Night. About a month laster, the biggest and wildest parade of all takes place, Endymion. Seeing this parade was easily my favorite part of Mardi Gras.

The party lasts for a month, so you have lots of options for including Mardi Gras on your list of things to do in New Orleans.

Mardi Gras came to the region way back in 1699 when a French Canadian explorer landed about 60 miles downriver from New Orleans and named it “Ponte du Mardi Gras” (Fat Tuesday Point) when he realized it was the day of the holiday.

The parades started in the 1830s, and Mardi Gras has been an integral part of the culture here ever since.

Mardi Gras season in New Orleans basically means a ton of parades, interesting costumes, colorful beads, and King Cakes.

There’s a lot of eating