DAY ONE | 6 p.m. Atelier Ace, the team behind Ace Hotels, opened this tribute to maximalist Southern luxury, awash in gold accents, colored marble floors and trompe l’oeil wallpaper. The typical temptation is to stay in the nearby French Quarter, but, by making this hotel your base, you’re wisely avoiding the harried swaying of the too-inebriated.

8:30 p.m. Step inside Palm&Pine, a restaurant set in an old French Quarter townhouse, and a reminder that fine dining doesn’t have to feel stuffy. Savor this fact when you dip into the pimento cheese on their Preservation Plate and when someone offers to bring over the tequila cart.

DAY TWO | 9:15 a.m. Grab a coffee to start your day and walk the length of Royal Street to see the French Quarter architecture, most of which is actually Spanish; fires in the latter half of the 18th century wiped out many of the French constructions. Watch as artisans, street poets and performers begin to take up their requisite corners.

10 a.m. Make your way to the salmon-pink building that houses the venerable Brennan’s Restaurant. Enjoy the old-school hospitality and balletic waitstaff. Begin with a nutmeg-topped Brandy milk punch before ordering the eggs Sardou, a Creole breakfast of artichokes and poached eggs, draped in Hollandaise sauce. Ignore your satiety and request the Bananas Foster, invented here, for dessert. The flambé happens tableside. Reservations recommended.

12 p.m. Teeter away from the French Quarter and into Louis Armstrong Park. Take a walk around to see Congo Square, the gathering place for 17th- and 18th-century New Orleans slaves, which became a cradle for the city’s music.

12:15 p.m. Slip into the Backstreet Cultural Museum to learn the history of the city’s Mardi Gras Indians (aka Black Masking Indians), social aid and pleasure clubs and other traditions. Peer closely at the Mardi Gras Indian suits on display, and remember each bead is sewn by hand.

1:45 p.m. Take a 10-minute drive over to the Music Box Village, a cacophonous collection of interactive musical tiny houses. Each building has its own soundtrack: Open a door to elicit a squeal, step on a wooden plank to make it zing or strum your hand along a line of wind chimes.

2:30 p.m. It’s a mile walk through the Bywater neighborhood to Euclid Records, where you can lose track of time digging for new and used records, including those from New Orleans artists like Ernie K. Doe and James Booker. On the way, enjoy the walk past Creole cottages and friendly neighborhood bars.

3:30 p.m. Take a few minutes to explore the Bargain Center, a thrift store filled with weird relics, from vintage T-shirts to old Carnival costumes.

3:45 p.m. Explore artwork from one of New Orleans’s most urgent artists today, Brandan “B-mike” Odums. In and around his continuously evolving gallery and studio space, Studio Be, Mr. Odums has created monumental, powerfully provocative graffiti murals.

5:15 p.m. Appreciate just how close New Orleans hews to the water that is both its foe and friend with a riverside walk. Take the entrance to Crescent Park at about 2900 Chartres Street, climbing over the big red staircase to see an unparalleled view of the curve of the Mississippi River, which gives New Orleans its Crescent City nickname.

5:45 p.m. Exit the park the same way you came in, zigzagging down Royal and Dauphine streets past the Marigny Opera House. Stop to read the plaque commemorating the arrest of Homer Plessy from the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case, which established the “separate but equal” doctrine.

6:15 p.m. The Gustavian design of the Elysian Bar and its home, the Hotel Peter and Paul, have made headlines since they opened in 2018. Gilt sconces, rattan furniture and cozy gingham make it all feel like a European castle was plopped in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Sip an Aperitivo Montenaro in the courtyard. If you can’t resist snacking, opt for that day’s seasonal variety of whipped ricotta and sourdough flatbread.

7:30 p.m. Ignore the neon sign that calls it a pizza place and instead look for the off-kilter black-and-white letters stuck to the door to know you’ve found Saint-Germain. If you’re smart, you’ll make reservations well in advance for whatever’s on the tasting menu that night. Whatever you order, make sure you say “yes” to the menu’s wine pairings.

9 p.m. Step down St. Claude Avenue to dip into the AllWays Lounge for burlesque, a comedy show, drag queen improv or all of the above.

10:30 p.m. Hopefully you saved some energy for dancing. Make it to Frenchman Street in time to catch the late show at d.b.a., whether it’s Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet, the Soul Rebels Brass Band, Little Freddie King or some other local performer.

DAY THREE | 10 a.m. Watch the city wake up with a cup of coffee and a trio of beignets from Cafe du Monde. If the wait for a table is too long, as it often is, step around back and stand in the to-go line, which locals know often moves much more quickly. Take your chicory-laced cafe au lait and paper bag of beignets over to a bench at Jackson Square to watch any latecomers hustle into Mass at the St. Louis Cathedral at the postcard-pretty heart of the French Quarter.

11:30 a.m. Walk across the French Quarter to Canal Street, where you can pay to hop on the rumbling streetcar. Make sure you take the one headed toward City Park, not the Cemeteries.

12:15 p.m. Just beside the New Orleans Museum of Art sits the Besthoff Sculpture Garden. While the museum requires an entrance fee, tour the garden to see its recent expansion and to walk along Elyn Zimmerman’s glass bridge.

1 p.m. Walk southeast (or, in New Orleans-speak, toward the river) to cross Bayou St. John on Esplanade Avenue, then follow the bayou toward Toulouse Street to grab a roast beef po’boy at the nearby Parkway Bakery & Tavern.

5 p.m. Most shops will close by 5 p.m. on Sundays, so make your final stop at chef Alon Shaya’s Saba, which he opened after splitting with chef John Besh and leaving behind the restaurant that bears his own name. Sit at the bar and sip a Dionysus Revival, a peppery concoction of tequila and a Mexican chile liqueur, while you dip the housemade pita bread into the buttery blue crab hummus.

9 p.m. Grab a beer from the cash-only Chart Room on your way to the Moon Walk for a last look at the Mississippi.

The Wall Street Journal isn't compensated by listed retailers. Hours, pricing and business type are not provided by the Journal.