A boisterous, jazz-loving city with a penchant for street parties, there’s nowhere quite like New Orleans. African, American, Caribbean and European cultures merge in the ‘Big Easy’, so-named after the locals’ laidback way of life, to form an irresistible melting pot of history, music and food on the banks of the Mississippi.

Take your time as you wander the evocative French Quarter, a National Historic Landmark where restaurants serve southern staples and music fills the air from every bar, club and street-corner saxophonist. At its heart, Bourbon Street embodies New Orleans’ party spirit with a buzzing, round-the-clock nightlife. Make time, too, for a stroll around the leafy Garden District with its extravagant antebellum mansions and historic Lafayette Cemetery.