Going to New Orleans for the Mardi Gras

Trip of a lifetime coming at ya! You HAVE to round up a big group of friends and go to Mardi Gras at some point in your lifetime. Mardi Gras in my opinion lived up to all the hype and then some. It is truly a bucket list item. The packed streets, wild outfits, ‘hand grenade’ slushy drinks, and crazy bead throwing. NOLA has such a unique and fun atmosphere. And yes, girls really do flash their tits the whole weekend on Bourbon Street lol. You don’t have to partake but prepare yourself.

When is Mardi Gras?

Mardi Gras switches dates each year. It is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which is 46 days before Easter. So it can be any Tuesday between February 3rd and March 9th. See here for a full list of dates for Mardi Gras each year.

I found the weather in NOLA to be pretty volatile. I monitored the weather the whole month of February before my trip last year and some days it looked like thunderstorm and rain while others was hot and sunny. We lucked out and got mostly sunny weather in the 70s. Although the nights would cool down.

I typically wore jeans and a tank top in the day and carried a jacket with me for the evening if we did not plan on stopping back home. I did wear some sparkly green / gold / purple on the day of Mardi Gras which is just from Amazon! Get a boa from amazon too! Loved having one and it automatically made me super festive without doing much work. And DO NOT worry about being over dressed in Mardi Gras outfits. Trust me, there will be people in crazier outfits.

What to do at Mardi Gras?

The big event will be on Tuesday. I recommend going for the weekend ahead of it as well and leaving on the Wednesday after. On Mardi Gras itself, everyone dresses up in wild costumes. It almost reminded me of Halloween, any costume was on the table. I saw outfits from Dalmatians, pirates, birds to just wild green, purple, and gold studded outfits (the official colors of Mardi Gras).

The big thing to do on Mardi Gras and the weekend leading up to it is to see all the parades with the floats. The other thing to do is head to Bourbon Street, which is the street you always see in photos, packed of people and the famous balconies over the streets with people throwing down beads. Flashers are guaranteed beads (I even saw a man flash his butt haha) but they will throw them down to everyone honestly.

This is the party place! The whole street is lined with crazy, fun bars and you can also get drinks to go and walk around the street while drinking. Kind of like in Vegas but without Vegas prices! Their most popular drinks are a slushy kind of drink in a yardstick container. While the street could get pretty packed, it was kind of nice because you could always find a bar that you have plenty of space!

If you came to Mardi Gras and didn’t plan on partaking in all these shenanigans then I don’t know what you are doing at Mardi Gras! Hello party people! My favorite night was when we were all drinking in the street outside of a bar playing really fun music – okay so we miiight have given the DJ $5 to play Mr. Brightside – and it started raining! We all just started dancing in the pouring rain!! No one took for cover. So carefree!

Outside of the festivities, you can partake in some typical tourist activities in NOLA. My favorite was a swamp tour to get a taste of the south as it was my first time in Louisiana! We saw TONS of gators. Our boat driver / tour guide was your stereotypical man from the south, probably hasn’t traveled further than New Orleans. His backyard was on the swamp and he grew up in these waters. He was an excellent guide and super knowledgeable about the gators. Definitely a highlight of my trip! I also signed up for a jazz cruise along the river, but unfortunately the weather got in the way. Pick a couple activities from here to do for your time in NOLA.

I would suggest booking your activities in advance! I did not which meant the only time the gator tour was available was at 8am haha. We had 16 people in our group and I wasn’t the one planning the trip, so very unlike me but I did not come up with a plan in advance. Which I realized I should have, but it ended up working out anyways!

Where to stay?

We booked a huge Airbnb for 16 people within 10 minutes walking distance of Bourbon Street. Even this was still expensive, but anywhere in the area over Mardi Gras is going to cost a lot. I would stay in a hotel / Airbnb as close to Bourbon Street as you can. You will appreciate this after a long night of drinking to not have to go far.

How much does it cost?

It’s not cheap! Our flights from LA were $500 each. Our Airbnb was another $500 or so each for a Saturday – Wednesday (split 16 ways and it was still that pricey!). Once you are there, the drinks are pretty cheap, especially if your comparing it to Vegas. Think $10-$15 for a giant drink. Which you will get a lot of lmao, so plan for that.

We ended up going to a lot of restaurants with good reviews on yelp. While the food was all delicious, spending $20 on a meal plus my cocktail, and tax and tip, I ended up spending around $40 each meal which really added up. Say $80 a day – lunch and dinner – just on this. If I were to do it over again, I would eat more street food which I heard is delicious and cheap.

Our swamp tour was $80 and the river boat was $50. I would do 2-3 tours so expect to spend around $150-200 on this as well. All in all, I spent around $1500-$2000 for what was an essentially long weekend (3 days off work). I’d recommend getting there Friday though and doing an extra day. I think if you do it right you might be able to get away with less. As cheap as it can be there though, I still spent the $1000 upfront just to get there and have somewhere to sleep.

Was it worth it?

Yes!! Definitely worth it, and a once in a lifetime experience. I would go with a group of friends for sure, maybe 6-8 people. With 16 we ended up splitting into smaller groups as traveling with 16 was just too many, but it did make for fun pregames!

So I think I WOULD go back, but just due to time and money, it’s not high on my priority list as I already did it once! I could go to Thailand for two weeks for the same price honestly, although those that live closer may have an easier time and cheaper flight than LA. Plus I only have limited time off work so I have to prioritize! Maybe one day I’ll make it back again!

I actually have friends that are going back again (if COVID allows) next year and invited us but I said no! I would still rate Oktoberfest higher than Mardi Gras. Oktoberfest is my all time favorite and I would go back in a heartbeat. But I would rate Mardi Gras over Coachella. Coachella I wouldn’t go back to as it was more a “one and done” experience, but Mardi Gras I would definitely do again. As far as ranking once in a lifetime party experiences go.

All in all, YOU HAVE TO GO TO MARDI GRAS ONCE IN YOUR LIFE! I had really high expectations for Mardi Gras, and I can confidently say that it exceeded my expectations! It’s so worth it! Go dance in the rain, wear crazy beads, drink hand grenades, and enjoy yourself as life is short and you only get so many weekends like this in your life surrounded by friends that you love!