French Quarter Walking Tour by National Park Service

The only national park that preserves music. Everyday Ranger Karin does an amazing Job at telling the story of music! Followed by a little concert in the hall. It is all free.
They also offer yoga jazz in the park. A real secret treat. I advise everyone go!

Wait? People are complaining about a FREE tour? And it’s not one of those «Free» tours that expect tips at the end and people still can rate it less than 5 stars? This is a free tour from the US Park Services. Tickets were handed out at 9.30, but we arrived at 9.20 to be sure to get one of them and then walked around to get some drinks and snacks before the tour started at 10.
It’s an interesting tour that’s a relatively short walk around the waterfront of New Orleans. There’s cool bits of history and you’ll end up at the end near the church and Café du Monde. Afterwards, we walked up to the Farmer/​Flea market where you’ll find some cool art and good local produce and food. If you can get up without being too hung over, I highly recommend this tour.

So the story goes that NPS used to conduct free tours of the French Quarter and — many years ago — of the Garden District. They were so popular, commercial tours started, then the commercial folks were upset that the NPS was offering them free! Anyhow, it is a historical, riverfront tour now… and it is OUTSTANDING with Ranger Jim. Do get there right when they open to get one of the 25 tickets!

Ranger Jim ROCKS! Fun and informative tour, which was sadly too short. Have to line up pretty early to make sure you get one of the only 25 free tickets per day. You get a quick tour of the area, that lasts about an hour. Secret tip: the bathroom at the national park center is the cleanest public toilet in town!

It must depend on which ranger you get… mine sucked! but it wasn’t Ranger Jim. It was short, I did the free self-​guided walking tour that
offers online and it was much better! Short, not very informative and frankly, sort of boring… how could that be for a section of New Orleans as fascinating as New Orleans???

Free is good. History is good. Ten million screaming children pouring into the aquarium while the Ranger is trying to talk… not so good, but unavoidable. Pellet rifle… would have been good.
Back in the day the Rangers did a walking tour of the French Quarter. I loved that tour and went every time I came to New Orleans. I was surprised that the tour had changed to a Riverfront walking tour with three stops. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it as much, but I was wrong.
The information is not what you will hear on any other tour. I loved it. They explain the history behind New Orleans in a more «social studies» kind of way. While I did get tired of standing a little, I’m really glad I took the tour. And free is a price I can always deal with!

Another 5 stars for Ranger Jim and his free 1-​hour walking tour. Jim is wonderfully engaging — the kind of guy you just want to sit back and listen to no matter what the heck he might be talking about. He paints a rough sketch of New Orleans history for those without a clue. It’s a nice level of detail, though I would have loved even more.
One cautionary note: this is no longer a true French Quarter tour — the Park Service has apparently been strong-​armed by the commercial tour services, and the tour is now limited to the peripheries. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it; it just means you may want to supplement with a paid tour. Jim recommends the one by the Friends of the Cabildo for $ 15.
Other tips: the gate opens at 9am and the tour starts at 9:30. Sometimes it fills up fast (25 spots total, I think), so you might consider getting there right at 9 or even a few minutes before. Once you pick up your ticket to lock in your spot, you can run over to Café Du Monde, get your bag of beignets, and get back to the tour by 9:30. Don’t forget to make a donation to the Park Service.

This is the best tour in the city because it is free. I probably shouldn’t be spilling the beans on this one but everybody else did, so I don’t mind. You’ve got to go early, which is a difficult thing to do in this party-​centric city where the bars only close for two hours or so. My favorite part of the tour was when Ranger Jim asked our tour group if we knew much of Andrew Jackson. The BF piped up something to the effect of: «Andrew Jackson was a murdering pillager/​rapist whose exploits have been bowdlerized and who’s life has escaped the true and just gaze of history.» I howled. The rest of the crowd was not amused.

There are a variety of walking tours in this most special of cities, but the one conducted by the National Park Service is absolutely top notch! Their Visitor’s Center on Decatur offers a number of historical and cultural exhibits, illustrating the time line of various waves of people moving into the Crescent City and the surrounding area, from French explorers and early settlers to the Spanish, from African slaves to German and Italian immigrants, and more.
The walking tour itself is filled with historical, architectural, cultural information that I’ve never found elsewhere, and never would have known were it not from the guy in the Smokey-​the-​Bear hat. (Indeed, I learned things on that tour that many locals never knew!)
And — it’s free! (Limited to 25 people, though.)