La Belle Esplanade, LLC

Tonight is our last night staying at La Belle Esplanade. We are enjoying the moment just had to share our visit. Our past visits to NOLA we have stayed in a hotel in the French Quarters on the concierge’s floor. We have found La Belle Esplanade it has superceded our expectations and we will definitely return. Melanie and Matthew have created a B & B that is first class. From their introduction and tour at check in giving you a wealth of information about the house and the area. To a very well thought out buffet style breakfast using local vendors where you can meet the other guests and have the opportunity to share your day before activities to getting recommendations from Melanie and Matthew, they have a wealth of knowledge of places too visit and restaurants. We are off tonight to a restaurant they have visited and I can’t wait to share with them in the morning our experience.

This place is great.
Matthew and Melanie are great hosts and serve a great breakfast. Place is cozy and in a nice neighborhood with ample parking. Rooms are clean and spacious.

This place is gorgeous! The photos online don’t do it justice. If you are looking to get an authentic feel for the city and enjoy a piece of history, this place is perfect and reasonably priced. The managers are very friendly and knowledgeable and the breakfast they provide each morning is perfect… enough to keep you full during your adventures, but not so much that you don’t have room to enjoy all of the delicious food the city has to offer for the rest of the day. I would highly recommend this place. The only tip I have is to plan to drive around. Taxi’s were a hassle during my visit. Parking is easy, so having a car is no big deal.

My fiancé and I traveled to New Orleans back in late November/​early December for a quick weekend getaway. Everything about our stay at La Belle Esplanade was fantastic: the room, the breakfasts, the neighborhood, and especially the hosts. We look forward to coming back for a longer visit!

Nothing I write will do justice to the awesomeness of this bed and breakfast. Nothing.
My fiancée described it as part Mardi Gras, part Midsummer Night’s Dream, and part Dr. Seuss. We stayed in the Les Fleurs suite, which was very spacious, quirky, comfortable, and beautiful; we had a canopy bed and a sitting room with beautiful antique furniture. Breakfast every day was a combination of local treats and produce, and there was something for everyone. As I was still recovering from the flu, I spent a few days of our trip just hanging around La Belle Esplanade. Even though I would have liked to have felt better and explored the city more, it was lovely to make myself a cup of tea and spend my time exploring all of the quirks of this amazing space. Matthew and Melanie have done an amazing job designing it!
Speaking of Matthew and Melanie, they were also so, so lovely. What I particularly liked about Matthew’s and Melanie’s styles was that they’re very good at reading people; my party wanted straight-​forward, off-​beat suggestions on what we should do, and we were sent to some amazing museums and restaurants that we never would have found on our own. If either of them makes a suggestion to you, just follow it! However, I also noticed that they respected guests who seemed to want more privacy/​independence; Matthew’s straightforward style worked great for us, but he and Melanie also knew how to interact with those guests who didn’t want to chat in the mornings. They are both clearly very talented and care about making each guest comfortable.
In sum, I would, without hesitation, recommend that you stay here. We will certainly be back!

Matt and Melanie were warm and welcoming, making us instantly comfortable and feeling right at home. Melanie greeted us with glasses of sweet (yummy) wine and biscotti to enjoy while Matt went over the details of New Orleans (it was our first visit). He gave us a map and spoke with us for quite awhile reviewing a plethora of local information — restaurants, things to see/​do, walking tips, etc.
We first got a tour of the beautifully decorated home and yard/​garden. We stayed in the Saints Suite. Our room was spacious and comfortable, nicely decorated — colorful, fun and eclectic! It had a large sitting room with TV, fully stocked fridge (no additional charge for snacks, water, wine, beer, water, etc.), coffee maker and then a separate bedroom. We had a private balcony with a table and chairs, a large private bath with claw foot tub (with the best bath towels I have ever had on any vacation anywhere!). Sink was outside the bathroom making it easier for us to both get ready at the same time.
Breakfast was fabulous! Every day they had several locally made specialties — breads, jam, sausage bacon/​maple donuts (one of the best things I ate in New Orleans) and a homemade dish like muffaletta, crawfish quiche… For those picky eaters who just want Kellogg’s cereal or Greek yogurt, that is available too. We had an early tour one morning. When I mentioned that we would be missing breakfast, Melanie prepared a bag of snacks for us to take with us! Matt and Melanie sat at breakfast and chatted with everyone each morning — discovering what activities we had planned, giving advice, answering questions about area history — truly a lovely couple who make you feel like you have been friends for years. There was a newspaper available as well, for those like my husband who just want to read in the morning.
Don’t let the location put you off, we found it to be excellent –it is a very safe area only a mile away from the French Quarter and close to CityPark. Quiet and peaceful (I can’t imagine trying to sleep in the French Quarter at night) on a beautiful street in a neighborhood that has great local restaurants and bars — where we had 2 of our best meals. We didn’t have a car but found the walk to the French Quarter and City Park to be lovely. The cab ride back to the hotel each evening was under $ 10 (about 5 minutes). We also used the complimentary bikes to get downtown, tour the nearby cemetery and ride around CityPark and its sculpture garden. They are 1 speed Huffy’s — perfect to get from point A to point B, probably not so great if you planned to do some long bike rides (although the area is pretty flat). It was nice to see more of New Orleans than just the French Quarter.
We stayed 4 nights — I feel one would be hard-​pressed to find a better stay or nicer hosts elsewhere. Just an all-​around great experience. We will definitely stay here again when we return! Great vacation!

La Belle Esplanade really is as good as it gets! We are locals who stayed there recently for a one-​night staycation in New Orleans. The house is great — we stayed in The Saints room which has a separate sitting room and a private balcony.
Matthew and Melanie are a lot of fun and very nice. They greeted us with local wine and recommended their favorite restaurants and bars, one of which we had not even tried. You can walk to several restaurants, a wine shop and a coffee shop.
Breakfast is even better than you’d expect — local jams, homemade biscuits, some kind of crawfish quiche that was delicious and more. If you’re visiting New Orleans, it’s a quick cab ride to the French Quarter. I recommend this place to tourists and locals!