New Orleans in 4 Days on a Budget (Daily Costs)
Four days in New Orleans: the budget version
Four days extends the 3-day plan with a fourth day in City Park and Treme, plus one genuine optional splurge, a Steamboat Natchez jazz cruise at $43.50. Days one through three stay exactly as they are; day four just adds free green space and jazz history rather than reinventing the plan. Budget $30-45 for day four without the cruise, $70-100 with it.
| Day | Focus | Rough spend (1 person, excl. lodging) |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Jackson Square, St Louis Cathedral, French Market, Frenchmen Street | $35-55 |
| Day 2 | St Charles streetcar, Garden District, National WWII Museum, Preservation Hall | $75-95 |
| Day 3 | Cemetery choice, Woldenberg Park, Canal St Ferry, Bywater/Marigny | $25-75 |
| Day 4 | City Park, Treme, Louis Armstrong Park, optional Steamboat Natchez cruise | $30-100 |
Book these before you go:
- National WWII Museum ticket : a multi-building campus, not a quick stop; buy ahead to skip the box-office line.
- St Louis Cemetery No. 1 guided tour : mandatory if you want this specific cemetery, about $33, no walk-in option at any price.
- Steamboat Natchez jazz cruise : from $43.50, the one real splurge on this plan, book ahead for a specific departure time.
- Preservation Hall: no advance ticket exists for general admission, arrive 30-45 minutes early instead (preservationhall.com ).
Getting in without overspending
MSY airport sits about 15 miles from the Quarter. A taxi runs a flat $36 for 1-2 riders (dropping to $15 a person for 3+), rideshare runs $35-55, and the RTA 202 Airport Express bus is the cheapest option at $1.25 flat fare, about 43 minutes to Canal Street, daytime-only, so check the schedule against your flight time on norta.com . Skip a rental car for all four days.
Day 1: French Quarter, free and cheap
Start at Jackson Square, free, then St Louis Cathedral, free, open 9:30am-4pm daily. Browse the French Market, then beignets at Cafe du Monde, $3.60-5.43 for three, cash only, note it closes nightly (11pm Sunday-Thursday, midnight Friday-Saturday). Lunch is a po’boy, $8.50-15. Spend the afternoon on Royal Street’s free galleries rather than Bourbon Street’s daytime bar strip. Evening belongs to Frenchmen Street’s free-door clubs in the Marigny; tip the band $5-10 a set, cash.
Day 2: Garden District, streetcar, and the one paid splurge
Ride the St Charles Streetcar, $1.25 or a $3 day pass, into the Garden District. Walk Prytania Street and Washington Avenue’s mansions for free; Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 stays closed to independent access in 2026, viewable from the gates on a guided tour. Browse Magazine Street at no cost, then spend the afternoon at the National WWII Museum , $36 adult, a half-day-minimum campus. Evening is Preservation Hall, $15-20 standing, arrive early, or a budget dinner instead.
Day 3: The cemetery choice, the river, and Bywater
Morning is the cemetery decision: pay roughly $33 for a licensed guide into St Louis Cemetery No. 1, or walk in free at St Louis Cemetery No. 3 or Metairie Cemetery. Afternoon is Woldenberg Park along the Mississippi, free, then the Canal Street Ferry to Algiers Point, a cheap round trip with a skyline view. Evening wanders the Marigny and Bywater for a second, quieter live-music strip and a cheap dinner away from Quarter pricing.
Day 4: City Park, Treme, and an optional splurge
Morning is City Park, free to walk, its live oaks and sculpture garden cost nothing beyond your own time; the New Orleans Museum of Art inside charges separate admission, skip it if the budget’s the priority. Afternoon moves to Treme, the oldest African-American neighborhood in the US, for a free walk past Congo Square and Louis Armstrong Park, the historic ground of the city’s jazz and brass-band heritage. In the evening, decide on the one real splurge of this plan: a Steamboat Natchez jazz cruise from the Toulouse Street Wharf, roughly $43.50 for a 2-hour narrated Mississippi cruise with a live jazz trio, or skip it and close on a cheap dinner instead.
Is the Steamboat Natchez cruise worth the $43.50?
Worth it once, mainly for the river-level view of the French Quarter skyline and the live trio, not for the narration, which covers ground a walking tour also gives you for free. Treat it as the day’s one deliberate splurge rather than a must-do; skipping it drops day four to $30-45.
Do you need a rental car for four days?
No. Streetcar, ferry, and walking cover City Park and Treme the same way they cover the first three days; a car adds parking cost without adding access to anything on this plan.
Bring cash for Frenchmen and Bywater tip jars and the Congo Square area; the 5-day plan builds one more day on top of this same spine if four still feels short.