Best Historic Hotels in New Orleans
Historic hotels in New Orleans put travelers inside buildings that predate the city's modern skyline, many within a few blocks of Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral. Hotel Monteleone, a French Quarter fixture one block from Bourbon Street, and Place D'Armes Hotel, set inside a converted historic building with exposed brick walls, both trade a generic hotel floor plan for genuine period architecture. The Brakeman Hotel and 9BR-Sleeps 19 Amazing Deal offer historic character further from the crowds, while Jean Lafitte House and The Olivier House Hotel keep courtyard pools inside centuries-old townhouse layouts. Grenoble House and voco St James Hotel by IHG round out the list with nineteenth-century facades a short walk from Bourbon Street, all within 20 to 25 minutes of Louis Armstrong International Airport via I-10.
Where to stay
Stays in New Orleans
Hotel Monteleone sits one block from Bourbon Street inside a historic building with the Carousel Bar and a heated rooftop pool, about 19 kilometers from Louis Armstrong International Airport by the property's own listing. Place D'Armes Hotel, also inside the French Quarter, keeps exposed brick walls and period details close to St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 and Bourbon Street. Both properties trade a modern hotel floor plan for genuine period character, and both list valet or private parking, worth confirming directly given the French Quarter's narrow, historic street grid (book early for Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest, when historic French Quarter rooms sell out before downtown alternatives).
Hotel Peter and Paul stands apart from every other property on this list by occupying a converted nineteenth-century church and rectory complex in the Marigny, about 27 kilometers from Louis Armstrong International Airport, with a romantic restaurant and yoga classes built into the repurposed space. Jean Lafitte House and The Olivier House Hotel both keep courtyard pools inside historic townhouse layouts closer to Jackson Square, giving travelers a choice between a genuinely unconventional historic conversion and a more classic French Quarter courtyard hotel experience. Neither Jean Lafitte House nor The Olivier House Hotel publishes a strict age restriction on their historic rooms, so families weighing period charm against modern comfort should confirm room configurations directly before booking either property.
The Brakeman Hotel, 9BR-Sleeps 19 Amazing Deal, Grenoble House and voco St James Hotel by IHG all carry historic character further from the Bourbon Street crowds, with Grenoble House built inside a nineteenth-century townhouse near Bourbon Street and The Brakeman Hotel sitting about 1.9 kilometers from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Audubon Cottages and Louis Park Hotel add garden courtyards and period details respectively, both within a short walk of Jackson Square or Louis Armstrong Park, useful for travelers who want historic character without committing to the loudest blocks of the Quarter.
New Orleans protects its historic building stock more aggressively than most American cities, and staying inside one of these properties means sleeping behind facades that survived floods, fires and more than two centuries of continuous use. Place D'Armes Hotel and Hotel Monteleone both sit inside the French Quarter's protected historic district, where exterior alterations require approval, which is why exposed brick and original architectural details show up across so many of the properties on this list. That density of preserved buildings in a single walkable district is genuinely rare among American cities, and it shapes almost every historic stay here.