Perhaps it's New Orleans' relaxed drinking laws that allow people to slurp cocktails in the streets. Or it could be the steaminess of the delta. Perhaps it's the jazz emanating from street corners and tiny clubs. Or maybe it's the city's resilience in bouncing back from a disaster like Katrina. Whatever it is, The Big Easy loosens inhibitions, putting everyone in a holiday state of mind. For Australians, the easiest route is to fly via Dallas. See qantas.com.

2 NICE AND JAZZY

With the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Robin Thicke and Christina Aguilera on this year's bill, Jazz Fest can seem the least jazzy thing around town. Aficionados can still point themselves towards Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, one of the city's hottest emerging acts, or veterans Aaron Neville and Allen Toussaint. Whatever you do, don't miss the gospel tent's soul-stirring action. Around the grounds, feast on waist-expanding southern delights: crawfish bread, shrimp and grits, cochon de lait po-boys (pork sandwiches), fried green tomatoes and strawberry lemonade. Next year's festival runs from April 24 to May 3. See nojazzfest.com.

3 SLEEP IS FOR SISSIES

Jazz Fest wraps daily at 7pm, leaving artists free to pick up another gig. See favourites in a more intimate club setting within the French Quarter, along Frenchmen Street in neighbouring Faubourg Marigny, or out in the 'burbs. Along Frenchmen Street - a world away from Bourbon Street's sleaze and tack - wander past Snug Harbor (snugjazz.com) and the Spotted Cat (spottedcat musicclub.com) and see if you like the sound of what's spilling out from inside. The kitchen at Siberia (siberianola.com), a venue in the St Roch district, serves Slavic soul food.

4 MARDI GRAS MADNESS

Known as the Greatest Free Show on Earth, Mardi Gras Day features elaborate floats trundling through the streets from 8am in Uptown and from 10am in three other neighbourhoods. If you can't find a hotel room for February 17 next year, aim for another parade (they start from January 31). Join the crowds catching beads, trinkets and doubloons (sought-after medallions) from the masked float-riders or track down the secret parades of the Mardi Gras Indians. The history of these African-American tribes isn't well known but many believe their inspiration dates from the mid-18th century when bayou Indians helped Africans fleeing slavery. See mardigrasneworleans.com.

5 ROUND THE BACK

Head to the historic Treme neighbourhood to learn more about Mardi Gras Indians and other African-American traditions in New Orleans. The Backstreet Cultural Museum features elaborate Mardi Gras Indian regalia including the fabulous hand-beaded suits of Big Chiefs. Guides can explain what jazz funerals, baby dolls and Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs are all about. Or make an appointment with Ronald W. Lewis - a Mardi Gras Indian who founded the House of Dance & Feathers in his Lower Ninth Ward shed after his wife tossed his memorabilia out of their house. backstreetmuseum.org; houseofdanceandfeathers.org.

6 BOAT THE BAYOU

Ride a shallow-bottomed swamp boat and count turtles and gators basking on logs while exploring the overgrown channels of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park's Barataria Preserve. The tour also glides past leftover facades from Hollywood films. Gray Line's swamp and bayou tour takes just under four hours. See graylineneworleans.com.

7 COMEBACK CITY

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated great swathes of the city, leaving a legacy that haunts some areas to this day. While it's easy for tourists to confine themselves to the French Quarter, a three-hour Hurricane Katrina bus tour through outlying areas gives a better appreciation of the devastation and ongoing rebuilding efforts, such as the Brad Pitt housing development and Harry Connick Jr and Branford Marsalis's Musicians' Village. See graylineneworleans.com.

8 NOT JUST A DONUT

It's a tradition dating from 1862. No visit is complete without a plate of beignets at Cafe du Monde on Decatur Street. These piping-hot, French-style square donuts come smothered in icing sugar; accompany with cafe au lait. Queues can be long at this 24-hour joint but tables turn over quickly. See cafedumonde.com.

9 HANGIN' IN THE 'HOOD

Artists priced out of the French Quarter headed to the working-class Bywater in the 1990s and, with the elevated district escaping the worst of Katrina, its gentrification continues. Ramshackle neighbourhood bar Vaughan's Lounge (4229 Dauphine Street) is known as the place Kermit Ruffins got his start (the jazz trumpeter gave up his weekly gig here last year to focus on his new venture, Kermit's Treme Mother-in-Law Lounge). Hipsters flock to Elizabeth's Restaurant (601 Gallier Street, elizabethsrestaurantnola.com) for the bayou brekky of fried catfish and eggs, and fried chicken livers with pepper jelly.

10 FRENCH CONNECTION

The French Quarter Festival joins Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest as a major drawcard: last year it attracted more than half a million patrons. Perhaps that's because it's free and unfolds throughout the charming streets of the French Quarter. Over four days in April, more than 1400 performers take to 20 stages throughout the compact district. See fqfi.org.

11 PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM

If New Orleans has an unofficial anthem, it's When the Saints Go Marching In - although it is also the bane of many musicians tired of requests for the spiritual that often accompanies jazz funerals. At Preservation Hall (726 St Peter Street) in the French Quarter, it's a request that will cost the asker $US20. See preservationhall.com.

12 GO FOR A SPIN

Slide into one of the 25 hand-painted chairs encircling Hotel Monteleone's revolving carousel bar and spin ever so slowly while sipping a Death in the Afternoon (absinthe and champagne) or Corpse Reviver No. 2 (gin, Cointreau, absinthe and more). It takes 15 minutes to complete a revolution of the 1949 bar that featured in Ernest Hemingway's short story The Night Before Battle. Suites named after Hemingway and other literary heavyweights such as Tennessee Williams are among the 600 rooms upstairs. 214 Royal Street. See hotelmonteleone.com.

13 IT'S A RECORD

Take the sounds of Louisiana home by scouring a city record store. One of the best is Euclid Records (3401 Chartres Street) - a bright-pink corner shack in the Bywater with vinyl dating back to the '50s. A little closer to the French Quarter is the Louisiana Music Factory (421 Frenchmen Street), with Saturday in-store performances. See euclidnola.com; louisianamusicfactory.com.

14 GO WITH THE FLOW

New Orleans is also known as the Crescent City thanks to its location on a crook of the Mississippi. Get to know North America's longest river on a two-hour jazz cruise aboard the Steamboat Natchez riverboat. Or meander upriver from New Orleans to Memphis over several days aboard the 222-cabin American Queen - a riverboat exuding antebellum charm that returned to service in 2012 after Priscilla Presley performed godmother honours. Or chug out of New Orleans towards Mexico or the Bahamas on one of Carnival Cruises' round-trip itineraries. See steamboatnatchez.com; americanqueensteamboatcompany.com; carnival.com.

15 COCKTAIL HOUR

Order a sazerac - one of the city's best known cocktails - at the Hermes Bar fronting Antoine's (713 St Louis Street, antoines.com). The landmark 1840 restaurant invented oysters Rockefeller in 1889 - it's possible to order six on the half-shell (US$14.75) in the bar. Take Gray Line's cocktail walking tour and you may also get to poke through Antoine's 14 astonishingly elegant dining rooms - the "living museum" has hosted five American presidents, two British princesses and countless celebs including Bob Hope, Elizabeth Taylor and Bing Crosby. See graylineneworleans.com.

16 FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD

Commander's Palace (1403 Washington Avenue), a turquoise Victorian pile in the Garden District, is known for haute Creole dining - think seared foie gras over a foie gras and candied pecan beignet, or turtle soup splashed with sherry - as well as 25-cent lunchtime martinis. Do a jazz brunch under the pretty wisteria of The Court of Two Sisters in the French Quarter (613 Royal Street). For a modern take on seafood try Peche Seafood Grill (800 Magazine Street), which opened just in time for last year's Jazz Fest in a former carriage house and mortuary. Whole fish are grilled over a wood fire; the raw bar stocks gulf seafood. See commanderspalace.com; courtoftwosisters.com; pecherestaurant.com.

17 STREETCARS OF DESIRE

New Orleans is the city that gave the world that streetcar named Desire. Although the Desire route no longer exists, the streetcars still ply four lines. Ride the St Charles Avenue line under a canopy of oaks and gape at the Garden District's grand antebellum mansions. Actor Sandra Bullock lives in the area. See norta.com.

18 STAY RIGHT THERE

Hotels throughout the French Quarter vary widely: ask for a room with a wrought-iron balcony at the elegant 345-room Omni Royal Orleans (corner St Louis and Royal streets, omnihotels.com) and catch live music wafting from street corners. Its rooftop pool and bar are also drawcards. The 111-room Dauphine Orleans (415 Dauphine Street, dauphineorleans.com) is inhabited by several ghosts; its bar, May Baily's Place, was once a bordello.

19 THE PLOT THICKENS

Wander the city's gothic above-ground tombs on your own or join a tour run by the non-profit Save Our Cemeteries - its itineraries include the Garden District's Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, which starred in the film Double Jeopardy, and St Louis Cemetery No. 1, which was featured in Easy Rider. See saveourcemeteries.org

20 PINNED DOWN

St Louis Cemetery No. 1 features in many voodoo tours. Gray Line's tour includes the final resting place of Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans ($US26 adult, graylineneworleans.com). Those wanting to learn more about voodoo can call on the ordained priestess Sallie Ann Glassman. Her Island of Salvation Botanica store (2372 St Claude Avenue) sells everything from chicken feet to black-cat candles, spirit calling sticks and crystal-ball readings. See islandofsalvationbotanica.com.

The writer was a guest of Jazz Fest and the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau.