An independent guide. Opinionated on purpose.
New Orleans, with the whole crew.
New Orleans is the best city in America for a big group trip — and the worst city to plan one for. This guide handles the second part: where twenty people can actually sleep under one roof, how to move them without a spreadsheet meltdown, and what deserves a spot on the itinerary.
French Quarter · Photo: mrpolyonymous / CC BY 2.0
Bachelorette Parties
Pool days, French Quarter nights, and everything in between. The complete playbook.
→ CelebrationsBachelor Parties
Golf, gambling, live music, and legendary nights. Send him off right.
→ CelebrationsWedding Parties
Bridesmaids, groomsmen, out-of-town guests. One place for the whole crew.
→ CelebrationsMilestone Birthdays
Forty, fifty, sixty. If there was ever a city for refusing to age gracefully, it's this one.
→ GatheringsFriends Trips
No occasion required. How to get the group chat from “we should do this” to booked.
→ GatheringsFamily Reunions
Three generations, one roof, and nobody asking “so what's the plan” at breakfast.
→ GatheringsCorporate Retreats
Offsites that people talk about for the right reasons.
→ GatheringsHoliday Gatherings
Thanksgiving without hosting duty, in a city that takes December seriously.
→New Orleans vs. Austin
6th Street or Frenchmen Street? The real comparison for group organizers, covering music, food, outdoor activities, villas, and heat.
→ Updated Aug 28Casino Night Guide
How to do a casino evening right with a large group — table strategy, poker rooms, who plays what, and how to keep everyone engaged.
→ Updated Aug 27Music Workshops & Lessons
Book a drum workshop, brass band clinic, or second line dance lesson for your group. What's available, how to book, and how to build a full musical...
→Here’s the dirty secret of New Orleans travel content: nearly all of it is written for couples. You’re bringing eighteen people, and the internet hands you a listicle of “hidden gems” with a six-seat bar at the top. Meanwhile most rentals cap at ten guests, hotels scatter the crew across four floors, and the group chat has been “deciding on dates” since March.
Big-group New Orleans is its own sport, and this guide plays it. Every page assumes there are a lot of you, takes a side, and says out loud when something is overpriced, overhyped, or genuinely great. If eight of you are coming, any travel blog will do. If it’s eighteen — keep reading.
Just starting? Begin with the planning guide — the whole sequence in order, from picking dates to the week-of info dump.
Written in New Orleans, updated weekly
Fat Tuesday and Jazz Fest earn every bit of the hype. These weekends aren't better — they're different: the same city with more elbow room, and some of the best value on the calendar.
Krewe du Vieux
Carnival's satirical, definitely-adults opening statement — and the only parade that still marches through the Quarter. Mardi Gras energy at pre–Mardi Gras prices.
Late January→The first big parade weekend
Full-scale Uptown parades, a fraction of the Fat Tuesday crowds, and villas you can still book. The connoisseur's Mardi Gras.
Two weekends before Fat Tuesday→French Quarter Fest
The biggest free festival in the South, and the one locals pick over Jazz Fest. Twenty-plus stages, zero tickets.
Mid-April→Satchmo SummerFest
A brass-heavy weekend honoring Louis Armstrong, at the softest villa prices of the year. The August heat is the cover charge.
Early August→Halloween weekend
The least-secret pick on this list: a top-tier costume city with its own parade, Krewe of Boo.
Late October→
Bywater
The most local neighborhood in the city — and home to the best big-group bases in New Orleans.
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Lower Garden District
Walkable, gorgeous, and quieter at night. The sweet spot for mixed-age groups.
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French Quarter
You'll visit every day. Here's why you probably shouldn't sleep here with 20 people.
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Marigny
Frenchmen Street's live music, ten minutes from everywhere your group wants to be.
→| One big villa | A hotel room block | Split Airbnbs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everyone under one roof | Yes — that's the point | Same building, separate rooms | No — you'll commute to your own party |
| Space to gather | Pool, courtyard, one kitchen, one long table | The lobby bar and the rooftop, until they close | Whoever booked the biggest living room |
| Privacy | Your own bedroom; some baths en-suite, some shared | Your own room, your own key, your own thermostat | Plenty, spread across town |
| Walkability | Depends on the villa — often a streetcar or rideshare away | The good group hotels sit walkable to the Quarter and Warehouse District | Depends where everyone landed |
| Who pays | One bill somebody has to split | Everyone books their own room and settles their own tab | Separate bills, but three deposits and three rule sets |
| Typical cost per person | $85–150 a night | $180–280 a night | $120–200 a night |
| Best for | Celebrations where being together is the point | Mixed budgets, light sleepers, and togetherness with an exit | Groups that only sort of like each other |
Our bias, stated plainly: for a celebration, one roof wins. But hotels genuinely beat a villa on privacy, walkability, and everyone paying their own way — and these six do groups well.
Hotel Peter & Paul — Marigny
A converted church and schoolhouse two blocks from Frenchmen. Gorgeous, intimate, no shared kitchen — best for a design-minded dozen.
The Pontchartrain — Garden District
Old-line St. Charles charm and the streetcar handles the driving. The mixed-generations pick.
Hotel Bennett — Warehouse District
The old Ace, new name, same playbook: rooftop pool, music downstairs, and a sales team that actually does room blocks. The easiest hotel logistics in town.
Hotel Saint Vincent — Lower Garden District
Scene-y courtyard and great bars. Better for style points than headcount.
Hotel Perle — CBD / Warehouse District
Group suites, not rooms — two to seven bedrooms apiece with kitchens, plus a rooftop pool. Everyone books their own.
The Revelry — Central City
Three apartment-style floors around a saltwater pool, two blocks off the streetcar. Take a floor or the building.
Where to stay
Most rentals cap at 10 guests. Here's where the exceptions are.
A small number of New Orleans villas are purpose-built for big groups — pools, courtyards, and enough bedrooms that nobody draws the air mattress. We keep a running guide to finding and booking them.
See every big-group option