ZIPmouse New Orleans Louisiana City Guide

Welcome to New Orleans Louisiana - via ZIPmouse! Knowing the difference between important New Orleans links and "everything else," ZIPmouse scours the web to bring you only the most relevant New Orleans information, and we present it in an efficient web directory format. Whether you need information about hotels & tourism, New Orleans restaurants, Mardi-Gras information, New Orleans entertainment and cultural events, or a basic New Orleans vacation & city guide, the ZIPmouse web directory makes it easy.

New Orleans Louisiana City Profile

New Orleans is an important US port city due to its location near the Gulf of Mexico and on the Mississippi River, as well as historically Louisiana's largest city, although due to mass evacuation due to Hurricane Katrina, it currently is estimated at less than half its former size. New Orleans is traditionally a world-famous tourism destination because of its many festivals and celebrations (including Mardi-Gras), its grand historic hotels, and restaurants of Spanish, French, and Creole heritage.

Tourism in New Orleans centers on the French Quarter, which includes the famed Bourbon Street, where many popular restaurants, hotels and nightclubs dating back from the French and Spanish eras are found. New Orleans' most famous celebration is its Carnival season, Mardi Gras being the last and most-celebrated day of that season. During that time, tourists from all over the world flood its hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs.

New Orleans Louisiana Facts at a Glance:

• Founded in 1718 by the French, much of the city of New Orleans is below sea level and so is dependent on the levees that surround it.
• New Orleans also holds one of the largest music festivals in the nation, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, held yearly in late April.
• Mardi Gras, which translates to "fat Tuesday," is the day before ash Wednesday, just before the Christian liturgical season of lent begins.