The 21 Best Hotels in New Orleans

"Hotel Monteleone is one of the three New Orleans hotels that have been operating since the 19th-century, and the old-school elegance of Hotel Monteleone's architecturally elaborate entrance leaves no doubt as to the stature of this fine property. The hotel was here before the neighborhood was, and it's seen several incarnations of the French Quarter. The location is ideal—well placed to walk to anywhere downtown and surrounded by the city’s best antiques stores. This is an upscale, mature, and refined crowd, especially by French Quarter standards. Everyone is civil and buttoned up—that is, until after that second martini at the Carousel Bar. And with literary connections to Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote, Hotel Monteleone is a living monument to the Big Easy's sophisticated and storied past." - Paul Oswell