Walking Tours
There are numerous walking tours available, covering different themes on life in the Big Easy. One of the best options is Historic New Orleans Walking Tours (tel: (504) 947 2120; website: www.tourneworleans.com). Tours include a 'Cemetery Voodoo Tour and Haunted Tour', a 'Weekend Jazz Walk' as well as architectural and historical tours of the French Quarter or Garden District. The tours take about two hours. Departure points vary depending on the tour - the French Quarter tour departs daily from Bourbon Café Beignet, 311 Bourbon Street, while the Haunted Tour sets off from O'Flaherty's Pub, 508 Toulouse Street. Walkers should check the website for details and arrive 15 minutes before departure time - reservations are not necessary. Save Our Cemeteries is a group leading guided cemetery tours (tel: 1 888 721 7493 or (504) 525 3377; website: www.saveourcemeteries.org).

New Orleans Culinary History Tours (tel: (504) 427 9595; website: www.noculinarytours.com) focuses on the evolution of Creole and Cajun cuisine while visiting certain French Quarter restaurants.

Free history tours (limited to 25 persons) of the French Quarter leave daily from the Folklife and Visitor Center of the Jean Lafitte National Park, 419 Decatur Street (tel: (504) 589 2133; website: www.nps.gov/jela). Tickets are distributed on a first-come first-served basis, from 0930. The tour covers about 2km (1 mile).

Friends of the Cabildo are volunteers who do French Quarter tours every day at 1000 and 1330 except Monday (tel: (504) 523 3939; website: www.friendsofthecabildo.org). Tours depart from 1850 House Museum Store, 523 St Ann Street, on Jackson Square.

Bus Tours
The French Quarter is not really suited to bus tours, however, several companies offer tours of the rest of the city and beyond. Gray Line (tel: (504) 569 1401 or 1 800 535 7786; website: www.graylineneworleans.com) has a range of tour options, covering the city and beyond, generally taking two hours. Tours depart from the Gray Line Lighthouse Ticket Office or Information Booth, behind the Jax Brewery in the French Quarter.

Other Tours
Royal Carriages (tel: (504) 943 8820; website: www.neworleanscarriages.com) offers horse-drawn carriage tours of the French Quarter. The drivers are often great entertainers. It is possible to hail a carriage anywhere, but many park and await custom at the south side of Jackson Square.

New Orleans Paddlewheels, 610 South Peters (tel: (504) 529 4567 or 1 800 445 4109; website: www.neworleanspaddlewheels.com), operates several boat tours, departing from the Aquarium of the Americas Dock, South Peters. The Cajun Queen Riverboat runs 90-minute harbour cruises, while the Creole Queen Paddlewheeler runs a ‘Battlefield Cruise' to the spot where Andrew Jackson defeated the British. In the evening, the Creole Queen offers a two-hour dinner and jazz cruise, with or without dinner. The New Orleans Steamboat Company (tel: (504) 586 8777 or 1 800 233 2628; website: www.steamboatnatchez.com) is the other main operator, with several harbour cruises during the day and in the evening. Tours depart from the French Quarter, Woldenberg Park.

See the city by air with Southern Seaplane, Inc. (tel: (504) 394 5633; website: www.southernseaplane.com) who do Cajun, adventure, bayou and city tours via bi-plane.

The bayou is part of the Louisiana charm and a swamp tour is a must. Most are done on the Northshore, on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain. Dr Wagner's Honey Island Swamp Tours in Slidell (tel: (985) 641 1769; website: www.honeyislandswamp.com) probes the Honey Island cypress swamp. A resident naturalist is available to answer wildlife questions about the flora, fauna and various reptiles that frequent the swamp. Two-hour trips with New Orleans Louisiana Swamp Tours (tel: 1 888 307 9267; website: www.louisianaswamp.com) on 16-passenger airboats, depart from the dock on Bayou Road, off Highway 301, 37km (23 miles) from the French Quarter. Round-trip hotel pick-up is arranged.

Gray Line (tel: (504) 569 1401 or 1 800 535 7786; website: www.graylineneworleans.com) also offers several unique excursions. The ‘Southern Comfort Tour' explores the history of spirits as it visits famous New Orleans watering holes. The spirits on the three-hour ‘Ghost Expeditions Tour' are other-worldly. Every evening, participants depart from Jax Brewery to explore ‘haunted' properties and are given instruments to study paranormal phenomena. The Hurricane Katrina Tour gives an eyewitness account of the devastation wrought by the 2005 storm.