Finding the best New Orleans B&B

Lillie's Package Store, St. Ann Street, New Orleans, LA

I read a lot of online reviews about B&Bs in New Orleans.  It's a hobby of mine.  They are usually good reviews.  In fact, they are usually excellent reviews.  Why is that?  It's because the hospitality bar is set high in this city.  We love visitors.  We try to treat them right.  As innkeepers, we usually succeed.  That's our business.

Frau Schmitt and myself are professional innkeepers.  We wouldn't be in business for long if we couldn't compete with the other innkeepers in New Orleans.  We are currently ranked #1 on Trip Advisor, and we have been for 15 months and counting, keeping our fingers crossed, but it can't last forever.  I was talking to another innkeeper recently and he said, "I don't envy you being #1 so long.  There's only one direction in which you can go."  True enough.

What we try to offer is a taste of our neighborhood and what it is like to live in New Orleans.  We are newcomers to this city.  We have only lived here five years.  It is long enough to know a lot of things.  People are often flabbergasted by the amount of things we know, past, present and future about New Orleans.  That's our job.  It's also our passion.

What Lillie's Package Store sells

Being an innkeeper is the ultimate small business.  We invite people into our homes and share our lives with them.  Every B&B is unique, reflecting the personality, history, and interests of the innkeepers.  We are not located in the French Quarter or in the Garden District.  We're on the edge of Tremé.  We can talk about anywhere in the city because we go everywhere in the city.  Other innkeepers talk about other things.  If you want to talk about local musicians, we may not be your best choice.  We can talk about the local music scene but it isn't our forté.  We are more interested in what it is like to be a New Orleanian.

Be a New Orleanian wherever you are.

Most New Orleans B&Bs are good at what they do.  Each one is different.  Each one is different from staying in a hotel.  When you stay at La Belle Esplanade, we try to immerse you in what it is like to live here.  As long as you are staying with us, this is your home.  You can, and should, go to the French Quarter.  Be advised, however, that when you go to the Quarter, you'll mostly be meeting people who aren't from here.  You should go to the Quarter, but you should also spend time in the opposite direction.  New Orleanians are friendly and convivial.  They are happy to share their city with you and to show off its charms.

Steel pony

I was riding my motor scooter on North Broad Avenue the other day and I decided to take pictures of the painted electrical boxes that line the street.  I stopped across the street from Zulu headquarters to take a picture of that one.  The Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club is a New Orleans institution about which you probably know little.  Click the link.

Zulu

I'm not going to go into the history and relevance of Zulu here.  If you're interested you'll do the research.  They are a part of our neighborhood, the way so many other things are.  So much happens in New Orleans that many people aren't aware of.  Sometimes, when we're talking at breakfast, trying to explain what New Orleans is to our guests, we realize we have to backtrack a bit and start explaining from scratch.  It's a city with many layers.  It has more layers than an onion.  It has more layers than a universe.  It can make you cry, it's so beautiful.

Big Shot

If you say, "Big Shot," in New Orleans, you may be talking about soda pop or you may be talking about a Zulu officer.  Or, you may be talking about something else altogether.  Someone familiar with New Orleans culture will be able to follow the conversation.  Someone unfamiliar with New Orleans culture will need some explaining.  That's what we're here for.

We don't try to keep you in the French Quarter.  We encourage you to go to Frenchmen Street, but there is a whole wide city out here that isn't written about in the guidebooks.  That's where we live.  We go to the places you read about in the guidebooks, but we live in New Orleans.  Defend New Orleans.

Look, anywhere you stay, you'll be in New Orleans.  Like having a bad meal, it's hard to find a bad place to stay.  We hope you'll choose to stay with us, but we're a small boutique, five-suite operation.  Everybody can't stay with us.  We don't have room.  Arrive as guests, leave as friends.  That's our motto.  It isn't written down anywhere officially, but that's New Orleans' motto, too.

À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.