Your ultimate guide to Mardi Gras in New Orleans

30.12.2024 - 11:23 / lonelyplanet.com / Ash Wednesday

Dec 26, 2024 • 8 min read

It's colorful, chaotic and deeply engrained in the soul of New Orleans. Mardi Gras is undoubtedly the city's most epic event. So, how do you make the most of your time at this iconic festival?

Here's everything you need to know about doing Mardi Gras right.

Mardi Gras ⁠– French for Fat Tuesday ⁠– marks the end of the Carnival season, a roughly two-and-a-half-week period of revelry that precedes the Christian holidays of Ash Wednesday and Lent. The next festival begins on January 6, 2025, running up to Mardi Gras on March 4, and New Orleans is famous for its celebrations, bringing in people from around the world to join in the party.

Much of Carnival is marked by parades, from small groups of friends to multi-mile processions of professionally built floats. The parades and their associated fanfare increase in frequency as Carnival goes on, reaching a fever pitch about five days before Fat Tuesday, culminating in pure debauched revelry on Mardi Gras day.

Do a parade. Either watch one or walk in one. Luckily, both are easy. Parades regularly roll down a set route through uptown New Orleans via St Charles Avenue. These are the bigger mainline parades, organized by local social clubs known as "krewes."

Another part of Mardi Gras is less formal, more DIY parades. These "walking krewes" throw participatory parades anyone can roll with – the biggest is the Society of Saint Anne, which marches down Burgundy St in the Bywater to the French Quarter and the Mississippi River, where they bid farewell to the previous years and departed loved ones.

Layers! Mardi Gras falls in February or March, so the weather might be balmy, or it might be freezing. Also, a bag for "throws" (the trinkets people toss from parade floats like coins, beads, toys and more), sunscreen, sunglasses, and comfortable shoes for walking.

Finally, but perhaps most importantly, bring a costume. Or be prepared to make one while you're here. New Orleanians like to have fun, but people take "masking," or costuming, seriously. Nothing will make you look more like a timid first-timer than trying to join a walking parade without a costume, as these parades attract a more bohemian crowd. Also: some kind of pain relief for a hangover is probably a good idea.

What goes into a good Mardi Gras costume? Usually, a ton of glitter. Really, a Mardi Gras costume can be anything you want – it just needs to be bright, noticeable, and ideally clever. Try and pick a costume that can be coupled with good, comfortable shoes (there’s a lot of walking during Mardi Gras, even if you’re not in a parade).

Another key tip: choose a costume that allows you to easily use the facilities when needed. Bathroom lines will be long, and people can get impatient.

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