5 Best Things to Do in New Orleans During Halloween

On Halloween night itself, Saturday 31 October 2026, the costume party that matters most is not ticketed at all. Frenchmen Street in the Faubourg Marigny, just downriver from the French Quarter, fills with thousands of people in elaborate homemade costumes, and the three blocks between Esplanade Avenue and Royal Street turn into one long street party. Things build slowly through the evening and properly take off after 10pm, when brass bands start playing on corners and the music clubs spill out onto the pavement. Walking the street is free; individual venues such as The Spotted Cat Music Club may charge a small cover or ask for a one-drink minimum. Frenchmen Street is the city's main live-music strip, which is why the soundtrack here leans toward jazz, brass and funk rather than DJ sets.

For many visitors this is the best of the things to do in New Orleans for Halloween, because the costumes are the entertainment. Locals take it seriously, with group costumes, puns on city politics and full Mardi Gras-level beading. Bourbon Street in the French Quarter also packs out on 31 October and is louder and drunker, with open containers in plastic go-cups allowed on the street. Expect heavy crowds on both streets.

The same weekend brings Halloween New Orleans (HNO), the LGBTQ+ Halloween weekend that reaches its 43rd edition in 2026 and raises money for Project Lazarus, a local HIV/AIDS housing charity. Its 2026 programme runs from 30 October to 1 November, with the Lazarus Ball at The Barnett on Friday, a costume party at The Fillmore from 10pm to 3am on Saturday and a Sunday tea dance at Woldenberg Riverfront Park.

Pro Tip: Eat dinner by 8pm, because Marigny kitchens get swamped later. Arrive on Frenchmen Street around 9:30pm, walk the 500 and 600 blocks first, then drift toward Washington Square Park on the Elysian Fields end if the crowd gets too tight. Carry small bills for covers and bar tabs.

No New Orleans Halloween trip feels complete without a walk through one of the city's "Cities of the Dead", and St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is the oldest surviving one. Founded in 1789, it holds above-ground tombs packed along narrow aisles, a design shaped by the city's high water table. Its most visited grave belongs to Marie Laveau, the 19th-century Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, whose tomb is still marked by offerings. Homer Plessy, the plaintiff in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson civil rights case, is also buried here.

The important detail: you cannot wander in on your own. The cemetery is an active burial site managed by New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries, part of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, and access is limited to its official guided tour and to families holding a valid pass. Independent ghost-tour companies that promise entry are not authorised. The official tour checks in at Basin St. Station, 501 Basin Street, across the road from the cemetery gate, and lasts about 55 minutes with a maximum of 20 guests per group.

Day tours run daily and depart every 15 minutes, priced from $29 (about €25) for adults aged 13 and over, $22 (about €19) for children aged 3 to 12, and free for children 2 and under. On select nights there is also a night tour from $46 (about €40), which is the version to book for Halloween week. Tours run rain or shine, though lightning or extreme heat can cancel a departure, with a refund or a new slot offered. Because each group is capped at 20, late-October slots sell out, so reserve before you arrive.

Pro Tip: Book a Saturday departure between 4:30pm and 7:30pm, when the official operator knocks 10% off Saturday tours. A 4:30pm slot on 31 October finishes before 5:30pm, leaving time to change into costume before Frenchmen Street.

If you want a proper scare, The Mortuary Haunted Mansion on Canal Street is the one to book. The building is not a set. It was built in 1872 for Mary Slattery and later became a funeral home operated by PJ McMahon & Sons, and between 1930 and 2003 more than 20,000 funerals were held inside. Owner Jeff Borne bought the empty building on 2 July 2007 and restored it as a haunted attraction. It stands on a stretch of Canal Street ringed by cemeteries, with more than a million graves within a one-square-mile radius, which gives the queue outside an unusually grim backdrop.

The 2026 show is called "Through the Looking Glass". A cracked mirror lets characters from folklore break into the house, so expect a murderous Alice and her Mad Tea Party, a sinister Wizard of Oz, Vampirates of Neverland, Little Dead Riding Hood and Cthulhu, all tied to an ancient entity called "He Who Waits". It is intense, with live actors, and better suited to teens and adults than young children.

Tickets are timed. General admission starts at $25 (about €22) before 7pm and $35 after 7pm, plus tax and fees, and reserves a 15-minute entry window through a virtual queue. The VIP Fast Pass starts at $55 and skips the line, while a $150 season pass gives unlimited skip-the-line entry to both The Mortuary and its sister attraction, The Sawmill in Covington, including Halloween night. The Blood Center runs donation drives on site on many nights, including 26 to 31 October, and donors get free VIP entry.

Pro Tip: Go before 7pm on Friday 30 October to pay the $25 rate instead of $35, and ride the Line 47 Canal-Cemeteries streetcar from the French Quarter for $1.25 (about €1) each way. If you are in town on a weeknight, the extended weekday hours are far quieter than Saturday.

For families, Ghosts in the Oaks in New Orleans City Park is the gentlest of these New Orleans Halloween picks, and it runs early, from Thursday 15 to Sunday 18 October 2026. The event takes over Carousel Gardens Amusement Park, the historic ride park under City Park's live oaks, from 5pm to 9pm each night. The 2026 edition has an intergalactic theme, with an extended trick-or-treat path, unlimited amusement park rides, space-themed activities and live entertainment. Costumes are encouraged, and plenty of parents dress up too.

Advance tickets are required and are sold through New Orleans City Park. Early admission, which gets you in at 5pm, costs $35 (about €30), while general admission from 6pm costs $30. Children aged 2 and under go free, and Friends of City Park members get $5 off general admission. The ticket includes the rides, which makes it good value compared with paying per ride on a normal park day. The trick-or-treat route is the main event for small children, so bring a bag with some room in it.

City Park itself is one of the largest urban parks in the United States, stretching across 1,300 acres, and Carousel Gardens is home to a 1906 wooden carousel that is one of the park's best-loved landmarks. Pairing Ghosts in the Oaks with a daytime visit to the New Orleans Museum of Art or the sculpture garden nearby makes a full family day out. Because the dates fall a week before the parade, families who stay from 15 to 24 October can fit in both.

Pro Tip: Pay the extra $5 for early admission at 5pm on Thursday 15 October, the least crowded night. Take the Line 48 Canal-City Park/Museum streetcar to its terminus, then walk 10 to 15 minutes past the New Orleans Museum of Art to Carousel Gardens.