New Orleans Jazz Fest is the perfect outing for locals and tourist to enjoy live music, food, and experience the culture of this great city. One of the best festivals in New Orleans, learn how to make your trip successful right below!

New Orleans Jazz Fest

The Specifics:

When is it?

The festivals is held over two weekends. The last weekend in April and the first weekend in May from 11am-7pm.

Where is it held?

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is held every year at the New Orleans Fairgounds on Gentilly Blvd. (1751 Gentilly Blvd. New Orleans, LA 70119).

Where do I park?

Parking can get a little tricky as it is a very popular event with limited parking. To avoid the traffic, you can take the Grayline Buses from any of the 3 locations (Sheraton Hotel at Canal St., Steamboat Natchez Dock or City Park) These buses are on a constant loop to pick up and bring back to cars. You can add this to your ticket. Its $20 roundtrip or $10 one way. I would say it’s well worth it as parking is a pain and Ubers will be upcharging due to the high demand.

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How much are tickets?

Tickets are $75 if you preorder and $80 at the gate. Child’s ticket for kids 2-10 are $5.

***It is important to note that when you buy tickets, its not for a specific day like most concerts and festivals but rather a weekend. For example, when you go to purchase your tickets, it’ll ask you what weekend you would like to go. Your one day pass gets you in ONE day of that weekend. or you can purchase multiple tickets to cover the whole weekend. So make sure you know which weekend you would like to go.  (Our weather can get a little crazy here, so they offer the flexibility of providing you with a ticket for that weekend and you can choose what day works best for you.)

Who is performing? Is it only jazz music?

No way! The musicians are a mixture of all types of music: pop, rap, bluegrass, afro-carribbean, zydeco,  to jazz. Popular singers/bands like Sting, Jimmy Buffet, Pitbull have performed here. (**to keep from over crowding, the most popular singers and bands are on different nights**)

There are over 12 stages with bands playing throughout the day, so there are no idle times for finding music.

Besides music, what else is there?

FOOD! Tons of food in over dozens of tents. The food is not typical carnival food but instead different cultures. This is the one rule for vendors and that’s what makes this event so unique. See pictures below.

There are also vendors selling different items of their heritage, from pottery to necklaces, you’ll find some unique gifts to take home with you.

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What am I allowed to bring?

You can bring bags/backpacks in but each are checked before you enter the grounds.

Here is a PDF of what you can and can’t bring.

**Please note this is from 2018. If you are looking after this year, please go to their website to make sure nothing new was added to the list. **

For more information on tickets and line-up each year: Go here.

Our Recommended Favorites to bring:

You don’t want to bring too much as you have to haul it all back. Also, if you like seeing different bands at different stages, you’ll want to stay as light and as mobile as you can but prepped for weather!

• Rain jacket or Poncho
• Rain boots
• Umbrella
• Ziplock bags ( for phone or anything else you don’t want to get wet)
• Sunscreen
• Sunglasses
• Hat
• Soft cooler backpack (the ones like this with extra places to put your stuff are the best!)
• Folding chair
• Water
• Blanket if you decided to not bring a chair.

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Our Experience:

Being from New Orleans, it’s almost impossible to attend everything each year. There is so much to do! So it wasn’t that much of a shock when my husband told me he’s never been to Jazzfest. (ok, maybe just a little shock.) But that’s because Jazz Fest is one of the top New Orleans festivals!   With the amazing weather April brings and the fact that it was his birthday month.  I thought this would be the perfect date / experience as one of our 12 dates of the year.

(photo by: Matthew Hinton)

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Music

Since the tickets are ridiculous, but they are rather pricey, I opted for a one-day ticket. When he found out he was going, we sat down together and looked at all the days and artists attending. We chose the day that worked best for us and what artist we would enjoy the most.  The beauty of Jazz fest is the number of music stages and activities going on at one time. We are able to see our favorite bands of the day and then go explore other genres of music on different stages. You get to open your ears to all different cultures and hear the music you wouldn’t otherwise hear and turn out to love the most.

The variety of music goes from bluegrass, zydeco, jazz, to latin, pop, to rap and R&B. There’s music for everyone. (Don’t worry! The stages are spaced out far enough apart that you’re not being overpowered by other stage’s music.)

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Food:

There is a variety of options for delicious food and drinks. This is not the typical food you get at a carnival or fair. It’s actually one of the rules when it comes to vendor applications. They are looking for vendors who can provide food of all different cultures for people to try here at Jazz Fest. Here are some of the things you can try below:

(Don’t forget to stop and see the Roman Candy Wagon!)

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This year, we got pretty lucky with the weather. It never fails that April showers happen and at least one day or weekend gets some rain which turns the whole fairground muddy! As suggested on what to bring list above,  I suggest getting or bringing some rain boots just in case as the rain doesn’t stop us from having a good time!

We got to see a lot of different bands including Jimmy Buffett and Pitbull. People visit from all over the world come to visit New Orleans just for this festival. Some come every year! It was one of the top attractions right behind Mardi Gras. If you have never been, it’s really a nice family-friendly event. It lets you experience New Orleans, its food, culture, and music in this tiny bubble called the fairgrounds. So even if you don’t do anything else in New Orleans, you can say you’ve experienced a good chunk of what New Orleans has to offer at this festival.

(My girl Robin Barnes singing her heart out- photo by Kevin U)

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Afterwards:

Of course, I took him out for a birthday meal as well. The Rum House is always one of our favorites!  It’s such a chill vibe and atmosphere with delicious Caribbean food and great cocktails. What I love about it the most is that it’s consistent EVERY. TIME. You know every time you go there, you’re going to get amazing food and great service. I never had to worry about giving out a recommendation for this place. If you are just visiting New Orleans for Jazzfest, check out all my recommendations here.

Well that concludes April date… onto May, my birthday month where I really grab fear by the balls. Eek!

Other Monthly Dates:

May  June  July  August  October

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