New Orleans

New Orleans needs 3 days: the French Quarter and St. Louis Cathedral on one, Bourbon Street and the Jazz Museum on another, and a trip to a historic plantation along the Mississippi River on the third. February-March coincides with Mardi Gras, the most important event on the local calendar, though it also brings the biggest crowds and prices. March-May is quieter with good weather. It's cheaper than New York or Miami. It's the birthplace of jazz and Creole and Cajun cuisine, with a French, Spanish and African cultural identity unique in the US, and its French Quarter is one of the few pre-independence historic districts in the country.