La Belle Esplanade

The hosts are wonderful people that made our two (2) night stay comfortable and easy. La Belle Esplanade is a 30 minute walk to the City Park and / or the French Quarter. There are some lovely restaurants close by. This is an interesting accommodation with fun and unique decor. We absolutely loved it!

I'm fairly sure I found La Belle Esplanade searching for "unique hotel New Orleans", and wow did that search deliver. If you want the reassuring sameness of a generic hotel room with a key-card and an ice machine down the hall, LBE is not for you. If, however, you want breathtaking architecture, a spacious suite, and charismatic hosts in a quiet, historic neighborhood - close enough to everything NOLA has to offer, yet far enough from the touristy areas to take a nap in the middle of the day - book now! Every morning begins with breakfast selections handpicked that morning from local vendors. Freshly baked bread with butter and a selection of jellies, pastries, meat, cheeses, fruits, and a bit of something warmed up (grits, stuffed crab, jambalaya) along with coffee and orange juice. While you feast, Matthew and Melanie will chat with you about your adventures the previous day and give recommendations on off-the-beaten-path places to check out. The location is fantastic. About a mile from the French Quarter in one direction and City Park in the other. There's a Blue Bike station a block and a half away in front of the coffee shop that you might want to visit if you wake up too early to want to bother Melanie for coffee. They open late on the weekends though. Matthew was a good sport when he caught me in a cranky mood about that. (Also when my boyfriend broke a key in a lock about 15 seconds after we arrived.) The bed was very comfortable with fluffy pillows (why does Tripadvisor really want to know about the fluffy pillows?) and there were power strips in almost every outlet. There's wifi. There is a TV although we never used it. There's a mini-fridge and a mart close by to grab whatever you might want to put in there. Under the sink there are q-tips and floss in case you forgot yours - nice little touches. The house is over 100 years old. It's beautiful. It also has steep stairs and kind of quirky plumbing - what can you do? In the 1920's I'm sure they appreciated just having running water in the house. To get out onto the balcony overlooking Esplanade, you open the floor-to-ceiling window and the counterweights jingle a little bit for ambiance. We'll miss that window. I would have appreciated a grab bar to get into the claw foot tub/shower, and the curtain felt a little claustrophobic. When I thought about suggesting a change, I looked up at bar securing it to the thousand-foot ceiling and thought "wow, that would be difficult". A grab bar wouldn't be that hard though. That's my only suggestion, really, and not meant as criticism, more of a safety issue. I'd be even crankier than I am before coffee if I busted my a** trying to shower. We will be back, and have to struggle with the age-old dilemma of staying in the familiar room or trying a new one. A big thank you to Matthew and Melanie for being great hosts and sharing their love of the city with us.