Frommer's Irreverent Guide to New Orleans [Paperback]

Guy Leblanc (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 2000 | Series: Irreverent Guides (Book 28)

Looking for a travel guide that goes where other guides fear to tread? One that rides roughshod over ad-copy puffery to smartly deliver the real scoop on a destination's sites and attractions? One that dares to be honest, hip, and fun? Look no more. Frommer's Irreverent Travel Guides are wickedly irreverent, unabashedly honest, and downright hilarious, and provide an insider's perspective on which attractions are overrated tourist traps and which are the secret gems that locals love. You'll get the lowdown on restaurants, lodging, and shopping, and even find out what the locals think of you. Like being taken around by a savvy local," said the New York Times. "Hipper and savvier than other guides," concurred Diversion magazine. Never shy about confronting the issues, the Irreverents are guides to real travel in the real world.

Let the good times roll with Frommer's Irreverent Guide to New Orleans, the travel guide that unabashedly gives the insider perspective on one of America's most popular destinations. You'll discover where the locals go for real gumbo, how to eat mudbugs, why you should avoid at all costs during Mardi Gras, and how to survive anyway if you just can't help yourself. Learn why burial tombs were built aboveground, and why so many people buried in the local cemeteries died in one year. We'll direct you to favorite psychics, voodoo parlors, and zydeco dance halls and away from the touristed nightclubs locals avoid like the plague (did someone say Planet Hollywood?). The Irreverent Guide to New Orleans will show you the real New Orleans of hothouse music and romance, and clue you in on where to have the most fun in the ultimate party town."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

As the name implies, Frommer's Irreverent Guides border on the brazen, offering up tidbits such as home addresses for Fats Domino and Anne Rice, the best "dives worth a drive," finding "sexual hardware" in a store with a sense of humor, and where to meet the giant webbed-footed rodents known as nutria. This guide includes the usual traveler's details, as well. In addition to finding out the coolest places in the Big Easy to stay, you'll have answers to interesting questions like, What is zydeco? Who is a true French Creole? And, where do you find voodoo? Grab this book and do as the author urges: visit New Orleans now--it's getting less authentic and more "big-citified" every day. --Kathryn True --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

"Like being taken around by a savvy local." —The New York Times "Little fluff and lots of fun." —Boston Globe "Hipper and savvier than other guides." —Diversion magazine Are you tired of cliché-ridden guidebooks packed with promotional fluff? Then move over to the Irreverent Guides—the travel series that no tourist board would dare to recommend. Look inside for the lowdown on:

• Hotels to avoid if you hate conventioneers
• The only place locals will stand in line for gumbo
• Where to find Dixieland, dead celebrities, and voodoo queens—or talk to Anne Rice
• Where to buy the best pralines, funeral parade parasols, and tacky lingerie
• Jazz and zydeco joints where tourists never go
• And much more!

Your Guide to a World of Travel Experience Great trips begin at frommers.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Frommers; 3 edition (October 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764562266
• ISBN-13: 978-0764562266
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 4.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,307,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Priceless guide for Weekender Vacation, September 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Frommer's Irreverent Guide to New Orleans (2nd Ed) (Paperback)

A friend and I went to New Orleans for 3 days with this book as our compass. It was wonderful. Insightful and honest. Descriptive to the nth degree. It really gives you the low down on food, shopping, lodging, and the different areas of the city and its many attractions. A very enjoyable read.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick and easy guide on where to go in the Big Easy!, February 20, 2001

By 

mirope "mirope" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Frommer's Irreverent Guide to New Orleans (Paperback)

This isn't one of those exhaustive travel books that tells you everything there is to know about a place. Instead, the authors selectively present everything you actually need to know. The dining section was particularly helpful. It wasn't an exhaustive list of restaurants, but it did give you a choice of a few places in each category. The authors were also good about pointing out where the locals go and warning you about the places that are for tourists only. Even better, they distinguish between the tourist places that are all hype and those that are still worth seeing. The maps were helpful, and the book is small enough to fit into a purse or pocket. You will eat well and have a great time in New Orleans with nothing but this book to guide you.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Irreverent About It..., August 11, 2000

By 

Patrick Burnett "penngos" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frommer's Irreverent Guide to New Orleans (2nd Ed) (Paperback)

While this is a perfectly adequate guidebook (it will give you the address for Brennan's, the current room rate for the Maison Dupuy and the phone number to call for a Swamp Tour), it does itself a disservice by claiming to be irreverent. There is nothing even faintly irreverent about this book. It's basically cribbed from Frommer's non-irreverent guides, thereby shorter and less informative.