The heartbreakingly beautiful French Quarter is where New Orleans began in 1718. Today, battered and bohemian, decaying and vibrant, it's the spiritual core of the city, its fanciful cast-iron balconies, hidden courtyards and time-stained stucco buildings exerting a haunting fascination that has long caught the imagination of artists and writers. Official tours are useful for orientation, but it's most fun simply to wander - and you'll need a couple of days at least to do it justice, absorbing the jumble of sounds, sights and smells. Early morning, in the pearly light from the river, is a good time to explore, as sleepy locals wake themselves up with strong coffee in the neighborhood patisseries, shops crank open their shutters and all-night revelers stumble home.

The Quarter is laid out in a grid, unchanged since 1721. At just thirteen blocks wide - smaller than you might expect - it's easily walkable, bounded by the Mississippi River, Rampart Street, Canal Street and Esplanade Avenue, and centering on lively Jackson Square . Rather than French, the famed architecture is predominantly Spanish colonial, with a strong Caribbean influence. Most of the buildings date from the late eighteenth century, after much of the old city had been devastated by fires in 1788 and 1794. Commercial activity - shops, galleries, restaurants, bars - is concentrated in the blocks between Decatur and Bourbon. Beyond Bourbon, up towards Rampart Street, and in the Lower Quarter, downriver from Jackson Square, things become more peaceful - quiet, predominantly residential neighborhoods where the Quarter's gay community lives side by side with elegant dowagers and scruffy artists.

French Quarter

• French Quarter

Explore French Quarter

• Bourbon Street
• Chartres and Royal streets
• Decatur Street and Esplanade Avenue
• Jackson Square
• Louisiana State Museum
• Rampart Street and Tremé

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