New Orleans is steeped in history and colored by intertwining ribbons of culture. Founded by the French in 1718, the city known worldwide as the “birthplace of jazz” is cradled in the crescent of the powerful Mississippi River. The historic French Quarter is the heart of the city.

Stroll through her romantic courtyards, graced with black wrought-iron balconies. Visit the St. Louis Cathedral, Cabildo and Presbytere on picturesque Jackson Square. Dance in the neighboring Frenchmen Street music district. Absorb the bright colors of Creole cottages in historic Faubourg Marigny.

Gaming and entertainment are just a few steps away at one of the region’s biggest casino complexes – Harrah’s New Orleans.

Visitors often remark that Greater New Orleans touches all of the senses. Among the inspired: jazz greats Louis Armstrong and Buddy Bolden; songwriter Allen Toussaint; the Marsalis jazz family; the Neville Brothers band; comedian Ellen DeGeneres; writer Truman Capote; vampire novelist Anne Rice; and chefs Emeril Lagasse and Paul Prudhomme.

Music is always in the air in Greater New Orleans, especially in the French Quarter, home of the New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park. For live jazz in a family setting, Preservation Hall is highly recommended. The world-renowned Tipitina’s, which has hosted blues to rock to jazz bands, should be on every music lover’s list.

The self-guided Jazz History Walking Tours series is a free musical treasure map. Also, visit the Backstreet Cultural Museum in the Tremé District, an homage to Mardi Gras Indians.

Preserving and paying tribute to regional culture, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art showcases the works of art from the 18th century through today.

Visitors can admire folk art in Abita Springs at its quirky Abita Mystery House at the UCM Museum. Nearby historic Slidell is known for its musical and arts events, and Covington’s galleries exhibit a pleasing array of artistic works.

Kenner’s Pontchartrain Center hosts hundreds of events a year, from concerts to home and garden shows.

In Louisiana, food is considered another art form. New Orleans’ world-famous cuisine captivates with upscale restaurants like Galatoire’s and celebrity chef John Besh’s Luke and neighborhood favorites such as Dickie Brennan's Palace Café, GW Fins and Muriel’s. No one should leave New Orleans without eating a beignet from Café Du Monde, or the historic Court of Two Sisters’ daily jazz brunch. Fulton Street, in the city’s historic warehouse district, boasts new and historic restaurants, including Ernst Cafe, dating to 1902.

For those foodies who want to bring Louisiana flavor home with them, the New Orleans School of Cooking gives Creole and Cajun cooking demonstrations.

Beyond New Orleans, fine dining venues simply mushroom. Mosca’s is reason enough to cross the Mississippi to Avondale. In St. Tammany Parish, the French cuisine of La Provence and Sal & Judy’s Creole-Italian draw the traveling gourmets to Lacombe; Etoile Restaurant & Wine Bar triumphs in Covington; Nuvolari’s reflects elegant Old Mandeville. In Tangipahoa Parish, family favorites include Trey Yuen at Hammond and Middendorf’s in tiny Manchac.

Fairs and festivals are another great way to sample the local cuisine. Among the best is the Strawberry Festival of Ponchatoula, the place known as America’s “antiques city.” At the Plaquemines Parish Fair & Orange Festival in Belle Chasse, competitors play with their food during orange-peeling and oyster-shucking contests.

Downriver from New Orleans, neighboring St. Bernard Parish boasts hereditary ties to colonial settlers from Spain’s Canary Islands (the Isleños). St. Bernard hosts the Louisiana Crawfish Festival, an annual blessing of the shrimp boat fleet, and the Chalmette Battlefield of the War of 1812 – the last American conflict with a foreign power on U.S. soil.

Tour the Tangipahoa African-American Heritage Museum & Black Veterans Archives in Hammond and the Camp Moore Confederate Cemetery and Museum in Tangipahoa. For more war stories, visit the National World War II Museum in the Warehouse District.

The Westwego Historical Museum and the Gretna Historical Society share the tales of everyday life in their towns through restored homes. Westwego restored a general store, and Gretna maintains a working blacksmith shop and an 1876 steam pumper. Tour colonial log cabins at the Washington Parish Fair Grounds in Franklinton.

Family delights include the Aquarium of the Americas and the new Insectarium, where bugs are the main attraction, on Canal Street; and the Audubon Zoo in uptown New Orleans. Or parents can venture with the kids to Folsom for a safari at Global Wildlife Center, take a swamp tour in Slidell’s Honey Island Swamp or see alligators up-close at Covington’s Insta-Gator Ranch.

To really explore the outdoors, bicycle trails, lakes and parks await.

Start at the Mississippi state line. Spin through hilly Washington Parish and Northern Tangipahoa, down along old railroad towns and through marshes to the levees along Lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans. Pedal south along the Mississippi to “land’s end” at Venice. Or, continue cycling east on Hwy. 90 through New Orleans.

Ready to stretch? Visit the Nature Conservancy’s carnivorous Pitcher Plant boardwalk on Hwy. 435 near Abita Springs, en route to Money Hill in St. Tammany Parish. Enjoy birding in the bog area and touring the hardwood forest.

On Hwy. 190, look for the brown signs marking the Big Branch National Wildlife Refuge near Lacombe. The boardwalk over the marsh has been rebuilt recently and the woodpecker nests are ready for viewing. Enjoy the scenic Tammany Trace, Louisiana’s only “rails to trails” conversion and a 31-mile recreation corridor for cyclists, walkers and horseback riders. Take a break at the Mandeville Trailhead and Cultural Interpretive Center to play in the interactive fountains and browse the community market on Saturdays. Stop at Fontainebleau State Park on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain and Bayou Segnette State Park, a half-hour drive across the Mississippi from New Orleans.

On the other side of the Mississippi, St. Bernard State Park in Braithwaite features trails, campsites and picnic tables with water views.

Jefferson Parish boasts Jean Lafitte National Park. The Barataria bayous and marshland that once concealed a 19th-century pirate and his fugitives now offer sanctuary to birds, plants and wildlife. Returning to Plaquemines, then downriver, the port of Venice marks Louisiana’s land’s end – the gateway to the Gulf of Mexico. Here, the explorer LaSalle first claimed the Mississippi River Valley for France. Today, the bounty of the revitalized city – and the charming parishes that radiate from it – are yours to explore.