Marie Laveau is arguably one of the most famous people that lived in New Orleans. This tour is all about her life and what made her so fascinating. While walking with your tour guide through the French Quarter you will get to see where her childhood home was, visit the birthplace of Jazz, and get an understanding of the Code Noir. There will be an opportunity to go into an authentic voodoo store, see a voodoo temple, and dispel popular myths about the religion of Voodoo. Many people don't understand that Voodoo is still practiced today and Marie Laveau started it all. If you want to learn the truth about Voodoo this is the tour for you.

At Hottest Hell Tours we evolve our tours weekly as new stories are unearthed and the spirits guide us - no two tours are exactly the same. A night with one of our local experts can cover murder, music, mayhem, and more. Choose between a standard tour, or an option with HELLVISION, where we bring handheld projectors to visually recreate some of the most frightening scenes of the past. All travelers meet under the glowing arch of Armstrong Park, where some of the earliest gatherings of Voodoo and Hoodoo practitioners took place. Depending on your guide, you might take a short walk near the old Parish Prison, the haunting site of The American Mafia. Here we reveal the hidden history of organized crime in North America, from the largest mass lynching in U.S. history, to one of the nation’s most notorious and unsolved cases of serial murder: the dreaded Axe-man. For those who love more recent macabre moments, tour-goers might request the tragic, ripped-from-the-headlines reality of a pair of star-crossed lovers whose relationship ended in dismemberment and demonic possession. On any given night we might visit Marie Laveau’s house, the famed Voodoo Queen who once ruled New Orleans from the shadows. Or maybe you’ll hear about the scandal of the Sultan’s Palace, the scene of an infamous orgy turned into a grotesque blood bath. A stroll to Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop brings you to one of the oldest bars in North America, still haunted by boozed-up patrons from its treacherous past. From there, all roads lead to Madame Lalaurie. Travel through the black and blood red history of the city once called “The Hottest Hell,” guided by living experts who can curate the tour of your dreams - or nightmares - depending on your mood.

Explore New Orleans in a fun and eco-friendly way on a small-group bike tour that winds through the Big Easy’s oldest and most distinctive neighborhoods. Cycle along a flat and leisurely route from the famous French Quarter to less-visited neighborhoods like Esplanade Ridge, City Park, and Bayou St. John, learning about the city’s rich history and modern culture along the way. After getting fitted on a bike in the French Quarter, ride through this storied neighborhood. Then go beyond the touristy boundaries to explore more of the city, following leafy Esplanade Avenue to the green expanse of City Park, visiting St. Louis Cemetery No. 3, and other interesting locations along the way. After visiting St. Louis Cemetery No. 3, cruise past swampy vistas in City Park. You'll traverse through Bayou St. John, a historic waterway that was used by Native Americans and French settlers alike, and learn why it was so instrumental in the city's founding. This bike tour includes visits to the French Quarter, Faubourg Marigny, Esplanade Avenue, St. Louis Cemetery No. 3, City Park, Bayou St. John, Mid-City, the Lafitte Greenway, Louis Armstrong Park, and Congo Square.

Follow your licensed guide, a master storyteller, through New Orleans' French Quarter. Learn about the neighborhood's interesting past and travel through its adventurous history as you discover what makes the French Quarter one of the most unique and friendliest places in the United States. Meet your guide and begin touring at Congo Square where you'll learn about the history of voodoo, the slave trade, and the indigenous peoples of New Orleans. Hear the story of the infamous Voodoo priestess, Marie Laveau, and visit the site of her former home. Afterward, stop at the historic Supreme Court building for tales about Louisiana politicians and court cases such as Huey P. Long, Edwin Edwards, and Plessy vs. Fergusson. During your tour learn about the city's music, food, architecture, culture, literary history, and Bourbon Street. Your tour ends at Jackson Square where you can admire even more of the city's architecture and see St. Louis Cathedral, the Presbytère, and the Cabildo.

Experience New Orleans' rich jazz history on a guided walking tour through the French Quarter and discover the origins of a uniquely American art form. Visit popular and historic jazz clubs and enjoy some live jazz performances from top local musicians. Meet your guide just outside the French Quarter beneath the famed lighted arched entrance to Louis Armstrong Park in the Tremé area. Explore the area originally known as Congo Square, one of the first locations in the city where enslaved people and free people of color were allowed to socialize. Within the park, learn first about the historical origins of jazz and chat about one of the jazz greats, Louis Armstrong himself. Hear how jazz was formed from a rich mix of cultures in a single city, which combined West African and Caribbean sounds with European musical influences. Head into the Vieux Carre, or the French Quarter, and follow the route your guide will have chosen to ensure the best music is heard. Along one possible route, learn about the history of Bourbon Street and the residential areas where blues and jazz collaborators came to make incredible music. Pass by Preservation Hall, a venue that brought people of all backgrounds together, even in times of segregation. You may even catch a busker performing at the historic French Market. Or, your guide may take you to Frenchmen Street, home to the largest concentration of live music venues in the city. Being with a local, get an expert insight into how to make the most of your time in the city, and how the clubs and venues operate. And to top it off, you will receive a cocktail at one of the stops and you’re welcome to purchase additional drinks as and when you want them. Whatever path is taken, eventually you'll make your way to a top jazz club where you can sit and relax as you take in a live performance. Sip on your cocktail and enjoy the live sounds from local performers. In New Orleans, there’s always the opportunity for an element of surprise. Keep on the lookout for impromptu street performances during your adventure, which always make the night special.

Take in the vibe in New Orleans on this guided bike tour to city sights like Armstrong Park, Congo Square, and an above-ground cemetery. Admire the architecture in the French Quarter and the historic Faubourg Marigny district.  Meet your guide at the centrally-located office of the activity provider. Get fitted with a helmet and a high-quality bike. Take off on and adventure through the city. Ride to the part of the Mississippi River that overlooks Jackson Square. Visit the top landmarks in the French Quarter and learn about the rich history and incredible people that influenced the culture of the city. Experience the charm of the Faubourg Marigny district which dates back to the early 1800s and is home to the famous Frenchman Street. Peddle down Esplanade Avenue in the shade of old-growth oak trees with rows of the magnificent homes of the creole elite. Head to an above-ground cemetery and learn about New Orleans' funeral traditions. Roll around City Park, which is home to one of the largest mature live oak trees in the world. Keep an eye out for turtles and tropical birds along the way. Make a brief stop at Cafe Du Monde in the park where you have the chance to purchase some world-famous beignets (deep-fried pastry). Continue along the tranquil Bayou of St. John. Enjoy a peaceful ride through Armstrong Park to Congo Square, the heart of New Orleans’ jazz traditions. Return to your starting point at the end of your tour.

Enjoy a tour of New Orleans and be immersed in the city's rich history and culture while exploring various areas and learning more about each one with a guide. Stop at historical sites, museums, and markets. Explore some of New Orleans' most unique and iconic locations related to historical events and figures on this tour. See sites relating to Creole History, Plessy vs. Ferguson, Solomon Northrup, and historic cemeteries. Experience unique sites like Congo Square, the birthplace of Jazz, Antebellum Slave Quarters, Musicians Village, Treme, the oldest African-American neighborhood, and the Lower Ninth Ward. See other important areas related to the city's history, like areas of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, the Civil Rights Trail, and more.

Hit your city’s streets while playing a fun murder mystery game on your phone. Download the app, choose your route, then head out as a solo detective, with a partner, or as a group to get started. Follow the prompts as you travel to different locations within the game map and immerse yourself in an audio tale full of intrigue. Release your inner gumshoe and take on the role of a recent graduate of the Detective Academy. A murder has been committed and you're tasked with solving the crime. Your job is to visit each of the 10 locations marked on the map, piece together the evidence, identify the killer, and issue an arrest warrant. Choose the driving route on the outskirts of the city, where you'll park at each location, listen to the audio drama and complete your tasks. Or, go for the walking map to get outside and enjoy the downtown area. Play the game at any time and move at your own pace, taking a break whenever you need to and resuming once you're ready.

Every New Orleans newcomer wants to learn about voodoo. Shrouded in mystery, driven by beating drums, and populated by some of the most fascinating—and virile—deities in modern theology, voodoo has been intriguing outsiders since it first arrived in New Orleans from the decks of slave and trade ships. But there’s a problem: Voodoo is a deeply misunderstood, ridiculously fetishized, religion, one intentionally painted as “demonic” by Christians and colonizers throughout Louisiana’s history. And so many popular tours and books on the subject are packed with lies our forefathers told, which makes historians and practitioners super sad. Given this city was home to Queen Marie Laveau herself, HH couldn’t just stand idly by while our city’s history was buried under BS. We designed this tour to set the record straight while celebrating the mashup of religions which were woven together to created modern, stateside version of “voodoo” you cannot find outside the Crescent City. You’ll meet your guide on Basin Street, just steps away from the famous tomb which allegedly holds the remains of Marie herself. After a brief lesson on the differences between Haitian Voodoo, New Orleans Voodoo, Santeria, and Hoodoo, guests are led to Congo Square, site of Laveau’s countless ceremonies and rituals. From this sacred ground you’ll make your way to Laveau’s old home, the place she raised her children by day and practiced spiritual workings with a bigass snake around her neck by night. Zombie lore, pandemic history, and the some old timey propaganda await you on Dauphine Street, where your guide will reveal the truth about voodoo dolls and traditional Afro-Caribbean medicine. (Which, fun fact, was often way more effective than Western medicine.) Your guide will then introduce the group to Sanite Dede, the woman who paved the way for Marie Laveau, and the person to make voodoo so popular in the city it had to be banned from the French Quarter entirely. You’ll also learn about secret love affairs, documented miracles, radical healings, spirit summoning, shocking racial crimes, and the very beginning of the abolition movement, all through the lens of ancestor worship and “magic” in America’s Most Haunted City.

During this 2H walking tour, you will learn how People of African ancestry first arrived at New Orleans in 1719, within a year of the establishment of the city, having been forcibly removed from the Senegambia region of West Africa. Roughly five thousand Africans survived the Middle Passage en route to French Louisiana during the 1720s, followed in the 1780s by a similarly sized group brought by the Spanish from the Benin and Congo regions. Enslaved Africans of the colonial era cleared forests, raised crops, and built the city infrastructure.   In this visit You will see how African culture persisted in New Orleans, influencing everything from food to music to religion to architecture. Your tour guide will take you to the famous Square Congo, now part of Armstrong Park on the edge of the French Quarter in the Faubourg Treme where hundreds of African slaves and laborers congregated to trade goods, play music, dance, and socialize.