Saint Vincent's Guest House New Orleans

After staying in an expensive hotel on Cannal Street in the heart of the French Quarter on business, we decided to pay for our own cheap bed & breakfast for a week in the New Orleans south Garden District near the French Quarter at St. Vincent's Guest House.

From their own website:

"We don’t do cable television, but we’ll give you gorgeous, historic New Orleans at its best with famous Southern hospitality, a warm welcome, a delicious breakfast, and architectural details that can’t be found in any chain."

We agree! This place has 75 rooms of historic significance as an orphanage run by the Catholic church for over 100 years, which was built in 1861 before it was renovated into a guest house in the 1990s. Rooms are decorated with white wicker furniture and flowery drapes, and the balconies are built of wrought iron. All guest rooms have private bathrooms and huge wooden doors and floors that squeak. The breakfasts are good/big and the guest house has a large swimming pool in the courtyard. The location in a formerly seedy area in the Lower Garden District which was reviving itself before hurricane Katrina. It is supposedly close enough for a long walk to the Convention Center and French Quarter, but definitely use a cab after dark. We walked to the trolley stop 3 blocks away and took that to both ends of the line. At the far end of the Garden District is the famous Commander's Palace Restaurant and the other end is right on Canal Street. There are also some local establishments (again, before the hurricane) with good food and adult beverages. The only disconcerting problem is you have to enter the old orphanange (which some say is supposedly haunted) past a fountain with a statue of the Virgin Mary lit up at night after an evening tryst!

St. Vincents was founded by the Daughters of Charity order of nuns, but much of the funding came from Margaret Haughery who was an illiterate Irish immigrant. She was an ophan herself and lost both her husband and baby to yellow fever here in New Orleans.

This place is a bit rustic and quaint but rooms cost only $49-$99 depending on the season and specials, except for Halloween, Jazzfest, Mardi Gras and New Years which cost a bit more, but so does everything else in town. There is plenty of free parking and internet access is available in the sitting lounge.

If you plan to see New Orleans and can put up with rustic rooms and a slightly haunting neighborhood at night, you'll like staying at St. Vincent's Guest House.