The Lafayette Hotel on oh-so-fashionable Saint Charles Avenue and its famous streetcar line overlooks verdant Lafayette Square and is only seven blocks from decadent Bourbon Street. Guests at this hotel in the central business district also are close to the Superdome, Harrah's Casino and the Morial Convention Center. Visitors enjoy riding the streetcar, which travels from the French Quarter through the historic Garden District replete with stately homes, then by Riverbend with its Victorian cottages housing shops and restaurants, and to Audubon Zoo and Loyola and Tulane universities.

Some of the city's most celebrated chefs have restaurants within walking distance of the Lafayette, including Emeril Lagasse's namesake and Susan Spicer's Herbsaint. The hotel's eatery, Johnny Ryan's New Orleans Restaurant, serves contemporary spins on New Orleans cuisine, including greens-stuffed pork chops and plenty of Gulf seafood. The bar's humidor is packed with a wide selection of cigars.

The four-story Lafayette, one of the first buildings in the city to offer plumbing, retains many unique architectural elements, such as French doors, wrought-iron balconies, Italian marble floors, decorative moldings and 10-foot high ceilings. The designs spill over into the guest rooms, which also feature Old World architecture, French doors, four-poster beds and English botanical prints. Modern amenities include wet bars, refrigerators, VCRs, whirlpools, thick terry bathrobes and fancy French- milled soaps.

The Lafayette Hotel is a member of the prestigious Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Guests at the Lafayette Hotel include leisure travelers in town to explore and experience everything New Orleans, and business travelers looking for a relatively short walk to the convention center and to indulge in that experience once they're off from work.