New Orleans

Spicy food; rattling streetcars; jazz and blues rolling thickly onto streets overlooked by sumptuous wrought-iron balconies: 'N'awlins' is a charm offensive on the senses, with nothing to match it the world over.

Only this city, with its fusion of Cajun, Creole, African and European cultures brewing and bubbling in America's Deep South, has the spirit and soul to carry off both the annual Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest music festivals - two of the greatest parties on Earth.

Laid out around a horseshoe bend in the mighty Mississippi River in the state of Louisiana, New Orleans's hub is - and has been since the city's birth in the 18th century - the French Quarter.

Here you'll find infamous Bourbon Street (tacky by day and raucous by night, but always unmissable) as well as the aah-inducing architectural sensation that is Royal Street, and the Quarter's ever-vibrant centrepiece, Jackson Square.

Alongside the Mississippi, a mere minute or two's stroll away, you can watch the occasional steamboat go by (ferrying tourists rather than the likes of Huckleberry Finn, but an evocative sight nevertheless) or take in the fantastic Aquarium of the Americas.

The best way to reach the Garden District, on the other hand, is to hop onto a vintage streetcar on the St Charles line, and get an eyeful of the ravishing 19th-century mansions and gardens from the vantage point of an open-air, olive-green trolley.

Rollicking good times is what New Orleans is most famous for, and true to its reputation you'll find restaurants, bars, and live music clubs everywhere, hosting revellers well into the small hours.

To do the city properly is to go home dazed, confused, with a grin on your face and a spring in your step - or like many, not to go home at all...