Review of Maison de Ville Hotel & Audubon Cottages, by Matthew Barker

Famed two-storey town house dating from the mid-1700s; big with resting glitterati (a regular stop-over for both Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Redford), charmed no doubt by all those four posters, clubby panelling, oil paintings and brass and brick. Tennessee Williams penned A Streetcar Named Desire in Room 9. 16 rooms. The seven Audubon Cottages, with their own private courtyards, over on Dauphine Street, boast a similar heritage and renown for sedate luxury. They say: "The hotel's historic Audubon Cottages have an absolutely idyllic country-inn-in-the-city feel" (US Conde Nast Traveler)

Hotel Attractions: Chef Greg Picolo in The Bistro cooks up celebrated Nouvelle Creole specialities (panned tenderloin of rabbit with cognac; monkfish tian); not a fitness centre sort of town, New Orleans.

Local Attractions: The French Quarter, (or rather the Vieux Carre): the Cathedral of Saint Louis King of France and Old Ursuline Convent; Jackson Square; the haunted Lalaurie House and Le Petit Theatre. House of Blues an excellent venue for jazz and live music, as is, ahem, Funky Butt. For Creole/fusion/all-out Gallic fare try Bayona, Peristyle or the Pelican Club; Bombay Club, Napoleon House and the Crescent City Brewhouse best calls for alcohol - mind you, they have bars in the laundrettes round here…