Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans dazzles the moment you step through its doors. Between black marble columns and palms, a light installation made up of 15,000 gleaming hand-strung Czech Republic crystals dangles above the circular Chandelier Bar. As the birthplace of iconic cocktails like the Sazerac, Ramos gin fizz and Hurricane, New Orleans takes its bars seriously — and the Four Seasons provides a worthy addition with the glamorous space serving champagne alongside upscale riffs on those aforementioned classics.
Putting a new twist on tradition is a common thread found throughout the property, which sits on two acres along the Mississippi River. The hotel debuted in 2021 in the former World Trade Center, a cross-shaped building on the National Register of Historic Places, fusing a fresh new aesthetic (rooms covered in white shiplap) with remnants of the past (local artist Dawn DeDeaux used salvaged original building materials, like mail chutes, wall-mounted ashcans and signage, in shadow boxes on every hallway floor).
The Four Seasons cemented its status as a dining destination when it recruited two of the city’s best chefs, Alon Shaya and Donald Link, to lead its restaurants. And the spa — outfitted in raw white oak, gray travertine and rattan —offers a soothing respite just blocks from the raucous French Quarter.
- A wall of windows at the fifth-floor Chemin à la Mer overlooks the Mississippi, and much of the food at Louisiana native chef Link’s restaurant comes from the water. Begin with fresh oysters and move onto the juicy côte de boeuf carved tableside. Locals sidle up to the bar for “oyster hour,” a weekday happy hour featuring a daily changing selection of bivalves.
- Chef Shaya found a devoted following for his modern Israeli cuisine at spots like Uptown restaurant Saba. But at the New Orleans hotel’s Miss River, he offers a taste of Louisiana staples. Must-tries include the impressive whole carved buttermilk fried chicken and the Gulf red snapper encased in a thick salt crust, both of which are meant to be shared. If you order the snapper, go to the open table to watch the chef cut the fish out of the salt casing, debone it and plate it.
- Discover a refuge in the eight-treatment-room spa. Get a customized facial with products (including a whopping 30 different serums) from exclusive French skincare brand Biologique Recherche — it’s the only spa in the state to offer them. Then unwind in a cream plush chaise longue with a glass of bubbly in the relaxation room or the adjoining terrace overlooking the river.
- Head to the fifth-floor deck to cool off in the 75-foot slightly curved infinity pool (which boasts underwater music and lights) or in a cabana or under a black-and-white umbrella with a frosé. And you can swim year-round: New Orleans’ largest hotel pool gets heated in the winter and cooled in the summer.
- Start and end your night in Chandelier Bar with tipples like the World Fair Fizz, a play on the Ramos gin fizz featuring a lovely lavender mixture of gin, lemon, wildflower honey, orange blossom water, egg whites, butterfly pea flower tea and champagne.
- Miss River flaunts an unabashedly feminine Belle Époque look. London-based Alexander Waterworth Interiors infuses the restaurant in pink hues — everywhere from the quartzite marble bar to the scalloped textured wallpaper — and bronze accents to stunning effect.
- The bright-white guest rooms from designer Bill Rooney have many nods to the destination. The large white plaster relief above the bed showcases a magnolia, the state flower. The farmhouse-style shiplap references the river just outside. The compass-patterned carpet points to the shape of the building.
- We already talked about the Chandelier Bar’s design, but there’s more to the greenery-filled lobby space than its namesake light installation. Oversized shutter screens made of oak and iron section off the white-marble-topped bar and seating area. And the screens also hold Louisiana-based artist George Dunbar’s clay and gold leaf pieces and New York-based artist Leonardo Drew’s relief works on paper.
24-hour room service 
Bar
Gym
House car
Meeting rooms
Outdoor pool
Pet friendly
Restaurants
Spa
