Healthy Travel Guide: New Orleans

We toured New Orleans to find the best, most nutritious restaurants the city has to offer. Here's a unique guide to good eating and great exercise for hungry travelers.

How we did the math:
This series is meant as a fun guide to experiencing a city through the Cooking Light lens. All calculations are rough estimates and should be seen as a starting point for your own adventure.

Calorie burns were estimated using this calculator. The approximations are based on how vigorous the activity level is for a 150-pound woman—for example, a stroll around a farmers’ market was calculated at a lower burn than when we tell you to pick up the pace.

We estimated steps at an average of 2,000 steps per mile walked.

All calorie calculations for the meal selections we recommend were rough estimates based on inputting similar dishes and ingredients into this calculator.

Grab a coffee and explore the trending Bywater neighborhood. If the java doesn't do the trick, the brightly colored houses and vibrant personalities here will surely perk you up. Pop into Satsuma Cafe for further hydration—this is a drinking town, so get ahead of the game—with a green drink (apple, fennel, kale, cucumber, and celery juices) and a green sandwich (egg, arugula, and avocado on wheat).

Burn: 102 calories
Eat: 562 calories

Wind your way through the adjoining Marigny neighborhood for about a mile until you reach St. Roch Market, an indoor showcase of food vendors selling everything from ready-made roux to Korean-Creole fusion street food (the Japcha-laya is a mash-up of Korean noodles, and andouille sausage, and sesame sauce) for a snack. The historic, light-filled hall is perfect for picking up a culinary souvenir.

Burn: 153 calories
Eat: 364 calories

Enjoy a 1.8-mile amble through the French Quarter to August where chef John Besh offers French dining with a Lousiana accent. Catch their lunch menu on Fridays and Sundays. Start with the "Caesar" salad, a vegetarian take on the classic. Next up? The roasted grouper with blue crab and wild mushrooms. Save your caloric splurge for the banana pudding with vanilla wafer ice cream and peanut butter powder for crunch.

Burn: 204 calories
Eat: 1,194 calories

Make your way back to the French Quarter to join Free Wheelin' Bike Tours. A three-hour spin will cycle past the World War II Museum, the tree-lined Garden District, and antebellum mansions.

Burn: 816 calories

It's time to unwind for the night. Begin with a quintessential New Orleans experience at Commander's Palace. Grab a seat at the bar or on the patio, and snack on the perfect New Orleans combo: a cup of turtle soup and a Sazerac.

This will provide fuel for your 1-mile walk through the Garden District to dinner at Shaya, where chef Alon Shaya is garnering national attention for his modern Israeli cuisine. The wood-fired oven turns out the most delectably puffy, piping-hot pita bread. Use it as a vehicle for an assortment of meze or one of the several hummus options on offer. For your main, the short rib spring stew pairs excellently with a glass of Israeli wine. Now you're ready to spill out onto the lively streets of New Orleans, whereve the night takes you next.

Burn: 102 calories
Eat: 1,229 calories