While gay and straight culture is wonderfully blurred, Lavender Line in the French Quarter is notable, not only as home to the oldest gay bar in the states, Café Lafitte’s in Exile, but also as the starting point of the annual Pride Parade. Driven by non-conformists and creative thinkers, New Orleans is a bright spot in the otherwise conservative Deep South, blazing the trail for social change and gay activism US-wide since the 70s.

Layered in superstition, tradition and Cajun spice – the vestige of Spanish and French colonial roots as well as Creole, Irish and Italian immigrant influence – here you have the complex and intriguing birthplace of Jazz and the Po’boy sandwich. A decadently diverse mecca spurred by enduring myth and legacy in the realms of art, music, distinct cuisine and cross-cultural history, New Orleans is a Southern stunner.