I saw someone posted messages asking about New Orleans. I just came back from there last week, my favourite are:

Garden district ( a lot of people stay around French quarter most of the time, but I feel Garden district is more impressive for me than FQ)

Preservation Hall ( great enjoyment of Jazz)

I did not go for the swap tour, but instead went to the oak alley plantation. It is very nice.

As for living:

You don't need to live on Bourbon street. It is dirty and too noisy. You definitely should go and have a look of the crazy crowd and drunken people at night, but you probably won't join them.

I stayed at intercontinental. The room is very nice and it is just steps away from the french quarter. We are also able to find a cheap parking place nearby on Poydres street.

As for food:

Not every restaurant in French quarter is good. Gumbo soup, turtle soup and creoles are just so so. But still you may need to try them because you haven't tried them before :)

You must try the ACME. Their oyster are sooooooo good. The roast beef and seafood Po'boy are also recommended. Moreover, the price is very reasonable.

I also went to a French restaurant called Irene. They offer French food (NOT New Orleans style french food). It was really good. We had everything (wines, appetizer, dissert etc) and the bills came around $45 per person. It is good deal. The only annoying thing is we waited for about 1 hour before being seated. (and according to my observation, we are still lucky, someone waited for about 2 hours). The owner obviously know that the business is good, so they set up the waiting area as a piano bar, so it is not too boring.