(MONEY Magazine) – Almost immediately after moving to New Orleans a few years ago, I realized that living here involves becoming an amateur travel agent, forever dispensing tips to potential visitors. And I just as quickly figured out that some advice seekers really shouldn't bother: They have such a clear set of preconceived notions about the city that it seems a shame for them to visit and find out just how wrong they are. A typical scenario is this: The person wants to stay at a place that's in the French Quarter--but quiet; visit bars on Bourbon Street--but not touristy ones; eat great and authentically local food--but in a cheap and totally undiscovered spot; hear first-class live jazz--but not be out too late; and "discover" the real New Orleans--within walking distance of the hotel. Basically, these people want to take a vacation in their own imaginations. I can't help them; indeed nobody can. The truth is that you have to make some trade-offs if you want to see the real New Orleans, which to my mind is better than the imaginary version anyway.

The first trade-off is in the timing. Sure, you can avoid the crowds and get a cheaper hotel rate by visiting in the summer months. But you're likely to go home with memories of heat in the mid- 90s, soaking humidity, and the disappointing discovery that there's less music in the clubs and a lot of the coolest restaurants are closed. Summer actually has its charms (well, its mitigating circumstances) if you live here. But if you're only going to spend a few days of your life in the Crescent City, you're probably better off not doing it anytime between May and October.

The time to come is the spring and winter, when temperatures are mild (overnight lows that dip below freezing lead the local news when they happen). And there's a case to be made that this year is the best time to visit New Orleans in quite a while. The underlying reasons aren't good news for the locals, but they might be very good for you. The tourism and convention trades are forces in the economy here and, not surprisingly, showed tremendous momentum throughout the boomy 1990s. One result was a frenzy of hotel development, and now, in the post-Sept. 11 sluggish-economy world, it's widely believed that there are too many rooms, especially luxury rooms. It's looking, in other words, like a buyer's market.

But as you plan a trip, remember that there's truth to the idea that Mardi Gras masks offer a hint of New Orleans' character: It's a city of sometimes misleading facades. With this in mind, I've put together advice on where to stay, where to eat and what to do (from hearing great jazz to some of the less obvious attractions) in and around New Orleans. Remember, you have to get beyond appearances to find the real thing.

HOME BASE

The toughest challenge is to offer "insider" advice on lodging, for the obvious reason that I live here (and no, you can't stay at my house, my parents are coming that weekend). But if you really want to see the best things the city has to offer, I usually have two initial pieces of advice. The first is don't stay in the French Quarter. The second is rent a car. I have nothing against the French Quarter--in fact, I love it--but if that's the only neighborhood you see, you're cheating yourself. You can stay in the Garden District and rely on the streetcar line and taxis (but not the buses, which are terrible), but to me that's still too limiting.

If you're particularly budget-sensitive, it will take a few calls to figure out where the bargains are on any given week. And bear in mind that when a big convention is in town, it can mean a dearth of available rooms--and thus higher rates. That's even more true around Mardi Gras (see the box on page 118), so avoid the 10 days or so leading up to March 4, 2003, when Fat Tuesday falls next, if you want the best deal. One good resource for quick comparison shopping: www.turbotrip.com. And you can go to www.neworleanscvb.com and click on "Conventions" and then on "Convention Calendar" for a schedule of big events planned in the next three months.

If you just want the perfect place, I have a couple of recommendations. One of my favorites from when I was a mere visitor to the city is the McKendrick-Breaux House, a B&B in the Lower Garden District consisting of two carefully restored Greek Revival homes. It's an oasis. Doubles run $135 to $195 (1474 Magazine St.; 888-570-1700; www.mckendrick-breaux.com). The hotel I'd most like to stay in is The Columns, right on St. Charles Avenue, where streetcars rumble by under giant overhanging oaks. Double rooms run $110 to $180 (3811 St. Charles Ave.; 800-445-9308; www.thecolumns.com).

And then there are the newcomers. Boutique hotels have spread like kudzu through the central business district. The San Francisco-based Kimpton Group recently opened a beautiful, and very pet-friendly, place called Hotel Monaco (333 St. Charles Ave.; 866-685-8359; www.monaco-neworleans.com). Also new is the Hotel Le Cirque in Lee Circle (936 St. Charles Ave.; 888-487-8782; www.hotellecirque.com). The developer of the latter is also behind the newest entry, the Cotton Exchange, but while the exterior is nice, there's something claustrophobic about the inside.

CHOW DOWN

My next piece of advice is don't come here on a diet. Food is a big deal in Fat City, and the guidebooks will be full of praise for megafamous (and megaexpensive) choices like Galatoire's, Commander's Palace and Emeril's. That's all fine, but I'm here to make the case for getting past the city's most celebrated culinary hits.

The place I always push on visitors first is Uglesich, because it's always rumored that the owner is on the verge of pulling the plug after the current season, and because it's the sort of restaurant that you have to plan around (1238 Baronne St.; 504-523-8571). For starters, it's open only for lunch and only on weekdays. The location is a little sketchy and thus best reached by car. They don't take reservations, so at lunch time there's a huge line out the door. Is it worth it? Yes. My strategy is to go at around three in the afternoon, so I'm sure to be famished and the wait is shorter. If they're serving any crawfish dishes (the owner is picky about serving only the best Louisiana mudbugs, in season), order one. Or get a tray of the whopping oysters, try the shrimp and sausage pattie appetizer, and finish with Shrimp Uggie, a spicy mix of potatoes and shrimp. Wash it all down with local Abita Turbodog beer. Now go take a nap.

My other favorite down and dirty spot specializes in po-boys--a New Orleans specialty. Domilise, on an unassuming corner near Audubon Park, has the best (5240 Annunciation St.; 504-899-9126). This is another lunch-only spot, but at least it's open on Saturday.

I almost always take visitors to dinner at Jacques-Imo's, a boisterous place that's popular with locals and offers huge portions of rich nouveau Creole fare (8324 Oak St.; 504-861-0886). The menu changes, but the everpresent fried chicken is truly some of the best you'll have. Pick red beans and rice as one of your side dishes. Reservations are taken only for large parties. There are no reservations at all at the mellower Dick & Jenny's (seeing a pattern?), but the back patio waiting area is a fine place for a glass of wine, and in any case the constantly changing menu has not disappointed me yet (4501 Tchoupitoulas St.; 504-894-9880). Last time I had a crawfish and tasso cheesecake appetizer ($6.50) and pecan-crusted trout with a meuniere sauce ($18.50).

If you're looking for the Old World feeling of a Galatoire's or Antoine's at prices that are about a third cheaper, and with a minimal tourist factor, seek out Clancy's, another local favorite hidden away Uptown (6100 Annunciation St.; 504-895-1111). Sit upstairs among the endless wine racks in one of the little rooms that feel like they haven't changed in about a hundred years. The smoked meats (lamb, pork and duck) are always tasty, and this is a good place to have a gumbo appetizer.

Sunday (when every single restaurant above is closed) is the day to schedule eating in the Quarter. For one dose of celebrity chefness, make a reservation at Emeril Lagasse's Nola, where, in my experience, the food is complicated but very good and the service great (534 St. Louis St.; 504-522-6652). Or try GW Fins--fish is the specialty, as the ridiculous name suggests--which was picked by Esquire as one of the 20 best new restaurants in the U.S. in 2001 (808 Bienville St.; 504-581-3467).

THAT JAZZ

The city's reverence for jazz is absolutely genuine--not the wishful thinking of some official arts council. Some of the best players in town are practically kids, suggesting that the jazz tradition is not going to disappear for generations to come. The upshot: In quality-for-the-dollar terms, New Orleans' jazz scene may be the best bargain in town.

Perhaps the most civilized venue here is Snug Harbor, in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood adjacent to the Quarter. Local heroes--with international reputations--such as Terence Blanchard, Nicholas Payton, Astral Project and Ellis Marsalis (patriarch of America's most famous jazz family) play here all the time (as do name touring acts) with cover charges from $10 to $25. Arrive early for a good downstairs seat (626 Frenchmen St.; 504-949-0696; www.snugjazz.com).

Other good spots include the Funky Butt, in the Quarter (714 N. Rampart St.; 504-558-0872; www.funkybutt .com), and its neighbor, Donna's (800 N. Rampart St.; 504-596-6914; www.donnasbarandgrill.com). Both have cheaper cover prices than Snug. Donna's often features old-style brass ensembles of the sort that still play jazz funeral street parades. (And incidentally, if the local paper, the Times-Picayune, gives the location for a jazz funeral, change your plans and go. If it's in the paper, you're certainly welcome to join in the "second line," as the impromptu parade is called.)

Of course, the city is also famous for its annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, several days of concerts in late April and early May. The summer heat usually makes its presence felt by the second week at the latest, and the hotels and restaurants are jammed. On the other hand, it's a rare chance to see so many world-class artists in just a few days. Visit www.nojazzfest.com for more on the fest.

Check the daily event listings in the Times-Picayune or the calendar in Gambit Weekly. Local acts worth catching include Kermit Ruffins (especially his Thursday night gigs at Vaughan's, where you'll get free red beans and rice prepared by Ruffins himself), Jason Marsalis (Wynton and Branford's youngest brother), the Rebirth Brass Band (which sometimes draws a college-age crowd, especially at the Maple Leaf), Los Hombres Calientes, and recent transplant Jaz Sawyer.

LAGNIAPPE

Another big attraction here is getting absolutely loaded on local concoctions like the Hurricane or the Hand Grenade, and behaving boorishly in public places. I can't help you with that. Actually, one of my goals with visitors is steering them away from the subsection of the tourist element that apparently comes here to act out. So with that in mind, let me add a little lagniappe (a little something extra) to your list, just to make sure you're exhausted:

The French Quarter. I generally tell friends to avoid Bourbon Street from Canal to about St. Ann, and to be wary of the same strip of Decatur: These are the two zones of massive dopey-tourist impact. The sad thing is that because so many visitors are drawn to exactly these two areas, they think that and the hokey caricature artists and palm readers in Jackson Square are all there is to the Quarter. Not so. Strolling pretty much anywhere between St. Ann and Esplanade on a nice day is an absolute pleasure, and you just won't see such a concentration of unique architecture anywhere else in America. Three suggestions for pit stops: Napoleon House (500 Chartres St.) for a snack; Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop (941 Bourbon St.--well outside the prime tourist zone) for a drink in an ancient Creole cottage that probably should be a museum but, this being New Orleans, is instead a bar; and, in my one concession to a tourist trap, the bustling, outdoor Cafe Du Monde (813 Decatur St.) for cafe au lait, the fried square doughnuts called beignets and a prime view of some of the Quarter's weirdest habitues.

The cemeteries. They're filled not with headstones but with aboveground tombs for the sensible reason that the whole city is below sea level, which makes digging a bad idea. St. Louis

No. 1, near the Quarter, is the city's most famous, and everyone in town seems to offer a walking tour there. As an alternative, try Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 (Washington Ave. between Prytania and Coliseum Sts.); the nonprofit group Save Our Cemeteries offers good group tours at $6 a head (888-721-7493; www.saveourcemeteries.org).

The streetcar. Go ahead, take a ride. You'll see another side of New Orleans architecture, the big antebellum houses that line St. Charles. Hop out around Washington Avenue to walk through the Garden District or at Audubon Park or go all the way up to the river bend and have some pecan waffles at the Camellia Grill (626 S. Carrollton Ave.).

The getaway. As long as you've taken my advice to rent a car, and you've given yourself plenty of time, you might want to get a sense of the geography outside the city. Usually visitors who want to do this are looking to see swamps, bayous and alligators. So it is that there are many "swamp tours" advertised all over town. I've taken a couple, and if you want to see gators, try Alligator Annie's tour. (Actually it's her son's tour now, but he's good. Call 800-341-5441 or visit www.annie-miller.com.) If you're more interested in a Spanish moss-strewn bayou setting right out of a movie, try Dr. Wagner's Honey Island Swamp Tours (985-641-1769; www.honeyislandswamp.com). Or--and this is a favorite of mine--just head down to the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park & Preserve (7400 Hwy. 45, Marrero; 504-589-2330). It has a satellite visitor's center in the Quarter, at 419 Decatur St.). Just 15 minutes from New Orleans, it's another world. One caveat: Some trails have been closed for repairs following this season's tropical storms.

Obviously it's a good idea to give some thought before you get here to what you really want out of your visit, since you may end up having to pick and choose if your schedule is tight. My final piece of advice about New Orleans: Be prepared to chuck your itinerary if something better pops up unexpectedly. Which happens. This is the city care forgot--and it's no place to be uptight.