What’s the Best New Year’s Eve Party in New Orleans?

I’ve spent over twenty years ringing in the new year on Bourbon Street. Every year, people ask me the same question: where should I be to ring in the New Year? The honest answer isn’t a bar, a hotel rooftop, or a ticket that gives you access to “multiple balconies.” It’s one balcony, held to a finite number of guests, so you can really be on the balcony as much as you like. Cornet is the only location that limits ticket sales to meet balcony capacity. We want all of our guests to be on the balcony as much as they would like.

Why the Cheapest Ticket Is Usually the Worst Deal

Our New Year’s Eve tickets are already on sale. Every year, I hear from guests who made the mistake once before and won’t make it twice. They’re the ones telling us why our balcony party is the better value, even if it costs more. We offer our guests who buy tickets in advance the lowest price. We don’t offer discount codes to sell more tickets. Our tickets are limited and sell out because our guests can really access the balcony. We don’t want our guests to be frustrated.

Here’s what nobody tells you. Most venues, including multiple balcony ticket sellers, sell as many tickets as their interior capacity allows, not as many as the balcony can actually hold. Some of those balconies rotate guests in and out, which sounds fair on paper. In reality, it means guests spend the night anxiously waiting to be first back out the door to get balcony time again. That’s not a pleasant way to spend New Year’s Eve. I’d rather sell fewer tickets at a higher price and have happy guests kicking off the new year than pack the room and put people through that. That’s the approach we take to every balcony ticket party we run, not just New Year’s Eve.

And then there’s height. Third-floor balconies and rooftop parties look impressive in photos, but they put you too far above the street to actually toss beads to the crowd below. That interaction, leaning over the rail, the eye contact, the beads flying, the crowd reacting, is the whole point of being on a balcony on Bourbon Street. Cornet doesn’t even have a third-floor balcony. We have alternate locations with 3rd floors we could use, but we don’t sell them, because that height isn’t the experience people are actually looking for when they book a balcony on Bourbon Street for New Year’s Eve.

What Makes Cornet’s Balcony Different

Our balcony at Cornet holds 150 guests. We sell 150 tickets. That’s it. No overselling, no squeezing in “just a few more guests” once the night gets going. Everyone can access the balcony. Everyone gets to actually be on the balcony, throwing beads, part of the action, instead of stuck behind a wall of people who never move.

The location does the rest of the work. Cornet’s second-floor balcony wraps around the corner and overlooks St. Peter Street, which is its own kind of busy. It runs straight toward Jackson Square. Pat O’Brien’s is right down the block. Preservation Hall is across the street. You get Bourbon Street energy on one side and a totally different current of people on the other.

Here’s something most people don’t know. On a clear night, you can sometimes catch the fireworks from the St. Peter side of the balcony. I say “sometimes” because the fireworks are launched from a barge on the Mississippi River, and keeping that barge in the exact same spot isn’t guaranteed. We don’t advertise it as a fireworks view. I’d rather underpromise. But Cornet is one of the few New Year’s Eve balcony parties where it’s even possible. And if guests want a sure thing, Jackson Square is a very short walk, three French Quarter blocks, though the actual distance might be closer to one real city block. We’ll hand them a to-go drink for the walk and the fifteen-minute show.

Funny enough, most people never make that walk. They’re having too much fun where they are.

What the Balcony Actually Feels Like at Midnight

Our party starts at 10 PM. That’s on purpose. Our guests are coming from dinner at one of the many fabulous New Orleans restaurants, and they want the perfect place already waiting for them when they’re ready to ring in the New Year. We keep light bites and sweet treats going all night, but this isn’t a dinner party. It’s the place you land after dinner, dressed up and ready, with the whole night still ahead of you.

Picture it. Our DJ is running the countdown live, and the TVs are tuned to every New Year’s special running that night. As midnight closes in, our balcony guests each have a glass of champagne in hand for the toast. Beads are flying off to the crowd below. People are popping confetti cannons over the crowd on the street. Then it’s just pure noise and celebration, on the balcony, on the street, everywhere at once.

That’s the difference. You’re not watching New Year’s Eve in New Orleans from a screen or from three blocks away. You’re above it, part of it, and never once stuck in the crowd fighting for a place to stand.

Ready to Ring in the New Year on Cornet’s Balcony?

Grab your New Year’s Eve balcony tickets before they sell out, or send us an inquiry if you have questions or want to book a private group.