Four Seasons New Orleans ★★★★★

A Mid-Century Trade Tower Reborn on the Riverfront

At 2 Canal Street stands a 34-story tower built in 1967 as the International Trade Mart, designed by architect Edward Durell Stone to house foreign consulates and the Port of New Orleans's headquarters. For three decades, its top floor spun slowly as the Top of the Mart, a rotating cocktail lounge with a 360-degree view of the river and the city. The building closed in 2011 and sat vacant for most of a decade, landmarked in 2014, before a $450 million renovation converted it into a Four Seasons with 341 rooms and 92 private residences sharing the upper floors. The rotation is gone, but the view the old lounge was built for now belongs to the rooftop pool.

Why It Works

We chose the Four Seasons because the renovation treats the building's history as the point rather than an obstacle to work around. Observation decks on the 33rd and 34th floors stayed in place as a cultural exhibit rather than being converted into more suites, and the river-facing orientation that made the old trade tower a landmark now anchors the hotel's restaurants and pool instead. Two serious chefs, Alon Shaya and Donald Link, give the food program a New Orleans identity rather than an imported luxury-hotel template, which matters more here than the usual spa-and-thread-count checklist.

Why This Location

The hotel sits at the foot of Canal Street, directly on the Mississippi riverfront, at the hinge between the Central Business District and the French Quarter. The Quarter's edge is a short walk upriver, while the Warehouse District's galleries and the Convention Center stretch out behind the hotel on the other side. Streetcars run along Canal Street itself, connecting the hotel to both the Quarter and the Garden District without needing a car. Few New Orleans addresses put the river this close to the front door while keeping the city's two most walkable districts equally within reach.

Fast Facts

• Prix : Luxe (€€€€)

• Vibe : riverfront landmark, mid-century building, big-hotel polish

• Chambres : 341 rooms and suites, plus 92 private residences in the same tower

• Best For : travelers who want river views, serious dining, and full-service scale

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel : the 33rd- and 34th-floor observation decks, kept as a cultural exhibit rather than converted into more rooms

• Dining : Miss River (chef Alon Shaya); Chemin à la Mer, an oyster bar with French technique (chef Donald Link); Chandelier Bar for live music

• Amenities : crescent-shaped rooftop infinity pool, spa, 24-hour fitness center, nearly 30,000 square feet of event space

• Attractions : French Quarter a short walk away; Warehouse District galleries and the Convention Center nearby; Canal Street streetcar at the door

Two Kitchens, Two Chefs: Alon Shaya and Donald Link

Miss River, on the lobby level, runs under chef Alon Shaya with a menu built around fresh takes on New Orleans classics rather than a generic hotel brasserie card. Chemin à la Mer, French for pathway to the sea, is chef Donald Link's steak-and-seafood room, anchored by a grand oyster bar and river views that justify the name. Running two chef-driven restaurants under one roof, rather than one flagship and a generic backup, gives the hotel a dining program that would stand on its own even without the rooms upstairs.

A Rooftop Pool Where the Observation Deck Used to Be

The crescent-shaped rooftop infinity pool takes over the view the old Top of the Mart lounge was built to show off, minus the rotation. It sits alongside a 24-hour fitness center and spa, giving the hotel a full wellness floor rather than a single treatment room tucked off the lobby. For a building that spent a decade empty and contested, debated between demolition and preservation, the pool is a fairly literal answer to the question of what the view was always for.