While New Orleans is most identified with Mardi Gras, that's not the only holiday best spent in the Big Easy; the city is also the best place by far to experience Halloween.

This year Holloween promises to be particularly exciting as the city celebrates its tricentennial year. As usual, revelers have the option of enjoying a wide range of festive activities and attractions this autumn, including creepy tours of haunted houses, spine-tingling sites in the French Quarter, and sinister cemeteries. Whether you're looking for vampires, goblins, or ghosts, there is plenty to see in New Orleans.

Besides guided tours, visitors to can meander down the streets, checking out iconic voodoo stores that dot the city. Indeed, the city is second to none when it comes to haunted and spooky cities. Much of New Orleans' character involves the supernatural.

If you're looking for a costume, the streets are packed with costume stores galore. Once you're dressed up, the city's street parties are highly recommended, as is the Voodoo Music and Arts Experience at City Park. This festival is held over the last weekend in October every year. This year's top acts include Childish Gambino, the Arctic Monkeys, and Mumford & Sons.

Concurrent with the festival there is a popular party called the Lazarus Ball in the French Quarter. The ball has been held ever since the '80s and is held to raise funds for the Lazarus Project, which provides assistance to those suffering from HIV and AIDS.

If you visit with young kids, there is plenty to do besides taking them to haunted houses. The Audubon Zoo, for example, features the Boo at the Zoo event, where kids can go trick-or-treating, ride a Ghost Train, see a haunted house, play games, and other fun activities. The Louisiana Children's Museum also has activities for kids to do.

Another activity in the French Quarter is the Krewe of Boo Halloween parade, which kicked off on October 20 at 6:30 p.m.

With the vibrant city having a history so steeped in the mystical and supernatural and supernatural beliefs, there is surely no better destination for Halloween!