Setting the 15- story Ritz-Carlton aside from its competitors are the weekly jazz shows, regional culinary specialties and the spa. At the 20,000-square-foot spa, guests get pampered silly with massages, hydrotherapy, exfoliation, aesthetics and Napoleon's Royal Massage, which is named after a treatment favored by the famous emperor although he naturally never got it here. What's more, the hotel's courtyard garden, 24-hour room service, health club, indoor pool, beauty salon and business center provide refuges from the bustle of the French Quarter.

Among the area's best dining and imbibing options, the fine-dining Victor's Grill focuses on steak, lamb, chicken and Louisiana favs like blackened grouper and sautéed gulf shrimp and scallops. The casually refined French Quarter Bar dishes up red beans and rice, pork chops with oyster andouille dressing, and prime rib. Guests can also kick back in the Lobby Lounge, Library Lounge and the Spa Café. In the latter, spa robes are acceptable attire.

Meanwhile, the 452 guest rooms are appointed with antique-style furnishings, and feather beds with duvet covers and 300-threadcount Italian Frette damask cotton sheets. The rooms also include generously sized work desks, high-speed Internet access, minibars, pedestal sinks, and Italian marble tubs perfect for soaking and wallowing.

The only hotel in the entire state to land a five-diamond rating from the persnickety American Automobile Association, the Ritz- Carlton mirrors the old-world charm of a Garden District mansion. From a covered driveway, guests are ushered to a third-floor lobby decorated with antiques, Italian marble, fresh-cut flowers and Romanian chandeliers.