The French Quarter is the rare American neighborhood that was designed to be walked in July. The cantilevered iron galleries — the ones that everyone photographs from the street — were built as awnings. They run for the full length of a building, both sides of Royal and most of Chartres, and they cover the sidewalk completely. On a 96-degree afternoon with 80% humidity, the temperature under them is meaningfully lower than the temperature six feet out in the street.
The picks below all stay galleried for as much of the route as possible. The Stay Cool model has the gallery footprints traced manually — they don’t show in the standard OSM building polygons — so the shade percentages reflect what is actually overhead. The few sun gaps are at the cross streets, where the galleries break for the curb. Walk those quickly.
A note on the time: late afternoon in the Quarter, between about 3 and 6 PM in July, is the worst window. The sun is past peak but the buildings hold the day’s heat, and the humidity is at its highest. These walks are graded for that. In the morning the whole neighborhood is fine.