6 best day trips from New Orleans

Day trips compared

The day trips

80 km · About 1 hour by car

1.Whitney Plantation

On River Road in Wallace, the Whitney is a museum dedicated to the lives of the enslaved people who worked Louisiana's sugar plantations, told through memorials, first-person testimony and preserved buildings. It is a sobering and essential counterpoint to the grand plantation houses nearby.

Getting there

Car or guided tour

Best for

Culture

85 km · About 1 hour by car

2.Oak Alley Plantation

A Greek Revival mansion at the end of an avenue of 28 live oaks nearly 300 years old, with exhibits on the enslaved people who lived and worked on the estate. Many tours combine it with the Whitney.

Getting there

Car or guided tour

Best for

First-timers, Culture, Couples

30 km · About 30 minutes by car

3.Barataria Preserve

Part of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, Barataria has boardwalk trails through cypress swamp, bayou and marsh where you can see alligators, turtles and wading birds without joining a boat tour.

Getting there

Car

Best for

Families, Quiet stays

65 km · About 45 minutes by car

4.Honey Island Swamp tours

Boat tours near Slidell take you through one of the least-altered river swamps in the US, among cypress trees draped in Spanish moss, with alligators, herons and turtles; many operators offer pick-up from central hotels.

Getting there

Car or tour with hotel pick-up

Best for

Families, First-timers

215 km · About 2 hours 15 minutes by car

5.Lafayette and Cajun Country

The heart of Cajun culture is around Lafayette, with French-speaking heritage, Cajun and zydeco dance halls, boudin sausage shops and the Vermilionville living-history village. It works best as an overnight trip.

Getting there

Car

Best for

Culture, Food lovers

130 km · About 1 hour 15 minutes by car

6.Baton Rouge

Louisiana's capital has the 34-storey Art Deco State Capitol, the tallest state capitol in the US, with a free observation deck, plus the Old State Capitol's Gothic castle and the riverside USS Kidd museum ship.

Getting there

Car

Best for

Culture, Families

Day-trip tips

• Leave early: most trips are more relaxed with a morning departure and a return before dinner.
• RTA buses run along Magazine Street and to neighbourhoods the streetcars don't reach, using the same passes.
• For trips over about 150 km, an overnight stay or an organised tour saves a lot of travelling.

Questions travellers ask