So far on our road trip, Shae and I have tended to complete our time in a state before moving on to the next one. That’s changing in the first couple of months of 2020.
We’re starting off the new year in Mississippi and also need to be there mid-February, but don’t want to spend 6 weeks in the state. As a result, we’re switching things up. We’re visiting New Orleans, Louisiana for Mardi Gras at the end of February, so we’ve decided to mix and match Mississippi and Louisiana throughout January and February.
We’re planning on spending the first two or three weeks of the new year in Mississippi. Our next stop will be Louisiana for a few weeks, then we’ll spend a few days in Biloxi mid-February, then it’s back to Louisiana for the rest of the month.
We asked for your Mississippi suggestions last month, so it’s time to source your ideas for Louisiana seeing as it’s only about a month until we get there and so I need to book our hotels/Airbnbs.
Accommodation
When looking at a map of Louisiana, my original inclination was for us to stay in the following locations:
- Shreveport or Monroe
- Alexandria
- Lafayette
- Baton Rouge
- New Orleans
Shreveport and Monroe are in the north of the state, while Alexandria is bang in the middle. Lafayette, Baton Rouge and New Orleans are all in the southern part of Louisiana, but they also seem to be where everything is.
We already have a couple of dozen places on our list of things to do, but they’re all in the southern part of the state. We don’t have anything for the Alexandria area or anywhere north of there. It therefore doesn’t seem worth spending ~10 days in Shreveport / Monroe / Alexandria, but I also don’t want us to entirely ignore 75% of the state’s land mass during our time in Louisiana.
Things To Do In Louisiana
Based on some of our own research, ideas other people have given us and things I saw on Sites & Bites, here’s what we have on our list of things to do so far:
- Lake Ponchartrain Causeway Bridge – 24 mile long bridge
- Mardi Gras
- Riverboat tour / casino
- Eat gumbo
- Jackson Square (New Orleans)
- French Quarter (New Orleans)
- Bourbon Street (New Orleans)
- New Orleans City Park (New Orleans)
- Houmas House Plantation and Gardens (Darrow)
- Laura: A Creole Plantation (Vacherie)
- Jamie Haze Gallery (New Orleans)
- Indian Mounds
- Huge Ass Beers
- Cafe du Monde, New Orleans for beignets
- Audobon Zoo
- The National WWII museum (New Orleans)
- Oak Alley Plantation
- Tabasco factory (Avery Island)
- Louisiana State Capitol (Baton Rouge)
- Louisiana’s Old State Capitol (Baton Rouge)
- Gator Chateau (Jennings)
- Louisiana Spirits Distillery (Lacassine)
- Sam Houston Jones State Park (Lake Charles)
- Tabasco Country Store and Visitor Center (Avery Island)
- Lake Fausse Pointe State Park (St Martinville)
- Chicot State Park (Ville Platte)
- Eat boudin (sausage & rice)
Your Suggestions
As always, this is where you come in. Do you have any other suggestions of things to do in Louisiana. In particular, is there anything worth seeing or doing in Shreveport, Monroe, Alexandria or anywhere else in the northern half of the state? Please let us know your suggestions in the comments below 🙂
We have been traveling around the U.S. for a few years and loved our time visiting Louisiana in the late fall of 2017, one of our favorite states. Here are some recommendations:
Lafayette:
1) Vermilionville – An Acadian Village with historic homes, crafts, gardens and a restaurant. They had fun Zydeco music and dancing on Sunday afternoons I believe.
2) Next to Vermilionville is the Acadian Cultural Center run by the National Park Service. You can get your NPS book stamped there and they have great exhibits on the history of the Acadian people that settled in the area.
3) There are two Acadian Villages in Lafayette – I can’t remember the name of the other one but I thought Vermilionville was more interesting. But the other one was nice too and also had historic buildings.
4) Louisiana is known for plate lunches and they are really good at Veronica’s Restaurant in Carencro which is next to Lafayette. A family run, cute little cafe with daily specials, reasonable prices and tasty food.
5. The Creole House in Lafayette was also good for plate lunches
6. Lake Martin is a neat place to see a swamp and the Champagne Cajun Swamp Tour in Breaux Bridge was a really enjoyable way to get out on the swamp and see wildlife – alligators, birds, turtles, etc.
7. For authentic Cajun music and dancing, visit La Poussiere dance hall in nearby Breaux Bridge (a cute town) – they serve drinks but no food. I recall the admission was reasonable. They have a website with info and days/hours open.
8. North of Lafayette is the little town of Eunice which has another National Park Site called the Prairie Cultural Center with history exhibits, music, cooking and craft demonstrations. In Eunice is a historic theater that has great music shows and there is also the small Cajun Music Hall of Fame.
Baton Rouge:
1. I like to visit State history museums and the one in Baton Rouge is the best I have visited. It is called the Capitol Park Museum and is right next to the capitol building. It has several floors of outstanding exhibits, you could spend several hours here. Great way to learn about Louisiana. I saw the capitol is on your list and it is definitely worth a visit as is the old capitol building.
2. One of the best BBQ places we have visited in our travels is across the river from Baton Rouge in Port Allen. It is called Cou-Yons. This seemed to be a locals place, small with a lot of character. You order at the counter. Don’t miss the Jack Daniel’s bread pudding, yum!
The Rip Van Winkle Gardens and Jefferson Home in New Iberia is definitely worth a visit. It is a beautiful place and the cafe there has delicious food with outstanding views of the nearby lake and trees. The history there is interesting too. I believe it is in the general area of the Tabasco Factory which is on your list and is also a great visit. Don’t miss the drive through their gardens too.
Just a few of the places we enjoyed that aren’t already on your list. I have written blogs on these places and others as well if interested: expwithb.com
Thanks so much for all those suggestions – I’ll add them all to our list. I’ve been following your blog on Feedly for the last few weeks and have added several things to our Oregon tab thanks to your recent posts 🙂
Thanks for checking out my blog and glad you found some helpful ideas for Oregon! I hope you both have happy holidays!
Happy holidays to you too!
There is not much up north, there is Black Bayou Nature Refuge is very good walk, pack food. Also you can visit the Duck Dynasty guys in Monroe. Also just south of Shreveport is Natchitoches visit the hardware store.
While your at Bayou Rum try the Satsume … you’ll leave with a bottle. Gator Chateau you can love on baby gators. Also drive the roads thru Laccasine National Wildlife Refuge that time of the year there will be gators right up on the road sunning themselves!
List looks pretty good.
Great, thanks for those extra suggestions!
I second Beth’s suggestion for visiting Lake Martin for a swamp tour. We were there in Spring 2018 and booked through Cajun Country Swamp Tours. It was one of the top experience our road trips so far. The tours guides were awesome! There were also some nice walking trails.
We stayed in the Charles Mouton Plantation through Airbnb and we had such a great time! They had nightly mint juleps and a Cajun fiddler. Not sure if they are pet friendly.
Thanks for confirming that Lake Martin is worth doing – I’ll check out the tour companies you and Beth recommended as it looks like fun.
We’ve booked all our accommodation for Louisiana now, but Charles Mouton Plantation sounds awesome!