Among the Southern States, Louisiana is certainly the one that can boast some of the best preserved plantations and swamps of all. Given that in the collective imagination, these are the main factors that may drive you to go on a road trip in this part of the States, I would say that it is almost a must to include the state that includes New Orleans in your itinerary.
Like all top 10 lists, this one could be accused of being extremely subjective, but I hope it might prove useful to give you a general idea of what awaits you if you decide to visit Bayou State (the nickname for the state of Louisiana). So let’s discover the best things to do in Louisiana!
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New Orleans
Taking a walk around the French Quarter is definitely one of the main reasons to visit the city of New Orleans. The characteristic Bourbon Street, with its historic buildings with their decorated wooden windowsills, nightclubs, bars and pubs where you can eat the region’s typical cuisine and listen to the best live music, will surely give you the opportunity to experience a full immersion in local culture.
If you want to take a walk in nature and experience the typical atmosphere of the bayou of the south of the United States without leaving the city, you must visit City Park, which among other things includes the New Orleans Museum of Art and a beautiful botanical garden.
Other neighborhoods that are definitely worth a visit are the Garden District, where the magnolia trees and very well maintained historic buildings will make you take a real leap back in time, and the Arts District where, as you can guess from the name, art is the protagonist in all its forms.
If you love history, don’t miss a visit to The National WWII Museum, which showcases one of the largest collections of relics and vehicles used during World War II. The Confederate Memorial Hall Museum, which is housed in a Victorian-style red brick building, displays a collection of American Civil War artifacts second only to that of the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, Virginia.
To find out more in detail about what this city offers you can refer to our New Orleans Travel Guide.
Lafayette
This city is the heart of Cajun Country. Here, you will have many opportunities to rediscover the ancient traditions of this area of Louisiana. In fact, you can visit the Acadian Village: a typical Cajun village rebuilt as it should have been in the 1800s through the use of seven original wooden buildings of the time.
Another similar attraction is the Vermilionville Historic Village, which echoes the original name of Lafayette. Here, too, you can visit a typical village where actors in costume recreate the living conditions and customs of the people who lived in this region at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Plantation Country: plantations in Louisiana
When one imagines something typical of the southern states, surely one of the first things that comes to mind are the typical plantation structures. Here in Louisiana you will find many of them, and very well preserved too, so much so that there is an entire area of the state that is commonly referred to as Plantation Country.
To mention all of them would be almost impossible, and certainly haphazard, so here is a selection of the most beautiful and special ones. Nowadays you can take tours inside the properties, where you can still admire the original decorations and furnishings that, for the most part, have been able to resist the passage of time.
Let’s start this tour with one of the best preserved in the United States, the Rosedown Plantation near the town of St. Francisville (12501 LA-10, St Francisville, LA 70775), also known for the beautiful gardens that surround the estate. Built in 1834 by the Turnbull family, one of the wealthiest in the nation.
Oak Alley Plantation (3645 Louisiana 18, Vacherie, LA 70090), on the other hand, is one of the most photographed plantations in Louisiana. The peculiarity of this plantation is in fact represented by the long driveway along the sides of which run dozens of oaks that contribute to creating an unmistakable landscape.
Visiting the Laura Plantation (2247 LA-18, Vacherie, LA 70090) is not just to see a plantation, and all the buildings connected to it, which are very well preserved, but to experience a real full immersion in the Creole culture so typical of this area of the state. The plantation tours have been designed based on a memoir that traces the history of four generations of Creole families. This attention to historical accuracy earned the title of “Best History Tour in the United States” awarded by Lonely Planet.
A tour of Whitney Plantation (5099 Louisiana Hwy 18, Edgard, LA 70049) is also recommended to understand the conditions in which slaves were forced to live since, of all those in Louisiana, it is the only one that can be called a museum plantation. This is because the places where slaves lived and worked have been reconstructed and preserved. You can experience with your own eyes what it was like to work on a cotton plantation in the early 1800s.
Houmas House Plantation (40136 Highway 942, Darrow, LA 70725) is particularly renowned for its beautiful, very large, well-manicured gardens and the cuisine that can be enjoyed at the restaurant inside. At the Nottoway Plantation (31025 LA-1, White Castle, LA 70788) you are going to visit what from a distance may even seem like the White House! It is also the largest pre-war building to have survived intact to this day, and you may even decide to stay overnight.
Search for a room at Nottoway Plantation
Finally, thrill-seekers should not miss the opportunity to visit Myrtles Plantation (7747 U.S. 61, St Francisville), which boasts the title of one of the most haunted houses in the entire United States.
Plantation Tour
If you want to leave your rental car at rest for a day, you can consider one of these tours to visit the state’s most beautiful plantations.
- San Francisco Plantation and Houmas House small group tour from New Orleans
- Whitney Plantation tour from New Orleans
- Oak Alley and Laura Plantation small group tours from New Orleans
Louisiana Swamps
If plantations were the first thing that came to your mind when you thought of the southern states, then perhaps the second thing that came to your mind was the swamps, which are a real feature of the Louisiana landscape. As in the case of the plantations, here are just a few of the many swamps you may come across on your road trip around the state.The Atchafalaya Basin boasts the record for being the largest swamp in the entire United States, even larger than Florida‘s Everglades Park. It has developed along the course of the Atchafalaya River, which formed near the town of Simmesport and flows for more than 140 miles until it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. More than 65 different species of reptiles and 250 of birds live within this swamp, as well as hosting the largest concentration of the characteristic American eagles (Bald Eagles) in all of Central America.
The Honey Island Swamp may not be as extensive as the previous one, but it is one of the swamps least altered by humans in the nation. Here you can enjoy nature in its most primal and pristine form. Mystery lovers will be thrilled to know that in this swamp a legend says that the Honey Island Swamp Monster, over 7 feet tall, with yellow eyes and a nauseating smell, roams around.
If you are visiting New Orleans, the most convenient solution for you will be to visit the Barataria Preserve, where you find many walkways built above the water level, or you can rent canoes to go into the forest amidst swamps and marshes. This swamp is part of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park & Preserve complex, which contains six different parks and natural attractions that are physically separate from each other.
Swamp Tour
As with the plantations, you can also rely on convenient, pre-organized tours
- New Orleans Swamp and Bayou Boat Tours from New Orleans
- Honey Island Swamp and Bayou Tours from New Orleans
- Water slide tour of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in New Orleans
Baton Rouge
The capital of Louisiana collects many testimonies of the history of this state. Let’s start with the place of political power, the State Capitol, which in all states always has interesting architectural features, and in Louisiana is no different. In this case you can visit two of them: the Old State Capitol and the current one. As for the former, on seeing it from a distance, you’ll mistake it for a castle, both for its style and for its elevated position, almost as if it wanted to dominate the city. Even the current Louisiana State Capitol in terms of style does not go unnoticed, since, with its 450 feet of height, it is the tallest Capitol in the United States.
The city’s most curious and interesting attraction is definitely the LSU Rural Life Museum, which is located on the outskirts of the city. Here, a typical Louisiana town of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries has been reconstructed with 30 historical buildings. The visit takes place both outside, to understand how life was organized in a town, and inside the buildings, where you can see a remarkable collection of historical tools, clothes and accessories.
Contemporary history buffs shouldn’t miss the opportunity to visit the USS Kidd Museum, a Fletcher-class destroyer anchored along the banks of the Mississippi that served during World War II and the Korean War.
If you want to visit a plantation without moving too far from the city, you can opt for a tour at Magnolia Mound Plantation. Finally, why not take a stroll through the Downtown area of the city, strolling through the various local bars and restaurants that extend within walking distance of the Mississippi River.
Breaux Bridge
Near the city of Lafayette, you can visit the small cluster of houses of Breaux Bridge that, besides boasting about being the capital of freshwater shrimps, is also considered the gateway to Cajun culture, the traditions, music and cuisine of South Louisiana. For this reason, do not miss a visit to one of the many typical places in the city, where you can experience very special dishes and atmospheres.
If you have not yet been able to see a typical swamp in the state, head without delay to Lake Martin and you will not be disappointed by the panorama that you will find before you. If you can, don’t miss a stay or a visit to the historic bed and breakfast Maison Madeleine.
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Natchitoches
The foundation of this town dates back to 1714, and it is the oldest continuously inhabited urban agglomeration of the whole state. A visit to the pleasant Historic District, which develops along the course of the Cane River Lake, is recommended. Here you can admire very well-preserved buildings and historic houses dating back to the colonial period.
History buffs will also not want to miss a visit to Fort Saint Jean Baptiste, an original eighteenth-century fort, where well-preserved historical re-enactments in costume effectively illustrate what life was like for the region’s early settlers and the dangers they faced.
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Avery Island
If every time you eat something you cannot resist the temptation of adding Tabasco to your dish, then you are in the right place, because Avery Island is mainly known for being the birthplace of the famous hot sauce, the first one to be industrially produced in the United States. It is possible to visit – with tasting included – the factory, with the annexed museum, where Tabasco has been produced for more than 5 generations.
You can combine the tour of the factory with a walk along the lush Jungle Gardens, where you can see many species of animals living in their natural habitat (including alligators). The curiosity is that inside the gardens there is a statue of Buddha dating back to 1100 kept in a small temple.
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Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum
The criminal adventures of Bonnie and Clyde ended in Louisiana, since there was a fatal ambush for them just near the town of Gibsland. In the place where they died, today there stands a plaque that commemorates the event, while where Rosa’s Cafe, the place where the two criminals had lunch for the last time, once stood, there is a now museum that tells the story of their lives and exhibits a collection of memorabilia related to their criminal activity.
Some details may seem a bit gory, but if you are passionate about the history of these two famous criminals, you should definitely consider a stop to find out more about their lives, taking advantage of the availability of the museum manager, who is obviously very experienced and willing to give information.
Chauvin Sculpture Garden
We have arrived at perhaps one of the strangest and most curious attractions in the state. Everything was born from the mind of Kenny Hill, a mason who in 1990 began his personal journey into spirituality by building several statues inspired by religious themes. This is one of those places that one would expect to find perhaps while traveling along Route 66, but in this case we are in Louisiana and for this reason maybe it has had a little less success.
Standing out above all the other sculptures is the representation of a lighthouse accompanied by the most disparate figures, ranging from angels to cowboys, who almost seem to want to climb the entire structure. You can take a real trip in this place that mixes kitsch and religiosity inside the garden, which is now cared for by Nicholls State University.
