 Home / U.S. State Travel Guides / U.S. Vacations / U.S. National Parks / U.S. State Highpoints / U.S. Road Trip Planning  LOUISIANA TRAVEL GUIDE
Welcome to the bigroads.com travel guide to Louisiana! Hopefully this page helps provide some inspiration and tips to help you plan your next trip to Louisiana. Take note that I build and maintain this website as both a hobby and public service. I take joy in performing travel research and sharing my experiences and adventures. I do not make any profit from this website, and you will see no ads on it. Your constructive feedback about this site and its content is encouraged. Please email me if you have any suggestions or ideas for improvement.  OVERVIEWTOP 10 ATTRACTIONS IN LOUISIANA✮ Visit the outstanding National World War II Museum in New Orleans ✮ Walk the 13-block French Quarter historic district in New Orleans ✮ Cycle the paved Tammany Trace Trail rail trail ✮ Visit the Oak Alley Plantation, which is perhaps the most famous plantation in the U.S. ✮ Attend the wild Mardi Gras event (typically held in late February or early March) ✮ Go boating in Atchafalaya Basin ✮ Enjoy live music on Frenchmen Street in New Orleans ✮ Gamble in one of Bossier City's fine casinos ✮ Tour the Laura: A Creole Plantation in Vacherie ✮ Take a guided food or sightseeing tour in New Orleans If I could select only one place to visit in Louisiana, I would choose New Orleans. While it's a little rough around the edges in spots, it's still one of the best cities to visit in the U.S. If you're a foodie, there's few better places to eat in the country. The live music, French colonial architecture, and museums found in the city are all great too. For a list of 10 great attractions in each U.S. state, click here. 5-STAR ATTRACTIONS IN LOUISIANANorthern & Central Louisiana (including Monroe, Natchitoches, and Shreveport) ✮ Alexandria Zoological Park, Alexandria - medium-sized zoo with 500+ animals ✮ Biedenharn Museum & Gardens, Monroe - museum complex with a historic home, several museums, and many events throughout the year ✮ Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Monroe - great birdwatching and a good chance you'll see alligators ✮ Casinos in Bossier City - e.g. Margaritaville Resort, Horseshoe, Sam's Town, Boomtown, etc. ✮ Chicot State Park, Ville Platte - one of LA's best state parks; excellent fishing and boat rentals; good hiking, backpacking, and MTB trails ✮ Gator Country LA Alligator Park, Natchitoches - one of several great alligator parks in the southeast; alligator feeding shows ✮ Kaffie-Frederick General Mercantile Store, Natchitoches - Louisiana's oldest general store ✮ Natchitoches - a small city with B&Bs, historic buildings, cobblestone streets, and a riverfront downtown district; don't miss the Xmas Festival ✮ R.W. Norton Art Gallery, Shreveport - good art museum with 40 acres of botanical gardens ✮ Sci-Port: Discovery Center, Shreveport - good science museum with a planetarium and an IMAX dome theater Southwestern & Southcentral Louisiana (including Lafayette and Lake Charles) ✮ Coushatta Casino Resort, Kinder - one of several great casinos in Louisiana ✮ Golden Nugget Lake Charles Hotel & Casino, Lake Charles - one of several great casinos in Louisiana ✮ Jungle Gardens, Avery Island - large botanical garden and bird sanctuary; the TABASCO® Factory Tour is also here ✮ L'Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles, Lake Charles - one of several great casinos in Louisiana ✮ Rip Van Winkle Gardens, New Iberia - historic home with attractive gardens ✮ Swamp boat tours from Breaux Bridge - take a guided tour through the beautiful swamps of Louisiana ✮ TABASCO® Visitor Center & Pepper Sauce Factory, Avery Island - self-guided tours of the famous sauce factory ✮ Vermilionville, Lafayette - re-created living history village and folk life park Southeastern Louisiana (including Baton Rouge; see below for New Orleans) ✮ Abita Mystery House and the UCM Museum, Abita Springs - classic roadside attraction with folk art and other oddities ✮ Boating in Atchafalaya Basin - awesome air-boat tours of moss-covered bald cypress swamps ✮ Bogue Chitto State Park, Franklinton - one of Louisiana's best state parks; cypress swamps and forests; good hiking and mountain biking trails ✮ Capitol Park Museum, Baton Rouge - Louisiana culture and history museum ✮ Fontainebleau State Park, Mandeville - lakeshore nature park with great hiking and cycling (including the famous Tammany Trace rail trail) ✮ Global Wildlife Center, Folsom - take a safari tour in one of the largest free-roaming wildlife preserves in the U.S. ✮ Houmas House, Darrow - guided tours of a spectacular mansion ✮ Laura: A Creole Plantation, Vacherie - offers some of the best plantation tours in the U.S. ✮ Louisiana State Capitol, Baton Rouge - beautiful art-deco capitol building ✮ Louisiana's Old State Capitol, Baton Rouge - historic state capitol that is now a building; billed as an "architectural treasure" ✮ LSU Rural Life Museum, Baton Rouge - museum featuring more than twenty 19th century plantation buildings ✮ LSU Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge - one of the best college football stadiums in the U.S. ✮ Myrtles Plantation, St. Francisville - billed as "one of America's most haunted homes" ✮ Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie - perhaps the most famous plantation in the U.S. ✮ Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site, St. Francisville - historic home and former plantation surrounded by stunning scenery ✮ Swamp boat tours from Slidell - take a guided tour through the beautiful swamps of Louisiana ✮ Tammany Trace Trail - Louisiana's best rail trail; an awesome 30+ mile, completely continuous and 100% paved trail ✮ USS Kidd, Baton Rouge - tour a World War II Navy Fletcher-class destroyer ✮ Whitney Plantation, Edgard - tour several beautiful historic buildings; provides an excellent look into the hard lives of slaves ✮ Zip NOLA, LaPlace - excellent zip-lining over a cypress swamp New Orleans (see above for the rest of southeastern Louisiana) ✮ Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium - supposedly the largest "insect zoo" in the U.S. ✮ Audubon Park - a large public park with playgrounds, walking paths, stables, a zoo, and more; surrounded by ancient live oak trees ✮ Audubon Zoo - one of the top 25 zoos in the U.S; features more than 2,000 animals ✮ Bourbon Street - famous lively (borderline wild) district of New Orleans ✮ French Quarter - 13-block historic district in the "heart of New Orleans" ✮ Frenchmen Street - the place to go for live music in New Orleans ✮ Garden District - see a great collection of historic mansions ✮ Guided tours in New Orleans - e.g. bicycle tours, cemetery tours, food tours, gondola tours, sightseeing tours, swamp tours, etc. ✮ Jackson Square - "one of America's great green spaces" ✮ JAMNOLA - a top-rated "pop up" art experience ✮ Jean Lafitte National Historical Park & Preserve - beautiful nature park with trails, museums, and a battlefield ✮ Mardi Gras World - tour large warehouses filled with Mardi Gras floats ✮ National World War II Museum - the premier World War II museum in the U.S.; one of the finest military museums in the country ✮ New Orleans City Park - one of the largest urban parks in the U.S. ✮ New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival - famous live music festival typically held in late April/early May ✮ New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) - excellent art museum ✮ New Orleans Pharmacy Museum - visit an 1820's-era apothecary ✮ Preservation Hall - famous jazz music venue ✮ Royal Street - elegant district with antique & boutique shops ✮ RTA Streetcars - take a ride on one of New Orleans' famous streetcars ✮ Saenger Theatre - a beautiful and historic live performance venue ✮ St. Louis Cathedral - the oldest Cathedral in North America ✮ Sydney & Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden - good art museum plus nearly 100 art sculptures Are you aware of any other 5-star attractions Louisiana? If so, please email me at gparsons66@hotmail.com. For a list of 5-star attractions in neighboring states, click on any of these links: AR | MS | TX BEST TOWNS & CITIES TO VISIT IN LOUISIANA✮ Baton Rouge - a medium-sized capital city with several excellent museums and one of the best college football stadiums in America ✮ Natchitoches - a small city with B&Bs, historic buildings, cobblestone streets, and a riverfront downtown district; don't miss the Xmas Festival ✮ New Orleans - the largest city in the state has great french culture, cuisine, and architecture; lots of great live music venues, especially jazz; the famous annual Mardi Gras celebrations; several excellent museums My favorite city in Louisiana is New Orleans - I recommend that first-time visitors spend at least 2-3 nights there My favorite small town in Louisiana is Natchitoches - I recommend that first-time visitors spend at least 1 night there Click here if you'd like to see a complete list of towns and cities that I find interesting across the entire U.S. WHAT IS LOUISIANA FAMOUS FOR?✮ alligators ✮ bayous ✮ blues music ✮ cajun food / cuisine ✮ casinos ✮ creole food / cuisine ✮ fishing charters ✮ French colonial buildings ✮ gumbo ✮ jazz music / jazz clubs ✮ Mardi gras celebrations / museums ✮ plantations ✮ riverboat casinos ✮ shrimp ✮ swamps / swamp tours ✮ zydeco Click here if you'd like to explore what other U.S. states are famous for. NATIONAL PARKS IN LOUISIANANational Monuments ✮ Poverty Point National Monument - features Native American archaeological sites National Forests ✮ Kisatchie National Forest National Historical Parks / Other National Parks & Properties ✮ Cane River Creole National Historical Park ✮ El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail ✮ Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve ✮ New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park ✮ Vicksburg National Military Park For more information on Louisiana's national parks, visit the Louisiana page of the National Park Service. For an overview of all U.S. national parks, click here. STATE PARKS IN LOUISIANA✮ Bogue Chitto State Park, Franklinton - cypress swamps and forests; good hiking and mountain biking trails ✮ Chicot State Park, Ville Platte - excellent fishing and boating; good hiking, backpacking, and mountain biking trails ✮ Fontainebleau State Park, Mandeville - lakeshore nature park with great hiking and cycling (including the famous Tammany Trace rail trail) To see my list of the top 100 state parks in the country, click here. BEST WATERFALLS IN LOUISIANABEST SCENIC DRIVES IN LOUISIANAI haven't driven the Creole Nature Trail through "Louisiana's Outback" yet, but it's possible I may recommend this drive in the future. For a list of great scenic drives in each U.S. state, click here. BEST RAIL TRAILS IN LOUISIANA✮ Mississippi River Trail - a 60+ mile system of disconnected paved trails in and near New Orleans ✮ Tammany Trace - this 28+ mile, 100% continuous and 100% paved trail is often rated one of the best rail trails in the U.S.; travels from Covington to Slidell in southeastern Louisiana For detailed information on all known rail trails in Louisiana, visit the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy website. BEST AMUSEMENT PARKS / THEME PARKS IN LOUISIANANorthern & Central Louisiana (including Monroe, Natchitoches, and Shreveport) ✮ Splash Kingdom Waterpark, Shreveport Southeastern Louisiana (including Baton Rouge and New Orleans) ✮ Blue Bayou Waterpark & Dixie Landin', Baton Rouge ✮ Carousel Gardens Amusement Park, New Orleans ✮ Storyland, New Orleans BEST MUSEUMS IN LOUISIANANorthern & Central Louisiana (including Monroe, Natchitoches, and Shreveport) ✮ Biedenharn Museum & Gardens, Monroe ✮ R.W. Norton Art Gallery, Shreveport ✮ Sci-Port: Discovery Center, Shreveport Southwestern & Southcentral Louisiana (including Lafayette and Lake Charles) ✮ Vermilionville Historic Village, Lafayette Southeastern Louisiana (including Baton Rouge and New Orleans) ✮ Capitol Park Museum, Baton Rouge ✮ International Petroleum Museum & Exposition, Morgan City ✮ Louisiana's Old State Capitol, Baton Rouge ✮ LSU Rural Life Museum, Baton Rouge ✮ National World War II Museum, New Orleans ✮ New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans ✮ New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, New Orleans ✮ Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie ✮ Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans ✮ Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site, St. Francisville ✮ Sydney & Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden - good art museum plus nearly 100 art sculptures ✮ USS Kidd, Baton Rouge ✮ Whitney Plantation, Edgard The best museum in New Orleans is the National World War II Museum. It's one of the premier military museums of the U.S. BEST DAY HIKES IN LOUISIANANorthern & Central Louisiana (including Monroe, Natchitoches, and Shreveport) ✮ Backbone Trail, Kisatchie Hills Wilderness Area ✮ Chicot State Park trails ✮ Longleaf Vista Nature Trail, Kisatchie National Forest ✮ Tunica Hills State Wildlife Management Area trails Southeastern Louisiana (including Baton Rouge and New Orleans) ✮ Bogue Chitto State Park trails ✮ Jean Lafitte National Historical Park & Preserve trails The highpoint of Louisiana is Driskill Mountain (535'). A short hike is required to reach the top. BEST BACKPACKING TRIPS IN LOUISIANA✮ Lake Chicot Loop Trail, Chicot State Park ✮ Wild Azalea Trail, Kisatchie National Forest CLASSIC OUTDOOR ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA✮ Canoeing/kayaking the Bogue Chitto River ✮ Canoeing/kayaking Cane Bayou ✮ Canoeing/kayaking Ouiska Chitto Creek ✮ Canoeing/kayaking in the swamps near New Orleans (e.g. Atchafalaya Basin) ✮ Cycling the Mississippi River Trail ✮ Cycling the Tammany Trace ✮ Helicopter tours in New Orleans ✮ Mountain biking in Bogue Chitto State Park ✮ Mountain biking in Lincoln Parish Park ✮ Skydiving in Gilliam or Slidell ✮ Tubing the Amite River ✮ Tubing the Bogue Chitto River ✮ Tubing the Ouiska Chitto River LOUISIANA TRAVEL TIPSUNIQUE / SPECIALTY FOODS TO TRY IN LOUISIANA✮ alligator ✮ beignets ✮ boiled crabs ✮ boudin sausage ✮ butter beans ✮ cracklings ✮ crawfish / mudbugs ✮ crawfish or shrimp etouffee ✮ dirty rice ✮ fricassee ✮ fried soft shell crab ✮ frog legs ✮ grillades ✮ gumbo (e.g. chicken & sausage) ✮ Hurricane cocktails ✮ jumbalaya ✮ king cakes ✮ meat pies ✮ muffaletta ✮ pastalaya (jambalaya with spaghetti noodles) ✮ po' boy ✮ red beans and rice ✮ Sazerac cocktails ✮ shrimp ✮ shrimp gumbo ✮ snowballs For a list of unique foods and mom-and-pop type eateries and restaurants in Louisiana (or any other U.S. state), visit the Roadfood.com website. For a list of unique foods to try in each of the 50 U.S. states, click here. For a list of the top-rated beers to try in Louisiana (or any other U.S. state), visit the Beer Advocate website. OTHER KEY LOUISIANA INFORMATIONBaton Rouge Major Airports: Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) Largest Cities: New Orleans (392,031), Baton Rouge (227,066), Shreveport (185,249), Metairie (144,513), Lafayette (121,524) Primary U.S. Interstates: I-10, I-12, I-20, I-49, I-55, I-59 State Highpoint: Driskill Mountain (535') in northern Louisiana; a short hike is required to reach the top Professional Sports Teams: NBA: New Orleans Pelicans NFL: New Orleans Saints Funny or Unique Town/City Names: Boutte, Cranky Corner, Dry Prong, Plain Dealing, and Wham Take note that in general this travel guide intentionally excluded restaurants, lodging/hotels, breweries, wineries/vineyards, and certain other types of attractions (like arcades, ax-throwing, bowling alleys, and escape rooms). These types of places tend to come and go, and keeping up with that would be too challenging. I encourage you to use Google Maps, Tripadvisor, Yelp, and other travel sites that have reader reviews to find the latest and greatest places that I haven't covered here. Bourbon Street, New Orleans City Park, New Orleans  St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans New Orleans mural ROAD TRIP GUIDEBOOKSIn addition to the information found on my website, I personally recommend purchasing these road trip/travel-related guidebooks. Click on any book cover to read reviews and/or purchase these books on Amazon.com.  
 
 
 
MORE U.S. STATE TRAVEL GUIDES |