Louisiana is a state unlike any other in the United States — a vibrant gumbo of French, Spanish, African, and Native American cultures simmering along the Gulf Coast. Home to New Orleans' legendary French Quarter, Cajun country's cypress swamps, and world-class cuisine ranging from crawfish étouffée to beignets, Louisiana captivates visitors with jazz-drenched streets, extravagant Mardi Gras celebrations, and antebellum plantation grandeur set against a backdrop of moss-draped live oaks.
Top day trips
Handpicked excursions within easy reach.
Oak Alley & Whitney Plantation Double Tour
This pairing puts two very different plantation experiences back to back on the same stretch of the Mississippi River. Oak Alley is built around its quarter-mile canopy of live oaks leading to a Greek Revival mansion, and the house tour focuses on the planter family who lived there. Whitney Plantation takes the opposite approach: it centers the enslaved people who worked the land, using first-person narratives, a memorial wall of names, and reconstructed cabins rather than a grand-house tour.
Highlights: The Oak Alley canopy - 28 live oaks planted before the main house, forming the quarter-mile approach the plantation is named for · Whitney Plantation's Wall of Honor - a granite memorial listing names of people enslaved on Whitney and nearby plantations · Whitney's restored slave cabins - original and reconstructed structures used to walk through daily living conditions · Oak Alley's Big House tour - the 1830s mansion interior, furnished to the antebellum period · Antioch Baptist Church at Whitney - a historic church relocated onto the grounds as part of the exhibit route
Cajun Country: Lafayette and Breaux Bridge
Lafayette is the practical hub of Cajun and Creole culture in south Louisiana, with a living-history village and a music scene built around accordion-and-fiddle Cajun bands and zydeco. Breaux Bridge, a short drive away on Bayou Teche, calls itself the Crawfish Capital of the World and has a small, walkable downtown built around that identity. Together they give a day that's part museum, part meal, part dance floor.
Highlights: Vermilionville - a living-history village of relocated and reconstructed Acadian, Creole, and Native structures with craft demonstrations · Bayou Teche waterfront in downtown Breaux Bridge - the bridge and bayou the town is built around · Randol's - a Lafayette restaurant with a dance floor where Cajun bands play during dinner service · Café des Amis in Breaux Bridge - known for a Saturday zydeco breakfast with a live band · Acadian Village - a second, smaller collection of relocated 19th-century Acadian buildings on the edge of Lafayette
Atchafalaya Basin Swamp Tour
The Atchafalaya Basin is the largest river swamp in the United States, a flooded cypress-tupelo forest threaded with bayous rather than a single lake or river. A flat-bottom or pontoon boat tour out of a landing like McGee's is the only practical way to actually get into it, gliding under Spanish moss and cypress knees with a guide pointing out wildlife along the way. It's a slow, quiet day rather than an action-packed one.
Highlights: McGee's Landing dock and boat launch - the departure point for tours into the Henderson swamp · Cypress-tupelo forest stands - the flooded trees the basin is defined by, hung with Spanish moss · Alligator sightings along the tour route - most active and visible in warm months · Wading birds along the bayou banks - herons and egrets are common sightings on the boat routes
Baton Rouge: State Capitol and Plantation History
Baton Rouge pairs Louisiana's political history with its plantation-era architecture in one compact day. The State Capitol, completed in 1932 under Huey Long, is the tallest state capitol building in the country and doubles as the site of Long's 1935 assassination inside the building. A short drive away, Magnolia Mound Plantation sits within the city itself, giving a plantation-house visit without the long drive out to the river road.
Highlights: State Capitol observation deck - views over Baton Rouge and the Mississippi River from the top floors · Huey Long assassination site - inside the Capitol, marked where Long was shot in 1935 · Old State Capitol - the Gothic Revival former capitol building downtown, now a museum of Louisiana political history · Magnolia Mound Plantation - an 18th-century French Creole plantation house within Baton Rouge, with grounds and outbuildings
Avery Island and New Iberia
Avery Island is a salt-dome island best known as the home of the Tabasco brand, with a factory tour and an adjoining garden and bird sanctuary on the same grounds. New Iberia, a short drive away on Bayou Teche, adds an antebellum home open for tours. It's a day that mixes an industrial brand tour with wetland scenery and one more traditional house museum.
Highlights: Tabasco factory tour on Avery Island - the McIlhenny Company's production facility and visitor center · Jungle Gardens - the botanical gardens on Avery Island surrounding the factory grounds · Bird City - the egret rookery within Jungle Gardens, most active during nesting season · Shadows-on-the-Teche in New Iberia - an 1830s plantation home directly on Bayou Teche
Natchitoches Historic District
Natchitoches was founded in 1714, making it the oldest permanent settlement in the territory that became the Louisiana Purchase, and its historic district along Cane River Lake still has brick-paved Front Street storefronts from the 19th century. It's also the town where Steel Magnolias was filmed, and it has its own culinary signature in the Natchitoches meat pie. Given the drive, it works best as a full, unhurried day rather than a quick stop.
Highlights: Front Street - the brick-paved historic commercial strip along Cane River Lake · Cane River Lake waterfront - the former Red River channel the town was built alongside · Fort St. Jean Baptiste State Historic Site - a reconstruction of the 18th-century French fort and settlement · Natchitoches meat pie shops - the fried, spiced-meat-filled pastry associated specifically with this town · Steel Magnolias filming locations - several downtown buildings used in the 1989 film are still standing
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Multi-day tours from Louisiana
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Day trip tips
Make the most of your excursions.
River Road plantations are best visited by car — Whitney Plantation in the morning and Oak Alley in the afternoon is the optimal routing (both open by 10 AM)
For Cajun country, combine Lafayette (lunch at Prejean's) with a swamp tour at Henderson in the afternoon for a complete day
Book plantation tours online in advance — Whitney Plantation in particular limits group sizes and sells out on weekends
Carry cash for rural day trips — many Cajun country restaurants and farmers markets do not accept credit cards
Natchitoches is 3.5 hours north; it works best as an overnight trip rather than a pure day trip — consider spending a night in a Cane River-area B&B