17 must-see places in Louisiana

Dernière mise à jour de cet article le 2 November 2025

For this latest trip to the USA, we set off to visit Louisiana. This southern U.S. state is one of a kind. Indeed, it is marked by a rich history and a fascinating cultural mix. Founded by French settlers, it still retains traces of this influence in its language, cuisine and traditions.

We spent a week in Louisiana. We discovered New Orleans, famous for its French Quarter and festive atmosphere. But also Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana with its capitols. We also visited several plantations to learn about their history, and even saw some alligators on a swamp tour of Lake Martin.

But what to do in Louisiana? Where should you go? In this article, we take a look at the best places to see in Louisiana. At the end of the article, you’ll find Kiki’s opinion on the marketing of a T-Shirt following his road trip to Louisiana.

Visit New Orleans, Louisiana

We began our stay in Louisiana with a 2-day visit to New Orleans. We strolled through the French Quarter with its colorful facades and wrought-iron balconies. But we also walked along the mythical Mississippi, partied on Bourbon Street and listened to music on Frenchmen Street.

Discover the must-sees of this iconic city by clicking on our article dedicated to New Orleans.

Driving the plantation route between New Orleans and Baton Rouge

We then headed from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. On the Plantation Route, we visited three plantations in one day to discover the history and culture of Louisiana. We were overwhelmed by the enchanting landscapes lined with majestic hundred-year-old oaks adorned with Spanish moss.

Discover the plantations we visited by clicking on our Plantation Route article.

Visit Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana

We then spent half a day in Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana. The city itself wasn’t our favorite, but we were fascinated by the history of the old and new capitols.

Discover everything there is to do in Louisiana’s capital by clicking on our Baton Rouge article!

Visit Lafayette , Louisiana

We continued our Louisiana road trip with a visit to downtown Lafayette. Actually, there isn’t really a downtown as such. In fact, there was no one on the streets.

During our stroll through Lafayette, we did come across the impressive Saint Jean de Vermillon church , which was unfortunately under renovation.

We ate at the Hub City Diner in Lafayette, next door to our hotel. It reminded us of Route 66 and its incomparable atmosphere. A good place to eat, as the Cajun food is very good.

So we spent 3 nights in Lafayette at the La Quinta by Wyndham Lafayette Oil Center, which gave us the opportunity to discover some wonderful places nearby.

Visit the historic village of Vermillionville

So we went to the historic Vermillionville Village , located next to Bayou Vermillon in Lafayette. This open-air museum recreates a village, presenting Acadian, American and Creole cultures. It plunged us into Louisiana’s fascinating past.

We began our visit to the historic village of Vermillionville with the Welcome Center and its souvenir store.

Visit the reconstructed village

In the 19th century, this village was a sugar cane plantation owned by Alexandre Mouton, where 120 slaves worked. The settlement grew to become the town of Lafayette. On our tour, we passed by the Crop House, the Cooking School, the Boathouse and the Beau Basin House.

In the houses, you can meet interpreters dressed in period costume who show you traditional crafts as they were done in the years 1765-1890. In fact, one interpreter played a fiddle for us and sang. I felt like I was in Little House on the Prairie, with Charles Ingalls playing the fiddle. The moment was suspended in time.

You can also go into the school and see the chalkboard with the 100 lines to copy “je ne dois pas parler français” (“I must not speak French”). At the time, it was forbidden to speak French.

The highlight of the visit was the Beau Bassin house, an Acadian home. In addition to the history of the house’s owners, we talked with an incredibly kind lady who told us about her family’s history, and the conflicting relations between the Americans and the Cajuns/Acadians. In fact, she used to speak French in secret with her grandmother. Her story touched our hearts.

After this moving visit, you can cross the small bayou by ferry with the strength of your arms!

We finished our tour of historic Vermillionville with a visit to the church.

Restaurant la cuisine de chez maman

You can then enjoy lunch at Mom’s Kitchen Restaurant, located in the historic village of Vermillionville. What can I say? That it was the best restaurant of our stay in Louisiana. Indeed, the Cajun food was excellent. We had gumbo (a traditional Louisiana soup), baked potato and fried chicken with mashed potatoes. A real treat!

The price is really low for a restaurant of this quality. Don’t miss out!

Practical information for visiting the historic village of Vermillionville

• Price: $10 per person.
• Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm.
• There’s live music every Saturday and Sunday.
• Allow 1 h 45 for the visit, excluding the restaurant.
• Address: 300 Fisher Road, Lafayette.
• Official website

For us, a visit to the historic village of Vermillionville is a must if you come to Lafayette and Louisiana in general. We really recommend that you come at 10 a.m. (when it opens) and eat there at the restaurant La cuisine de chez maman.

During your visit, if you come across Sophie the donkey, think of me!

Visit the village of Saint Martinville in Louisiana

Saint Martinville is a small village located 30 minutes from Lafayette. We took a romantic walk along the bayou.

At the start of the walk, you can see Oak évangélique, a magnificent oak tree.

The village of Saint Martinville is very quick to visit, but well worth a stop on a Louisiana road trip.

Visit Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site, Louisiana

Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site is a state park located near the town of Saint-Martinville. Founded in 1934, it is the state’s oldest historic park. It is named in part after Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a 19th-century American poet. His poem Evangeline tells the fictional story of a young Acadian woman separated from her love during the deportation of the Acadians in 1755.

The tour begins with a small museum and a 12-minute film on the history of this plantation, featuring historic Cajun farming practices, including sugarcane planting techniques, weaving and traditional cooking.

The tour continues with the main house, Maison Beauvais-Amédée. This authentic Creole residence was built in 1815. It is a typical example of Creole colonial architecture.

Antique objects and period furniture are on display.

The park is located along the Bayou Teche River. You can also take a short hike afterwards to discover a farm, but in fact there are only two animals. There are also many fruit trees and a picnic area.

The tour is quick (less than an hour) and costs $4. A must if you’re in Saint Martinville.

Visit Louisiana’sAcadiana Park Nature Station

Somewhat by chance, we went to theAcadiana Park Nature Station near Lafayette.

It’s a very strange place. We went for a short hike and then came to a house in the middle of nowhere. There’s a small exhibition on animals. There’s absolutely nobody there, except for the staff and a snake.

It’s not a Louisiana must-see, but if you’ve got an hour to spare and are looking for shade, it’s the perfect place.

Visit LARC’s Acadian Village in Louisiana

LARC’s Acadian Village, in Lafayette, is based on the same principle as the historic Vermillionville Village. However, is smaller and there are no interpreters to interact with you. The tour begins with the souvenir store.

Visit the reconstructed village

Then you can stroll through the alleys of the reconstructed village. You can even play Puissance 4!

On this tour, we visited several houses. Like the Maison Aurélie Bernard, built in Saint Martinville in the 1800s. In fact, it’s the oldest house in the reconstructed village. Likewise, The Thibodeau Museum is built from cypress, the timeless wood that resists insects and decay.

Next, the New Hope Chapel is a replica of the chapel built in 1850.

We visited the House of Senator Leblanc, who invented a vitamin Hadacol with 12% alcohol. It guaranteed to cure all illnesses!

We finished our visit to LARC’s Acadian Village with the office of doctor and dentist Hypolyte Salles. The house was built of cypress in 1890 with neoclassical influences.

Practical information for visiting LARC’s Acadian Village

• The price is $10
• Address: 200 Greenleaf Drive, Lafayette
• Official website

Visit Breaux Bridge, the crayfish capital of the world

When visiting Louisiana, you absolutely must stop off at the Breaux Bridge Visitor Center. We were given a warm welcome and lots of advice on the region. We were even treated to a coffee and beignet.

Then take a stroll around Breaux Bridge, a charming town.

There’s a Crawfish Town USA restaurant and Fresh market if you want to eat crayfish. However, we haven’t been there. We look forward to hearing from you! We shopped at a Hebert supermarket. In fact, you’ll see several of them on the road. The caterer’s quantities are impressive and not necessarily cheap.

A swamp tour on Lake Martin in Louisiana

Lake Martin is about 20 minutes from Lafayette. We were scheduled for a 10 a.m. swamp tour with Cajun Country Swamp Tours at Breaux Bridge.

A swamp tour is a boat excursion into the swamps or bayous. Our guide was very funny, but it was hard to understand all his jokes. Especially since we were in the front of the boat and he was in the back.

Sailing the bayou in Louisiana

We sailed through cypress trees covered in Spanish moss, creating a unique and mysterious atmosphere.

See alligators in Louisiana

We loved this experience! It was so relaxing to cruise the bayou with the alligators, which look fake but are real! (yes, they were moving!). There are lots of birds too.

The tour lasts 1h30. We must have seen 5 alligators. To be honest, we were hoping to see more. It reminded us of the Florida Everglades, where we’d seen plenty of alligators (we’d even sailed on them!).

Practical information for a swamp tour

• Price: $27.50 per person.
• Address: 1209 Rookery Rd, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana
• More information on the official website.

We really recommend this activity on a Louisiana road trip.

Visit the Atchafalaya Welcome Center in Louisiana

You’ll find plenty of information about Louisiana at the Atchafalaya Welcome Center, also in Breaux Bridge. And as at the Breaux Bridge Visitor Center, the staff are incredibly friendly. They advised us on things to do in the area. And we were even treated to a coffee! What’s more, we watched a very interesting 4-minute film about the Atchafalaya region.

We recommend that you visit the Atchafalaya Welcome Center at the beginning of your stay in Lafayette. It’s the ideal place to get all the advice you need.

Go to Louisiana marketshop @ the 115 in Henderson

This store is incredible! You’ll find works by 200 artists, including paintings, posters and objects of all kinds. When you walk in, you think it’s small, but it’s huge.

Practical information:

• Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday to Monday (closed Tuesday and Wednesday).
• Address:2942 C Grand Point Road Henderson

The staff are super nice and very welcoming. You’ll want to buy the whole store.

Visit New Iberia in Louisiana

After these 3 days in Layette, we went to New Iberia. There was the sugar cane festival. We had got our hopes up a little too high for this festival! In fact, it was just a small funfair. Otherwise, the city itself wasn’t much to see. It’s typical of American cities.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites New Iberia Avery Island in New Iberia.

Visit to the Tabasco plant in Louisiana

Just 10 minutes from New Iberia, we visited theTabasco factory on Avery Island.

Founded in 1868 by The McIlhenny family, the Tabasco factory is the historic production site for this famous hot sauce. The visit begins with a museum tracing the history of Tabasco.

During our visit, we discovered all the stages involved in making the sauce, from growing the chillies to fermentation and bottling.

So we have to admit we were a little disappointed. We were there on a Saturday, so no bottles were being made that day. If you get the chance to go on a weekday, we’re curious to know if you were able to see the employees working in the factory, or if it’s just an exhibition.

There’s a souvenir store where you can buy sauces and even taste them, from the spiciest to the least spicy. We recommend you try the Tabasco ice cream. First see how people react to it, then try it…or don’t! It’ll burn your mouth for a long time, especially if, like me, you’re not used to spicy food.

Restaurant 1868!

We ate at the 1868! restaurant next to the museum. The Cajun and Creole food is not extraordinary, but you have all the sauces in front of you on the table. It’s more for the ambiance than the quality of the food.

For cooks, there are even cooking classes on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Practical information about visiting the Tabasco factory

• Open every day: 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
• 15.50 for the standard tour, including access to the museum, greenhouse, factory and Jungle Gardens
• Ample free parking is available on site.
• The tour of the Tabasco factory takes about 1 hour.

So I admit I don’t like Tabasco sauce, but I loved this visit. You can combine this visit with the Jungle Gardens, Avery Island’s botanical garden.

Visit Louisiana’s Jungle Gardens

If you want to visit the Jungle Gardens after visiting the Tabasco factory, you’ll need to get back in the car. You’ll then stop at the main building to show that you’ve already paid admission to the Tabasco factory (you’ll be given a badge to stick on your shirt).

Explore the Jungle Gardens by car

Jungle Gardens has 14 parking spaces. You can then park and explore the main areas on foot. You’ll pass beautiful spots along the Petite Anse bayou, see alligators and magnificent trees.

So we start in the lagoon with the alligators. We saw one!

Our next stop was Avery Island Buddha, a temple housing a 900-year-old Buddha statue.

Then we stopped off at Bird City, a sanctuary for birds, especially white herons. Unfortunately, there were no birds present when we passed through!

We also took a walk under the Spanish moss-covered cypress trees, typical of Louisiana.

In winter and spring, camellia and azalea flowers transform gardens into a spectacle of color. As you can imagine, we didn’t see any of these flowers! However, even without the blossoms, the tour is very pleasant indeed.

We recommend starting your visit at the Jungle Gardens early in the morning. We started with a visit to the Tabasco factory and regretted it a little. Indeed, by 10:30 am, the heat was overwhelming and it wasn’t exactly pleasant. What’s more, we had to retrace our steps to go and eat at the restaurant next to the Tabasco factory entrance.

Practical information for visiting the Jungle Gardens

• Open daily from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm
• Price: $15.50 with admission to the Jungle Gardens and Tabasco factory
• Allow around 1h30 to explore the Jungle Gardens.

If you don’t know what to do in Louisiana, we recommend spending a morning visiting the Tabasco factory and the Jungle Gardens.

Visit RIP Van Winkle Gardens in Louisiana

Rip Van Winkle Gardens are superb botanical gardens located on Jefferson Island, near New Iberia.

The tour begins with a film to be viewed after visiting the souvenir store.

The Victorian-style Rip Van Winkle House was built in 1870 by actor Joseph Jefferson, famous for his portrayal of Rip Van Winkle. Today, the house is a museum with guided tours. It is also listed as a historic monument.

The beautifully manicured gardens are home to rare plants, exotic flowers, peacocks and centuries-old oak trees.

Lac Peigneur is famous for an oil drilling incident in 1980 that turned this shallow lake into a deep chasm. Today, the lake is a tranquil and picturesque place to contemplate from the gardens.

After this visit, you can take a break at Café Jefferson, which offers typical meals in a charming atmosphere overlooking the lake.

Practical information for visiting Rip Van Winkle Gardens

• Open daily from 9am to 5pm.
• Price $15 for admission, including tour of the gardens and house.
• Free parking is available.
• Allow around 2 hours to explore the gardens, visit the Rip Van Winkle house, and enjoy the café.

It’s not a must-see stop in Louisiana, but it’s a visit we recommend for its soothing atmosphere.

When is the best time to visit Louisiana?

The best time to visit Louisiana is between February and May, and between October and November. During these months, temperatures are pleasant and the humidity more bearable than in summer. In spring, there’s a festive atmosphere, with events such as Mardi Gras and various Cajun and Creole music festivals. In autumn, the climate is equally mild, and the hurricane season is over.

We went to Louisiana at the end of September. We escaped a storm by a week or so and really suffered from the heat and humidity. In short, it wasn’t the best time!

Itinerary for a one-week visit to Louisiana

We completed our Louisiana road trip in 9 days. After New Iberia, we went to Thibodeaux and Houma. However, it wasn’t a success! We wanted to go to the Laurel Valley Museum and the Laura Valley village. However, these museums open at 12 p.m. on weekends and 10 a.m. on weekdays. There was a slight scheduling error, as we were there on a Sunday morning and it was closed. We then went to downtown Thibodeaux, but it was a failure as there was nothing to see. Then we went to Houma. Unfortunately, there was nothing to see. In short, a failed stopover that we wouldn’t recommend!

Here’s the itinerary for a week-long road trip in Louisiana that we should have done and recommend:

• Day 1: New Orleans
• Day 2: New Orleans
• Day 3: Plantation route between New Orleans and Baton Rouge
• Day 4: Baton Rouge
• Day 5: Lafayette
• Day 6: Lafayette
• Day 7: Lafayette
• Day 8: New Iberia – New Orleans

In fact, to help you prepare for your trip, we invite you to read our article on what you need to know before leaving for the USA.

Kiki’s opinion of her visit to Louisiana

Creoles, Cajun, Bayou – in Louisiana, you need to stock up on vocabulary! Culture and history are everywhere here. Kiki has fallen completely under the spell of the South. The people are so friendly that the inevitable “How are you doing” often turns directly into the question: “Where are you coming from, guys?” Note to Kiki: on his next trip to the USA, wear a T-shirt with the standard answers printed on it (“I’m good, I am from France”) to save himself from having to repeat them over and over again!

Cajun culture

But what does the word “Cajun” really mean? After the British defeated the French settlers of Acadia on Canada’s east coast, they were given a choice: either change their religion, or find a new homeland. Many chose to flee and set off. After years, they finally found a new home in Louisiana, where they became known as Cajuns. It was only through contact with English-speaking Americans that French-speaking Cajuns were forced to adapt their language. In those days, there probably weren’t any strikes yet, or the original French speakers wouldn’t have let them.

Kiki and Tabasco

Kiki loves spicy, and how! Of course, tabasco is also a staple in Kiki’s kitchen. So it’s no surprise that he went all out when he visited Avery Island LA (note: “LA” stands for Louisiana, not Los Angeles), the sacred home of tabasco production! The highlight? Of course, the souvenir store, filled to the brim with all kinds of hot sauces. Even Sophie succumbed to the buying fever, even though she doesn’t like spicy at all. The magic of these stores remains a mystery: why do we always have an irrepressible urge to spend money on things we’ll never need?

Kiki and Louisiana

“Louisiana, we’ll never forget you. An enchanting state, full of charm, history and friendly people. As their journey continued towards the east coast of the USA after an unforgettable week, Sophie and Kiki felt the sweet nostalgia of saying goodbye. But the adventures are far from over – there are many more stories waiting to be told! And we invite you to read their stories from Savannah, Georgia.