Walter B Jacobs Memorial Nature Park
Louisiana
If you're feeling the need for fresh air after the reconstituted, sweaty oxygen of the casinos, head out here and stomp around 5 miles of nature trails …
Must-see attractions in Louisiana
New Orleans
This long but compact cemetery was established in 1854 at the site of the old Bayou Cemetery and is worth strolling through for a few minutes (longer if…
New Orleans
Much of the Lower Garden District was designed as a settlement zone for those Americans who began arriving in New Orleans after the Louisiana Purchase…
French Quarter
If death is your thing, or you have an interest in serial killers, the Museum of Death will not disappoint. Starting with skulls (both animal and human)…
Carousel Gardens Amusement Park
New Orleans
This little amusement park is anchored by a 1906 carousel that's a gem of vintage carny-ride happiness. Other thrills include a Ferris wheel, bumper cars…
Oakley Plantation & Audubon State Historic Site
Louisiana
Outside of St Francisville, this is where naturalist John James Audubon spent his tenure, arriving in 1821 to tutor the owner’s daughter. Though his…
New Orleans
Located within City Park, both local and international flora is exhibited here. You'll also find stirring examples of Works Progress Administration (WPA)…
Alexandria
This 33-acre zoo is surprisingly comprehensive and multilayered (a little like Alexandria itself). There are Asian, African and Australian continental…
French Quarter
Samuel Hermann, a Jewish merchant who married a Catholic woman, introduced the American-style Federal design to the Quarter in 1831. Hermann sold the…
Prairie Acadian Cultural Center
Cajun Country
This NPS-run museum has exhibits on rural life and Cajun culture, and shows a variety of documentaries explaining the history of the area. It's the…
Gardens of the American Rose Center
Louisiana
If you're a rose lover, it would be a shame to miss these gardens, which contain more than 65 individual areas designed to show how roses can be grown in…
Louisiana
Owners and docents alike perpetuate the idea that Myrtles is one of the most haunted houses in America. And hey, this place is certifiably creepy. Tours…
Alexandria
This wonderful little museum boasts a deep collection of art and also serves as a lynchpin of the Alexandria cultural scene. Rotating exhibitions may…
Audubon Louisiana Nature Center
New Orleans
Out in New Orleans East, Audubon has opened a nature center aimed at teaching kids (and their parents) about the wetlands and forests of South Louisiana…
Cajun Country
At the understated, educational Acadian Village, you follow a brick path around a rippling bayou to restored houses, craftsman barns and a church. Old…
French Quarter
Michalopoulos has become one of New Orleans’ most popular painters in recent years, in part on the strength of his best-selling Jazz Fest posters. His…
New Orleans
Jazz heads, and really anyone interested in New Orleans music, should pop into the Hogan Jazz Archive. Although most of its great wealth of material is…
Cajun Country
You can't get more end of the road than Cypremont Point, a lonely, windswept promontory of land buffeted by wind, seagull calls and foam spray off the…
French Quarter
Of the (many) voodoo-themed spots in the French Quarter, this one is a favorite. The narrow corridors and dark rooms, stuffed with statues, dolls and…
Louisiana
Tunica Falls, technically called Clark Creek Nature Area, is about 30 minutes' drive from St Francisville. The pleasant, hilly trails here wind past…
New Orleans
This eye-catching pavilion in City Park, built in 1907, is marked by Ionic columns and flanked by four lions. It looks like it was summoned via some time…
French Quarter
At St Philip St, Bourbon shifts from a Dante’s Inferno–style circle of neon-lit hell into an altogether more agreeable stretch of historical houses,…
Louisiana
Kids – and adults in touch with their inner child – will have a ball in 'Louisiana's Science Center,' an enormous museum full of interactive exhibitions…
Louisiana
Several miles of boardwalk and forest trail wind through this nature preserve, which is popular with families looking to give little ones a place to…
Faubourg Marigny & Bywater
Art Garden is an arts-bazaar space filled with painters working on their projects while you shop. It's a good spot to find unique or limited-edition work…
Faubourg Marigny & Bywater
The bright-orange Healing Center is a sort of warehouse of all things organic, spiritual, New Age and consciousness-raising. Inside, you'll find yoga…
Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge
Louisiana
The Big Branch Marsh includes some 18,000 acres of protected pine flatwoods and marshland that houses gators, pelicans, egrets, swamp sparrows, purple…
Louisiana
This outdoor museum promises a trip into the architecture, occupations and folkways of rural Louisiana. Numerous rough-hewn buildings are scattered over…
French Quarter
The late Cajun artist George Rodrigue’s gallery is the place to see examples of his unbelievably popular ‘Blue Dog’ paintings. The iconic dog became his…
New Orleans
The Chua Bo De temple is about 7 miles outside of the city near the English Turn golf course. It's a typically Vietnamese Buddhist structure, filled with…
Hemmerling Gallery of Southern Art
French Quarter
William 'Bill' Hemmerling was a self-taught folk artist who incorporated wood, debris and found objects into a powerfully vital body of work. This gallery…
Louisiana
The physical space that this museum inhabits – the clean, geometric lines of the Shaw Center – is as impressive as the on-site galleries, which include a…
Louisiana
The Gothic Revival, pink fairy-tale castle is… well, it's a pink castle. Which should tell you something about how eccentric the government of its…
New Orleans
One of the most prominent galleries on Julia St, Arthur Roger represents several dozen artists from around the South. This spot hosts frequent gallery…
French Quarter
Cathy Rose blends wonder, whimsy and ethereal aesthetics; her art has whiffs of Chagall, if you can picture him on the Mississippi. Rose uses mixed media…
Ruston
The bounty of Northern Louisiana is on full display at this market, which showcases meats, produce, artisan crafts and coffee from around the region. One…
Louisiana
This lush, pretty state park is a quilt of forest, marshland and waterfront ecosystems strung together by a series of attractive walking and cycling…
New Orleans
A private university with more than 4700 students, opened as a Jesuit college in 1904. It's one of America's more scenic campuses, with live oaks,…
New Orleans
This oak tree near Big Lake in City Park stands festooned with chimes, some up to 14ft in length. Standing under the tree during the slightest breeze is…
Southeastern Architectural Archive
New Orleans
Stop by for changing exhibits that highlight different aspects of architecture in the Gulf South, which stretches from Louisiana east to the Florida Keys.
