Lake Martin

Cajun Country


This lake – a mossy green dollop surrounded by thin trees and cypress trunks – serves as a wonderful, easily accessible introduction to bayou landscapes. A few walking paths, as well as a boardwalk, take visitors over the mirror-reflection sheen of the swamp, while overhead thousands of great and cattle egrets and blue herons perch in haughty indifference.

It's about 5 miles south of Breaux Bridge.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Cajun Country attractions

1. Acadian Cultural Center

5.51 MILES

This National Parks Service museum has extensive exhibits on Cajun culture and is a good entry point for those looking to peer deeper into Acadian…

2. Vermilionville

5.58 MILES

This tranquil, recreated 19th-century Cajun village wends along the bayou near the airport. Friendly, enthusiastic costumed docents explain Cajun, Creole…

3. Children's Museum of Acadiana

6.9 MILES

Lafayette's children's museum is a pretty good spot to kill half a day with younger kids. There's a TV studio, fake dentist office (yay?), bubble 'factory…

4. Acadian Village

11.7 MILES

At the understated, educational Acadian Village, you follow a brick path around a rippling bayou to restored houses, craftsman barns and a church. Old…

5. Shadows on the Teche

15.4 MILES

This grand, Gothic Greek Revival plantation house sits on the banks of – you guessed it – Bayou Teche, a geographic location that adds to its eerie,…

6. McIlhenny Tabasco Factory

21 MILES

Driving here feels a bit like entering Oz. After stopping and waiting for the gate to lift, you drive onto Avery Island – which isn’t really an island,…

7. Jungle Gardens

21.01 MILES

In 1890 Tabasco founder EA McIlhenny started this bird sanctuary on Avery Island. At Jungle Gardens you can drive or walk through 250 acres of moss…

8. Opelousas Museum & Interpretive Center

24.6 MILES

Squatting sleepily alongside Hwy 49, Opelousas' historic downtown is home to this grandma's attic of exhibits, artifacts and esoterica related to the town…