Louisiana

Be it live music, the visual arts, dance, film or theater, New Orleans knows how to entertain guests. The city is one great stage, and visitors need not just watch the show but participate as costumed players.

Lafayette loves to eat. In the compact city center, you can't walk without tripping on a good restaurant, and in general this city takes a decidedly indulgent attitude towards gastronomy. Head to Jefferson St mid-downtown for a choice of bars and restaurants, from sushi to Mexican.

The Whitney is the first plantation in the state to focus on slavery, and in doing so they've flipped the script on plantation tours. Whereas before the story told was that of the 'big house,' here the emphasis is given to the hundreds who died to keep the residents of the big house comfortable. There's a museum on-site that you can self-tour, but admission to the plantation is by 1½-hour guided tour only.

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.

Sprinkled with lazing loungers, surrounded by sketch artists, fortune tellers and traveling performers, and watched over by cathedrals, offices and shops plucked from a Parisian fantasy, Jackson Sq is one of America’s great town greens and the heart of the Quarter. The identical, block-long Pontalba Buildings overlook the scene, and the nearly identical Cabildo and Presbytère structures flank the impressive St Louis Cathedral, which fronts the square.

There's joy to be had just wandering around the Garden and Lower Garden Districts. In the former neighborhood, you'll find grand homes and palatial villas. The Lower Garden District also has its share of attractive architecture – look out for the area's signature double-story town houses. In both areas, sights are concentrated near Magazine St and St Charles Ave.

Central City was once a magnet for African American businesses and social clubs. This neighborhood underwent degradation following desegregation, but its main thoroughfare, Oretha Castle Haley Blvd, is undergoing a steady renaissance.

This wonderful outfit conducts three- to four-hour kayak paddles into the wetlands. Excursions focus on land loss and wildlife threats, and are led by expert guides who genuinely love this land (or lack thereof, as you'll learn). Staff include Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and outdoors person Bob Marshall.