louisiana field trip ideas

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Louisiana Field Trips

Field trips are a great way to reboot a bad homeschooling week, get out of the house when everyone has cabin fever, and learn about your local area. Before heading out, check out Jeanne's tips for improving homeschool field trips .

Our listing of Louisiana field trips for homeschoolers is ordered alphabetically by city. If you would like to submit a Louisiana field trip destination, you may do so using the red button above.

At the UCM, Louisiana's Most Eccentric Museum - This roadside attraction near New Orleans is a folk art environment with 1000s of found objects, and home made inventions. See a miniature Southern town with push-buttons that activate animated "displays." On exhibit are odd collections, memorabilia, pure junk, and old arcade machines that are a lot of fun to play.

UCM Museum - Abida Mystery House website

( Update this listing )

Through its exhibition program of an ever-changing array of collections on loan from around the world, its extensive permanent collection of contemporary Louisiana art and the state's largest collection of North Louisiana Folk Art, AMoA entices visitors of diverse tastes.

Alexandria Museum of Art website

The park offers a wide variety of programs, classes, events and volunteer opportunities designed to enrich appreciation of wild life and wild places. The hands-on classes for home school children include a presentation and a lab activity. Students will also get to take a hands-on activity home.

Alexandria Zoological Park website

Pleasantly located on several small bluffs that extend over and into the Toledo Bend Reservoir, South Toledo Bend Reservoir State Park offers a scenic, waterfront view from many vantage points. While the reservoir is nationally recognized as a destination for bass fishing tournaments, visitors to the park can also enjoy other outdoor recreational activities such as hiking, cycling, birding, camping and enjoying the many forms of wildlife in the area.

South Toledo Bend State Park website

Take an exciting journey through the past and discover the dynamic history of Strategic Bombardment at the home of the 2nd Bomb Wing, the mighty 8th Air Force, and the new Air Force Global Strike Command. The Barksdale Global Power Museum is not only a memorial to our successes in battle, but a recognition of the many years spent training to deter war. The peacetime history of Barksdale Air Force Base is as significant as those years at war. Come out and see vintage aircraft like the venerable B-17 and B-24 bombers of World War II: along with their best "Little Friend", the P-51 Mustang. You can also see Cold War heroes such as the B-52D and B-52G Stratofortress. We will show you the highest and fastest flying jet aircraft ever - the MACH 3+ SR-71 Blackbird.

Barksdale Global Power Museum website

This 503-acre site takes its name from the French word meaning "high road," which was the route used by Native Americans many years ago in their seasonal migrations. Chemin-A-Haut State Park was designed with children in mind. Two playgrounds in the day-use area are a favorite spot of the younger patrons as is the wading pool in the swimming complex.

Chemin-A-Haut State Park website

The Capitol Park Museum tells a story of passion, adventure and discovery that could have happened only in the Bayou State. Come explore a way of life like no other.

Louisiana State Museum - Capitol Park Museum website

Louisiana's Old State Capitol, a Gothic architectural treasure, stands high on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. The 150-year-old statehouse has withstood war, fire, scandal, bitter debate, abandonment and an occasional fistfight. Today, the building stands as a testament to bold, inspired leadership and active citizenship. Now referred to as the Museum of Political History, the Old State Capitol has received awards for its architecture, exhibits and preservation.

Louisiana's Old State Capitol - Museum of Political History website

Magnolia Mound Plantation is a rare survivor of the vernacular architecture influenced by early settlers from France and the West Indies. This venerable landmark is unique in southern Louisiana not simply because of its age, quality of restoration, or outstanding collections, but because it is still a vital part of the community. Through educational programs, workshops, lectures, festivals, and other special events, Magnolia Mound's mission is to illustrate and interpret the lifestyle of the French Creoles who formed the fascinating culture which still influences and pervades life in southern Louisiana.

Magnolia Mound Plantation website

Welcome to the official Internet home port of the Fletcher-class destroyer USS KIDD (DD-661), the "Pirate of the Pacific." Located in the heart of scenic downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she is the centerpiece of a memorial which serves to honor the men and women of our American armed forces. Examine the dented helmet of an infantryman who stormed the beaches of Normandy. Touch the names of the fallen Americans whose names are carved into the black granite walls of the Louisiana Memorial Plaza.

USS KIDD website

Encounter the past at one of the "Top 10 Outdoor museum in the World," according to the British Museum! Travel back in time in three unique areas of the Museum containing the largest collection of material culture of 19th century Louisiana, all in a safe, outdoor rural landscape: * The Exhibit Barn features hundreds of artifacts dealing with everyday rural life up to the early 20th century. * The Plantation Quarters consists of a complex of 19th century buildings - commissary, overseer's house, kitchen, slave cabins, sick house, schoolhouse, blacksmith's shop, sugar house, and grist mill - authentically furnished to replicate all the major activities of life on a typical 19th century working plantation. * Louisiana Folk Architecture is interpreted in a wonderful collection of buildings exemplifying the house types of Louisiana including - a country church, pioneer's cabin, Carolina cabin, shotgun house, Acadian house, and dogtrot house - whose divergent construction traits illustrate the various cultures of Louisiana settlers.

Rural Life Museum website

The Old Arsenal Museum, formerly known as the Powder Magazine, was built in 1838 and is the third structure to stand on this site. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the site was of particular military importance due to its location on the Mississippi River. It later served as the main defensive position of the southwestern United States. The museum contains exhibits about the structure of the historic powder magazine and the history of the State Capitol grounds.

Old Arsenal Museum website

"Where people connect with Animals". The zoo offers a Zoo Krewe program open to all teenagers 13-17 years old with a GPA of at least 3.0 or higher. Zoo Krewe is designed for youths that are thinking about a career with exotic animals and in public speaking.

Baton Rouge Zoo website

Housed in a historic railroad depot on the banks of the Mississippi River, the Louisiana Art & Science Museum offers educational entertainment for visitors of all ages. The art galleries showcase changing fine art exhibitions and selections from the permanent collection. In the interactive art and science galleries designed just for children, creative and enlightening fun comes in many forms. The Ancient Egypt Gallery houses ancient artifacts and a Ptolemaic-era mummy that rests in a re-created rock-cut tomb. The Irene W. Pennington Planetarium features sky shows, large-format films, visual music shows, and galleries devoted to space science. In the Museum Store at LASM, visitors enjoy shopping for unique handcrafted merchandise, books, toys, and a large selection of objects related to LASM's exhibits.

Louisiana Art & Science Museum website

Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center is a 103-acre facility dedicated to conservation, education, recreation and tourism. It houses an award-winning, 9500-square-foot building filled with live animal exhibits; photographic presentations of the site's flora and fauna; natural artifact displays; and a sizeable, vintage Louisiana waterfowl decoy carving collection. Ecology and art exhibits are featured periodically. Over a mile of gravel paths and boardwalks link varied habitats including cypress-tupelo swamp, beech-magnolia and hardwood forests. Programs and special events are offered year-round.

Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center website

St. Bernard State Park is the ideal spot for visitors who are seeking a family atmosphere and natural experience, as well as for campers who don't want to or cannot stray far from civilization. Many campers consider combining a camping vacation with a touring vacation of the New Orleans area. The Chalmette National Historic Park, Jackson Barracks, and other historic sites and plantation homes are also nearby.

St. Bernard State Park website

Located on a peninsula on Caney Lake, Jimmie Davis State Park offers two boat launches and a fishing pier that cater to the sportsmen looking for a prime freshwater fishing spot. Waterskiing is another way to enjoy the clear waters of the lake, which was created by damming Caney Creek in 1986. Don't forget to look back at the lakeshore to appreciate the beautiful mixed pine and hardwood forest surrounding the lake and the birds and animals that make the forest their home.

Jimmie Davis State Park website

Welcome to the Schepis Museum of Columbia, Louisiana. Founded in 1994, the museum has grown and developed greatly over the past 10 years. Initially presenting artifactual exhibits of local interest, the museum now features varying artistic and historical exhibits.

Schepis Museum website

Cypremort Point is the only locality near the Gulf of Mexico that can be reached by car. A half-mile stretch of a man-made beach provides a delightful area for relaxing, picnicking and enjoying the water. It also affords an opportunity for fishing, crabbing, water skiing, windsurfing and, of course, sailing.

Cypremort Point State Park website

Offers visitors an outlet for a variety of watersport activities and a scenic backdrop for waterfowl migration each spring and fall. The fish and wildlife species inhabiting or migrating through the reservoir are numerous. Anglers can fish the lake year round. The region falls within the Mississippi Flyway for many winged species. Depending on the season, visitors will see cormorants, ducks, geese and pelicans.

Poverty Point Reservoir State Park website

The sands of Louisiana time seem to stand still for a moment at Destrehan Plantation. This majestic antebellum home watches over the banks of the great Mississippi River, just minutes from New Orleans. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Destrehan Plantation was established in 1787 and remains the oldest documented plantation home in the lower Mississippi River Valley.

Destrehan Plantation website

Showcases the contributions of African Americans who lived and worked on the plantations along the Mississippi River. The museum's location in Donaldsonville is significant in that it incorporates the stories and unique history and landmarks of the Donaldsonville area which once was the capital of Louisiana.

River Road African American Museum website

Situated on the western shore of Lake Bistineau, this park offers a satisfying blend of beautiful vistas and outstanding recreational facilities. Memorable for its upland mixed hardwood forest, its open waters, and its enchanting stands of cypress and tupelo trees, the park offers two boat launches, hiking and biking trails, playgrounds, two swimming pools, a lakefront beach, camping, cabins, lodges, and excellent fishing!

Lake Bistineau State Park website

Calling all homeschoolers! Baby animals and Spring on the farm are just a few things kids will learn about on their field trip to CM Farms. All 4-hour field trips include a wagon ride around the farm, LIVE milking demonstrations, meet 'n' feed time with farm animals, and an explanation of how food is grown in the Hamburger Garden. Enjoy loads of playground time (Jumping Pillow, Dirt Mountain Slide, Rubber Duck Races, Diggers Sand Pile, and more). Add-on options including Easter Egg Hunts, Gemstone Mining, and U-Pick Strawberries are available. Ages 3 and up.

CM Farms LLC website

Located in northeastern Louisiana, Poverty Point commemorates a culture that thrived during the first and second millennia B.C. This site, which contains some of the largest prehistoric earth works in North America, is managed by the state of Louisiana. These state park facilities are open to the public.

Poverty Point National Monument website

Piney forests, rolling hills, five fishing piers, and a beautiful lake draw visitors to this quiet, majestic state park. Designed to keep the focus on nature, park facilities blend with the natural landscape to enhance the outdoor experience of this 655-acre park.

Lake D'Arbonne State Park website

Previously known as the Ferriday Museum and housed in the old post office, the Delta Music Museum is located in Concordia Parish just minutes away from historic Natchez, Miss. Ferriday is the birthplace of entertainers Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley, evangelist Jimmy Swaggart and blues trombonist Leon "PeeWee" Whittaker. See exhibits focusing on the history and culture of Louisiana's and Mississippi's Delta region music and visit the museum's hall of fame.

Delta Music Museum website

Over 700 acres of wild and cultivated beauty, Hodges Gardens State Park, located in Sabine Parish, is a unique member of the State park system. Originally designed and opened to the public in 1956 by oil and gas businessman A.J. Hodges Sr., the site's gardens consist of a variety of plants and flowers, from a formal rose garden to a collection of Japanese Red Maple trees.

Hodges Gardens State Park website

Our Mission is to focus attention on Louisiana's Historic buildings; to promote interest in the study of Louisiana's architectural heritage; to disseminate information on Louisiana's landmarks and to support their preservation. Through the Society's management and maintenance of the Grevemberg House Museum, the vitality of 19th century life in south Louisiana is showcased, thus making the past more meaningful to present and future generations.

Grevemberg House Museum website

This is Grand Isle State Park--a natural haven on the most popular barrier island off the coast of Louisiana. A beach ridge created by the action of the waves of the Gulf, Grand Isle serves as a breakwater between the Gulf and the network of inland channels that connect to the bayou tributaries of the Mississippi River. It is also the launching point for excellent deep-sea salt-water fishing adventures.

Grand Isle State Park website

The Gretna Historical Society welcomes you to its Museum Complex of historic buildings, blacksmith shop, guided tours and gift shop, in the midst of one of the nation's largest National Register Historic Districts. Gretna, Louisiana, an old German town, is replete with shot-gun houses (singles and doubles), camel back houses and Creole cottages. And it's all across the Mississippi River from New Orleans.

Gretna Historical Society Museum website

Civil War Tours of New Orleans is the only guided Civil War tour west of Nashville, Tennessee. Started three years ago by a historian, former Park Ranger for the State of Louisiana and the National Park Service, and a student of the Civil War for over thirty years, Civil War Tours of New Orleans offers tours that cover the significance of New Orleans during the Civil War. Topics covered on our most popular tour, the French Quarter, will touch on secession, economics, politics, social history, and Union occupation.

New Orleans French Quarter website

History of Claiborne Parish. The museum today includes a chronological timeline from the arrival of the original settlers with an Indian period and a Pioneer period. An actual log cabin that was acquired in the late summer of 1982 from the George Green Estate was disassembled at its present location and reassembled inside the museum.

H.S. Ford Memorial Museum website

Take your pick: swimming, fishing, birding, boating of all kinds, waterskiing, camping, hiking or just plain relaxing and enjoying unsurpassed natural beauty. It's all here . . . at Lake Claiborne State Park. For fishermen, the freshwater lake was lavishly stocked with largemouth bass, bluegill sunfish, channel catfish, black crappie, striped bass, chain pickerel, bream, and white perch. The lake itself, at full reservoir level, has a surface area of 6,400 acres.

Lake Claiborne State Park website

Southdown Plantation House is a 19th-century sugar manor house and home to the Terrebonne Museum of history and culture. Exhibits include original bedroom furniture of the Minor family and other antique furnishings; a history and culture room; a Mardi Gras room; a Native Peoples room; changing works by local artists; a sugar industry room; Boehm and Doughty porcelain birds; Charles Gilbert art collection; Thad St. Martin literature collection; a re-creation of the Washington, D.C office of U.S. Senator Allen J. Ellender; and a restored 1880's plantation worker's cabin.

Southdown Plantation House website

Ah-Louisiana, The Land of the Acadians: Wildfowl Carvers. Wildfowl decoys are not only a work of art as a carved and painted sculpture, but also a piece of history. Unique to North America, the wildfowl decoy is folklore, a form of regional art. Decoys depict bird species found along our waterways, and become history of a people, a time, and a place.

Zigler Museum website

The Saints Hall of Fame has brand new exhibits and memorabilia covering the entire history of the New Orleans Saints from the awarding of and formation of the franchise to the present. Fans can review a time line tracing the history of the team through the years, enjoy the Saints Theater with highlight films from every season in team history, check out the lockerroom display, the broadcast studio, the great moments in Saints history video, the actual playing surface on the floor of the Superdome, updated standings boards, the all-time team display, and the Hall of Honors with all of the busts and portraits of previously inducted Saints Hall of Famers.

Saints Hall of Fame Museum website

The Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum offers a number of educational programs for children. International Children's Museum, Docent led tours and academic enrichment programs all designed for students grades K through 8th.

Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum website

The Nature Station and its accompanying 3+mile trail system is owned and operated by the Division of Arts & Culture, in the Department of Community Development, Lafayette Consolidated Government. Environmental education programming began here in 1974 as an offshoot of our parent organization, the Lafayette Natural History Museum. As a result of increasing demand for our programs, the Nature Station was constructed in 1978. Since that time, our staff has conducted field trips, workshops, and other educational activities and programs for many thousands of school children and adults alike.

Acadiana Park Nature Station website

As a folklife museum, Acadian Village offers an authentic vision of Acadian society in South Louisiana during the 19th century. Period homes of Acadian architecture have been restored to their original appearance and furnished with antiques native to the area.

Acadian Village website

The Children's Museum of Acadiana (CMA) is a hands-on participatory museum serving children and their families, schools, and community organizations by providing interactive exhibits, special services, performances, and workshops.

Childrens Museum of Acadiana website

Vermilionville authentically portrays a way of life preserved with a distinctly French accent. Situated on the banks of the Bayou Vermilion, this Cajun/Creole heritage and folklife park recreates life in the Acadiana area between 1765 and 1890. The beautiful grounds, which are laid out as an historic village, contain eighteen structures, including six restored original homes. In most of the structures, costumed interpreters demonstrate traditional crafts or musical styles.

Vermilionville website

Historic City Hall Arts & Cultural Center is a public art and history gallery, which showcases numerous traveling exhibitions from around the world. It is also the home to Black Heritage Gallery and Gallery by the Lake. Both galleries give spotlight to dozens of regional and local artists. The Center features three floors of gallery space, a clock tower, and a landscaped brick plaza. Traveling exhibitions by well-known artists Pablo Picasso, Norman Rockwell, and Tasha Tudor have visited the Center, as well as historic exhibits.

Historic City Hall Arts and Cultural Center website

The Children's Museum, established by the Junior League of Lake Charles in 1988, is the home of 19,000 square feet of hands-on exhibits for kids and parents. The museum has three floors and over 45 hands-on exhibits that provide children and their parents the opportunity to interact, learn and have fun in a safe atmosphere. It offers field trips, birthday parties and special events year round.

Children's Museum of SWLA website

The Imperial Calcasieu Museum is a leading cultural and educational resource for the Lake Charles community, providing model education an outreach activities.

Imperial Calcasieu Museum website

Originally named for the Texas folk hero who traveled extensively in the western reaches of Louisiana, Sam Houston Jones was given its current name in honor of the state's 37th governor, who was instrumental in setting aside this tract of land for the public to enjoy. Abundant wildlife inhabits the area. The park is located just north of the most productive birding region of Louisiana. The numerous waterways in this area make water sports a natural highlight at the park. The three hiking trails winding through this beautiful park make strolling or serious hiking, pleasurable.

Sam Houston Jones State Park website

The museum is dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of cotton cultivation and its influence on life in Louisiana.

Louisiana State Cotton Museum website

Southern Forest Heritage Museum is the oldest complete sawmill facility in the South. This complex is unique in that it is a complete sawmill complex dating from the early 20th century, and that it has the most complete collection of steam-powered logging and milling equipment known to exist. The museum is spread over a 57 acre area. On the property is the commissary, providing an entrance to the museum, the Planer Mill, the Planer Mill Power Plant, the Water Pumping Station, the Round House, the Machine Shop, the Carknocker Shop, the Sawmill, the Sawmill Power Plant, and Storage Sheds. Railroad equipment that can be seen at the museum includes three locomotives, a McGiffert Loader, and a rare Clyde Rehaul Skidder. In addition, one can see many artifacts that were left in place when the mill closed February 14, 1969.

Southern Forest Heritage Museum website

Scattered throughout the park beneath a canopy of huge oak trees, you will find numerous picnic tables, as well as a group pavilion, a playground, and comfort stations. Spend a relaxing afternoon on the river or venture out into the water for lively outdoor recreation. When you enter the park, you will notice a large home facing the water. This is Otis House, originally built in the 1880s.

Fairview-Riverside State Park website

The crumbling brick ruins of a sugar mill built in 1829 by Bernard de Marigny de Mandeville, founder of the nearby town of Mandeville, suggest an interesting history for this site, and indeed there is. The 2,800-acre park is located on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. On a clear day, visitors can see the lake dotted with multi-colored sailboats of all sizes and types. The sandy beach also is a delight for sunbathers. An old railroad track that runs through the park has been converted into the Tammany Trace as a part of the Rails to Trails program. It is a wonderful route for cycling, hiking and in-line skating.

Fontainebleau State Park website

Tramploline park offering open jump time and private parties.

Surge Trampoline Park website

The Germantown Colony and Museum, located northeast of Minden, provides visitors with a look into the past, to a way of life once believed by its founders to be a utopia. The colony is one of three founded in the U.S. in the early 19th century by the Utopian Movement of the Harmonist Society, which originated in Germany. In 1835, under the leadership of the Countess von Leon, the colony was established and operated on a communal basis until 1871.

Germantown Colony and Museum website

The largest visual arts museum in northeast Louisiana, and is a vital part of our local culture. Because admission is always free, all members of our community can expand their horizons through the museum's many and diverse offerings.

Masur Museum of Art website

Permanent exhibits include, Kids' Cafe, Health Hall, the Think Tank and Toddler Town. The museum also hosts a variety of changing traveling exhibits centered on hands-on learning.

Northeast Louisiana Children's Museum website

Preservation and Promotion of African-American Contributions and Culture Through Public Education, Artistic and Cultural Events.

Northeast Louisiana Delta African American Heritage Museum website

The Biedenharn is an exciting place with many activities including guided tours, special exhibits, children's programs, concerts and more.

Biedenharn Museum and Gardens website

International Petroleum Museum and Exposition is a non-profit corporation established for the purpose of educating the general public, and the next generation, on the significance of the offshore oil and gas industry and its affect on the local area, the state, the nation, and the world.

International Petroleum Museum and Exposition website

Hola! Bienvenidos al Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail. Come on a journey that will carry you through 300 years of Texas and Louisiana frontier settlement and development.

El Camino Real de Los Tejas National Historic Trail website

Wander thoughtfully through the grounds of Oakland and Magnolia Plantations. While admiring a hand-wrought door hinge or a cleverly-worked wooden gate, we might reflect on the social and agricultural practices that built these tenant houses, pigeonniers, carpenter and blacksmith shops.

Cane River Creole National Historical Park website

A place where many cultures - American Indian, French, Spanish, African, Creole, and later American - came together to create a way of life dependent on the land, the river, and each other.

Cane River National Heritage Area website

The Shadows-on-the-Teche is an antebellum historic house museum property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Dedicated to telling the story of life on a nineteenth-century southern Louisiana plantation. Located in the lush semi-tropical city of New Iberia, Louisiana, set among towering live oak trees, draped with Spanish moss swaying in the breeze off the Bayou Teche, bathed by the sunlight as it gently shines across the trees casting shadows on the house and the flowing muddy waters of the bayou.

Shadows on the Teche website

Lose yourself in a wonderland of flora and fauna, a twenty five-acre semi tropical paradise that captures the senses and cleanses the soul. Discover a year-round explosion of color where irises, magnolias, hibiscus, camellias, azaleas, thousands of springtime bulbs and a breathtaking array of annuals paint a landscape across the Southern sky.

Rip Van Winkle Gardens website

Bring your class to the New Orleans Botanical Garden and take a natural science tour both you and your students will enjoy! Knowledgeable tour guides share interesting and amazing facts about the plants, animals, insects and living fossils encountered on a stroll through their garden. To register, call (504) 483-9470 or e-mail [email protected] Age group: Kindergarten - 8th Grade, Tour fee: $4/student Requirements: Free entry for chaperones (one per 8 students required). Additional chaperones are $6/each. Reservations are required two weeks in advance.

New Orleans Botanical Garden website

The mission of the New Orleans Museum of Art is to inspire the love of art; to collect, preserve, exhibit and present excellence in the visual arts; to educate, challenge and engage a diverse public.

New Orleans Museum of Art website

The Louisiana Children's Museum is New Orleans' most playful place to explore, experience and learn. Plan a fun family outing. Enroll your child in a dynamic art holiday or summer camp. Organize a field trip or let the LCM bring the fun and learning to your classroom with unique outreach programs that make classroom lessons come to life.

Louisiana Children's Museum website

Field trips at Grow Dat provide hands-on, experiential learning opportunities to students in grades K-8. The seven-acre site in New Orleans City Park hosts a 2.5-acre farm, produce handling and storage facilities, and a lush, dynamic wild space along our Birding Corridor, which runs parallel to the bayou on the west side of our campus. There are three curriculum tracks that incorporate these interactive spaces on the farm to engage students in science and social studies concepts throughout the field trip learning experience. Go to growdatyouthfarm.org/fieldtrips for more info!

Grow Dat Youth Farm website

The National WWII Museum of New Orleans offers a wealth of information for learning about World War II. In addition to the casualty statistics listed on this page, you can find articles profiling veterans and service members, lessons and educator resources, and resources for additional research.

National WWII Museum: Worldwide Casualties website

One of New Orleans' best known historic homes. The Beauregard-Keyes House, built in 1826 for wealthy auctioneer Joseph LeCarpentier, is a fine example of a raised center hall house. It is named for two of its former residents, Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant (P.G.T.) Beauregard and author Frances Parkinson Keyes. In addition to public tours, the house and garden are available for private events, including weddings, receptions and parties. Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places

Beauregard-Keyes House website

The only Creole colonial style house museum in New Orleans. It tells the story of life along Bayou St. John since the earliest days of settlement. The Pitot House has had a variety of owners from prominent lawyers to austere nuns. One of the most prominent was James Pitot, the first American mayor of New Orleans who lived here from 1810-1819. The Pitot House is a National Trust for Historic Preservation Partner Place.

Pitot House website

A Victorian Mansion, Wedding Chapel and Dollhouse Museum. This architectural gem is an impressive feat of engineering. In addition to being beautiful, the house is also very interesting. The original two story home built in 1850 was lifted in 1884 by Wm. Renaud, who added the magnificent first floor as a spacious setting for family weddings, receptions and parties. On the second floor, enter the magical wonderland of an extensive dollhouse collection that was personally designed and decorated by the owner, author and Polish Countess, Bonnie Broel, over a period of fifteen years. The enchanting collection of over sixty historically accurate scale model mansions, houses, shops and vignettes includes an English manor house, an antebellum plantation and a 28 room Russian palace, 10 ft. tall & 12 ft. wide.

House of Broel website

The Historic New Orleans Collection is a museum, research center, and publisher dedicated to the study and preservation of the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South region.

Historic New Orleans Collection website

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an historic building within the Vieux Carre Historic District, the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum showcases its extensive collection and provides interpretive educational programs to present and preserve the rich history of pharmacy and healthcare in Louisiana; past and present. The Museum also highlights the role of Louis Joseph Dufilho, Jr. whose work symbolizes the beginning of a system of certifying the professional competence of pharmacists, and recognizing the vital significance of that competence for the public health.

New Orleans Pharmacy Museum website

The museum tells the history of Italian Americans in the Southeast and their contributions to all areas of our daily lives through photographs, articles, family histories, and memorabilia. The museum memorabilia are displayed on different walls identified and categorized by themes such as Societies and Festivals, Music, the Immigrant, Genealogy, Personalities, and much more.

American Italian Cultural Center website

Visit the Official Museum of The Louisiana National Guard. See artifacts, weapons and memorabilia from every major American war.

Jackson Barracks Military Museum website

Audubon Nature Institute is a 501(c)3 not for profit that operates a family of museum and park dedicated to nature. These New Orleans facilities include: Audubon Park, Audubon Zoo, Woldenberg Riverfront Park, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center, Entergy IMAX® Theatre, Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species, Audubon Wilderness Park, Audubon Insectarium and Audubon Nature Institute Foundation.

Audubon Nature Institute website

A National Historic Landmark in New Orleans, Louisiana. Longue Vue features Classical Revival style buildings and landscaped gardens, a magnificent collection of European and American decorative and fine arts pieces, museum exhibits, entertaining tours, educational programs, and a delightful museum shop.

Longue Vue House and Gardens website

An elegant Spanish colonial building that houses many rare artifacts of America's history. Among them is Napoleon's death mask, one of only four in existence.

The Cabildo website

The Presbytere, originally called Casa Curial or "Ecclesiastical House," was built on the site of the residence, or presbytere, of the Capuchin monks. The building was used for commercial purposes until 1834 when it became a courthouse. In 1911, it became part of the Louisiana State Museum. The Presbytere's two permanent exhibits tell two sides of the ongoing Louisiana story; one of celebration and one of resilience.

The Presbytere website

Gallier House - In 1857, esteemed New Orleans architect, James Gallier, Jr., put his considerable talen to work designing a residence of his own. Gallier House is an outstanding example of accurate and comprehensive historic restoration of one of New Orleans' loveliest and time-honored landmarks. - Experience this wonderfully furnished home with its detailed garden, elegant carriageway and slave quarters. Hermann-Grima House - Prior to the Civil War, prosperous Creole families enjoyed an elegant lifestyle in the Vieux Carre. Walk through this meticulously restored residence and experience the Golden Age of New Orleans. Built in 1831, the Hermann-Grima House is one of the most significant residences in New Orleans. This handsome Federal mansion with its courtyard garden boasts the only horse stable and functional 1830s outdoor kitchen in the French Quarter. Painstakingly restored to its original splendor through archaeological studies and careful review of the building contract and inventories, the museum complex accurately depicts the gracious lifestyle of a prosperous Creole family in the years from 1830 to 1860.

Gallier House/Hermann-Grima House website

Confederate veterans of Louisiana founded Memorial Hall, also known as the Confederate Museum, in New Orleans in 1891 as a repository for their memorabilia from the War Between the States. These veterans and their families have donated more than 90% of the artifacts preserved and now exhibited in Memorial Hall. Memorial Hall contains the second largest collection of Confederate memorabilia in the United States and is the oldest continually operating museum in Louisiana.

Louisiana's Civil War at Confederate Memorial Hall website

Renowned historian, author and educator, Dr. Stephen Ambrose founded The National World War II Museum Foundation in New Orleans in 1991. The Museum, which opened on June 6, 2000, is the only museum in the United States that addresses all of the amphibious invasions or "D-Days" of World War II, honoring the more than one million Americans who took part in this global conflict. The National World War II Museum opened its doors on the 56th anniversary of the Normandy invasion that liberated Europe. It is located in New Orleans, Louisiana because it was here that Andrew Higgins built the landing craft used in the amphibious invasions; the landing craft which President Eisenhower believed won the war for the Allies. The Museum stands as our country's tribute to the men and women who made the invasions in Europe, Africa and the Pacific theaters successful. It presents their stories to an international audience, preserves material for research and scholarship, and inspires future generations to apply the lessons learned from the most complex military operation ever staged.

The National World War II Museum website

A story rich with innovation, experimentation, controversy and emotion, the park provides an ideal setting to share the cultural history of the people and places that helped shape the development and progression of jazz in New Orleans.

New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park website

Jean Lafitte was a French pirate and privateer in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. The park tells the story of pirates and treasures of the times, as well as, the New Orleans culture that has shaped the area. Website has educational information for those unable to visit the park in person.

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve website

The Sankofa Wetland Park & Nature Trail project is restoring 40 acres of a deteriorated natural area adjacent to the Bayou Bienvenue Triangle into a bald cypress-water tupelo wetland habitat. The already-developed 8 acre Wetland Park offers outdoor recreation and STEM education with hiking, biking, natural play, fishing, and birding. Youth learn about wetland conservation and green infrastructure through activities such as water quality testing, flora and fauna species identification, and planting of native trees.

Sankofa Wetland Park and Nature Trail website

The Lousiana State Museum is a complex of national landmarks housing thousands of artifacts and works of art reflecting Louisiana's legacy of historic events and cultural diversity. The Museum operates five properties in the famous French Quarter: the Cabildo, Presbytere, 1850 House, Old U.S. Mint and Madame John's Legacy. Also the Louisiana State Museum - Patterson in Patterson, Louisiana State Museum - Baton Rouge, the Old Courthouse in Natchitoches, and the E.D. White Historic Site in Thibodeaux.

Louisiana State Museum website

The Pointe Coupee Parish Museum, located on the west bank of False River near Parlange Plantation, is architecturally significant because it is a rare example of a log cabin type construction in a Creole type house. The original portion of the house dates from the early 19th century. It has a typical Creole plan, consisting of two rooms, front and rear galleries, and a single central chimney.

Pointe Coupee Parish Museum website

Chronicles the growth of Oil City with exhibits featuring the Caddo Indians and a variety of early oil-field equipment. The museum was formed in 1969 by a group of citizens dedicated to preserving the historical importance of the area as the site of the 1911 "Ferry No. 1" well, one of the world's first over-water discovery wells. Artifacts include a wooden flow line pipe, an electric motor patented in 1899, a steam-driven fluid pump, pipe tongs and other equipment. There is also a large collection of early boomtown and gusher photographs. Another part of the museum, the Caddo Indian Room, features Caddo Indian relics and arrowheads dating back 10,000 years. And, be sure to visit the oil derrick and historic boomtown buildings just outside the museum.

Louisiana State Oil and Gas Museum website

The Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center is a general history museum dedicated to collecting, preserving, and interpreting those objects and artifacts which provide information about the history and culture of the Opelousas area from prehistoric times to the present. Exhibits cover prehistory, agriculture, home and family, business and professions, music, food and a Hall of Fame. One room is dedicated to the Civil War, and two other rooms house the Geraldine Smith Welch Doll Collection of over 400 dolls. The museum is also home to the Louisiana Video Collection Library and the Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival Archives.

Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center website

The Louisiana State Museum, Patterson is the official state aviation and cypress sawmill industry museum and houses two very important collections documenting our state's rich history. The Wedell-Williams Aviation Collection focuses on the legacy of Louisiana aviation pioneers Jimmie Wedell and Harry Williams who formed an air service in Patterson in the 1928. Both men became nationally prominent during what was known as the Golden Age of Aviation. Although both Wedell and Williams perished in plane crashes, their legacy lives on in the memorabilia and planes on display. The Patterson Cypress Sawmill Collection documents the history of the cypress lumber industry in Louisiana. Lumbering became the state's first significant manufacturing industry. As a result, cypress lumber harvested and milled in Louisiana was shipped in mass quantities across the United States. The town of Patterson was once home to the largest cypress sawmill in the world, owned by Frank B. Williams, and in 1997 the Louisiana State Legislature designated Patterson as the cypress capitol of Louisiana. The exhibit features a variety of artifacts, photographs, and film that tell the story of this important regional industry.

Wedell-Williams Aviation and Cypress Sawmill Museum website

Pleasant Hill re-enactments and activities in the re-enactors camp will take place 3 miles north of Pleasant Hill at 23271 Hwy. 175, Pelican, LA. Early April. Check website for information and schedule for Education Day.

Battle of Pleasant Hill website

A great interactive field trip for 6th-12th graders sponsored by Dow. Experience what modern manufacturing is today, in a way you've never seen it before. Students enter a challenge every ten minutes, competing against the clock to bust myths, solve riddles, crack codes, solve problems and work together to create their future.

Creators Wanted at RPCC Campus, Plaquemine website

The Iberville Museum is located in the first Iberville Parish Courthouse. It houses artifacts of life in the parish from the early 1900s and features a Mardi Gras Room, complete with costumes of kings and queens of past carnival balls.

Iberville Museum website

The Louisiana Military Museum contains a unique collection of exhibits chronicling our conflicts from the Spanish American War, Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and today's war on terror. The museum features an expansive weapons collection, from swords and muskets to heavy machine guns. In addition, artillery pieces are displayed on the grounds.

North Louisiana Military Museum website

Our educational fieldtrips combine age-appropriate STEM based, hands-on learning with educational talks and up-close animal encounters! During your interactive visit students will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the earth's oceans and the creatures that inhabit them. Our fieldtrips include grade-level appropriate guided tours, animal feedings, biology lessons and more!

Shreveport Aquarium website

The Meadows Museum of Art at Centenary College of Louisiana is an educational unit of the College charged with the collection, conservation, preservation and interpretation of visual art works of museum quality from the permanent College Collection inclusive of the Indochina Collection of Jean Despujols. This comprehensive Collection represents the aesthetic achievements of a variety of world cultures and includes works by George Grosz, Emilio Amero, Mary Cassatt and Alfred Maurer. The Meadows Museum of Art has received a copy of The Triumphal Arch of Maximiliian I by Northern Renaissance artist and engraver Albrecht Durer.

Meadows Museum of Art website

Touchstone Wildlife and Art Museum includes more than 1,000 mounted animals from around the world displayed in natural habitats with hand painted backgrounds. The museum also features displays of American Indian artifacts and various memorabilia from the Civil War, World War I and World War II.

Touchstone Wildlife and Art Museum website

Free to the public for enjoyment and enlightenment, The R.W. Norton Art Gallery is a non-profit museum built in 1966 which features original works of American and European art. With the addition of the South Wing in 1991 and the North Wing in 2003, the Norton has continued to expand its permanent collection and bring outstanding art exhibitions from all over the country to the greater Shreveport area. Explore the Norton online and plan your next visit to experience its amazing art and gorgeous gardens.

R.W. Norton Art Gallery website

The Multicultural Center of the South is located in Downtown Shreveport and is host to numerous cultural exhibits that display a variety of cultures prominent in Northwest Louisiana. Students through grades Pre-K and up are welcome to take a vicarious journey through cultural exhibits such as Mexico, Iran, Greece, Ireland, Africa, India, China, Korea, and more! Tours with activity are available by appointment and are tailored to fit each grade level.

Multicultural Center of the South website

In 1929 the building was dedicated to soldiers and used as barracks and a place to house the early radar systems. In 1948 the building was used to start the Louisiana hayride to showcase new musicians. This is where Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley all got their start.

Shreveport Municipal Auditorium website

To cultivate and preserve African American History. To Increase awareness and recognize African American contributions. To foster and promote African American artists.

Stephens African American Museum website

Sci-Port: Louisiana's Science Center provides a fun, educational environment for people of all ages to explore and actively engage in the world of mathematics, science and technology. Sci-Port serves to spark curiosity about the world around us, provides hands-on tools for using scientific discovery in everyday life, and encourages a passion for life-long learning. Sci-Port is a 92,000 square-foot science and entertainment center in Shreveport-Bossier, featuring over 290 science, space science, technology and math exhibits; daily changing programs, an IMAX Dome Theatre, open-access, interactive, laser SPACE DOME Planetarium, gift shop and cafe.

Sci-Port: Louisiana's Science Center website

The Spring Street Historical Museum's building was constructed in the 1860s as Tally's Bank and is one of the oldest remaining buildings in downtown Shreveport. The building retains one of Northwest Louisiana's few remaining examples of New Orleans-style cast-iron gallery grill work.

Spring Street Historical Museum website

Strolling through four ecosystems on over a mile of boardwalks through Tickfaw State Park, visitors can experience the sights and sounds of a cypress/tupelo swamp, a bottomland hardwood forest, a mixed pine/hardwood forest and the Tickfaw River.

Tickfaw State Park website

There are over 3,000 acres of water surface on Lake Bruin, and the visitors to Lake Bruin State Park have access to every acre for incomparable freshwater fishing, superb water sports and fine outdoor living. The 53-acre site was originally established in 1928 as a fish hatchery.

Lake Bruin State Park website

Honors the 3,000 men, women and children who found refuge in Louisiana after British forces exiled them from Acadie, their homeland on the Atlantic Coast of Canada, in the mid 18th century.

Acadian Memorial website

The African American Museum tells the story of the arrival of the Africans and of the development of the Free People of Color community in Louisiana. The museum also interprets their struggles, adaptations and contributions, with particular emphasis on the Attakapas District of Southwest Louisiana during the 18th and 19th centuries. It outlines the rise and fall of slavery, highlighting the Free People of Color and the economic struggles they faced during Reconstruction after the Civil War, through the end of Reconstruction..

African American Museum website

Lake Fausse Pointe State Park, at the edge of a beautiful water wilderness, is a perfect point from which to explore the natural and cultural heritage of South Louisiana. Fishing, boating and canoeing opportunities abound. A boat launch gives visitors easy access to the labyrinth of waterways that winds through the Basin. A visitor center complex features a boat dock with rentals, and a nature center provides fun programs and activities as a way to learn about the surrounding environment.

Lake Fausse Pointe State Park website

Family friendly farm raising many different farm animals. Field trips consist of a mule driven hayride, walking tour to pet and feed the various farm animals, and a barrel train ride. Groups may bring picnic lunches to enjoy on picnic tables or spread out a blanket underneath one of our many huge live oak trees. In the Fall, we will have a pumpkin patch with a chart on how to grow a pumpkin. We will also have tools to weigh and measure your pumpkin. We have scavenger hunts available upon request.

Almosta Ranch website

Our mission is preserving and enriching the culture of Southwest Louisiana. To accomplish this goal, we are currently working on a permanent exhibit on the history of the sulfur industry and how it has played a role in developing the city of Sulphur, Louisiana.

Brimstone Museum website

Camp Moore was the largest Confederate training camp in Louisiana and the only Confederate training camp still open to the public.

Camp Moore Confederate Cemetery and Museum website

The cool, clear waters of Lake Chicot have yielded record freshwater catches of largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill and red-ear sunfish. An extensive hiking/backpacking trail completely encircles Lake Chicot and includes several primitive campsites along the way. The park includes cabins, a group camp, a lodge, picnic areas and playgrounds, a swimming pool, a boat launch, a fishing pier and a dock with rental boats.

Chicot State Park website

Bayou Segnette State Park offers the best of everything. Just a thirty-minute drive across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, a multitude of recreational opportunities awaits visitors of all ages--boating, fishing, canoeing, picnicking, playgrounds and, of course, swimming in the wave pool, as well as an ecosystem that offers you the chance to spot plants, trees and wildlife from both swamps and marshland.

Bayou Segnette State Park website

Winnfield is considered to be the birthplace of politics in Louisiana, for it is the home of three governors. The museum has accumulated over 100,000 artifacts and memorabilia relating to politicians and politics in Louisiana. There are life-sized mannequins of the two famous brothers, Huey and Earl Long. Frequently you can hear recordings of the speeches made by both men being played as visitors look back into the political past of Winnfield. Each of the inductees into the Hall has his own display with a caricature drawn by famed political cartoonist Pap Dean, who is also a member of the Hall of Fame. Currently there are 120 inductees into the Political Hall of Fame.

Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame website

Located on Toledo Bend Reservoir, one of the country's largest man-made reservoirs, North Toledo Bend State Park provides a venue for a wide variety of water-related activities in a pleasant environment. And for land-based activities, more than 900 acres are available for camping, picnicking, hiking, and relaxing in the heart of nature.

North Toledo Bend State Park website

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Louisiana Civil Rights Field Trip Guide

Louisiana offers a melting pot of unique cultural experiences and inspiring civil rights history

New Orleans may be better known these days for its festive atmosphere, delicious food and vibrant music scene, but it—and really many other places in Louisiana—played a very prominent role in the battle for civil rights in this country. Louisiana is where Baptist minister T.J. Jemison led the nation’s first bus boycott against segregation in Baton Rouge. In Bogalusa, students began a 106-mile march to raise awareness of violence against African Americans nationwide. And it’s also where one brave little girl in New Orleans inspired a nation to fight against public school integration.

William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana

It was back in 1960 when 6-year-old Ruby Bridges became the first Black student to attend a formerly all-white school, William Frantz Elementary School. To commemorate the epic moment in history and the bravery of the very young Ruby who was met with an angry crowd of segregationists, there’s a statue of her in the school’s courtyard. Additionally, a classroom has been restored to the way it looked when she attended.

New Zion Baptist Church

One of New Orleans’ most historic churches, New Zion Baptist Church was the site of many important meetings of the Civil Rights Movement. It was here in 1957 that a group of Baptist pastors and activists met and formed the Southern Leadership Conference, which would become the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Their first president was a 28-year-old preacher named Martin Luther King Jr. Segregation of bus systems in the South and then bigger issues nationwide, was the focal point of the group’s nonviolent actions. On the outside of the church, a plaque describes the work that Dr. King and the other SCLC members undertook inside. 

The historic neighborhood Tremé located in the French Quarter of New Orleans

Tremé Neighborhood in New Orleans

As far back as its founding in the 18 th century, Tremé, located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, has held major significance in the African American community. It was a place where free persons of color, and eventually African slaves able to obtain their freedom, could acquire and own property, a rarity during this time. Tremé is America’s oldest African American neighborhood and offers plenty of places to explore. At the New Orleans African American Museum, housed in the beautiful Tremé Villa, see a collection of exquisite African beadwork, costumes, masks and divination objects. St. Augustine Church, the oldest African American Catholic parish in the country, is in Tremé too.

Dooky Chase’s Restaurant

Also in Tremé is Dooky Chase’s Restaurant, which opened in 1941. This family-owned James Beard Award-winning restaurant is renowned for its authentic Creole cuisine as well as its role in the civil rights movement. Before the United States Supreme Court reversed its 1896  Plessy v. Ferguson  decision, Dooky Chase’s Restaurant had become a hot spot for discussing issues of civil and economic rights in the African American community. At the time, it was illegal for white and Black people to sit together. But Leah Chase opened the doors to her restaurant and invited activists, including Martin Luther King Jr., into the upstairs dining room.

Top photo: William Frantz Elementary School

Photos courtesy U.S. Civil Rights Trail

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City Park is paradise for kids, plain and simple. From wide-open outdoor spaces and playgrounds where kids can wander, to thrill rides in the Carousel Gardens Amusement Park, to exploring nature’s mysteries in the Botanical Garden or Couturie Forest, the Park is a wonderland of fun and adventure for kids of all ages.

Educational tours and field trips are an excellent way to start exploring the Park.

Carousel Gardens Amusement Park & Storyland

I doesn’t get any more fun than a field trip to Storyland or Carousel Gardens Amusement Park!

Storyland admission: $6/person Flat rate for groups: $500 per ride

Discounted rate is available for groups of 30 or more people. Group packages include unlimited ride wristbands.

30-50 people: $22/person 51-100 people: $20/person Over 100 people: $18/person

To register, call 504-483-9478.

Reward your class or summer camp group with 18 or 36 holes of mini golf! Learn as you go on two courses featuring the flavor of New Orleans and the beauty of Louisiana. Admission is $8 for adults and $6 for children with a group of at least 30.

To schedule, call 504-483-9478.

Grow Dat Youth Farm

Field trips at Grow Dat provide hands-on or virtual experiential learning opportunities to students in grades Pre-K through 12. Our seven-acre site in New Orleans City Park hosts a 2.5-acre farm, produce handling and storage facilities, and a lush, dynamic wild space along our Birding Corridor. Field trips for students, youth organizations, and families: 

• Birds and Bugs on the Bayou
• Seed to Plate
• History of the Land
• Living Soil
• General Farm Tour

In the heart of City Park, adjacent to Couturie Arboretum, LOOP NOLA is the ideal outdoor field-trip destination. Activities don’t require any previous experience – knowledgeable staff members provide participants with everything they need to have a fun, safe time in City Park.

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Atchafalaya National Heritage Area – Various Locations

Louisiana Children’s Museum – New Orleans

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Atchafalaya NHA Field Trips (44 Total)

The office of Tourism in Louisiana presents one of the most complete and wonderful lists of field trips available in our fair state.  Please find below links to complete details for educational or family field trips to any of the more than 40 different destinations across the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area.

Please select from the list below to view complete details:

Field Trips ( 45 )

Please select from the list below to view complete details.

The 13 Very Best Day Trips You Can Possibly Take In Louisiana

Louisiana native and LSU Alum (Geaux Tigers!), Jackie has lived in Louisiana for over three decades and currently lives in New Orleans. She's been writing for OnlyInYourState since 2016 and can often be found with a coffee at her side, dreaming of her next adventure.

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There’s so much to do in Louisiana, it can often get a bit overwhelming for anyone visiting. Even locals have their pick from outdoor activities, events, attractions, and more. For anyone searching for the “best day trips near me” in Louisiana, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve listed 13 of the very best day trips you can possibly take in Louisiana, north to south, east to west. If you’ve ever wanted to find a list of the most unique attractions in Louisiana, then welcome! Just make sure you click the links within each attraction to find out more about these wonderful day trips in Louisiana!

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Whether you enjoy exploring charming small towns in Louisiana or the wilds of nature, our great state has plenty to do and see all year long. What are your favorite day trips in Louisiana ? Share one or two in the comments!

OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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Day trips near me in louisiana.

Where can I go on one tank of gas in Louisiana?

Some of the places you can go on one tank of gas in Louisiana include:

• Sicily Island Hills State Park
• Delta Music Museum
• Tunica Hills State WMA
• Longleaf Vista Recreation Area
• Louisiana’s Old State Capitol

Sometimes the best day trips in Louisiana are able to be enjoyed on one tank of gas. While of course, this depends on the type of car you have, we’ve compiled a list of trips that are all within 300 miles, the standard for a tank of gas. So fuel up folks, and check out these eight amazing places to go in Louisiana on one tank of gas .

What are the best free things to do in Louisiana?

Some of the best free things to do in Louisiana include:

• Go for a scenic drive
• Visit the Acadian Cultural Center
• Tour the Bayou Rum Distillery
• Hike the Barataria Preserve

One of the greatest adventures you can have in Louisiana that are free to enjoy in terms of admission is exploring the highways and byways. Scenic byways in Louisiana are filled with incredible natural beauty, wildlife, and more. Check out these nine scenic drives in Louisiana that will make you fall in love with the state.

What places in Louisiana should I see before I die?

Some of the places in Louisiana you should see before you die include:

• Masur Museum of Art
• Driskill Mountain
• Chennault Aviation and Military Museum
• Chimp Haven
• Bonnie and Clyde Roadside Marker

There are some pretty unique attractions in Louisiana that are touted as hidden gems, even to locals. While visiting the more touristy or populated places is fun, we have a few places to check out that are off-the-beaten-path. Check out these 12 hidden gems in Louisiana you have to see before you die.

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Baton Rouge Field Trips

Named by French explorers as "the Red Stick City," Baton Rouge is where Louisiana's capital, flagship university, and distinctive Cajun and Creole cultures all come together. Located in Southeast Louisiana.

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Blue Zoo Aquarium Baton Rouge

Looking for fun things to do with your students? What better environment to educate and inspire children than a hands-on, interactive aquarium at the Blue Zoo Aquarium Baton Rouge.

BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo

BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo has nearly 800 animals, programming that is in line with state curriculum requirements. Their mission is to help visitors develop an understanding, appreciation and respect for our natural resources.

Burden Museum & Gardens

Burden Museum and Gardens on 440 acres which consists of the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens, Windrush Gardens and the Rural Life Museum. The museum has a 19th century Plantation area, a Folk Architecture section, and 32 buildings representing the rural way of life. 

Knock Knock Children’s Museum

At the Knock Knock Children’s Museum , young visitors learn through play. The museum offers hands-on, fun-filled interactive exhibits called “Learning Zones” designed for children 0-8. 

Louisiana Art & Science Museum

The Louisiana Art & Science Museum is defined by the belief that the disciplines of art and science shape and inform one another and that interdisciplinary experiences enhance the audience’s ability to make connections and discover new ways of seeing and thinking.  

Louisiana Governor's Mansion

The Louisiana Governor’s Mansion is the official residence of the governor of Louisiana and their family. Tours will last approximately 45 minutes to one hour long and will include the mansion gardens.

LSU Hilltop Arboretum

School trips to LSU Hilltop Arboretum are fun and educational! You will find a quiet place far removed from the hustle and bustle of city life and a place to learn about Louisiana’s trees, shrubs and wildflowers.  

LSU Museum of Art

LSU Museum of Art presents world-class touring exhibitions of regional, American, and European painting, sculpture, decorative arts, works on paper, and photography.

LSU Museum of Natural Science

LSU Museum of Natural Science generate knowledge of global biodiversity and human prehistory, to promote an understanding and appreciation of nature through exhibits and programs. 

Magnolia Mound

Magnolia Mound offers a variety of hands-on living history educational programs. These activities include the Historic House tour with Open-Hearth Kitchen, Colonial Games and Toys, Weaving, Life in the Enslaved Community and more.

Old Louisiana State Capitol

The Old Louisiana State Capitol , also known as the State House, is a historic government building, and now a museum. educates the public on Louisiana’s rich history and the democratic process through exhibits, programming and the arts.

Pentagon Barracks Museum

The Pentagon Barracks , also known as the Old United States Barracks, is a complex of buildings located on the  grounds of the state capitol. The Museum contains many displays relating to the history of the facility.

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Louisiana's Cajun Country Is So Much More Than Gumbo and Gators — Though They've Got Those, Too

Most travelers come to southern Louisiana expecting to find gumbo, accordions, and maybe a few gators. But the mix is far richer.

The southwestern region of Louisiana is officially called Acadiana, but when I told people I was planning a road trip there, I found myself saying, "I'm going to Cajun country." I was drawn to the region's heritage, and hoped to eat Cajun food, listen to zydeco, maybe head out on the swamp. What I didn't expect: soul-stirring natural beauty and a unique community, with a layered history that continues to thrive and adapt.

I was traveling with my friend Katherine, who lives in New Orleans . Together, we set off on the three-hour drive to Lafayette Parish, which welcomes roughly 3 million people each year. Here, in the center of Acadiana, there are weekly Rendez-vous des Cajuns concerts, which showcase the region's fiddle-and-accordion-driven music, and cultural events like the Festivals Acadiens et Créoles .

Canadians make up the largest group of international visitors, which makes sense. The word Cajun is an anglicization of Acadien, the French Catholic ethnic group that, in the 18th century, was expelled from eastern Canada by the British in what became known as Le Grand Dérangement, or the Great Upheaval. Thousands ended up on the bayous of Catholic, French-speaking Louisiana.

Our first stop was Vermilionville , on the outskirts of the city of Lafayette . This living-history museum showcases the groups that resided along Bayou Vermilion in the late 18th and the 19th centuries. In the old schoolhouse, Katherine and I were surprised to see the chalkboard filled with a repeated line, "I will not speak French on the school grounds." Evidently, the current celebration of Cajun culture is a renaissance, a response to a time when that heritage was denigrated. (English was mandatory in Louisiana public schools from 1921 until 1974, leading to a significant decline in the population of native French speakers by 2010.) Today, there's a concerted effort to bring back the culture, the language — even the Acadian brown cotton spun by the refugees.

But while the Acadian experience is an important story, it's not the whole story. Outsiders often conflate the Cajun and Creole cultures (and cuisines) of Louisiana, and it's true that the definitions can be slippery. In Louisiana, the term Creole refers to "the children of the colonies" — the descendants of those who lived in the area during European colonial rule. Vermilionville is a site of many histories: Native American, French, Spanish, West African.

"The Acadians didn't get here until 1764," D'Jalma Garnier III, a Creole musician at Vermilionville, told us. "People think gumbo is Cajun," he added. "It's from Senegal! Gumbo comes from the West African word for okra." Before European colonization, Louisiana was home to more than a dozen tribes, including the Chitimacha and Choctaw. The French brought enslaved Africans, who were forced to work the indigo and tobacco fields alongside captive native peoples. Whether they were there by choice or by force, each group added its own traditions to Louisiana, creating something entirely new — or, as Garnier put it, creolizing. "I like to spread our créolité," he said, playing a Creole tune with "clear Caribbean African" roots.

Like Creole music, the rest of our trip was partly improvised. We took an airboat ride on the bayou — having signed a waiver absolving our guides of responsibility for the actions of mosquitoes, alligators, and Asian carp, which tend to jump out of the water and into your lap. What struck me even more than airborne fish was the serene beauty of the Atchafalaya Swamp — the country's largest wetland, situated between Lafayette and Baton Rouge. The sound of flapping alerted us to the presence of egrets, their flight rippling the reflection of cypress trees in the water.

Lush nature surrounded us again at Rip Van Winkle Gardens , 15 acres of semitropical parkland on the banks of Lake Peigneur, half an hour south of Lafayette. Home to roseate spoonbills, white egrets, and peacocks, the property is also the site of an 1870 Steamboat Gothic-style house built for Joseph Jefferson, an actor who became famous touring the country in an adaptation of the Rip Van Winkle story. The gardens are actually located on Jefferson Island — which isn't an island at all, but one of five salt domes, mounds of minerals pushing up through the sedimentary rock, that are attached to the shore of the lake. Some of them formed traps for oil and natural gas, and in 1980, a salt mine under Jefferson Island collapsed after being punctured by a Texaco drilling rig. The Jefferson home was spared, but as Lake Peigneur drained into the breached mine, it became a whirlpool, swallowing up another house recently built on its banks. Today, only the house's chimney stands, rising mournfully out of the water.

The next night, at the Wednesday Cajun Jam at the Blue Moon Saloon , in Lafayette, fiddlers and accordionists accompanied a twenty-something woman singing in French as Katherine accepted an older gentleman's invitation to dance. He turned out to be an engineer who had come here in 1970 to work for Morton Salt, and remembers the day the dome collapsed. It was one of a few coincidences that left me feeling Acadiana was a place where the past two-steps with the present.

We spent our last day kayaking among the tupelo and cypress on Lake Martin, following Janenne deClouet, founder of Duc in Altum tours and a paddling philosopher who believes in the healing power of nature. "It's kind of a ministry," she said of guiding kayakers. "You get people out into Creation and see them rest." As we rowed, she showed us alligators, egrets, and duck blinds, then pointed to a leaning cypress that formed a sort of arch. "I call this the torii gate of the lake."

It echoed the bright red, and entirely real, Shinto gate we had seen at Jungle Gardens on Avery Island, another salt dome about an hour south of Lafayette. (It's most famous for being home to the Tabasco factory. The torii leads the way to a 900-year-old Buddha, a gift to hot-sauce scion Edward Avery McIlhenny in 1936.) "When you pass through the torii," deClouet said, "you let something go that has been weighing you down."

Once a year, deClouet helps lead the Eucharistic boat procession along nearby Bayou Teche that celebrates the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Acadiana is deeply attached to the Catholic faith of its French forebears — and yet the ancient Buddha appears at home here, too. We had come to learn one people's story and, instead, discovered something richer: that everywhere we went and everyone we met was a living embodiment of this region's créolité.

Cajun Country Must-Sees

Where to stay.

Spend a night in Lafayette, a city of 125,000 at the center of Acadiana. There are chain hotels, but we loved the food-focused Maison Madeleine just outside town. Don't miss the Jesus Bar, a cocktail spot filled with Catholic icons occupying an outbuilding on the property. Near Avery Island, Olive Branch Cottages , which once housed cane cutters, has a canoe for paddling on Bayou Teche.

Where to Eat and Drink

In Lafayette, the elegant Café Vermilionville serves old-school fare like alligator Dijon and duck roulade. The Cajun Jam at the Blue Moon Saloon is the place to be on Wednesdays. For nouveau Cajun cuisine, try Café Sydnie Mae , in Breaux Bridge. Near Abbeville, close to Avery Island, Suire's Grocery , a plate-lunch general store famous for its turtle sauce picante and pecan pies, is the best kind of throwback.

Rip Van Winkle Gardens is a fascinating piece of Jefferson Island history. You can even rent a cottage there and wake up to peacocks outside your window. Jungle Gardens , on Avery Island, is known for its bird-watching and wildlife. Head out onto the bayou with McGee's Louisiana Swamp & Airboat Tours , which offers airboat, motorboat, and canoe tours helmed by Cajun guides. Duc in Altum leads small-group kayaking excursions and photography tours. For an immersive understanding of Acadiana's complex past, the living-history museum at Vermilionville is an essential stop.

A version of this story first appeared in the April 2020 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline Born on the Bayou. The Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission provided support for the reporting of this story.