New Orleans, Louisiana - Nearby

Day trips outside of town

• Swamp tours - those with a car can make an easy day trip to the Jean Laffite Nature Preserve, a free park, with as good a view of local swamp flora and fauna as various pay tours. Honey Island Swamp Tours Inc. - nearly 70,000 acres of the Honey Island Swamp is a permanently protected wildlife area. Jean Lafitle Swamp Tours - Cajun-style boat tour takes you out on an 1 hour and 45 minute trip through the heart of Southern Louisiana's swamplands. Experience real-life adventure for the whole family from the comfort of our swamp boats. Westwego Swamp Adventures offers visitors a fascinating boat trip into the Louisiana Swamps and Bayous. At Westwego, you will observe the nesting grounds of alligators, egrets, raccoons, nutria and snakes, and be treated to a Bayou Nature Wildlife Show by a local naturalist.
• Plantation tours - the Great River Road between New Orleans and Baton Rouge has several fine plantations, "Laura"and "Magnolia Mound" (Creole Plantations) and "San Francisco" are of special interest.
• Battle of New Orleans Site - Battlefield history fans will want to visit the site famous battle where Andrew Jackson defeated the British at the end of the War of 1812. It didn't actually happen in New Orleans, but in the nearby community of Chalmette, Louisiana. Drive there or take a riverboat. (Note that this community was hit hard by major flooding; while reviving, check on conditions before visiting.)

Get out

If you have a car and want a short adventure, drive north on the Lake Ponchartrain Bridge for a thrill. As soon as you get to the other side, start looking for the plentiful seafood offerings: fresh crab and shrimp out of the lake at very reasonable prices.

I-10 runs east west through the city, I-55 dumps into I-10 West of the city and Pontchartrain; I-59 outflows into I-10 on the East side.

The local airport, which is the suburb Kenner, is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International (acronym of MSY, Moisant Stock Yards). The airport is approximately 11 miles from the Central Business District, the Riverwalk, and the French Quarter. Usual suspects for exit: taxicabs, shuttle buses, and public transportation have routes that can get you to Armstong 24-hours a day. General Aviation traffic is served by both MSY and New Orleans Lakefront on Lake Ponchartrain.

If your goal is getting to know the area, River Road is home to a stretch of Plantations. Sugar plantations brought in a nice bit of income, and there are some lovely homes with the archetypal oak collonades at the entrance. Plantation owners were the first to institute levee constructions, and one of the first levees is actually just outside of New Orleans, right behind Ochsner Hospital (along River road). When the area would flood, the levee would be the highest ground, and would crowd with refugees.

You can also arrange for a swamp tour. Spring at Jean Lafitte swamp is a lovely time to see the swamp iris. Also, the first and longest running prison rodeo is just up the way at Angola http://www.angolarodeo.com/ . Before and after the rodeo, the inmates sell crafts, such as belt buckles, wallets, original paintings, and the inmates earn money for their families.