New Orleans Attractions And Tours

Attractions | City Tours | Festivals | Plantations | Swamps

A city full of rich history and storied culture, New Orleans holds something for every traveler. Whether you're bringing the whole family or flying solo, the city and area that surround it will entertain, inform and amaze you.

Start with a New Orleans city tour and learn the city’s story while visiting a vast array of attractions and historic sights. Then venture into the unknown via a swamp tour and have an unforgettable adventure in the rich swampland and picturesque bayous that surround the city. Before you leave, travel to the nearby plantations that dot the Mississippi River and be amazed by the historic, beautiful homes that have stood for hundreds of years.

Learn more about New Orleans' tours and attractions:

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New Orleans Tours

French Quarter Bike Tours
Experience the sights and sounds of New Orleans at ground level with French Quarter Bike Tours! Ride along with a local, licensed tour guide, learning about the Crescent City's history and culture along the way. Tour groups are small, and there are various stops to hop off your bike and take a closer look. Tours are 3 hours. Water and safety gear is provided.
City Sightseeing Tours
Travel around New Orleans in style on an exciting open-top, double-decker bus with City Sightseeing New Orleans. Hop on and off, their tour service takes you around town from the French Quarter to the Central Business District to the Garden District in an entertaining, informative and flexible manner. Get a coupon for your tour at NewOrleansCoupons.com.
Tours by Isabelle
Tours by Isabelle is the oldest locally owned and family-run New Orleans tour company, providing first-class, small-scale, personalized service since 1979. Experienced and knowledgeable driver guides and comfortable, top-of-the-line 13-passenger vans will make you fall in love with Louisiana! Get a coupon for your tour at NewOrleansCoupons.com.
WWII Victory Tour
The WWII Victory tour combines a visit to the WWII with a cruise on the Steamboat Natchez paddle wheeler or a tour of New Orleans. The trip to the museum includes the Tom Hanks produced and narrated 4-D film experience Beyond All Boundaries. If you choose the city tour leg, you'll learn about three centuries of history in New Orleans including the world famous French Quarter.
Ghosts & Spirits Tour
Many people call New Orleans the most haunted city in America. After this tour, you'll understand why. This nighttime tour travels through the French Quarter where you'll learn about the history and ghost stories of the Vieux Carre while visiting some of the most haunted sites in the city, if not the entire country.
New Orleans Original Cocktail Tour
The New Orleans Original Cocktail Tour is a perfect way to start your getaway in the Big Easy. Travel through the historic quarter and visit some of the most famous bars and restaurants in the city to learn about their famous spirits like the Sazerac, Pimm's Cup and even the famous or maybe we should say infamous Hand Grenade.
Cemetery & Voodoo Tour
The Cemetery & Voodoo tour takes you deep inside of St. Louis Cemetery #1, where both the most famous and the most infamous residents of New Orleans are buried. Including in those buried at this famous cemetery is Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans.
French Quarter Tour
Tour the French Quarter with a local expert and learn about the secrets of one of the oldest and most colorful neighborhoods in the country. The tour takes you from the banks of the Mississippi River, through the French Market and Jackson Square before exploring the streets that make the city so famous.
Super City Tour
The Super City Tour offers a broader overview of New Orleans with a narrated sightseeing throughout the city. The tour travels through the world famous French Quarter and Jackson Square, a stop at one of the city's historic above ground cemeteries, through Bayou St. John to hear legends of voodoo and piracy, along St. Charles Avenue the home of the historic streetcar and mansions of the king and queens of Mardi Gras.
Big Easy Jazz Tour
Learn about the history of jazz in New Orleans from its birthplace in the Big Easy to the legends that made this city their home to the musical notes that flow through the streets today. There's no better way to learn about the music then while enjoying VIP seating in the patio of Musical Legends Park. Tour includes complimentary cocktail to start your night and a choice of cocktail or cafe au lait and beignets at its conclusion.
Hurricane Katrina Tour
August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and much of the surrounding regions. This tour gives an eye-witness account of disaster while traveling past a levee that breached and touring the neighborhoods that were devastated and wiped out by the flood waters. When the tour is complete, you'll leave with a better understanding of the events leading up to Katrina, life after the storm and the Rebirth of New Orleans.
Gray Line New Orleans
Gray Line, the world's leader in sightseeing, has showcased New Orleans to visitors from around the world since 1924. From the French Quarter to the swamp, visitors enjoy touring New Orleans' many beautiful and interesting attractions. Gray Line offers a variety of tour packages. (Coupons available at NewOrleansCoupons.com).
Creole Pub Crawl

Join Creole Pub Crawl in a sophisticated, yet funky way to see the best bars and restaurants in New Orleans. Their mission is to share the amazing chefs, creative mixologists and the storied history that resides in New Orleans’ Arts & Warehouse District with visitors to the city.

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New Orleans Attractions

Steamboat Natchez River Cruise
Climb aboard the Steamboat Natchez for a scenic cruise down the Mississippi. Along the way, you'll enjoy the beautiful sights, delicious food and great music. Jazz bands frequent the decks of the boat, as well as the steam powered calliope, or just listen to the sounds of the river. Steamboat Natchez offers daytime cruises, as well as a dinner with jazz cruise that features the Dukes of Dixieland. (coupons available at NewOrleansCoupons.com).
Musée Conti Wax Museum
It's the best-kept secret in New Orleans. The Musée Conti Historical Wax Museum is fun, historical, educational AND entertaining, making it a New Orleans must-see! Founded in 1963, "The WAX" tells the fascinating story of New Orleans, from the city's founding to the present day. Experience more than 300 years of history, legend and scandal with 154 life-sized figures displayed in historically accurate settings.
National World War II Museum
The National World War II Museum's exhibits encompass the June 6, 1944 invasion of Normandy, the Home Front during WWII, and the D-Day Invasions in the Pacific, among other notable wartime events. Exhibit galleries incorporate text panels, artifacts, and personal account stations at which visitors may listen to the stories of WWII veterans and others who supported the war effort. Museum admisison coupons are available at NewOrleansCoupons.com.
Royal Carriages
Take a carriage ride while you're in New Orleans, and enjoy a tour of the French Quarter (Garden District tours are available, too!). Quaint mule-drawn carriages take you past many New Orleans landmarks, including Bourbon Street, the mighty Mississippi, and Jackson Square. (Coupon available at NewOrleansCoupons.com.)
Jackson Square
An afternoon in Jackson Square contributed by Nick Cognevich; photos of Jackson Square and Pirates' Alley by Marc Weitz. To explore one of New Orleans' most famous historic locations, visit Jackson Square at Experience New Orleans!
Holidays in New Orleans
Celebrations and parades occur all year long in New Orleans! Whether it's St. Patrick's Day in New Orleans or Mardi Gras, there's always something to celebrate.

For information on recommended restaurants, recipes and more, visit the Taste of New Orleans and New Orleans Restaurants.com!
Cajun Encounters Tours
Cajun Encounters is a locally owned and operated tour company with over ten years of experience. The company takes pride in providing comprehensive, personalized swamp tours, city tours, and plantation tours to both locals and New Orleans visitors.
Audubon Zoo
One of the country’s top-ranked zoos, Audubon Zoo features an exotic mix of animals from around the globe, engaging and expansive natural habitats, lush gardens and resting spots, a taste of the mystical Louisiana swamp, and hands-on animal encounters.
Audubon Aquarium of the Americas
Walk beneath the vivid Caribbean Reef, marvel at the lush beauty of the Amazon Rainforest, and travel the Mississippi River at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, where penguins, sharks, stingrays and other deep-sea creatures await your visit.
Audubon Insectarium
Located in the historic U.S. Custom House on Canal Street in downtown New Orleans, the Audubon Insectarium will delight you with "up close and personal" live insect encounters, the inextricably linked stories of the Crescent City and its insects, and “Life Underground,” where you’ll be shrunken to insect size.
Entergy IMAX Theatre
The wonders of nature are magnified at Entergy IMAX® Theatre, where larger-than-life adventures expand with the help of the world’s most advanced motion picture technology.
Southern Seaplanes
For more than 55 years, Southern Seaplane has been traveling above the swamps of Louisiana and its beautiful coastline, sharing their knowledge in a variety of tours for business and pleasure.
Laura: A Creole Plantation Tour
Go back in time and visit a working sugar farm built in 1805. The tour is based on papers documenting 250 years of true-life stories of the people - both free and slave - that lived and worked on the planation. This tour has been called the best history tour in the United States and awarded "Top Travel Attraction in Louisiana" by the Louisiana Travel Promotion Agency.
Oak Alley Plantation Tour
Experience a historical tour that takes you back to the Old South in its glory days. Oak Alley Plantation was built in 1839 and has a long, storied history including a quarter mile of alley of 28 oak trees, each at least 250 years old. The plantation was also the setting for movies like "Interview with a Vampire," "Primary Colors" and a famous daytime soap opera wedding.

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New Orleans Festivals

Go 4th on the River
Annual 4th of July celebration with activities and entertainment for the entire family along the riverfront. The celebration ends with a spectacular fireworks show over the Mississippi River. Visit the site for events and attractions, and don't forget to print the coupons offered.
French Quarter Festival
Enjoy 400+ hours of entertainment, featuring more than 150 musical performances on twenty stages throughout the French Quarter, over a three-day weekend.
Satchmo SummerFest
"What a Wonderful World," you will say to yourself as you discover an entertaining and educational weekend in the French Quarter, honoring New Orleans' native son, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong.
Christmas New Orleans-Style
There's no place like New Orleans for the holidays during Christmas New Orleans Style: a celebration of uniquely New Orleans holiday activities taking place throughout December.

Attractions | City Tours | Festivals | Plantations | Swamps