Louisiana

Louisiana's sights for a visitor are New Orleans, Cajun country around Lafayette and the plantations of the River Road, all within three hours' drive of the French Quarter. The National Park Service's three counted sites in the state had 288,811 recreation visits in 2025. Jean Lafitte, with its six sites across south Louisiana, had 226,543 of them.

Two of Jean Lafitte's sites were closed on 27 October 2026, and the state no longer refunds sales tax to visitors from abroad. We read the figures below on 27 October 2026 on the National Park Service's pages, the airport's and the RTA's own timetables, the Louisiana Department of Revenue's pages and NOAA's normals.

Which Park Service sites in Louisiana can you visit for free?

No National Park Service site in Louisiana charges an entrance fee. None of them is on the 2026 list of eleven parks charging a $100 surcharge to visitors from abroad. There is no gate fee to pay, by card or cash.

Cane River Creole's plantations open from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Wednesday to Sunday, and close on Mondays, Tuesdays and all federal holidays. Oakland's main house can be seen inside only at weekends, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The visitor centre is in the Texas and Pacific Railway Depot in Natchitoches.

Poverty Point's state facilities open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Park Service lists Vicksburg National Military Park under Louisiana as well, though it stands in Mississippi. An America the Beautiful pass, $250 for non-residents in 2026, buys nothing in Louisiana. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors covers the parks where it does pay.

Is Barataria Preserve open after the Ida rebuild began?

Barataria Preserve is closed for rebuilding from 2 February 2026, and the Park Service expects the work to take two years. The repairs follow damage from Hurricane Ida in 2021. On 27 October 2026 the park's pages said the visitor centre and every trail except Twin Canals were shut.

Twin Canals keeps its parking area, trail and canoe launch open for day use, with no restrooms. The closed list includes the Bayou Coquille, Palmetto, Marsh Overlook and Wood Duck trails. In normal times the preserve covers 26,000 acres of bayous, swamps, marshes and forests, home to alligators and over 200 bird species.

The Park Service has moved its rangers to the Town of Jean Lafitte's Louisiana Wetlands Education Center, six miles away, with the Wetland Trace boardwalk. Rangers are there on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a guided walk at 1 p.m. The centre charges its own admission, $10 for an adult, and that is not a Park Service fee.

When can you visit the French Quarter Visitor Center and Chalmette Battlefield?

The French Quarter Visitor Center, at 419 Decatur Street by Jackson Square, opens Tuesday to Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Jean Lafitte and New Orleans Jazz share it, and its exhibits cover south Louisiana's culture, nature, history and food. Jazz's second building, in Dutch Alley on North Peters Street, opens only for special events.

Chalmette Battlefield is the site of the Battle of New Orleans on 8 January 1815. Its vehicle gates open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and walkers may enter from sunrise to sunset all year. The gates of Chalmette National Cemetery open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., federal holidays included.

The paddlewheeler Creole Queen sails to the battlefield from the French Quarter. Its fares and times are on its own site and are not given here.

Which bus goes from New Orleans airport to downtown for $1.25?

The RTA 202 Airport Express runs from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to downtown for $1.25. Drivers carry no change, so pay with exact cash or buy the fare in the RTA's Le Pass app. The stop is on Level 1, Zone B5, outside baggage claim.

RTA's autumn 2026 timetable, in force from 20 September, has the first bus leaving the airport at 4:50 a.m. and the last at 10:10 p.m. Buses run about every 50 minutes, every day. The ride to Poydras at Freret takes 19 to 31 minutes, and to the Canal Street Ferry Terminal 26 to 41 minutes. The airport's page still names Elk Place at Cleveland, a stop that RTA's own map no longer shows.

A taxi from the Level 1 rank at baggage claim door 7 costs a flat $36 to the CBD or the French Quarter west of Elysian Fields for up to two people. Three or more pay $15 each, and taxis must accept cards. Jefferson Transit's E1 bus is another option at $2.00 into New Orleans, ending at City Park Avenue.

Does the St. Charles streetcar run all night?

The St. Charles streetcar runs every day, with the first trip at 4:10 a.m. and the last printed trip at 3:25 a.m. Cars come about every 10 to 12 minutes from mid-morning to early evening, and roughly every half hour late at night and before dawn. The trip from Canal at Carondelet to Carrollton at Claiborne takes 39 minutes early in the morning and 46 at midday.

On 27 October 2026 the RTA's timetable said buses replace the streetcar between Carrollton at Claiborne and Willow, every 10 to 15 minutes, during maintenance. A single ride costs $1.25 and includes a two-hour transfer.

The RTA's Jazzy Pass covers its buses, streetcars and ferries. A one-day pass costs $3, three days $8 and seven days $15. Each pass counts from its first use, so a one-day pass lasts 24 hours. The Le Pass app, the RTA office, ticket machines and some shops sell it.

Which plantations on the River Road can you visit from New Orleans?

The River Road plantations of Whitney, Oak Alley and Laura lie about an hour's drive from the French Quarter. Whitney is 47 miles away by our own routing and Oak Alley 54 miles, both on Highway 18.

Whitney Plantation, at Wallace, opens from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with last entry at 3 p.m., and closes on Tuesdays. Its self-guided audio tour costs $25 for an adult and $11 for children aged 6 to 18, in six languages, and takes 1 hour 10 minutes. A guided tour costs $32 for an adult and $15 for a child, and under-6s go free.

Oak Alley's own site prints three different sets of opening hours, so none is given here. Its 30-minute guided tours of the Big House run from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and it closes on New Year's Day, Mardi Gras, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Laura Plantation's tickets page shows both $22 and $30 for an adult, for products it does not clearly tell apart, so check the tour before buying.

What is open in Cajun country while Lafayette's Acadian centre is shut?

Cajun country around Lafayette lies 137 miles from the French Quarter by our own routing. On 27 October 2026 the Park Service said its Acadian Cultural Center in Lafayette was temporarily closed because of air-conditioning problems. No reopening date was given.

The Park Service has moved its programmes to the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center in Eunice, open Tuesday to Saturday. Its third Acadian centre, the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center in Thibodaux on Bayou Lafourche, runs ranger-guided boat tours of the bayou. The park warns that you will need a car to reach it.

The Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, established in 2006, stretches across 14 parishes of south-central Louisiana. The Park Service calls the Atchafalaya America's largest river swamp. The heritage area is managed locally rather than run as a park, and the three Acadian centres are its Park Service sites.

The McIlhenny Company's TABASCO visit on Avery Island, an island built on a salt dome, is self-guided and runs daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Central Time. Tickets cost $15.50 for an adult and $12.50 for a child, and cash is not accepted. The visit includes a museum, a pepper greenhouse and the 170-acre Jungle Gardens.

When is Mardi Gras in 2027?

Mardi Gras 2027 falls on Tuesday 9 February, according to the holiday table of the Louisiana Clerks of Court Association. In 2026 it was on 17 February. The City of New Orleans and its tourism bureau had pages we could not read, so this guide gives no parade dates.

On Mardi Gras itself the RTA runs its buses and streetcars on a weekend schedule. Oak Alley Plantation closes for the day.

How hot and wet is a New Orleans summer?

A New Orleans summer is hot and wet: July and August average highs of 91°F, and the airport averages 85 days a year at 90°F or more. Rain totals 63.35 inches a year, with June the wettest month at 7.62 inches and October the driest at 3.70.

The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 average highs and lows at each city's airport. Baton Rouge averages 96 days a year at 90°F or more and Shreveport nearly 99. Spring is the busy season at the New Orleans park sites, and April 2025 was the peak month at both Jean Lafitte and New Orleans Jazz.

Hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November. The National Hurricane Center says the first major hurricane of an average season forms in late August or early September.

Which cities abroad fly nonstop to New Orleans?

London, Toronto and Cancún are the only cities abroad with nonstop flights to New Orleans. The airport's list on 27 October 2026 had British Airways from London Heathrow five times a week and Air Canada from Toronto three times a week. Breeze and Southwest each flew to Cancún twice a week, seasonally.

The airport, in Kenner, has 14 airlines and over 50 nonstop destinations, and it warns that schedules change. Everyone else connects through a US hub: Atlanta has nine Delta flights a day, Houston eight on United and Dallas/Fort Worth seven on American. Louisiana is wholly on Central Time, and in 2026 daylight saving time ended on 1 November.

The distances are our own routing from the French Quarter Visitor Center, without traffic. Whitney's own directions take I-10 to exit 194 instead.

Can visitors from abroad still get Louisiana's sales-tax refund?

Louisiana's sales-tax refund for international visitors no longer exists, as of the Department of Revenue's page. The programme, running since 1988, ended on 1 July 2024 under Act 255 of the 2023 Regular Session. The last mail-in claims closed on 30 June 2025, and its website no longer loads. We could not reach the legislature's site to check whether a later law revived it.

The state sales tax has been 5.00% since 1 January 2025, and local taxes come on top. The City of New Orleans's own tax instructions add 5% (4.5% on groceries and prescription drugs), so purchases in the city carry 10% by our sum.

A New Orleans hotel with ten or more rooms carries 10% in taxes collected by the state. That is 3% state sales tax, 4% for the Stadium and Exposition District and 3% for the Exhibition Hall Authority. The hall authority adds 50 cents to $2 a night, rising with the hotel's size.

The city's own 5% hotel sales tax brings the total to 15% by our sum, and its occupancy tax adds 50 cents or $1 a night. Our New Orleans guide covers the city in full. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why prices are shown before tax.