Plantation Tours from New Orleans

No. The oldest and most famous cemetery in the city can only be entered with a guide who is registered with the Archdiocese of New Orleans; the rule has been in place since 2015, after vandalism of the tombs. A guided walk is therefore the only way in, which is why the tours inside the gates cost more than ones that stay outside. Check the booking page to see which one you are buying.

Possibly, but nobody can promise it. The tour descriptions say you can keep an eye out for alligators; none of them guarantees a sighting, and they are wild animals. Treat a sighting as a bonus. The tour itself is the boat ride through the bayou, the guide’s commentary on Cajun culture and the birds and plants along the way.

Take the airboat if you want speed and open air: it is loud and fast, and the top-rated airboat tours here reach 4.9 stars. Take the covered boat if you travel with small children, a hat that does not stay on or a limited tolerance for noise: it runs about an hour and a half, is calmer and shades you from the sun. Both can start from the swamp or from a city pickup.

For the French Quarter, the Garden District and the museums, no: these are walks, a streetcar ride or a short taxi ride. The swamps and the plantations lie outside the city, and many of the tours listed here offer pickup or include transport, as their titles say. A rental car pays off only if you plan to drive out to several of them on your own; compare the prices before you book.

It is the most booked tour in the city, with ratings around 4.4. That is good but not outstanding, so go for the river and the music rather than for a perfect evening. The dinner or lunch is an optional extra; if you only want the cruise, the base ticket is enough. The daytime and the evening sailing are similar in length, about two hours.

Both, in different proportions. The plantations along the Mississippi are sites of slavery, and the tours put the emphasis in different places: a visit to Laura Plantation is told through Creole stories, Destrehan has a tour about the slave revolt of 1811, and Whitney is built around the lives of the enslaved. Read the description of the one you choose and decide which story you want.