retsel4

I understand that the National Park Service provides free tours of the French Quarter and the Garden Dist. Where does one pick up these tours? Has anyone taken them?

Dan

From the nps.gov website:

French Quarter Visitor Center. Walking Tours: 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. History of New Orleans Tour: 25 person limit. First-come, first-served. Passes limited to one per person, must be picked up in person on day of tour. Less than one mile of walking. One hour in length.

Garden District Tour: 2:30 p.m. 25 person limit. One hour in length. First-come, first-served. Passes limited to one per person, must be picked up in person on day of tour from 419 Decatur Visitor Center. Garden District Tour is offered Sunday through Friday. Garden District tours will be canceled on days when carnival season parades restrict access to the Garden District. This tour will not be conducted March 2, 3, and 4, 2003 due to Mardi Gras parades. Group tours by reservation.

Topper

We took the French Quarter tour and enjoyed it. The only negative was people coming up and "joining" the tour in progress. They would ask questions that had been already answered and also made the tour group too big to be effective. The focus is historical with some archetechural comments. The ranger that led our tour was very nice.

There are actually two "National Parks" in NOLA...one is the aforementioned that gives tours called the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve. The French Quarter section is only a small part of it, it also has units out in the swamps and also a really good unit down at Calumette where the Battle of New Orleans took place. There is a nice Visitor's Center on Decatur Street in the Quarter with lots of displays and is also where you pick up the tour.

The other park in NOLA is the New Orleans Jazz Historical Park. The Headqueaters is over behind the Cafe du Monde. It;s a relatively new park and when we were there they didn't have much, but I'm sure it's better now.

MistressMina

Be careful of the "free" tours that are really just a form of timeshare-like tour, designed to sales pitch you for the real tour that is far from free!!! (This is not the same as the Parks Service tour....)

GatorLadyUSA

As a local resident, I have to admit, I've been reading about this in the Times-Picayune and I do NOT agree with or support the NPS Free Tours. Why would anyone want to support something that will put licensed tour guides? Those folks work so hard to earn a permit and get a job...... why would we want to encourage anyone to do that? I recommend the New Orleans Ghost Tour, ever since I figured out which tour was stopping outside my condo every night at around 8:15. The guide (named Randy) always tells his tour to be quiet and respectful of the residents (like me, who appreciate that), and I think that gives him a lot of credibility. Free tours?????? C'mon -- that's unfair competition, and I'm embarrased to be paying taxes to support that.

Topper

Yea! Right on! While we're at it, lets just sell off all the National Parks. Let the "entreprenuers" start preying on the idiot tourists.

Come on, man! When we were in NOLA, the most informative and interesting tour by far was the NPS tour b/c the ranger knew what she was talking about and wasn't trying to sell me a timeshare or making me stop in the "gift" shop after the tour

AnneO

There has been a lot of controversy recently about the National Park Services tours, which I find strange. They have been providing these free tours for years, then they added one in the Garden District, and the city is in an uproar about putting tour guides out of work! Most of the controversy seems to stem from the ghost tours, with most of the negative comments relating to the Haunted History Tours (which is a different company than NO Ghost Tours). Size of tour groups, use of bullhorns late at night, etc seem to be the problem.

In most cases in life, you get what you pay for, but in the case of these tours, you get a wonderful free tour (paid for with our tax $$, so I guess not "truly" free), and no pressure to go through gift shops, stop at bars, etc., and the rangers actually have their facts straight! I say go for it, and enjoy your stay in our great city!

Anne

Arina

I am also planning a trip to N.O. and I called both visitor centers for free NPS walking tour update. Here is the update: the Garden District tour has been cancelled, so the only tour they currently offer is the History Walking Tour that starts at 9:30am every morning and leaves from 419 Decatur street. Also, there is a Jazz History Walking Tour every other saturday at 9:30am that is offered by the Jazz smth. National Park service. For this one, you need to call 504-589-4841 to reserve. The group is limited to 20 people. Hope this info is useful.

GatorLadyUSA

If anyone is interested in the limit for tours (of any kind) by law in the Quarter, it is 47 right now but the City Council is planning to change that to a smaller number soon. I think that will help make everyone's life easier. I can't imagine what those poor guides go thru when they have 47 drunks on their hands! And I know what I go thru as a FQ resident who has to listen to the unruly drunks hooting & hollering under my balcony every night. Oh, and I agree with the person who said Haunted History was a big offender. Last weekend, I counted one of their groups on my corner at 70 people. Way over the legal limit and they were all rowdy and left trash everywhere. What makes me mad is there is a trash can on my corner because Verti Marte is across the street! How lazy and disrepectful are these people? To the credit of the free NPS tours, no one ever leaves trash lying around and the tourists are mostly sober.