Side Trips from New Orleans Feature

Jam to Cajun and zydeco music. Ensembles of fiddles, accordions, and guitars produce eminently danceable folk music, with songs sung in a mélange of English and Cajun French. Zydeco, closely related to Cajun music, adds washboard and drums to the mix and has more of a blues-rock feel.

Marvel at plantation homes. These stately homes will have you reenacting your favorite scenes from Gone with the Wind. Some of them now stand in the shadow of massive chemical plants and oil refineries that now operate on the Mississippi River; some plantation ruins appear in the middle of cow fields or alongside bayous, further testifying to the clash between old and new.

Take a swamp tour. Ride through the beautiful wetlands surrounding New Orleans and Baton Rouge. You'll see alligators, snakes, nutria, and more in their natural habitat.