5 Best Nightlife in Side Trips from New Orleans, Louisiana

This cottage doesn't look like much from the street, but after you pay your cover at the garden gate, you'll soon find yourself on a large covered deck packed with a young crowd dancing to the hottest local Cajun, zydeco, and roots music acts. Check their calendar online for upcoming shows.

This family-run zydeco club hosts music on Friday and Saturday nights. Sid Williams manages the club, and his brother's band, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas, perform frequently—as does Nathan's son's band, Lil Nathan and the Zydeco Big Timers.

Taking place on the last weekend of April, this free multi-day Lafayette music festival is a worthy alternative to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. A regional favorite, it fills the streets with some of the best entertainers, artisans, and chefs from French-speaking nations and communities.

This huge music-and-food fest—which kicks off with the official "Cutting of the Boudin"—is held mid-October in Girard Park. Admission's free and the food's outstanding, but the music is the best thing about it all.

This good Cajun restaurant is also a salle de danse, with music and dancing seven nights a week.