Has anyone visited Cajun Country in and around Lafayette, LA? If so, do you have recommendations for places to stay, eat, and sights to visit?

Thank you.

Here's a few ideas. A few years back we attended a Road Scholar program at Lafayette and enjoyed a week of
activities.

Here's what we did. Stayed Ramada Inn. Lots of ideas at Visitor Info Center intersection of I-10 & I-49 (Evangeline Thruway). Visited Martin Accordian Shop. Toured Atchafalaya Basin incl. boat ride. Visited Avery Island tabasco factory/shop. Also Lafayette Acadian Center.

Eating: La Cuisine de Manan, Dean-O's on Bertand Dr., Mulate's Cajun Restaurant-Breaux Bridge, Taste N Sea Restaurant in New Iberia, Poche's at Main Hwy Breaux Bridge, and definitely a night at Randols' Restaurant and/or Cajun Dancehall or Mulate's Restaurant (incl. getting on the dance floor).

I should add visiting Shadows-on-the-Teche, a National Trust Historic site in New Iberia. This was a sugarcane planter's stately home.

Here's some info: Boudin is a pork & rice mixture in a sausage casing, Jolie Blonde (zho lee blohn or pretty blonde is Cajun Anthem. Zydeco is of course Cajun music. Cajun yell when having a good time is AIEEEEEEEEEE!

Its been a few years, but these are our highlights when we were in the area:

* Swamp tour on Lake Martin - this is a beautiful lake with a variety of animals and geography - from open lake to really swampy stuff. We went on a tour with Butch Gutchereaux, but there are other people who take people out as well.

* Jungle Gardens on Avery Island - Avery Island is most notable for being the source of Tabasco hot sauce, but the gardens there are really interesting - very large, you drive through them.

* Shadows on the Teche - interesting plantation house and a good history of the area.

* Cafe de Amis in Breaux Bridge - really great food. If you go on Sunday morning (I think) they have a zydeco brunch

* Cajun Country Cabins - this is a small place on a lake outside of town where we stayed. We loved it.

Thank you Bill and November, your responses are most helpful. We are thinking of spending some time in NOLA and then visiting various relatives who all live north of Ponchatrain. But we have never been to Cajun Country.

Thanks again.

If you want to see more of Cajun Country, take "old" US 90 out of NOLA thru Morgan City to Lafayette. It's not much slower than I-10

Thanks Rich.

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Boudin is pork and LIVER and rice mixture.

Lafayette is boudinville.

Andouille is pork - more meat, no offal.

Best thing to do is go by this place on your way out of NOLA: http://www.cajunsausage.com/ and buy up what you want for your trip home. Their andouille is preposterously good.

http://www.tabasco.com/avery-island/

Thank you Russ and Starrs. The problem with the andouille is that we will not be heading for at least five days after visiting Cajun Country. And ironically I made tomato soup this weekend with with a Cajun twist by adding some smokey tabasco.

Boudin is pork and LIVER and rice mixture.

The liver is not an absolute requirement.

Here is a good list of places to consider getting boudin.

http://www.cajunboudintrail.com/default.html

Andouille is easy to get anywhere so no need to bother bringing it home.

I am helping friends plan a visit to this area, from New Orleans, and would appreciate further information.

Has anyone here been to Fred's Lounge in Mamou, or Savoy Music Center in Eunice?

Any ideas for a good hotel for 3 nights in this area..convenient to great food and great music.
Visit will be on a weekend.

They hope to devote one day to the boudin trail...

https://www.southernfoodways.org/ora...-boudin-trail/

...but most interested in local seafood..looking for ideas from food-centric people..thank you!! Visit will likely be in January or February; is there anything I need to know about which local seafood is in season?

Planning this visit has enticed me so much that I am interested in taking such a trip myself..from New Orleans west to San Antonio.

We (3 adults) drove from Houston to NOLA earlier this week and made a short detour to Rayne, the Frog Capital of the World. (One of the members of our group had found this on Roadside America.) Rayne is only about 25 minutes east of Lafayette, so you might enjoy going there too. We had a lot of fun discovering the frog statues and murals (and you might want to stop at the Candyland Cottage too!)

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/547

Thanks so much for that tip! I think that my friends would enjoy dining in Rayne and having a look around town. Looks as if there are a couple of good eating spots, like this one:


http://www.chefroy.com/

So far I have them departing Cajun country and making it as far as Luling (for the BBQ) are there any places that you would recommend for an overnight stop along the route? (They prefer to drive only about 250 miles in one day). After Luling I think I will route them someplace in the Hill Country, and after that, San Antonio....