Has anyone taken one of the plantation tours while visiting New Orleans? It seems like a big investment of time and money. I'm wondering if it is worthwhile.

A few years ago we saw Oak Alley/Laura Plantations. It was good to see the difference in a working plantation and one a bit more stately; however, while my husband was fascinated I found the Mint Julieps at the end of the tour my highlight of the day.

we went on that same tour and i really loved it! and the mint juleps! highly recommend....

We've taken that same tour - half a day, 2 plantations, plus if you've got a good guide you get plenty of good information on the way to and from the plantations. We really enjoyed the tour, but I think that a half day tour was plenty. I also liked going with a smaller group rather than a large bus. It was more personal that way. It was also nice to get out of town and see a bit of the country side.

We've also toured a couple plantations on our own - San Francisco and Houma House, both of which we enjoyed very much. We rented a car and went.

Read this thread for more info on the tours from bachslunch, esp. the part about how some of the tours don't happen when there aren't a minimum number signed up. So beware of that.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...y-184065-2.cfm

Fwiw, I used to live in New Orleans, and my visitors usually enjoyed Oak Alley the most, probably because of the costumed tourguides, and also because it's recognizable from so many movies.

Thanks all for your inputs! Did you see any children on the tour? I'm wondering if my 8 year old would enjoy it.

I probably wouldn't take a kid that young - I'd choose other things to do. The 8 year olds that I know aren't big on touring old houses and listening to someone blab on and on about the history of the people who lived there - BOR-ING. I think as part of a larger day trip that included interesting things for an 8 year old, it would be fine, but not a whole afternoon of riding in a van and looking at a couple plantations. So if you rented a car so you could go on your own and combined a tour of a plantation with a swamp tour, that might be fun.

cheryllj, thanks for citing me on this subject. Am thinking this is good info for anyone thinking about a plantation tour to know. I would go so far as to say that unless your plantation tour is to Laura and/or Oak Alley, it's pretty safe to assume it won't happen no matter what the tour company's website says or what the tour company rep says on the phone. If you plan to see any plantations other than these, would very highly recommend renting a car. See similar thoughts on the subject from me on these threads:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...r-377576-2.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...-itinerary.cfm

An 8yo girl might enjoy seeing the girls in the hoop skirts that conduct the tours at Oak Alley, but I think a boy would be bored and would rather do a swamp tour that will take him to see alligators and other critters. I'm with november moon, it might be good to rent a car and try to do both.

Should also add that I did get to do a tour of Laura and Oak Alley, and lucked into an evening tour by the same company of Nottaway (the latter only went ahead about an hour before scheduled departure -- nearly didn't occur until I got very grouchy about it, as they kept going back and forth about it happening). And I did enjoy the plantations and tours very much, just not the accompanying aggravation and uncertainty.

But saving oneself the inconvenience and trouble by just renting a car is the best way to go.

I think the warnings about the tours and minimums is an important consideration.

Our first trip to New Orleans was in 2002 and tours were pretty full - plantation tours, swamp tours, walking tours, etc. But when we went in 2007, tourism was way down. We were the only people on a walking tour and a couple house tours that we took. Thinking about it, when we toured San Francisco plantation, we were the only people there too. I imagine that because of the recession, tourism hasn't increased much since 2007, which probably accounts for the inconsistent tour schedules.