We will probably only have time for one New Orleans area plantation tomorrow before our flight home at 6pm. We'll try for both Laura and Oak Alley, but if time runs short which would you do first? I know they are two very different types, but which would you not want to miss? I'm leaning toward Laura since you cannot experience the Creole plantations just anywhere.

Luckily, they're not too far from each other, so there's a decent chance you can see both places -- and if you get an early start, you likely will be fine.

Laura is much more plain (still very interesting, though), but it has several of its outbuildings still standing. Oak Alley is grander and more elaborate, mostly lacking outbuildings. The tours at both were very good. I liked both very much.

I'd say choose the one that seems to strike your fancy and do that one first.

I'd choose Laura. We did them both in one day and enjoyed the tour of Laura more than Oak Alley. Although being an Anne Rice fan, it was neat to see Oak Alley and the house and oaks are magnificent. Oak Alley is very polished and the tour wasn't particularly informative.

Laura was a more interesting tour - a lot is known about the family who built and operated the plantation, our guide had a great narative about the history of the plantation itself and the local area, and because they've got some outbuildings, it feels like a more complete experience.

I vote for Laura also. It's a much more interesting tour. Oak Alley however is exactly what I pictured a plantation to be.

Thanks for your input. Looks like we'll start with Laura for the tour, and then at least be able to see the grounds and the outside of Oak Alley.

Laura - We were there last year and had the most interesting tour. It was great. We learned so much about plantation life.

We stayed overnight at a plantation - the Madewood Plantation. The food was wonderful. We didn't care for our room "The Mystery Lady Room". It looked great in the pictures but the in real life it was not nice. The other rooms all looked much nicer than the room we had.