New Orleans｜A Southern French-Style Dream

When visiting New Orleans, don’t just stay in the city — the plantations and swamps outside the city are totally worth exploring too! 🌿🚤 🛶 Airboat Ride – Highly Recommended ✅ 📍 About 40 minutes from downtown We booked through Louisiana Tour Company — found a discount on Groupon for around $50 per person 🎟️💸. Each boat fits ~15 people, with four time slots daily for flexibility. ⚡ The airboat is fast and agile, slipping into narrow waterways for up-close swamp views. Our guide was hilarious and engaging — even used marshmallows to lure baby alligators 🐊! We saw plenty of gators, waterbirds, and cruised through reed-lined channels with the wind rustling through — pure Southern scenery 🌾💨. The highlight? When the guide fed raw meat to a 3–4 meter long alligator right next to the boat — jaw-dropping! We also got to hold a baby gator for photos 📸. The whole tour lasted 2 hours — highly recommend! 🌳 Oak Alley Plantation 📍 About 1.5 hours from downtown One of Louisiana’s most famous plantations. I expected vast fields and crops, but it’s mostly one grand house + a few slave cabins — historically rich but a bit simple. Still, you gotta see it once! The oak tree alley is stunning — perfect for photos 🌳📸. The visit moves quickly — 1.5 to 2 hours is plenty. 🛶 Wild Louisiana Tour – Manchac Magic Kayak ❌ Not Recommended 📍 About 40 minutes from downtown The swamp water is muddy and unappealing — paddling splashed dirty water everywhere 😣. We went in the late afternoon and were attacked by mosquitoes after sunset 🦟😱. Believe it or not, 20+ mosquitoes swarmed into our car the moment we opened the door — impossible to shake off! Though paddling from the canal into the quiet bayou felt peaceful with birdsong and insect sounds, we barely saw any alligators. The guide mostly chatted about random topics and his friends 🗣️… At $65 per person, it was poor value — skip this one. #TravelGuide #NewOrleans 🎪🐊✨