5 Days: New Orleans and the Bayou
Five days reaches Lafayette and Cajun Country, a genuinely different cuisine 2 hours 15 minutes west, on top of the swamp tour, River Road and Baton Rouge base. For less driving, see the 4-day itinerary ; for a Gulf Coast beach day too, jump to 6 or 7 days .
Book these before you go:
- Book a Barataria swamp tour on GetYourGuide
- Oak Alley tour options on Viator
- Compare rental cars on Discover Cars
| Day | Stop | Drive time from NOLA | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Orleans | - | Basecamp, arrival, one night in the city |
| 2 | Jean Lafitte Swamp | 25-30 min | Barataria Preserve pontoon tour, no car needed |
| 3 | Oak Alley and Whitney Plantation | ~65 min each | River Road, two distinct plantation stories |
| 4 | Baton Rouge | 60-90 min | State Capitol, Old State Capitol, LSU, USS Kidd |
| 5 | Lafayette and Cajun Country | ~2h15m | Vermilionville, Acadian Village, boudin and zydeco |
Day 1: New Orleans basecamp
Land at MSY, 25-30 minutes from the Quarter by taxi ($36 flat rate for one or two riders) or rideshare ($35-55). Base yourself in the French Quarter or Garden District; our New Orleans guide covers the city itself in full, since this itinerary is only about what’s beyond it. Hold off on the rental car, tomorrow runs on a guided van.
Day 2: Jean Lafitte Swamp Tour
Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours in Marrero, 25-30 minutes from downtown, runs a 1h45m pontoon tour through Jean Lafitte National Historical Park’s Barataria Preserve: $32 adult, $12 for kids ages 3-12, departures roughly at 10am, noon, 2pm and 4pm. Book ahead March through August. Check nps.gov/jela for current conditions; still no car needed today.
Day 3: Oak Alley and Whitney Plantation
Pick up a rental car this morning (compare rates on Discover Cars , $38-83 a day) and take Highway 18 to Vacherie, about 65 minutes. Oak Alley’s live-oak canopy fronts the 1839 mansion: $27 grounds-only or $30 with the Big House tour (oakalleyplantation.org ). Whitney Plantation, a similar drive on the same corridor, centers its tour on the enslaved people who worked the land rather than the family who owned it: $25 self-guided audio or $32 guided (whitneyplantation.org ). Pairing both takes 3-4 hours including driving and both visits.
Oak Alley or Whitney, or both?
Both if the day allows it; they are not two versions of the same tour. Oak Alley is the photograph and the planter-family mansion. Whitney is the fuller, harder account of who actually built and ran River Road. Choosing one, take Whitney.
Day 4: Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge is 80 miles and roughly 60-90 minutes up I-10, same rental car. The Louisiana State Capitol, the tallest state capitol building in the country, is free and self-guided; its 27th-floor observation deck is currently closed for renovation, so verify reopening before you count on the view. The Gothic-style Old State Capitol and LSU’s campus (Mike the Tiger) round out a free morning. The USS Kidd Veterans Museum adds a WWII destroyer for $12.53 adult and $8.36 for kids 5-12, 9:30am-3:30pm (usskidd.com ); the ship itself has been away for repairs, so confirm it’s back before planning to board it.
Day 5: Lafayette and Cajun Country
Lafayette is 135 miles and about 2h15m direct via I-10 from New Orleans, or 194 miles and roughly 3h12m if you route through Baton Rouge as this itinerary does. Vermilionville ($12 adult, 10am-4pm, closed Mondays) and LARC’s Acadian Village ($10 adult, 10am-4pm, closed Sundays) both cover Acadian living history; boudin, cracklins and zydeco are the region’s own food and music, not a New Orleans variation. Note the opposite closure days, a Tuesday-through-Saturday visit is the only way to catch both open in the same trip.
Is two hours fifteen minutes each way actually worth it?
Only if Cajun food and zydeco are the point, not more Creole cooking with a different label. Lafayette’s cuisine, built on boudin, cracklins and slow-smoked meats, has no real equivalent in New Orleans itself; treat the drive as visiting a separate region, not a suburb of the city.
Return the rental car in New Orleans before departure. Five days covers the full Louisiana leg, swamp, River Road, Baton Rouge and Lafayette, without adding the Gulf Coast, which the 6 and 7-day versions include.