New Orleans: Airboat Swamp & Plantations Tour with Gourmet Lunch

4.73

(1246 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

First thing I remember is that wet, green smell when we stepped out near Bayou Boeuf — cypress trees hanging heavy with moss, and the air just thick enough to taste. Our guide, Ricky (he grew up around here), grinned when he handed us ear protection for the airboat. “You’ll want these,” he said, and he was right — the engine roared as we skimmed over the water, wind whipping my cheeks. I spotted an alligator’s eyes just above the surface. Ricky pointed out birds I’d never seen before and told us about his uncle’s old trapping tricks. Honestly, I didn’t expect to laugh so much on a swamp tour.

Afterwards, we drove past sugarcane fields that seemed to go on forever until Laura Plantation appeared — bright yellow against all that green. The tour there felt different from others I’ve done; our guide didn’t shy away from hard truths about Creole history and the lives of enslaved people who built this place. She showed us letters written by Laura herself and paused at a small exhibit about children who once lived on this land — something about her voice made me stop fidgeting and just listen. Sometimes you can feel history pressing in close.

I was starving by then, so lunch at Houmas House was honestly perfect timing. We sat in a sunlit dining room with white tablecloths (I worried about spilling gumbo but nobody cared). The buffet had everything from shrimp étouffée to bread pudding — I might’ve gone back for thirds. After eating too much, we wandered through rooms filled with old portraits and heavy furniture; our guide had stories for every creaky floorboard and painting. Out in the gardens, sunlight flickered through giant oaks and it smelled faintly sweet from all those flowers. Still think about that hush under the trees sometimes.