New Orleans Garden District & Lafayette Cemetery Gates Tour

Mansions & Marble Tombs: The Garden District's Hidden Stories

You walk through the Garden District's mansion-lined streets with a local guide who points out celebrity homes and architectural history, ride past the St. Charles Streetcar, and view Lafayette Cemetery #1's aboveground tombs from the gates while learning about New Orleans' burial customs and the stories of the people buried there. The tour is wheelchair accessible, moves at a comfortable pace, and takes two hours total.

Step-by-step itinerary

Garden District and Lafayette Cemetery Tour

• Walk Garden District streets
• See antebellum homes
• Learn Creole and American history
• Visit Lafayette Cemetery gates
• View aboveground tombs
• Hear burial customs stories
• Spot film locations
• Discover tropical plant life

The experience

Picture the iron gates of Lafayette Cemetery rising against a humid New Orleans afternoon, the aboveground tombs glowing white behind wrought-iron fencing, and your guide pointing out the exact spot where Brad Pitt's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was filmed. That's the opening frame of this two-hour walking tour through the Garden District and along the cemetery gates: a neighborhood where 19th-century Creole and American residents built competing empires in stone and stucco, and where the dead live above ground in what locals call "cities of the dead." The City of New Orleans has temporarily closed Lafayette Cemetery to the public, but the tour still happens from the gates, and honestly, your guide can show you everything that matters from there.

You'll start on St. Charles Avenue, where the historic streetcar still runs, and walk past the actual homes of Anne Rice, Nicolas Cage, John Goodman, and Sandra Bullock, not celebrity gossip stops, but architectural landmarks that tell you something about who settled here and why. The cornstalk fence, a cast-iron oddity that looks like it sprouted from the ground, sits on Royal Street and gets its own story. Your guide, knowledgeable and not the type to bore you, weaves together the neighborhood's split personality: the Creole plantation owners who built first, then the American merchants who arrived later and built bigger, louder houses to prove a point. The tropical plants (magnolias, live oaks draped in Spanish moss) frame everything, and the whole thing moves at a pace that lets you actually absorb the details instead of just checking boxes.

The cemetery portion is where the tour gets strange and compelling. Lafayette Cemetery #1 sits behind those gates, and from there you learn about New Orleans' peculiar burial practices: why bodies go above ground in tombs instead of into the earth, what the Jefferson Fire Company No. 22 society tomb means, and which crypt inspired Anne Rice's "The Witching Hour." You'll see the film sites from "Interview with the Vampire," "Double Jeopardy," and "Deja Vu," and hear the stories of the people actually buried there, traced through the names on the gravestones. It's not morbid. It's history told through the people who made the city what it is. Small-group size means your guide can answer the questions that come up, and the whole thing wraps in two hours, leaving you the rest of your afternoon free.

What’s included

Your tour includes a local guide, a two-hour walking experience through the Garden District with views of celebrity homes and architectural landmarks, passage along St. Charles Avenue where the historic streetcar runs, and a guided viewing of Lafayette Cemetery #1's aboveground tombs from the gates with stories about New Orleans' burial customs and the people interred there.

Options for this experience

2 options

11:00am TourGuide in English · 11:00The Garden District and cemetery tour leaves at 11:00 am.

2:00 PM TourGuide in English · Available from 1 Nov 2027The Garden District and cemetery tour leaves at 2:00 PM.

You'll see the exact price of each option when you check availability.See dates and prices

Information

Lasts 2h, runs every day at 11:00, from US$ 25 per person, with a live guide in English and with free cancellation up to 24 h before.

Days and timesEvery dayDeparts at 11:00

GroupUp to 16 · max 9 per booking

Live guideEnglish

Meeting point and pickupNo hotel pickup: you go to the meeting point. Ends back at the starting point.

Book up to1h before

AgesAdult (13 to 61 years) · Senior (62 and older) · Youth (6 to 12 years) · Child (under 6): free

Cancellation and refundsFree cancellation up to 24 h before the start. After that, no refund.It may be canceled due to bad weather. If that happens, you're offered another date or a refund.

Prices and times updated 2 days ago

Good to know

Low physical effortWheelchair accessibleAccessible transportStroller-friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearby

Operated by Historic New Orleans Tours

Is this one for you?Book this if you want the Garden District's real history (the architecture, the names, the why behind the mansions) without arranging your own research or getting lost on the streets. The small-group format and local guide mean you hear the stories that don't make it into guidebooks, and the two-hour length fits into an afternoon without eating your whole day.

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Top questions

Can children come?

Yes. Ticket types: Youth (6 to 12 years); Child (under 6): free.

What happens if it rains?

It may be canceled due to bad weather. If that happens, you're offered another date or a refund. Free cancellation up to 24 h before the start.

Can you actually go inside Lafayette Cemetery?

No, the City of New Orleans has temporarily closed it for repairs. The tour operates from the gates, where your guide can show you the tombs and explain everything you'd see inside.

How long is the tour?

Two hours, including the Garden District walk and the cemetery viewing from the gates.

Is it wheelchair accessible?

Yes, all areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible, and the tour is suitable for all physical fitness levels.

What celebrity homes do you see?

The tour passes the homes of Anne Rice, Nicolas Cage, John Goodman, Sandra Bullock, Trent Reznor, and Archie and Peyton Manning, plus the death site of Jefferson Davis and the film location from "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

Do you ride the St. Charles Streetcar?

You walk past it and see it in operation on St. Charles Avenue as part of the Garden District tour.

What's special about the cornstalk fence?

It's a cast-iron fence that looks like corn stalks and sits on Royal Street: a unique New Orleans landmark with its own history.

Is public transportation nearby?

Yes, public transportation options are available nearby, and all transportation options are wheelchair accessible.