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Oak Alley Plantation Tour from New Orleans & Swamp Option

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1/17

Duration5h 30m

GroupUp to 55

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

Quarter-Mile of 250-Year-Old Oaks & Plantation History from New Orleans

You get round-trip coach transport from downtown New Orleans, a guided tour of the 1839 plantation home, and time to walk the grounds and see the 250-year-old oak alley. The optional 90-minute swamp tour adds the wetlands and cypress trees to your day. Everything is included except food, and the air-conditioned coach handles the drive both ways.

5h 30m

Step-by-step itinerary

Depart from New Orleans
Pass by New Canal Lighthouse
View Mississippi River spillway
Pass St. Joseph Plantation
Pass Laura Plantation
Arrive at Oak Alley Plantation
Tour Oak Alley Plantation house
Walk the oak-lined esplanade
Learn plantation history from guide
Optional snack at cafe or coach
Return to New Orleans

The Experience

The coach pulls out of downtown New Orleans heading toward the River Road, and you're already past the noise of Bourbon Street. Oak Alley Plantation sits about an hour away, and the drive itself moves through the landscape that shaped Louisiana — the Mississippi River on one side, the swamps and cypress trees on the other. Your local guide starts talking about what you're about to see: a quarter-mile alley of 28 oak trees, each one over 250 years old, planted long before the main house went up in 1839. It's the kind of detail that doesn't hit until you're standing under them.

The plantation home itself is what most people come for, and the guided tour walks you through the rooms, the architecture, the stories — some of them difficult ones. The house has been in films like "Interview with a Vampire" and "Primary Colors," but that's almost beside the point once you're inside. The grounds are open to walk, and you can see the slave quarters and the working sugar cane fields that still border the property. If you upgrade, you get a 90-minute pontoon swamp tour added on, which takes you out into the wetlands to see the cypress trees and the landscape that surrounds everything here. It's not rushed — the whole experience is built to let you absorb it, not just check it off.

Transportation is included both ways, and the air-conditioned coach means you're not dealing with the heat while you're moving between stops. The tour also passes St. Joseph Plantation (a working sugar plantation from around 1830) and Laura Plantation (an 1805 Creole plantation with 12 buildings on the National Register), so you're getting more than one perspective on the region's history. There's a cafe at Oak Alley if you want to grab a sandwich or ice cream to eat at the picnic tables, though that's separate from the tour price. The whole thing is half a day, which means you're back in New Orleans with the afternoon still ahead of you.

What’s included

Round-trip coach transportation from New Orleans.
local guide.
air-conditioned vehicle.
guided tour of the plantation home built in 1839.
access to the plantation grounds and the quarter-mile oak alley.
optional 90-minute pontoon swamp tour (upgrade).
wheelchair-accessible facilities including gift shop and restrooms.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleStroller friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Gray Line New Orleans

Is this one for you?Book this if you want to see Oak Alley Plantation and the River Road plantations without arranging your own transport or timing the drive yourself — the coach handles both, and the local guide fills in the history as you go.