Oak Alley Plantation and New Orleans City and Cemetery Tour
Description
Oak Alley Plantation, located about an hour from downtown New Orleans, features picturesque Oak Trees, beautiful landscaping, an elegant 1837 Greek Revival style plantation house, a blacksmith shop, a restaurant, and antique farm equipment. Guests will tour the plantation, then spend an unforgettable 3 hours in a comfortable air conditioned Mini-bus and get an overview of New Orleans. As part of this tour, you will visit the area that was damaged when the levee broke during Hurricane Katrina and swept the residents and their homes away.
Tour Options
Itinerary
You'll spend an unforgettable three hours on our comfortable air conditioned Mini-bus while getting an overview of New Orleans, and experiencing the history and culture of the Creoles with your licensed tour guide. No trip to New Orleans would be complete without seeing the highlights of our city and the some of the areas affected by Katrina’s flood waters. Your tour guide will also give you an overview of the “French Quarter”, pointing out areas of interest, so that you can explore them later, at your own pace.
You will see Jackson Square, the site where the Louisiana Purchase was made.
Pass the oldest Cathedral in North America.
See the Cabildo, which was the seat of Spanish colonial city hall of New Orleans.
Pass this outdoor market spanning 6 blocks.
On the way to the “Dueling Oaks” of New Orleans’ City Park, you will view 100 year old homes along Esplanade Avenue. You'll visit an above ground cemetery, where you will be given a short guided tour. Your tour guide will explain how the people of New Orleans bury their dead above ground in re-usable tombs. This tradition was by necessity, not by choice.
Tour the cemetery and learn of New Orleans' unique above ground burial process.
You'll take a drive slowly down St. Charles Avenue, the American side of New Orleans, and see some of the homes of the Garden District. You will pass Ann Rice’s home and Governor Claiborne’s Daughters home, circa 1840.
See the Elms Mansion, and much more. You'll witness the diverse Architecture of the American side of New Orleans.
In addition to the city tour, you'll take a drive out to the Oak Alley Plantation. This is one of the most magnificent plantation tours because of the 28, evenly spaced, huge Oak Trees that go from the river road to the Plantation House. Built in 1837 in the style of Greek Revival architecture, this house could to be straight out of the movie “Gone with the Wind”. Along with the antique farm equipment, the grounds also feature a restaurant, blacksmith shop and a souvenir shop. The choice is yours how you would like to use your free hour. It is a comprehensive plantation experience. The tour of the Oak Alley’s house is conducted by guides in authentic plantation style apparel. Walking is required for this tour. The distance from the plantation house to the restaurant and souvenir shop is about 1 block. There are benches along the path, shaded by the Oaks. The tour will be educational and enlightening, so that you can revisit and explore New Orleans’ attractions and points of interest. This is a must for anyone coming to the city. Your driver is a licensed “City Tour Guide” that will narrate along the way, during the course of the tour. This tour is an overview of New Orleans and the areas affected by Katrina. You will stop at a local cemetery for a short tour. We will have a 20 minute restroom/snack break in the middle of the tour. Tour times may run longer due to parades, traffic or road restrictions. The tour is conducted on a minibus and the guest(s) may stay aboard the vehicle for the duration of the tour. The only stops will be (1) the rest stop (2) the cemetery. Lunch is not included.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
**You must be out front of your location at the beginning of the pickup window or the bus will be forced to leave.** Pickup from most major downtown New Orleans hotels. If you hotel is not listed please list in comments area or reach out to us directly at (504) 689-3599. For pickups, there will be a 30 minute window. Please be on the lookout for a bus that says Alert Transportation. Pickup will be sometime between 8:15 AM and about 8:45 AM.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Service animals are permitted.
- Emotional support animals are not permitted.
- Folding wheelchairs are allowed on the bus, but the driver is not allowed to pick up a person to help them gain entrance. The customer must get into the minibus by themselves or with assistance from family or friends.
Reviews(38)
I didn't give it 5 stars because of the plantation tour. The city tour with Gary was superb. I took a similar tour years ago and remember the one hour drive to the plantation entertaining with the guide offering lots of history and bits of information that you won't get in history books. I wanted my husband to experience the same, but instead, we just got a silent drive all the way there and back. The plantation itself is impressive with beautiful gardens, but again, the tour of the house was given by a human recorder. Just one run on sentence after another. After the return to the city we switched buses and that's when Gary took over. Oh what a treat! He was lively, funny and frankly, saved the day. If you have to pick, skip the plantation and go on the city tour with Gary K. Trust me on this, it will be the highlight of the trip.
Both tours were amazing. Laraine picked us up bright and early for the Oak Valley tour. She was so pleasant that early in the morning. A bright ray of sunshine is the best way to describe her. Gary showed us around the city and he was amazing as well. His knowledge of the city was great and helpful.
Oak alley is beautiful but can be slow as tours are every 15 minutes and if task questions in the group in front then there may be delays
This was 2 tours in 1. First, Oak Alley had a lot of history on old plantation life in New Orleans, growing sugar cane. The second part of the tour was an in-depth look at New Orleans and its founders. If you like history - this tour will not disappoint.
Thank you for the five-star review, Anne!
The plantation tour was educational and everyone was professional and informative. The city tour was generally good and had a knowledgeable tour guide, but I don't think he enjoyed his job very much. He made several comments throughout the trip that suggested he was in a hurry to finish, and at the end he made me and my family feel uncomfortable with like some off handed aggression. We unfortunately did not tip at the end which I felt bad about, but to be clear I didn't know that was a thing since I don't typically take tours and was not prepared with cash. As we stepped off the bus he was very upset that we did not tip him and tried to verbally shame us, as if it was intentional. I ALWAYS tip when it's expected because I have been a service worker and understand that it provides for peoples' livelihoods, and if I had money at the time I would have, but the shaming comments were excessive. I wish the driver the best of luck, hopefully he finds peace in what he does someday.
Thank you for your feedback. We do not condone these actions if they are true. We will further investigate the situation to make sure that it doesn't happen again. Please feel free to call us at 504-689-3599 to give us additional information. Thank you.
Darren, the driver on the city tour was the most amazing part of this trip! He was fun, engaging and so knowledgeable! His passion for NOLA and his job is contagious! The pick up from the hotel was a mess! Our instructions were to look for a bus that said Alert Transportation. The first driver told us to wait for a different bus. The next driver accepted us on but didn’t reference her list and it turned out we were on the wrong bus. We had to switch again and then we set out for the long, bumpy, scary drive to the plantation. The driver for this horrible. He drove SO FAST and carelessly—it was scary (he even ran through a stop sign)! On top of that, the roads were horribly bumpy and we felt like we had been in a two hour car accident by the end. To add insult to injury, the air conditioner started leaking water all over us due to the rough roads. Additionally, his paperwork was wrong and we were down for the swamp tour instead of the city tour, which meant yet another bus switch. The plantation tour was amazing overall but a little disappointing with only being 30 mins in the house. It seemed rushed and we didn’t get much information. Additionally, the groups were too big so you didn’t get time or space to really look at anything. The time outside the house was sufficient and the views were breathtaking! The history of this place is so interesting and the grounds were gorgeous. Overall, I would recommend the tour, but be prepared for the disorganization and rough ride!!
Thank you for your feedback. We do apologize about the experience with transportation. We will further investigate and address the problem to avoid it from happening again the future.
Actually seeing sample of plantation life with HUGE difference between quarters of owners and slaves. The city tour was also very interesting covering a lot of the New Orleans parishes.
Thank you for the five-star review, Valerie!
The lovely building, lunch at the restaurant were excellent and the gift shop had an incredible wealth of items and watching the lady make pralines was entertaining.
Thank you for the five-star review, Lucille!
I really enjoyed this tour, the Oak Ally plantation was beautiful, and the trees are amazing. I didn't like that we could not take pictures inside the plantation. Our driver had to be reminded that we were doing the city tour after but dropped us off with the driver just in time for the 2nd tour. The city tour was also good it would have been better if the driver was not also the guide providing the details as it was kinda hard to hear him sometimes.
Thank you for the five-star review!
This was a wonderful tour with friendly and knowledgeable drivers/guides. Oak Ally was great history and exhibits. The City tour was a great testament to the strengths of the people
Thank you for the five-star review, Melanie!
