Day Trippin' Down Louisiana's Cajun Bayou

Located just an hour south of New Orleans, Lafourche Parish offers the perfect destination for a family-friendly outing. Your adventure begins in Raceland, at Louisiana's Cajun Bayou Visitor Center. Explore interactive educational displays and learn about the authentic Cajun culture found up and down Bayou Lafourche. Don’t forget to grab your passport and map while you’re there for the Cajun Bayou Food Trail, a guided tour of the parish’s most exceptional eateries all the way up and down the bayou. 

Next up on our day trip itinerary is the Bayou Country Children’s Museum in Thibodaux, where curious Cajuns-in-training can experience Acadian culture through the gallery’s multiple immersive exhibits. Designed for hands-on discovery and play, little ones will learn about Bayou culture, from cultivating sugarcane from the seat of a full-size harvester or captaining a shrimp boat, to searching for the lost treasure of notorious French pirate Jean Lafitte. Each spring, the museum hosts its annual Play It Forward benefit featuring a one-of-a-kind cocktail trail, local catering, gaming tables, a silent auction, a live auction, and live entertainment. This year, the special event is scheduled for March 26 if you and yours would like to come out and support a good cause.

Venture onto the Cajun Bayou Food Trail and sample mile-high homestyle po-boys, or eat your weight in steaming, juicy crawfish. ‘Tis the season, after all. Most meals in these parts may require you to get a little messy, but that’s all part of the fun. Let your hair down, grab a napkin (or just use it as a bib, we won’t judge), and dig in.

However, if you’re more eager to see the bayou’s beauty and bounty for yourself, book a swamp tour with an experienced local guide who is sure to steer you within splashing distance of South Louisiana's native flora and fauna, including gargantuan gators, colonial nesting waterbirds, century-old cypress trees, and much more. Take it slow with a traditional tour at a leisurely pace to learn about the natural history of Bayou Lafourche while a born-and-bred Cajun leads the way. For more family-friendly and fun-filled ideas of things to do in Louisiana’s Cajun Bayou, head to lacajunbayou.com.