Lafourche Parish: Unapologetically Cajun

While it’s just thirty-five miles outside of New Orleans, Louisiana’s Cajun Bayou is a world apart from the vibrant port city. Lafourche Parish claims more than one hundred miles of swampland within its boundaries, and there’s no better way to experience the full beauty of the bayou than by getting out on the water. Book a swamp tour, and find yourself gliding past the native flora and fauna of South Louisiana. 2 Da Swamp Bayou Tours & Museum offers excursions to Bayou Des Allemands accompanied by traditional Cajun music, while Zam’s Bayou Swamp Tours gets visitors up close and personal with all the creatures who call it home, including alligators, turtles, and birds.

With its position as a coastal outlet to the Gulf of Mexico, Lafourche offers an abundance of charter fishing services and easy-access boat docks. The freshwater streams and saltwater wetlands of the fertile sugar parish give both amateur and professional anglers countless opportunities to reel in a prize-worthy catch while making memories to last a lifetime. Thankfully, Louisiana’s Cajun Bayou offers a full list of charter boat companies in the area on its site. 

For a Covid-safe activity, see the more than four hundred centuries-old oaks scattered throughout the landscape on the Live Oak Driving Tour, or experience the natural beauty of Bayou Lafourche with a stroll along the 440-foot Lockport Elevated Wetlands Boardwalk. Any history buff or aspiring attorney will enjoy a tour of the E.D. White Historic Site in Thibodaux, where the family belonging to a bygone era of Louisiana’s political elite once lived. Patriarch Edward Douglas White served the state’s governor in the 1830s; his son and namesake was the first Louisiana native to become a U.S. Supreme Court Justice in the 1890s. 

Whether you’re an avid sportsman, outdoors enthusiast, or simply want to make it all the way to the bottom of the Boot, an adventure awaits you down in Louisiana’s Cajun Bayou.