4 Great Tours to Take in Lafayette, LA

As the unofficial capital of Acadiana, Lafayette has a lot of culture and history you won’t find anywhere else in the world. Creole and Cajun cultures mix with the Southern sense of style and American pride. Between all the bayous, the wildlife, and the tasty food traditions, Lafayette is home to tours perfect for every kind of tourist.

Cajun Food Tours

Cajun Food Tours is a company that offers city tours that take you through the cultural heart of the city with several stops along the way to get a bite to eat. You’ll get to try all the Cajun classics like local seafood and cracklins, and in between, you’ll listen to a tour guide describe the history of Lafayette and a few of the landmarks that make the city one of a kind. If you’d prefer to experience some of Lafayette’s international culture instead, the company also offers a World Tour that stops at Indian, Thai, and Mediterranean restaurants.

Champagne’s Swamp Tours

This company starts at Lake Martin and heads down to the bayous six times each day. The tour explores the swamp in a boat, giving you a safe and comfortable spot to admire the Spanish moss and cypress trees, watch the skies and branches for birds, and see the alligators slither through the water like scaly logs. All throughout, the tour guide explains how Cajuns used Spanish moss, how they harvested cyprus, and how they hunted alligators for their eggs. Afterwards, you can fish in Lake Martin or go on a guided duck hunt during duck season.

South Louisiana Redfishing

Fans of fishing will love this in-depth tour of Vermilion Bay, which is straight south of Lafayette and connects to the Gulf of Mexico. The tour’s operator is an expert angler who launches from Cypremort Point. By going on one of his tours you can catch redfish, speckled trout, flounder, sheepshead, and black drum. He also offers offshore trips for those who want a little more adventure and fishing opportunities for tripletail and kingfish.

Couret’s Swamp Tours

Couret’s Swamp Tour starts in Henderson east of Lafayette and explores the Atchafalaya River Basin and swamp. The Couret tours have been a family business for generations, so you can expect an expert hand at the rudder as you travel through hidden bayous to find where migrating and local wildlife tuck themselves away. The trip goes in a full circle without doubling back along the same route, so you can count on seeing new areas and new animals throughout the entire tour.

Lafayette and Acadiana are some of the most alive places in the world, both in terms of the animals and plants as well as the unique cultures that call this part of Louisiana home. Going on a tour is an excellent way to see what this part of the world has to offer, whether that means exploring the swamps and bayous of lower Louisiana, fishing for trout off the coast in Vermilion Bay, or just wandering between local restaurants.

Image “blue reflections” via Flickr by jill meaux used under CC BY 2.0 /cropped from original

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