Acadiana (Cajun Country)
Louisiana's Cajun culture capital: Acadian-descended zydeco dance halls, crawfish and gumbo, swamp tours to see alligators, and Tabasco's Avery Island.
Lafayette, in south-central Louisiana, is the hub of Acadiana, Louisiana's Cajun country. French settlers expelled from Acadia in Canada by the British in the 18th century eventually settled here, creating a distinctive Cajun culture: a French dialect, Cajun music built around accordion and fiddle, zydeco born from the blending with Black Creole culture, and dishes like crawfish, gumbo, jambalaya and boudin sausage. In town you can visit two living history villages, Vermilionville and Acadian Village, dance halls such as the Blue Moon Saloon, and downtown restaurants and bars. 15–30 minutes east are Breaux Bridge, the 'Crawfish Capital,' Lake Martin's swamp and Atchafalaya Basin boat tours; to the south are St. Martinville, New Iberia and the Tabasco factory on Avery Island; and on Saturdays you can head north to the prairie towns of Eunice and Mamou for live Cajun music radio broadcasts. Getting there: Lafayette Regional Airport has flights to Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and elsewhere; New Orleans is about 2.5 hours by car, and Amtrak's Sunset Limited stops here. A car is essential for the surrounding sights. The best times are Mar–May (Festival International in April, the Crawfish Festival in May) and Oct–Nov; summers are hot and humid with frequent thunderstorms, and hurricane season runs Jun–Nov. Plan on 3–4 days.
Top sights
- Vermilionville – An open-air historic village recreating life from 1765 to 1890 among Acadians, Creoles, and Native peoples. Artisans give live demonstratio…
- Avery Island & Tabasco Factory – The home of Tabasco hot sauce since 1868. Visitors can tour the factory and aging warehouses, then taste hot sauce dishes at the restaurant.
- Atchafalaya Basin Swamp Tours – The largest river floodplain swamp in the United States. Boats from Henderson take you deep into cypress forests to see alligators, herons…
- Acadian Village – A 19th-century Cajun village built along a small river, with relocated original houses showing Acadian farm life, and a Christmas light fes…
- Lake Martin – A bald cypress swamp lake where great egrets and roseate spoonbills nest in large numbers and alligators are often seen in the water, the e…
- Breaux Bridge – A Cajun town that calls itself the “Crawfish Capital of the World,” known for its antique shops on the old main street, crawfish restaurant…
- Jungle Gardens – A 170-acre subtropical garden created by the Tabasco family, with the “Bird City” heron rookery, a thousand-year-old Buddha statue and alli…
- St. Martinville & Evangeline Oak – An Acadian “cradle” town on Bayou Teche where the legendary Evangeline Oak, an 18th-century church and the Acadian Memorial gather around t…
- Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site – A 19th-century Creole plantation house and Acadian cabins on Bayou Teche, telling the story of French settlers in Louisiana.
- Blue Moon Saloon – A bar and hostel in a converted old house, where Cajun and zydeco bands play live almost every night and locals and visitors dance together.
- Downtown Lafayette & Parc International – The dining and nightlife district of downtown Lafayette, where Parc International is the main stage for the Festival International de Louis…
- Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist – A red-brick cathedral in the Dutch Romanesque style, completed in 1916, with a roughly 500-year-old live oak beside it that is one of the o…
- Hilliard Art Museum – The art museum of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, with collections of Southern and Louisiana art and frequently changing contempo…
- Cypress Lake (UL Lafayette) – A small cypress swamp at the heart of the university campus, where you can see alligators, turtles and herons up close for free, a “mini sw…
- Lafayette Science Museum – A downtown science museum and planetarium focusing on Louisiana natural history, dinosaurs and interactive exhibits, well suited to familie…
- Rip Van Winkle Gardens – An English-style garden and 19th-century house on the salt dome of Jefferson Island, overlooking Lake Peigneur, with peacocks strolling ben…
- Shadows-on-the-Teche – A Greek Revival plantation house built in 1834, with red brick and white columns half hidden by moss-draped oaks, and a U.S. National Histo…
- Konriko (Conrad Rice Mill) – The oldest continuously operating rice mill in the United States (1912), where you can see historic milling machinery and taste Cajun seaso…
- Liberty Theater, Eunice – A 1920s theater in the prairie town of Eunice, where the French-language Cajun music radio show “Rendez-vous des Cajuns” is broadcast live…
- Fred's Lounge, Mamou – A legendary small bar open only on Saturday mornings, where a live Cajun band broadcast begins early and the room fills with people dancing…
Where to eat
- Prejean's – A long-established Cajun restaurant north of downtown Lafayette, with live Cajun music every night and a giant alligato…
- Johnson's Boucanière – A family smokehouse rooted in Johnson's Grocery, which opened in Eunice in 1937. It is known for traditional boudin and…
- Don's Specialty Meats (Scott Location) – A roadside meat market on I-10 in Scott, known as the 'Boudin Capital'. Boudin, boudin balls, and fried pork cracklins…
- Bon Temps Grill – A Cajun-Creole restaurant popular with Lafayette locals, offering everything from alligator bites to pecan-wood grilled…
Itineraries
- Louisiana Cajun Country – Head west from New Orleans to explore River Road plantations, swamps, and Tabasco Island.