Four Days: New Orleans and a Plantation
Why add a fourth day
Three days is enough to walk the French Quarter at a comfortable pace and see the Garden District with its streetcar and above-ground tombs — the same ground covered, in condensed form, by the three-day itinerary. A fourth day changes the shape of the trip entirely.
It is the first day on this site that leaves the city, and the first that needs either a rental car or an organised tour with hotel pick-up, because everything beyond New Orleans — the plantations, the swamps, Baton Rouge, Cajun country — is reached only by road. There is no streetcar, no ferry and no useful train for this. The pace also slows: instead of packing in several neighbourhoods, day four gives an entire day to one destination, Oak Alley Plantation on the River Road, roughly an hour’s drive upriver along the Mississippi levee toward Baton Rouge.
This plan keeps the first three days as a tight, walkable city core, then treats day four as a distinct chapter: pack an overnight bag mentally into a day trip, because you’ll be back in New Orleans by evening, tired in a different way than a city day tires you.
Day 1: the French Quarter on foot
Start in the French Quarter, a compact grid roughly thirteen blocks by six, genuinely best covered on foot rather than by car or streetcar. Begin at Jackson Square and St Louis Cathedral, where street artists and musicians set the morning tone, then walk the Cabildo and Presbytere museums flanking the cathedral. From the square, Decatur Street and the French Market run along the river; Cafe du Monde sits at the market’s edge for the inevitable beignets, though queues build fast after mid-morning.
Spend the afternoon on Royal Street for galleries and antiques, a quieter contrast to Bourbon Street a block over. If cemeteries and the darker side of the city interest you, an afternoon or evening guided walk is worth booking now, since New Orleans’ oldest burial ground cannot be entered independently.
a guided evening walk through the Quarter’s haunted historyIn the evening, head to Frenchmen Street rather than Bourbon Street for live music — it’s the strip locals actually recommend, a short walk from the Quarter through the Faubourg Marigny. For an overview of the two, see our comparison of Frenchmen Street and Bourbon Street.
Day 2: more of the Quarter and the birth of jazz
Use a second morning in the French Quarter for what day one didn’t cover: Preservation Hall for the tradition of live jazz in a room built for it, and time simply wandering Chartres and Bourbon Streets by daylight, which feels entirely different from their evening character.
By midday, walk north into Treme, one of the oldest African American neighbourhoods in the country and, by most accounts, the birthplace of much of the city’s music. Louis Armstrong Park and Congo Square anchor the area; our guide to Treme and the birth of jazz fills in the history. If a second-line parade happens to be passing through, it’s a neighbourhood event rather than a staged show — worth pausing for, never worth chasing down.
Round out the afternoon with a cemetery or voodoo-focused walk if you skipped one on day one; St Louis Cemetery No. 1, where Marie Laveau is buried, can only be visited with an authorised guide.
a combined cemetery, history and voodoo walking tourFinish with dinner near the Quarter and, again, live music on Frenchmen Street if the first night didn’t satisfy.
Day 3: Garden District and streetcar
Day three shifts uptown. Ride the St Charles streetcar — the oldest continuously operating street railway in the world — from Canal Street through the Garden District, past the antebellum mansions along St Charles Avenue. Get off to walk the neighbourhood itself; a guided walk pairs well with the district’s history and its cemetery.
a walking tour through the Garden District’s mansions and tombsLafayette Cemetery No. 1, unlike its counterpart in the Quarter, can be visited independently during opening hours, though rules do change and are worth checking on arrival. The above-ground tombs here are one of the city’s genuine signatures, a product of the high water table rather than any single tradition.
Spend the rest of the afternoon back downtown: the Warehouse Arts District and the National WWII Museum if military history interests you, or Mid-City’s City Park and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden for a change of pace from three days of dense streets. Ride the streetcar back for the evening — see our guide to getting around New Orleans by streetcar if the lines are unfamiliar.
By the end of day three you’ve covered, at a relaxed pace, what a two-day visit compresses into far less time; see two days in New Orleans for that tighter version.
Day 4: Oak Alley Plantation on the River Road
This is where the trip changes shape. Everything today happens outside New Orleans, along the River Road that follows the Mississippi levee between the city and Baton Rouge, and it can only be done by car or by an organised tour that includes hotel pick-up. There is no streetcar, no bus route built for this, and Amtrak’s infrequent regional service isn’t a practical way to reach the plantations.
Oak Alley Plantation is the target, roughly an hour’s drive from central New Orleans. Its quarter-mile alley of live oaks, planted long before the plantation house itself, is the single most photographed sight on the entire River Road, and it’s worth arriving with enough time to walk it slowly before the day’s crowds build.
A full day here is intentional, not padding. Unlike the compressed city days, day four gives itself to one site: the oak alley itself, a tour of the main house, and time in the grounds and outbuildings that explain how a sugar plantation actually operated, including the lives of the enslaved people who worked it. Treat this as the day’s substance, not a backdrop for photographs.
| Option | What it covers | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Self-drive rental car | Oak Alley grounds and house tour, your own pace | Half to full day |
| Guided tour with hotel pick-up | Round-trip transport, house tour, no parking or navigation | Full day |
| Oak Alley plus swamp combo | Plantation in the morning, boat swamp tour in the afternoon | Full day |
If you’d rather pair the plantation with the swamps south and west of the city rather than a second dedicated day, a combined tour covers both in one outing.
This itinerary deliberately covers only Oak Alley. The River Road holds several other plantation museums, each telling the story of slavery and the region differently — that comparison, and a fuller two-day version of the road itself, belongs to longer trips; see plantations along the River Road compared and five days: city, swamp and River Road if four days leaves you wanting more of this stretch.
Drive back into New Orleans by early evening. Traffic on the levee road can be slow near dusk, so build in margin if you’re self-driving and have an evening restaurant booking in the city.
Practical notes for the four days
- A car is only needed for day four. For days one to three, walk the French Quarter and use the St Charles streetcar for the Garden District; parking in the Quarter itself is metered, limited and strictly enforced.
- Book day four in advance, whether a rental car or a guided tour, especially around Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest when both vehicles and tour seats sell out.
- Cash still matters for street musicians, tipping guides and some smaller Quarter bars; card is accepted almost everywhere else, with sales tax added at the till rather than shown on the price tag.
- Mosquitoes and heat are a real consideration outdoors at Oak Alley in summer; a hat and repellent are worth packing regardless of season.
- Fly into MSY, roughly 18 km west of the Quarter with no rail link; see from MSY Airport to the French Quarter for transfer options before day one begins.
FAQ: four days in New Orleans with an Oak Alley day trip
Do I need a car for this whole itinerary?
No. Only day four requires a car or an organised tour with hotel pick-up, since Oak Alley Plantation and the rest of the River Road are reached only by road. Days one to three are entirely walkable, supplemented by the St Charles streetcar for the Garden District.
Can I do Oak Alley as a half-day instead of a full day?
It’s possible with a very early start and a self-drive car, but a full day is recommended. The round trip alone is roughly two hours, and rushing the oak alley, house tour and grounds undercuts the point of dedicating a day to a single site rather than several neighbourhoods.
Why does this itinerary only cover Oak Alley and not other River Road plantations?
Oak Alley suits a four-day trip because it’s a single, well-organised full-day outing close to the city. Comparing it with other River Road museums, including sites that focus specifically on the history of slavery, is better suited to five-day-or-longer itineraries that give the River Road two full days rather than one.
Is it better to drive myself or book a guided tour to Oak Alley?
A rental car gives more flexibility and is cheaper for two or more people, but a guided tour removes the need to navigate the levee road and find parking, and it usually includes the house tour in the price. Either works well for this itinerary.
Can I combine the plantation with a swamp tour on the same day?
Yes, combined tours pairing Oak Alley with an afternoon swamp boat tour exist and suit travellers who don’t have a fifth day to give to the swamps separately, though it makes for a longer day than the plantation alone.
What should the first three city days actually include?
A condensed version of the French Quarter, the Garden District and a taste of Treme and its jazz history, roughly the same ground as our three-day itinerary, just spread slightly more comfortably across three days instead of compressed into two.
Is Oak Alley worth it if I’ve already seen plantation photos online?
The alley of live oaks is genuinely striking in person, but the value of the visit is as much in the house and grounds tour, which explains the plantation’s operation and the enslaved people who worked it — context that photographs alone don’t convey.
When should I book the day-four tour or car rental?
As early as possible, particularly if your trip falls during Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest, when both hotel availability and tour capacity in the city tighten considerably and River Road tours can sell out days ahead.
tours.4 days
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GetYourGuide does not provide a product photo for this activity — the image shows the meeting point, photographed by us.
