Things to do along the River Road plantations

The River Road runs roughly 100 km along both banks of the Mississippi between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and the drive to the nearest plantations takes about 45 minutes, longer if traffic on the bridges is bad.

Oak Alley, Laura, Whitney, Destrehan, San Francisco, Houmas House, St Joseph and Felicity sit along this stretch, alongside the River Road African American Museum. These are working sugar plantations where enslaved people were held and forced to labour; that history is the point of a visit, not a backdrop to a garden tour.

Whitney and Laura go into it in most depth. Entry runs from roughly USD 15 to USD 35 depending on the site and tour length, and most visits take one to two hours.