Local Secrets, Big Finds - LouisianaLocal Secrets, Big Finds - Louisiana

Local Secrets, Big Finds - Louisiana

Find Me The Best Priced Trip!

From:
To:
Depart:
Return:
Guests:
Room 1:
Room 2:
Room 3:
Room 4:
From:
To:
Search:
  • Exact Dates
  • Flexible Dates
Depart:
Return:
Specify ages at time of travel. Child booking help.
- or -
Guests:
Room 1:
Room 2:
Room 3:
Room 4:
From:
To:


See highlighted element below

Opinions Wanted

Click here to tell us about a local secret of your own.

Be in the know
before you go

Visit Amy Ziff's monthly column, Travel Trends & Advice from
A to Z, for more travel tips and advice.
Amy Ziff
Local Secrets, Big Finds

Select A State

Canada

Return to Local Secrets, Big Finds home

View 2007 Local Secrets, Big Finds
Get in on the Secret

Merci Beaucoup
Natchitoches

318.352.6634
Head to this restaurant "for the famous Cajun Baked Potato." A meal in and of itself, the potato is "filled with crawfish etoufee and topped with a large fantail shrimp." For dessert, be sure to have "a bowl of luscious bread pudding and coffee." Once through, "you will feel like a king or queen." A nice time to visit the restaurant is during the city's Christmas festival just before the annual fireworks event. To "help digestion" after dining, "take a stroll down the street to the quaint shops" that are "in the middle of all the action."

Community Book Center
New Orleans

504.948.7323
"There is always something happening" at this bookstore where you "can encounter people from all walks of life and share a story, joke, or a quiet moment." Decorated as "a replica of an African village," the space includes "books (of course), art, sitting space, people from the community, community resource information, and lots of joy and laughter." If you're searching for a quiet spot, there is also "sufficient space? to be apart from the crowd." Be sure to check the schedule to see when "different artists come in to share their crafts."

Lafreniere Park
Metairie

504.838.4389
Lafreniere Park
Metairie is a suburb of New Orleans, and this park is 10 minutes from downtown. It's the perfect place to go if you "need at least one day to relax and recover from all the hustle and bustle" of the city. Within this huge park are "many trees providing ample shade," which are great "if you want to take a nap." The park is also "a great place to have a picnic." During summer, "the sun is usually out, the mosquitoes are not, and people are usually there playing soccer, volleyball, horseshoes." Other activities include "feeding ducks, looking at neutria rats up close, and fishing." Read more.

The Cabin Restaurant
Burnside

225.473.3007
Located in Southeastern Louisiana, "The Cabin Restaurant is the most unique in all the world." The Cajun cooking here is served up with a "small sampling of Southern Louisiana history." The building "began as one of the 10 original slave dwellings of the Monroe Plantation." The restaurant "serves meals typical of the River Road tradition." Visit for lunch or dinner. Right nearby, you'll find "L'Armitage General Store and two slave cabins from the Helvetia Plantation." There's also a charming outdoor courtyard area.

The Pharmacy Museum
New Orleans

504.565.8027
Go back to the days of leeches and potions at the 1823 Creole town home of America's first licensed pharmacist. The museum is located in the historic French Quarter, "so it is very easy to get to." If you take the tour, it will give you a "real sense of medicine in its earliest years," especially in the real apothecary shop. There's also an herb garden courtyard, and a gift shop with books, prints, and t-shirts emblazoned with slogans like "I'm a sucker for leeches." All in all, for its history and entertainment, "it is the best buy-for-the-buck in town." Read more.

Bayou Pierre Alligator Park
Natchitoches

877.354.7001
For everything alligator-related, "this is an extremely nice, well-organized, and fun nature exhibit/park." Conservation-minded, the facility also breeds alligators. While there, be sure to watch the "great show that explains the importance of gators in nature and how to keep them off the endangered species list." You also don't want to miss mealtime, when the "chicken feeding is awesome," although it "may not be appropriate for very young children." The park includes a gift shop and cafe. To avoid the heat, be sure to go during "early morning or late afternoon in the summer months." Read more.

Wooden Boat Festival
Madisonville

985.845.9200
Wooden Boat Festival
The scenic Tchefuncte River is the setting for this festival held each year in the fall. A fundraiser for the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum, the festival "brings together the diverse boating styles of Louisiana." With hundreds of boats to look at, you'll see everything "from homemade wooden pirogues, bass/ski boats, cigarette boats, sail boats, and schooners, to huge oceangoing yachts." There are also boat-building competitions, races, and special activities for kids. It's a chance to "come together for a weekend of food and fun on a beautiful, oak-covered lazy river." Read more.

Dogwood Grocery
Haughton

318.949.2600
Around the town of Haughton, "crawfish are the highlight of the local cuisine." If you visit on weekends during crawfish season you can get a "great feel for local cuisine at this local restaurant." Humbly situated "in a neighborhood gas station," it feeds a community in search of "crawfish, boudin, steak, Natchitoches meat pies, and homemade goods." Come high noon or quitting time, "people from the neighborhood and local construction workers all go there for the great lunch plates, steak nights, and crawfish boils."

Franklin Parish Catfish Festival
Winnsboro

318.435.7607
Head into the rural countryside to Franklin Parish, which "produces most of the catfish that is sold in the state of Louisiana." Held annually during the second Saturday in April, the Catfish Festival is a good event to check out "if you want to learn more about good Southern catfish." And, of course, if you "just want to eat some, this is the right place to go." Spread out over six city blocks, the festival lasts for one day and is filled with arts, crafts, and live gospel, blues, and country music. Read more.

Harlow's Donuts & Bakery
Pineville

318.448.0399
Early risers are rewarded with donuts that are "fresh out of the oven" at this local shop that serves up "warm donuts that melt in your mouth." A true secret, "only people who have been through Pineville know" about Harlow's existence. From 6am to 8am, "all the local, older gentlemen come, get a few donuts for their breakfast, and catch up on the morning events in the newspaper while sipping on a hot cup of coffee." It has even been said that "smelling fresh donuts and listening to the laughter of these Southern gentlemen is one of the best ways to start your mornings in Pineville, Louisiana."