If you are looking to step off the beaten track and see some of the real Louisiana, then I would highly recommend booking one of the remarkable swamp tours to discover the iconic Bayou, stunning scenery, rare wildlife and of course the stars of the show – the gators!

From reading many reviews online I opted for the Airboat Adventures tour, which is located approximately 45 minutes from the French Quarter of New Orleans. They are known to offer some of the most impressive swamp tours in this area, getting you up close and personal with the true Louisiana natives.

They offer a wide variety of tours on different crafts including pontoon boats, as well as large and small airboats. We opted for the premium small airboat, which seats up to 6 passengers, as the smaller boats allow you to advance deeper into the Bayou to discover even more of the wildlife that lives there. When you book online you can select to proceed to the departure point without transportation, or opt to include it. If you don’t have a hire car and are staying in the French Quarter, then I’d recommend selecting the pick-up and drop-off option, which includes round trip transportation from downtown New Orleans. 

Another tip when boarding the boat, is to try and grab the front seats to acquire an incredible view of the Bayou without anyone in front, making for some amazing photos and video. Be warned the boat can reach pretty high speeds so don’t wear anything which could fly off easily. It’s also recommended to wear the ear protectors due to the noise of the aircraft fan that propels the boat and I’d also make sure you are wearing sunscreen as there is zero shade during the 1 hour 45-minute tour.

All the tour guides love sharing their knowledge of the local area known as ‘Cypress Swamp’ (after the Bald Cypress, which is the state tree of Louisiana) as they take you to the best parts of the narrow creeks to see the incredible variety of wildlife. During our tour we managed to see turtles, egrets, bald eagles, giant spiders and numerous alligators! Even without the fauna, meandering down the shallow marches lined with mossy cypress trees is a wonderful experience in itself.

As soon as you see the alligators, they tend to swim right up to the boat. Our guide had a stash of marshmallows which he enjoyed feeding them, with one of the ginormous gators around 12ft even getting it’s front two feet up on to the side of the boat. It total, we managed to see well over 10 alligators during the tour and were literally within inches of them, creating some fantastic photo opportunities!

It’s certainly a high thrill experience and one of the most memorable activities we booked whilst visiting New Orleans. Click here to discover more about the tour.