Behind The Scenes New Orleans – 4 Days

Upon arrival in New Orleans, you will meet your Tour Manager and travel through three centuries of history, legends and romance as you explore the French Quarter during a walking tour. After dinner, you will head to the hotel and check in to rest up for the days ahead.

This morning you will take a boat tour of Honey Island Swamp and see one of the only remaining preserved wetlands in Louisiana. You will have the opportunity to not only see and smell the swamp, but touch the flora and fauna around you. You will have lunch on the Bayou.

You will get a rare behind-the-scenes look at the magic of Mardi Gras when you take a tour of Mardi Gras World.

Next, you’ll take a guided Jazz Tour. Explore the world’s richest musical city, starting with a rare inside look at the legendary Preservation Hall. Visit the site of the Old French Opera House and stroll through the Tango Belt and May Bailey’s before arriving at the Treme section. Enter historic St. Louis Cemetery #1 to see the New Orleans Musicians Tomb, Stroll through the Tango Belt to the New Orleans Musicians Tomb in St. Louis Cemetery #1. You will then head to the remains of Storyville (including Quinn Early’s Saloon where “Pretty Baby” was written). From Storyville, check out the Basin Street Station and then venture into Louis Armstrong Park, the location of Congo Square, historic site of African slave gatherings. Congo Square is considered the wellspring of all New Orleans music and consequently so much of the world’s most popular song. It is also the site of the first New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (1970) and the Municipal Auditorium. Then enter the building that housed the legendary J&M Studios which created the “New Orleans Sound”. Finally, you will visit the Golden Feather Mardi Gras Indian Gallery and check out the world’s greatest street musicians who carry the Jazz flame to this day.

You’ll visit the French Quarter, also known as the Vieux Carre, which is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans (La Nouvelle-Orléans in French) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré (“Old Square” in French) as it was known then. While the area is still referred to as the Vieux Carré by some, it is more commonly known as the French Quarter today, or simply “The Quarter.”[1] Although called the “French” Quarter, most of the present day buildings were built under Spanish rule and show Spanish colonial tastes. The district as a whole is a National Historic Landmark, and contains numerous individual historic buildings. It was affected relatively lightly by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, as compared to other areas of the city and the greater region.

Your first stop today will be the Audubon Zoo, which is a New Orleans landmark and a living museum filled with some of the rarest and most beautiful creatures of nature. There have been animals at this site since the 1884 World Exposition in Audubon Park. Today, Audubon Zoo has 58 acres of animals in their natural habitats.

Next you will explore the exhibits at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas situated along the Mississippi River at the edge of the French Quarter.

You’ll have free time at the Riverwalk and board the Steamboat Natchez where you will have dinner and enjoy live music.

Today you will explore the lives of American men and women who took part in World War II through letters, recruitment posters, weapons, models, and film at the National World War II Museum.

After lunch you will board your bus, or head to the airport, for your trip home.