If you have time (to us, that means an overall trip lasting more than 3 days), you should strongly consider a sojourn into the countryside around the city. Not only does it make for an interesting cultural and visual contrast, but all the areas discussed below are also hurting for tourism as much as New Orleans is. This chapter starts off by following the River Road and the plantation homes that line the banks of the Mississippi, heading upriver from New Orleans; the second part will take you a little more than 100 miles west of New Orleans to the heart of Acadiana, or Cajun Country.
How much time you devote to these trips depends on your schedule. On the River Road trip, you can see many of the highlights in a day trip, but it's quite possible to keep rambling north to visit the plantation homes in the St. Francisville area, an exploration that will call for an overnight stay. The Cajun Country trip requires an overnight, and you'll have no trouble filling the time if you can spend a few more days in the region.
