The Most Informative Post You’ll Ever Read About Visiting New Orleans with Kids!
This past April we took a family trip to New Orleans! My family consists of my husband, myself, two boys (ages 6 and 2) and another nugget on the way! We had never been to New Orleans before, so I didn’t quite know what to expect as far as a family vacation in NoLa. Now that we’ve experienced it and made great memories, I’m sharing all about our trip and hopefully answering any questions you might have about visiting The Big Easy with kids!
Why did we choose New Orleans for a family vacation? When my husband and I were 25, we made the goal to visit all 50 states by the time we are 50, we call it our “50 by 50” goal! We decided that the visit only counts if we go together and if it’s our destination, not if we are just passing through. We live in Texas, so New Orleans had been on my radar for a while as a quick and easy getaway, I had just been waiting for a time to go. It was my birthday weekend and we had flight credits, so I figured this was as good of a time as any to check Louisiana off our list!
Here’s what we did while we were there:
The World War 2 Museum
Our first day in New Orleans was a rainy one. We researched indoor attractions and presented the options to our six year old! We asked him if he’d rather go to the aquarium or the World War 2 Museum. He said “woah! That’s a hard choice!” haha! The deciding factor was that we can go to an aquarium anywhere, but we can only go to the World War 2 Museum in New Orleans, so he chose the museum, and I’m glad he did! https://www.nationalww2museum.org/
We headed downtown and parked in the garage across the street from the museum. Parking was less than $15. We purchased our museum admission online ahead of time so that we could just walk right in when we got there. When you first get to the museum you can grab a plastic dog tag to get the name of a veteran, and scan the dog tag throughout the museum to follow that specific veteran’s story! Pretty cool and unique! However, there was no way my boys were going to follow a specific route around the museum, so we didn’t take full advantage of the dog tag situation.
The World War 2 Museum is kid-friendly, but it is not kid-focused. I had no idea how my young boys would do and if they’d be bored after 15 minutes. I was shocked at how interested they were! My two year old, of course, didn’t understand much, but he loved looking over the model ships and airplanes. My six year old loved the digital exhibit where you can choose a country, and watch the progression of the war in that country. To be honest, Gavin and I would have learned a lot more at this museum if we didn’t have kids with us, but I didn’t feel like I was missing out, with the trade off being that my kids learned and enjoyed their time here! We spent about three hours at the museum!
New Orleans City Park
The next day, the weather was still a little dreary, but not enough to keep us indoors. We ventured to New Orleans City Park! Oh my goodness the whole place was so picturesque and we didn’t even see half of it. While much of the park is free to explore, we paid admission to enter “Storyland.” My kids had a lot of fun here, I’m so glad we visited! Storyland is a playground based on popular children’s stories. You can get inside the whale’s mouth from Pinocchio, explore the straw, stick, and brick houses from The Three Little Pigs, and my kid’s favorite: slide down a giant (and I mean GIANT) Jack-and-the-Beanstalk slide! We spent at least two hours letting my kids burn energy at this park. We finished off our trip to the city park with a train ride! It was a fun and exciting way to view the park and get an idea of what else is offered there.
Metairie Cemetery
Later in the day, we stopped in at a cemetery near the city park. Before you think this is weird, New Orleans cemeteries are a BIG DEAL, apparently! Cemetery tours are one of the top attractions in New Orleans! We didn’t attend an organized tour, but we walked through a cemetery to see for ourselves why they are so fascinating. I can’t tell you the history of these cemeteries or what makes one better than another, but one thing that makes these cemeteries worth visiting is that all the burial sites are above ground! I’m not sure exactly why, but it has something to do with New Orleans being below sea level. Gavin is now convinced that when he goes to the other side, he wants to be buried six feet above instead of under. So put that on my list of things to look into!
Garden District
Our last day in New Orleans began in the Garden District. The garden district is a unique part of town, full of shops, restaurants, beautiful historic homes, and colorful walls! We didn’t spend much time here because taking my kids into shops and restaurants is like taking a couple bulls into a china shop. I did manage to get a picture of my family in front of the NoLa Mural before moving on to our next adventure! The mural is located at 2104 Magazine Street.
Jean Lafitte Preserve and Swamp Tour
One of our favorite parts of the whole trip was visiting the Jean Lafitte swamp! This preserve actually has six separate sites! We visited the Barataria Preserve, and spent an hour or so on the boardwalk before our scheduled swamp tour. The boardwalk through the swamp was unlike anything I’ve experienced before! The sights and sounds were beautiful. We didn’t see any alligators from the boardwalk, but we did see plenty of snakes, lizards, and frogs!
We didn’t see any alligators from the boardwalk, but we DID see some from the boat on the swamp tour! We booked our tour here and it did not disappoint! We were lucky enough to see at least five alligators while cruising along, learning about the swamp. We also saw something that I didn’t even know existed before this trip- a soft-shelled turtle! What?! It looked like a pancake with a head, draped on a log! The swamp tour ended with a sweet surprise! A baby alligator aboard the boat for all passengers to take turns holding. I was proud of my boys for being brave enough to hold it, despite being nervous at first. It was really fun for them to brag about later- “I held a baby alligator!” Pro tip: You’re not guaranteed to see alligators, but you’re more likely to see them when the sun is shining! We booked our tour here: https://www.jeanlafitteswamptour.com/
French Quarters, Cafe Du Monde, and Jackson Square
No trip to New Orleans is complete without a visit to the French Quarters and some beignets, right? We ended our trip with a walk around what is possibly the most famous part of New Orleans. We found free parking on the street and walked to Cafe Du Monde. We went early on a Monday afternoon, so we did a pretty good job of avoiding crowds. We indulged in our beignets then walked over to the picturesque Jackson Square. After admiring St. Louis Cathedral, we walked along the Mississippi river before heading back to our car. I know that this is one of the most beloved districts of New Orleans, but to be completely honest, it was a difficult area to be in with kids. While colorful and unique, the streets were busy, dirty, and full of some interesting characters. This wouldn’t bother me if I was just with my husband or girlfriends, but with my kids I was a little on edge about the surroundings. That being said, I’m still glad we went and spent a few hours in the area! My kids hardly noticed anything sketchy. They loved their beignets, the random bubbles, bands, and characters. They ran around Jackson square and were fascinated by the barges on the Mississippi river. It was a good experience! I’m just giving you a fair warning that two hours in the French Quarters with kids is probably all you need.
Where we ate in New Orleans with Kids
I am a big fan of packing most of our food and snacks while on vacation! I feel gross when I eat out too much, and I hate being hungry while deciding on a place to eat! Not to mention, packing our own food is easier on the wallet too! We usually eat out at one restaurant a day on our travels. Because it’s just one restaurant a day, we’re more comfortable just ordering what we want instead of looking for the most budget friendly thing on the menu. I could do a whole post on this. Anyways, I’ll pass along two restaurants we ate at that I’d highly recommend for any families travelling to the area!
The Velvet Cactus– The Velvet Cactus serves Mexican food with a Cajun twist. We arrived around 5:00 and only had to wait about 15 minutes for a table. Soon after we arrived, there was a much longer line with the wait times growing. The daylight environment here is so fun for families! Indoor/outdoor seating with plenty of outdoor games to keep anyone entertained while waiting for a table or a meal.
New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Co- There are multiple locations of this casual dining restaurant, serving New Orleans Staples. New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Co is where we tried a PoBoy, and my kids shared a simple meal of Chicken Strips. Not that there was anything extremely special about this restaurant, but it was clean, easy, satisfying, and family friendly. That’s all we’re looking for!
I had a whole list of restaurant recommendations. Needless to say we didn’t make it to most of them, but I’ll pass the recommendations on to you. If you check them out, let me know what you think!
Johnny Po Boys Sandwiches (French Quarters)
French Toast (French Quarters)
Jimmy J’s Cafe breakfast (French Quarters)
Palace Cafe (French quarters, order crab cheesecake)
Mothers southern food (Central Business District ish)
Empire Deli (Central Business District ish)
Willa Jean (CBD, bf/lunch make reservations)
Dragos seafood (Hilton riverside, near Garden district)
Gallianos– (Warehouse district ish)
Where We Stayed in New Orleans with Kids
To get the best bang for our buck, we hotel hopped and stayed at two different hotels in New Orleans, each for two nights. One hotel we stayed at was the Comfort Inn near the airport. Being that it’s a two-star, chain hotel, we didn’t have high expectations, we just wanted somewhere clean, comfortable, and safe to sleep. This hotel ended up being fine, but I wouldn’t recommend it or stay here again.
We also stayed at the Alder hotel in Uptown. We were pleased with The Alder and I would recommend it to anyone hoping to have a New Orleans trip similar to ours. We knew we would be spending most of our time in New Orleans out exploring, so we didn’t need a luxury hotel with all the bells and whistles. Again, we just wanted somewhere safe, comfortable, and clean to sleep. Most hotels in New Orleans charge for parking, and the Alder didn’t, which was nice! While planning the trip I was debating between renting a car, staying somewhere centrally located, or using public transportation. All said and done, I’m confident we made the right choice by renting a car and staying in a quieter part of town. The only downfall of the Alder is it’s random placement- in a neighborhood, near a hospital. There wasn’t really anything to do or see on foot from the Alder. However, it was only a five minute drive from the Garden District, and we never drove more than thirty minutes to any destination: downtown, the city park, or the swamp. I’d stay here again!
Do I need to rent a car in New Orleans?
This was one of my biggest questions heading into the trip. I knew New Orleans offered trolleys but I wasn’t sure about the route. How expensive was parking going to be? Would we be able to walk to attractions and just use Uber when needed? Here’s my answer: Rent a car! I don’t know how we would have been able to make it work without a car. Parking wasn’t near as big of a deal or expensive as I thought it would be (maybe we just got lucky), transportation via trolley was very limited, major attractions aren’t within walking distance of each other, and it would have been so difficult to deal with packing car seats into an Uber. Rent a car! I’m so glad we did! Pro tip: Take pictures of your rental car before leaving the parking lot AND when you return the car! Then if there is any damage to the car, you can prove you didn’t do it! Two times we’ve rented a car and been pegged for damage we didn’t do! The first time we learned the hard way and didn’t have picture proof. The second time, we took pictures and were able to prove the damage was there before we drove the car off the lot!
Should I take my kids to New Orleans?
Some things are just more fun with kids! The swamp tour, for example, so exciting with kids! The city park and train ride- a blast with kids! Other experiences are a little more difficult- like exploring the French Quarters and learning a lot from the World War 2 museum. The answer just depends on what your priorities are during your visit. If your concerns are safety or family friendly entertainment, I’d say you can set those concerns aside! I never felt like my kids were somewhere they shouldn’t be, and there were so many fun things for us to do as a family! I’ll provide even more recommendations below!
More Family Friendly New Orleans Attractions
Here are more ideas of things you can do with your family in New Orleans. I cannot personally vouch for these, but they were on my radar and we would have loved to experience them if we had more time.
Steamboat Jazz Cruise (we had actually purchased tickets for a Sunday brunch Jazz cruise, but due to weather the week before, our cruise was cancelled and our tickets refunded. Bummer!)
New Orleans Audubon: zoo, aquarium, park, nature institute, butterfly pavilion, and fountain garden
New Orleans City Park: The Botanical Garden, Carousel Garden’s Amusement Park, and the Louisiana Children’s museum. (The city park is where we visited Storyland. The amusement park and children’s museum were closed during our visit or we probably would have checked them out!)
Chalmette Battlefield
Mardi Gras World
Let me know if you have any questions after reading through this blog post! It can be intimidating visiting a place sight unseen, so hopefully this post makes you feel like you’re not going into completely uncharted territory when you visit for the first time. Have a great trip!
