Exploring New Orleans: A Family-Friendly Spring Break Adventure

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For spring break last year, we decided to take a Disney Cruise out of New Orleans. We’d taken a Disney Cruise before, but we had never been to New Orleans, so we figured this would be a good excuse plan a family vacation New Orleans style and get to see a whole new city.

Obviously we’d have the kids with us, so this would need to be a family-friendly trip to New Orleans. Unfortunately, that crossed off a handful of options, like haunted cemetery tours or various drinking tours. I’d love to do a fun ghost tour next time we visit. But, even so, there was still a lot to do with kids in New Orleans.

Where We Stayed

There are a lot of great hotels in New Orleans. We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard French Quarter/ Iberville, and we loved the location. It was very central to Canal St. and Bourbon St., so we could easily walk places without catching an Uber.

Family Vacation: New Orleans Swamp Tour

We decided to spend the morning doing a swamp tour. There were several companies to choose from, but we went with Louisiana Swamp Tours after reading some good reviews, and because it had the option to add round trip transportation.

If you do a swamp tour during your family vacation New Orleans, and are debating taking an Uber or using their shuttle, I highly recommend going with their transportation. We paid $20 per person extra, and they pick you up and drop you off right at your hotel. The swamps are a ways away from the French Quarter; probably about 30-40 mins once we had all passengers in tow. I’d imagine it would be challenging to get a ride back, and you’d probably be waiting awhile.

Because we had a 3-year old in our group, we decided to do the covered swamp boat tour rather than the jet boat. The jet boats did look fun, but they were super loud, and it was really nice being able to hear our captain talk to us. We learned that alligators like marshmallows, and several would come toward the boat hoping for treats. A highlight of the tour was being able to hold a baby alligator.

Overall, we had a ton of fun on our swamp tour. If you’re looking to fill your family vacation New Orleans itinerary, I’d highly suggest you check one out.

After our swamp tour, we went back to the hotel to regroup and watch some of the March Madness games.

Bourbon St.

By this time, it was close to 4:00, so we decided to walk around the French Quarter for a bit and go eat some authentic local cuisine. Bourbon St. was already lively, with music playing and people stumbling with their giant to-go cups. Gotta love a city where you can drink on the street.

I’ve been to Vegas with kids before, but this definitely felt different. Not a lot of kids on Bourbon St., and nothing was geared toward them. I can’t imagine how it would feel at night.

Family Vacation: New Orleans Dining

We ate dinner at Mambo’s, which was delicious. They have a good selection of creole and Cajun cuisine, plus a full list of specialty cocktails. We had to try the alligator tail appetizer, and two out of three of my kids LOVED it. My oldest wouldn’t even try it. Note: there is no kids meal online, but they do in fact have a kids meal.

After dinner, we decided to walk around a bit more because we were all stuffed. We walked down to the river and saw some river cruise boats, and just walked by various gift shops and bars. Then headed to Cafe Beignet for dessert. The beignets there were DELICIOUS. We ordered some plain and some with chocolate sauce drizzled over them—both were so good!

After dessert, we called it an early night and headed back to the hotel to start packing up for the cruise. We ended up going to Cafe Beignet again in the morning before we set sail–we couldn’t get enough of these delicious beignets.

Overall, I don’t know that I highly recommend New Orleans as your family vacation destination, however, it’s a great port to cruise out of and get a quick taste of the city. It could also be a great spot to celebrate a big milestone birthday or to go on an adults trip.

I think 24 hours to explore was plenty of time for us with the kids. I’d also go back to watch an NFL game there — we’ve taken some fun trips to Kansas City, Chicago and Los Angeles to watch the Packers play. I’d love to see them play in New Orleans!

If you are looking for more family-friendly spring break destinations, I have a great list compiled for you.