New Orleans’ Virtual Sights and Sounds
Get a virtual introduction to some of the Crescent City’s innumerable, unforgettable cultural riches. Audubon Aquarium of the Americas’ Virtual Tour offers a fish’s-eye view of its wondrous, undersea-inspired facility. Not to be missed: The Great Maya Reef and Gulf of Mexico exhibits.
Walk through New Orleans’ “Cities of the Dead” via virtual tours of its aboveground cemeteries. Tour the Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 as it is perhaps New Orleans’ best known, and is the oldest city-operated cemetery in town (established in 1832). Located across the street from the historical Creole restaurant Commander’s Palace, Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 is a nondenominational, non-segregated final resting place for many prominent and lesser-known New Orleanians. For those who want to learn more about New Orleans’ fascinating cemetery history, New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries offers 360° tours on its website as well.
New Orleans City Park is often referred to as “New Orleans’ crown jewel,” both for its size (a whopping one-by-three mile area, making it among the largest urban parks in the nation), and for its amenities. On your virtual tour of City Park, you’ll find just a few of its charms. Among them are the New Orleans Botanical Gardens, NOMA’s Besthoff Sculpture Garden and City Park’s grove of massive live oak trees.
Another attraction you’ll find within City Park is the New Orleans Museum of Art. As the city’s oldest and most prominent fine arts institution, is home to nearly 40,000 works of art and artifacts. On your virtual tour of the museum, you’ll get a peek at some of them.
Virtual Swamp Tours
Land-lubbers rejoice: You can catch some of the excitement of a Louisiana swamp tour, no matter where you are. Cajun Encounters offers virtual tours of the Honey Island Swamp, where you’ll get an up-close-and-personal look at the alligators and other swamp creatures that make their home in south Louisiana. Also cruising the Honey Island Swamp is Pearl River Eco Tours, a company that specializes in getting visitors deep into the heart of the bayous. Take a virtual tour with them via videos that offer an inside look at what to expect on your offshore excursion.
Bottoms Up!
Bayou Rum is among Louisiana’s most beloved brands. Why? Look no further than its white, spiced and specialty rums, made with locally harvested sugarcane and molasses from the oldest family-owned sugar mill in the United States. Take a 360° tour of its gift shop and museum to learn more about the company — one of the proudest local exports from southwest Louisiana.
Virtual Road Trips
See the lesser-known sights of Louisiana’s backroads thanks to Louisiana Byways, a network of 19 suggested road trips crisscrossing the entire state. While Louisiana’s big cities have plenty of charm, you’ll also find stunning geographic and cultural diversity on these driving trails.
Some of the Byways have tour videos and photos that will get you on the road — and you won’t even have to fill up the gas tank. Explore Cajun Country via the Bayou Teche, Zydeco Cajun Prairie and Cajun Corridor Byways. See off-the-beaten-path locales in north Louisiana on the Boom or Bust Byway, and learn about the rich, fascinating history of the state’s western hinterlands on a virtual tour of the Myths and Legends Byway. On the Southern Swamps Byway, you’ll catch glimpses of swamp life within just a short drive of Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
360° Video Experiences
Jump on the Louisiana YouTube channel to watch this playlist of 360° virtual reality experiences across Louisiana. Explore the beauty and tranquility of Louisiana swamps, get a taste of the nightlife and entertainment scenes, or even dive into Mardi Gras!
Looking for more ways to virtually discover Louisiana? Find a selection of virtual road trips, courtesy of our friends at New Orleans & Company, Visit Baton Rouge and Visit Lake Charles.
