How to Find Great Parks in New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana offers so much more than the jazz and fine dining for which it is so famous. New Orleans has two huge parks in the city. City Park of New Orleans houses the New Orleans Botanical Garden, an amusement park, golf courses, riding stables, tennis courts, the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden. A new building renovated since Hurricane Katrina, the Pavilion of Two Sisters is a multi-purpose center used for everything from garden shows to society weddings in the park. The Audubon Zoo is in Audubon Park in Uptown New Orleans. It also offers walking trails, golf courses, beautiful landscaping and more. To visit each park thoroughly would take a week or more in New Orleans, so hit the high spots on your next visit to enjoy it to the fullest.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Drive to City Park in the middle of New Orleans at the end of Esplanade Avenue. The park offers 1,300 acres of year-round fun. City Park is full of things to do for kids and adults. If you just wish to relax, you can find a live oak tree (perhaps one that duels were fought under), have a picnic and watch the ducks and swans swim in the bayous that wind through the park. Sports and recreational activities are around every corner.

2. The New Orleans Botanical Garden is in the park and not to be missed. This kind of tropical garden is rarely found in the heart of a city. The Storyland fairytale playground, and the Carousel Gardens Amusement Park allow the kids a good time. The carousel has wooden horses restored after the storm, but are great fun for kids and adults. The hundreds of acres of park provide trails for walkers, joggers and bicyclists.

3. Visit the Carousel Gardens Amusement Park and let the kids ride on the rides on Saturdays and Sundays.

4. Visit the Botanical Garden Tuesday through Sunday from
10:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

5. Marvel at a model train garden that operates on weekends. See the workmanship as the train travels through a mini-French Quarter.

6. Get a bucket of balls at the golf driving range
Tuesday through Friday for $10.00

7. Play tennis at the tennis courts
Monday through Thursday from
8:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m.
and Friday through Sunday from
8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.


8. Visit the New Orleans Museum of Art and NOMA's Besthoff Sculpture Garden, Wednesday through Sunday from10:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.


9. Drive to The Audubon Zoo in Uptown New Orleans, near Tulane University and Loyola University. Audubon Zoo has been consistently rated as one of the country's top-ranked zoos. Animals from all over the world, from white alligators to white tigers are housed in a natural environment there. Walk through 50 acres of pathways and boardwalks through landscaped gardensVisit The Louisiana Swamp Exhibit, the world’s only urban swamp. See animals from South Louisiana, such as Louisiana black bear, bobcats, foxes and the rare white alligators that have been found only in the Louisiana swamps.

10. See The Audubon Institute's IMax theater at the aquarium. Walk under exhibits of ocean and fresh water fish and see sharks, sting rays and native Gulf of Mexico fish.