Airboat And Plantations Tour With Gourmet Lunch From New Orleans

This was a wonderful experience! Our guide and driver, Giselle, was excellent! Very informative and helpful. All tours were well organized. Food was delicious. Highly recommend!

It was one of the best tours we had. Even though it was cold during our swamp tour and we didn’t see too many alligators because of that, our guide was very good and funny. We enjoyed his narratives. Giselle, our tour guide and driver was excellent. She was very informative. The speaker system on the van could have been a little better as it was sometimes hard to understand what she was saying. She took pictures of us and sent them to us promptly. Our lunch was excellent, also! And our plantation tour guides were wonderful. I would highly recommend this tour. It was well organized and a lot of fun. Thank you for the great experience!

Tours by Isabelle was fantastic! We went on the Grand Tour with Airboat and Gourmet Lunch. We were picked up at our hotel in a very comfortable van (with charging ports...a plus!). Our first stop was with Captain Garrett Burt of Ragin’ Cajun Airboat Swamp Tour who was friendly, entertaining, and incredibly knowledgeable. The swamp was beautiful, and getting up close and personal with the gators was an unforgettable experience! We also toured two amazing plantations. Houmas House wowed us with its beautiful architecture and gorgeous gardens, while Laura Plantation offered a fascinating, meaningful look at Creole history and the realities of slavery. The guides were passionate and knowledgeable. Our luncheon at Houmas House was a special treat with a diverse menu. There was also a bar available where we purchased wine with our lunch. Our main tour guide, Muriel, was very knowledgeable, organized, punctual, and friendly. Isabelle was incredibly communicative and accommodating, making the entire experience easy and enjoyable. Highly recommend Tours by Isabelle for a memorable Louisiana adventure! We would absolutely tour with her again!

Well organized tour. Bayou was great. Saw so many more gators in a fraction of the time as we saw in the Florida everglades. Ragin Cajun Airboat Guide invites them right up close and personal. The Laura Plantation was the highlight. The history as told through that of the family was terrific. Intertwined the life of owners and slaves through history of The Duparc Sugar Plantation, later renamed "Laura". Guillaume Duparc was a French naval veteran of the American Revolution. Laura's great grandfather. Construction began in 1804 and was completed 11 months later. The work was executed by highly-skilled slaves, using amazing pre-fabricated methods, typical of early Louisiana structures. The history is supported by Laura's memoirs and is truly fascinating. She was 100 years old in 1961. Houmas House was impressive but the focus was primarily about owners past and present. More of a museum feel but beautiful gardens, statues, paintings, furniture. Exudes wealth. Very enjoyable just much different than Laura. The only disappointment was the so called "gourmet" lunch. Not even close. I still give the tour a 5 as that was the only issue. Not bad but average lunch. The tour guide was great and managed time very well, dealing with a re-route on the way and getting us back exactly on time to New Orleans to our Airbnb. Great time!

This tour was fun, educational, beautiful and interesting. Starting with the airboat cruise and seeing alligators, their babies plus the fauna was spectacular. The guide was charming, funny and hands on. Laura house tour was very interesting and greatly detailed by the tour guide. And last, Houmas House. Food was awesome (love that creole food) and the tour and the grounds were phenomenal. It is a long day, so be prepared. Worth the time and money

This tour was so fun! Robert our guide was so easy going and organized had a blast would love to do it again!

The tours were great. Isabella planned the perfect tour. Each manor was so different. Rene was the tour guide that took us to the mansions and was knowledgeable and energetic. Because of the wether, we did not get to do the airboat the same day, but Isabella set it up for us to do on a later date. She made it easy . The food was great as well. Rene had umbrellas and ponchos ready for us each step. Thinking ahead about our needs

Excellent tour and excellent tour guides! Highly recommended!!!

Isabelle ĺooked after us extremely well.Communicated with us on times and activities .We did three tours with her during our week in New Orleans .Rene our guide was brilliant and knowledgeable. Thanks for making our week special Nigel and Caz

Isabelle has been actively involved in providing excellent LA (Louisiana y'all) tours for 35+ years, yet even now she personally calls to coordinate our tour and confirm our date. The guide on today's tour (Rene) was a wealth of knowledge and fun to banter with on the drives out to the three venues and back again (all day tour). Exemplary plantation tours steeped in history and full of period pieces. I learned a lot today!

We would highly recommend this tour! The two plantations were very different but both interesting, lunch was delicious, Rene was fun and full of great information. The swamp was beautiful, riding in the airboat was super fun!

This was a fun experience! It’s a full day! The van is comfortable and clean! Our travel guide, Rene, is full of historical information. We really enjoyed all the stops!

Great tour which gives you a tour of the swamps and to learn about the history of the sugar plantations. Isabelle was great to communicate with prior to the tour and Robert our tour guide was wonderful. He was full of knowledge and information and really looked after us. I can highly recommend this tour.

Gisele was an extremely knowledgeable, fun, and kind tour guide. She blew away our expectations with her knowledge of Louisiana history. We learned about the layered history of the multiple cultures in Louisiana, famous places, and food. The Plantations were excellent visits. We went to one medium sized plantation and then one of the largest that was operating out of Louisiana. We learned so much on both of these visits. The lunch was excellent and also went above and beyond our expecting. Our air boat tour was also very nice. We saw a lot of birds and the tour guide took us on a wild ride doing donuts in the Bayou. It still felt safe though. Very pleasurable experience and I am so glad that Gisele was our guide. She made the tour easy and meaningful.

What a great tour! Amazing food. We learned so much. Renee was a wonderful guide. I highly recommend Isabelle Tours and I can’t wait to use them again when I’m in New Orleans.

We really enjoyed this tour. Giselle was our tour guide and was fantastic. She was very informative all through the tour even we while we were travelling between locations she continued to tell us about the history of New Orleans. We started the day with an airboat ride where we met many of the alligators inhabiting the swamp and our operator was very entertaining and informative. We learnt a lot about the swamp and experienced a fun ride as well. We then headed to Laura plantation where we had a lovely guide who was extremely knowledgeable, and we learnt a lot about Lauras family history and their life on the plantation as well as some of the known history of the slaves who lived there. Houmas house was our next destination where we had a lovely buffet lunch where I (who is usually a bit fussy) was pleasantly surprised with how nice it was. The tour of the house was great which is full of antiques and interesting pieces from a bygone era. The tour guide took us through the home explaining life in this house and we then explored the beautiful gardens complete with beautiful old Oak Trees hundreds of years old and fantastic sculptures throughout to be discovered as you walk through. We even encountered peacocks, swans and turkeys along the way. The van was comfortable and the small group who were lovely was a great way to do this type of tour. We would highly recommend this tour.

Very well organized tour with very interesting visits including high quality guides. The driver Rene was excellent at all aspects.

There aren't many tours that go to the Houmas house, So I was really happy that this one was available. This tour company had exceptional communication before the tour. Robert was an amazing guide and did everything possible to make our tour the best time possible. He even put up with my yacking too much. We stressed him out a little because our tours ran late but he handled it like a champ and with a smile. I was a little disappointed that we had to rush through our Houmas house experience Because the Laura Plantation changed its schedule but that was nobody's fault, it all worked out. Would totally do this tour again, highly recommend!

Wonderful tour. Many different experiences in one day. Gisele was an excellent host and driver. Her knowledge of Louisiana history was amazing, and her stories made the time fly by as we traveled from place to place. Loved the historic plantations, the delicious lunch, and the great air boat tour which brought us in contact with many gators and interesting birds. Our family will remember this experience for years to come. Thank you, Gisele!!

This tour was amazing. The company confirmed pickup details ahead of time, and showed up a few minutes early. Gator portion on the fan boat delivered with a bunch of up close sightings. Plantation tour with two stops was very informative and the included lunch was very good. Our guide was very knowledgeable and has a great sense of humor.

This tour was absolutely lovely and our tour guide, Robert, was incredible- knowledgable, patient and overall just a nice person. My mother and I had a great day and the tour was the highlight of our trip. Couldn't recommend more!

We (family of 4) enjoyed the day very much. Communication was excellent with immediate acknowledgement from the tour operator (Isabelle) on booking and then again 48 hours before our tour. We were fortunate that our group numbered only 5, so we had a very personal experience. Our guide /driver Robert was lovely and shared interesting information en route to the various locations. My family all agreed that the airboat swamp tour was the highlight of the day, with us each choosing a different aspect of the tour as our highlight. The 2 plantation tours were very different from each other. The Laura plantation was definitely the more interesting as it gave a more complete picture of life on the plantation. The Houmas House tour in our opinion wasn't particularly interesting and didn't really tell you very much about the plantation but it was nice to see the grand house and the beautiful grounds. We all thought the lunch was very good.

We had such an amazing time on this store. It exceeded my expectations. The swamp tour was so much fun and we saw so many alligators in addition to other wild life. Not only did we see them they were up close on the front of the boat. I thought it was one plantation tour, but it was two. They were different, but both extremely interesting in different ways. Isabelle was so knowledgeable and welcoming. I highly recommend any of the tours Isabelle offers.

Robert really showed us a great time! He was prompt, professional, knowledgeable and a great storyteller. We appreciated his help, the whole day. The van provided a comfortable ride from New Orleans. The swamp tour was an unforgettable experience- we'll be talking about the alligators for a long time. The plantations provided an opportunity to learn about life in the area, and a lot about the slaves. Lunch was a delicious buffet. We loved the gumbo and of course, the white chocolate bread pudding. It was such a great day. Thank you so much!

We had a wonderful day. Everything was well planned and on time. On tour guide, Robert was so knowledgeable and friendly. It was a day to remember.

It was a great tour! Our guide/driver, Rene, was very knowledgeable and informative. He was easy to get along with, and shared his knowledge with us. There were 9 people in all on this tour. We all interacted and got along great. The air boat tour was great fun, and we learned a lot about the bayou and alligators! Laura plantation was lovely, and the guide was quite interesting. Houmas Plantation tour was exquisite- the gardens are magnificent, lunch was very tasty, and the house itself was gorgeous. We learned a lot about the local culture and had a great time. Would highly recommend Isabelle Tours, and Rene!

The pick up service was fantastic. We had a great tour through the French Quarter as we collected a few other tour guests. Our guide was very knowledgeable and pointed out some really cool architectural features and share details about the fire that devastated the city in the early days. We brought our family on the airboat tour. My teenagers loved the speed and feel of the boats and my little kids were thrilled by all the alligators and getting to feed them. The plantation was so interesting and the history presented there was eye opening for my kids and they really enjoyed the interaction with the docents. Our tour guide gave us an additional tour of the property and pointed out many aspects of the property that the docent tour didn’t have time to share. Isabelle is extremely hospitable and exemplified Southern hospitality. I left feeling like I now have a friend in NOLA, Isabella!

What a phenomenal experience. Hands down one of the best tours we did in our time in New Orleans. Our tour guide, Rene, was absolutely fantastic! He has a wealth of knowledge that he happily shared with us. He was so friendly and cheerful. All of his charisma added to creating a fantastic experience. Thank you so much!

Rene’ was excellent as guide and driver. While traveling to the airboat first, Rene’ gave us New Orleans history. The airboat ride and wildlife was amazing. The plantations and history were incredible. Lunch was wonderful. The ride home Rene’ gave us tips on eating places. I would highly recommend this tour.

What a great trip. We started with pick up at the hotel and first did the Airboat tour. That was VERY FUN! Guide was fun and knowledgeable. We saw lots of Gators. Then on to the first plantation. WOW a lot of history. Joe than anyone could absorb. Then off for lunch at the second Plantation. The food was out standing!!. The nay complaint was there was not enough time to enjoy it. It was eat and go as this trip was on a very strict timeline. If we had 15-30 minutes longer it would have been perfect. The second tour was great also and again lots to absorb. Then we were ready to travel back to our hotel. Our van was bilingual with a French speaking family and Gisèle did a great job. We had a hard rain on the drive back and I wish Gisèle had stopped talking during that time, it was a little scary even though she did a great job and has done this for 20 years. Pick up 7:30am and Drop off 5pm. A very long day and we were tired when done. Overall a great days and well organized.

Excellent experience with our driver/ guide Giselle. Very knowledgeable and made the drive seem shorter. We ran into a torrential downpour on the highway and she was a real trooper handling the vehicle.

Started with an airboat rude and got close up to gators as we watched them been fed. Then off to the plantations. We couldn't stop saying wow as the guides were telling us about the history of the plantations and the owners. Fantastic lunch included. We had a great day.

Tours by Isabelle Grand tour included two plantations and an airboat ride. The tour guide John was professional and very informative. Both plantations were very different and provided a detailed historical experience with a guided tour of the stunning plantation houses and grounds. The lunch was excellent . Overall exceeded expectations- thoroughly recommend this tour! A great day out

We had a group of 11, we had a really fun time. Our tour guide was really knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. We will definitely book again!

We had the best time! We were with John as our driver and guide. He was very informative and fun. We went on the airboat swamp ride and saw alligators, a bald eagle and other birds. Then off to Laura Plantation to get a different perspective of plantation life from the view of the slaves that lived there. Made ya think!! Next was Houmas House Plantation for lunch and a guided tour of the house. Lunch was delicious and the grounds were just beautiful!!! We definitely would do it again.

My husband and I are professors who live in Southern California. But forty years ago, we were in NOLA looking at a job offer and I booked my then-teenage sons on an all-day tour with Isabelle. They loved it! So when we were planning a family trip recently, I remembered that and I was amazed to see that she was still in business and offering the same tour. I immediately signed all seven of us up. We were fortunate enough to go on the tour on a gorgeous spring day when it was warm enough for many bayou alligators to come out. We were also fortunate that Isabelle herself happened to be our tour guide/driver. So it’s not surprising that we had a wonderful experience. But to me, the most impressive thing is that Isabelle has managed to keep her company going for 46 years through very tough times like Katrina in 2005 and then the disastrous Covid era. Now that I’ve finally met her, I think I see how she has survived. First, she has SO much in-depth knowledge of the area based on her experience, intellect, and personal connections. Second, she’s warm and approachable (see attached photo), even posting her phone number on her toursbyisabelle.com website. Finally, there’s a core of inner strength and decency – so all in all, it’s a combination that I believe represents the best in American entrepreneurship.

A lot of history and nice views. Would recommend to visit one or two to learn about everything. The walks were nice.

Great experience! Isabelle was professional and a wealth of knowledge. Airboat was fun and learned a lot on plantation tours. Highly recommend.

Swamp tour included several alligators - too many to count. Tank the largest one we saw, enjoyed both the chicken and marshmallows. We also saw a nest of baby alligators. The Laura plantation was informative and sobering. We learned so much. Next, we enjoyed lunch at the Houmas plantation and the tour there. Rene was our guide for the day. He was very entertaining while teaching us so much. Then behind the scenes Tour by Isabelle was organized and our interactions with Isabelle were thoughtful and clear. We highly recommend this tour.

Amazing as always. Best tour company around. This is our 4th time booking with Isabelle and will continue to do so for many more years.

I enjoyed a day of sightseeing without stress or confusion. Everyone involved was a pleasure to spend time with.

We had so much fun with John, our guide. He made the long ride to and from very enjoyable as he shared his knowledge of the area. The airboat activity was incredible and so much fun. The plantations we visited were so different from each other, but that was great because that gave us different perspectives to history. Before the trip, Isabell was incredible at staying in touch with me. Very responsive!! Overall an incredible experience!!

What a wonderful tour guide Jon, our bus driver was. A wolf of information, wonderful personal color to the tour and so helpful! We began on the Bayou and while it was a crisp day, we saw a lot of wildlife. Got to see the gators and babies. Got to learn all about them, very glad to have that as a part of the tour. Next step was the Laura plantation.. we were very unwelcome owed by Pam the moment we walked in all the way until we met up with our assigned tour guide, who had already completed a part of the tour with another group. So we missed a portion, but thankful that Pam was not the one to be our tour guide as I have probably left. She doesn’t care that there are people with disabilities. She has her own agenda.. our tour guide there did a wonderful job. She was very informative and compassionate throughout telling us about the history and life there. I wish I knew her name as she said reason it was pleasant.. the sugar plantation whose actual name I can’t spell right now, was just gorgeous! The sculptures and gardens phenomenal! The food some of the best I had on my vacation. The tour guide was such a sweetheart with amazing information. I want to come back and visit. Thank you for making this a very memorable experience and being available to us.

The tour is very interesting. Rene tells with great enthusiasm about New Orleans. He is a perfect tour guide and friendly. A nice experience with a cool group. Good service from Rene. Jos and Kaatje (Belgium)

Our tour guide Rene is a wonderful host to visitors of New Orleans. He brings the city he loves to life with personal stories and historical facts. It was a great day and highly recommended. Isabelle was very helpful booking our tour. She and Rene made our first trip to NOLA special!

A great way to experience NOLA in a short amount of time! The two plantation tours were so interesting and the lunch was great. The airboat ride was fun and our airboat captain was fantastic. It was nice and relaxing to have the activities and lunch taken care of and our tour van driver, Ellen, was very knowledgeable. Highly recommend and would 100% use Tours by Isabelle again.

We spoke with Isabel, the organizer a few days prior to cancel due to concerns about the cold weather conditions and the air boat portion of the tour. In order to convince us not to cancel she told us that there would be wind protection provided. Needless to say our tour was on the coldest day in years, and NO wind protection was provided. As a result we froze on the trip and made it hard to enjoy the rest of the tour. Imagine being on a motorcycle in 30 degree weather. Isabel knew we would cancel due to weather concerns and lied to us because she needed us to make it worthwhile for her to run the tour. (She reserved the right to cancel the tour if less than 6 people signed up) Our guide, Rene, was amazing and informative, and without his expertise the whole day would have been a disaster based on how it started.. When I told him that Isabel stated that wind protection would be provided, he laughed, saying wind protection is never provided. The boat caption was suprised that we were going in the tour (there were 10 boats at the dock and ours was the only one that went out) since we were not likely to see and alligators due to the cold. We should have followed our instincts and either cancelled in advance or skipped the air boat portion I would not use her service again.

Besides it raining all day. The airboat tour was fun except the rain. We enjoyed our tours it would be better to attend when it isn’t raining all day so you could walk around. Our host was great and full of knowledge. Thank goodness the other people that were with us were extremely knowledgeable about everything and were able to correct us and our host through out our trip. I would book this again. Great experience

Perfect day!! We were picked up in front of our hotel by Rene from Tours by Issabelle. Rene was an excellent tour guide. Rene gave us a great history of the area and information about the sites we were going to visit. The first stop was the airboat swamp tour. We all loved it so much. The swamp was beautiful with tons of birds, and we saw an alligator even though the temperature was cool. The second stop was Houmas House. We started with a delicious buffet lunch and then a tour of the estate home. Ruby our guide, was fun and very informative. After the house tour, there was time to check out the beautiful grounds of the estate. The third stop was of the Laura Plantation. It is a totally different experience. The Plantation house is very different from Houmas House. Our tour guide was Lee. He gave us a very informative tour as well. We toured the Laura House and one of the slaves homes. They have a very nice gift shop to visit after the tour. We drove back to New Orleans after an active and full day.