Exploring the great outdoors in New Orleans

Home to numerous public parks, grand mansions with landscaped gardens and situated next to the Louisiana bayou, New Orleans is full of open green spaces that are perfect for nature lovers. The two most prominent parks in the city are the 1300-acre City Park which encloses gardens, lakes, nature trails and museums; and the Audubon Park, which houses an outdoor zoo as well as landscaped lagoons and an interesting collection of plants and trees. Take a guided tour of the spectacular 19th-century mansions—once the homes of plantation owners—and the large private gardens surrounding them in the Garden District. New Orleans is also situated next to the remarkable and now endangered Louisiana bayou or wetlands, home to diverse tree and plant species, alligators and water birds. To explore the wetlands, take a ranger-led tour of the Brataria Preserve, part of the bigger Jean Latte National Historical Park, just beyond the city’s suburbs.