Top choice in Cajun Country
The Shade Tree is a diner, sure. But it's so much more. It's the concept of a diner – with comfort food like catfish and rib eyes and fried chicken – elevated to a more sublime level (and if you want true sublimity, try the burger). For a taste of a home you never knew you missed, don't miss this one.
Located in Broussard, about 7 miles south of Lafayette.
5.17 MILES
This tranquil, recreated 19th-century Cajun village wends along the bayou near the airport. Friendly, enthusiastic costumed docents explain Cajun, Creole…
5.73 MILES
This lake – a mossy green dollop surrounded by thin trees and cypress trunks – serves as a wonderful, easily accessible introduction to bayou landscapes…
16.57 MILES
In 1890 Tabasco founder EA McIlhenny started this bird sanctuary on Avery Island. At Jungle Gardens you can drive or walk through 250 acres of moss…
16.66 MILES
Driving here feels a bit like entering Oz. After stopping and waiting for the gate to lift, you drive onto Avery Island – which isn’t really an island,…
13.02 MILES
This grand, Gothic Greek Revival plantation house sits on the banks of – you guessed it – Bayou Teche, a geographic location that adds to its eerie,…
8.37 MILES
At the understated, educational Acadian Village, you follow a brick path around a rippling bayou to restored houses, craftsman barns and a church. Old…
28.99 MILES
You can't get more end of the road than Cypremont Point, a lonely, windswept promontory of land buffeted by wind, seagull calls and foam spray off the…
Opelousas Museum & Interpretive Center
27.82 MILES
Squatting sleepily alongside Hwy 49, Opelousas' historic downtown is home to this grandma's attic of exhibits, artifacts and esoterica related to the town…
5.08 MILES
This National Parks Service museum has extensive exhibits on Cajun culture and is a good entry point for those looking to peer deeper into Acadian…
5.17 MILES
This tranquil, recreated 19th-century Cajun village wends along the bayou near the airport. Friendly, enthusiastic costumed docents explain Cajun, Creole…
5.73 MILES
This lake – a mossy green dollop surrounded by thin trees and cypress trunks – serves as a wonderful, easily accessible introduction to bayou landscapes…
4. Children's Museum of Acadiana
6.43 MILES
Lafayette's children's museum is a pretty good spot to kill half a day with younger kids. There's a TV studio, fake dentist office (yay?), bubble 'factory…
8.37 MILES
At the understated, educational Acadian Village, you follow a brick path around a rippling bayou to restored houses, craftsman barns and a church. Old…
13.02 MILES
This grand, Gothic Greek Revival plantation house sits on the banks of – you guessed it – Bayou Teche, a geographic location that adds to its eerie,…
16.57 MILES
In 1890 Tabasco founder EA McIlhenny started this bird sanctuary on Avery Island. At Jungle Gardens you can drive or walk through 250 acres of moss…
16.66 MILES
Driving here feels a bit like entering Oz. After stopping and waiting for the gate to lift, you drive onto Avery Island – which isn’t really an island,…