25 Best and Fun Things to Do in Lafayette La (Louisiana)

Things to Do in Lafayette La, Lafayette is the fourth-largest city in Louisiana, located in Cajun Country in southwestern Louisiana. Explore the Acadian Village, where you can stroll through a Cajun village from the 1800s, visit the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, see a performance at the Acadiana Center for the Arts, try one of the great restaurants, wedding venues, and take a tour of the Tabasco Factory on Avery Island.

The Children’s Museum and the Lafayette Science Museum are two of the best things to do in Lafayette, LA with kids. Call the attractions and restaurants ahead of time to confirm current hours of operation.

25 Best Things to Do in Lafayette La Today

1.Acadian Town

Acadian Village is a 32-acre private park in Lafayette located on Greenleaf Drive. The Acadian Village, which was founded in the 1970s, is dedicated to preserving Acadian history and is one of the best things to do in Lafayette LA. Farmland has been converted into an 1800s Cajun village with eleven structures, seven of which are authentic 19th century homes donated by ancestors of the families who owned and lived in the structures.

The buildings use cypress wood, high peaked roofs, mud walls, and wooden pegs to demonstrate authentic period construction techniques. The grounds can be rented for weddings, meetings, and other events, and tours are available. From January to the end of October, the park is open Monday through Saturday.

Phone: 337-981-2364, 200 Greenleaf Drive, Lafayette, Louisiana St John

2. Hilliard University Art Museum, Paul and Lulu

The Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, located on Girard Park Drive, is the art museum for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and one of the top Lafayette attractions. The museum was founded in 1964 and is named after Paul and Lulu Hilliard, who were major donors for the construction of the museum’s home, a 33,000 square foot facility with over 11,000 square feet of exhibition space at South Louisiana.

The museum’s collection contains over 4,000 art objects dating from the 18th to the 21st centuries, including works from America, Asia, and Europe. Other collections include works by local Louisiana artists, folk art, Japanese wood block prints, and ancient Egyptian art at lafayette parish.

Girard Park Drive, 337-482-0811, Lafayette, Louisiana

3. Acadiana Children’s Museum, Lafayette, Louisiana

The Children’s Museum of Acadiana is a hands-on museum with interactive exhibits aimed at teaching children practical knowledge on a variety of topics such as food, health, and money, among others. The museum, which opened in 1990, is housed in the former Heymann Food Center on East Congress Street in downtown Lafayette.

Classes, workshops, school field trips, and Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts programs are all available at the museum. If you’re looking for things to do in Lafayette with kids, this is a great place to go. The museum also hosts special events such as Art Stomp, garage sales, performances, and the Spooktacular Halloween Party, and it offers a variety of birthday party packages known as Bonne Fete Party Packages at lake charles.

337-232-8500, 201 East Congress Street, Lafayette, Louisiana

4.The Louisiana Science Museum

The Lafayette Science Museum features permanent and traveling exhibits, as well as an all-digital planetarium. The museum, located on Jefferson Street in downtown Lafayette, features exhibits on a variety of science subjects such as geology, marine biology, paleontology, and much more.

The museum, which opened in 1969, focuses on providing hands-on experiences fun thing to everyone who is curious, including children and adults. The museum is also committed to education, hosting school field trips and providing many planetarium programs for the general public, such as The Modern Universe, as well as programs for children, such as Flight Adventures.

337-291-5544, 433 Jefferson Street, Lafayette, Louisiana

5. Avery Island

The world-famous McIlhenny Tabasco Company is based on Avery Island. The island is located in the heart of Louisiana’s bayou country, just southwest of Emma, Louisiana. There are several popular sights on the island, including the Tabasco Pepper Sauce Factory Tour, which is available every day except Monday through Thursday at swamp tour.

Restaurant 1868, which serves Cajun cuisine, is open every day, as are the Jungle Gardens and Bird City. Visitors to the island’s nature preserve can see flowers such as azaleas, bamboo, and camellias, as well as animals such as alligators, deer, and egrets.

337-365-8173 Avery Island Rd, Avery Island, Lafayette, Louisiana

6.Champagne’s Cajun Swamp Tours

Champagne’s Cajun Swamp Tours provides ecotour adventures in the heart of Louisiana’s bayou and swamp regions. Visitors can take guided tours through the Lake Martin Cypress Island Preserve, which is home to cypress trees, Spanish moss, birds like herons, owls, and woodpeckers, and reptiles like alligators, frogs, and snakes at Southern Louisiana.

The two-hour tours, which depart from a dock on Lake Martin, are available in both English and French. There are also tours for school groups of up to 105 students, as well as special tours such as bird watching, photography, and night tours.

337-230-4068

7. Lafayette, Louisiana Cajun Food Tours

Cajun Food Tours is a Youngsville tour company that provides Cajun food tours along with explanations of Cajun history and culture. A customized tour bus transports groups of up to 14 people to six different locations for tastings of Cajun dishes such as boudin, cracklin,’ etoufee, gumbo, king cake, and fried seafood is a downtown alive.

Stops on the tour include the Cajun Market Donut, La Cuisine de Maman, Poor Boy’s Riverside Inn, and others. Cajun Food Tours, which was founded in 2011, introduces visitors to the local cuisine of Lafayette, which was named the Tastiest Town in the South.

337-230-6169

8. Island of Cypress

Cypress Island, located between Breaux Bridge and Lafayette on Lake Martin, is a 9,500-acre preserve of protected cypress swamp and hardwood forest land. The Visitor Center is located at the lake’s southern end, where Rookery Road and LA Highway 353 intersect.

A picnic pavilion and the start of the 2.5-mile Levee Trail that leads visitors through the preserve and around the lake can be found here. From January to June, many different types of birds visit the preserve to build their nests, including little blue herons, roseate spoonbills, and various egrets such as cattle, great, and snowy egrets. Plan a romantic day trip and spend your vacation exploring this beautiful area at childrens museum.

9. Lafayette, Louisiana’s Acadian Cultural Center

The Acadian Cultural Center is dedicated to educating the public about Cajun culture. The center, which is located on Fisher Road near the Vermilionville Historic Village, focuses on the origins, movement, and settlement of the Cajuns, or Acadians, who came from Canada and settled in Louisiana. At the Visitor Center, visitors can borrow portable media players.

Exhibits, films, and ranger programs, such as ranger-guided boat tours on the Cocodrie, are also available, as are special events such as dance, music, and storytelling, as well as programs such as school field trips, Girl Scout and Boy Scout programs, and summer camps road trip.

337-232-0789, 501 Fisher Road, Lafayette, Louisiana

10. Roly Poly

You might think the Roly Poly restaurant on Coolidge Street is giving something away when you walk in. There is usually a line at the counter, and customers are frequently given free drinks while they wait. Sandwiches are made by Roly Poly, but not just any sandwiches.

They are so good that the company needed to open 125 stores across the country to satisfy their customers. There’s no big secret to their success; they use fresh ingredients, unique flavor combinations that you won’t find anywhere else, and quick service. Green leaf lettuce, fresh sliced avocado, alfalfa sprouts, Roma plum tomatoes, and fresh tortillas are standard ingredients – they have pretty much everything you could ever want in a wrap, hot or cold. There are hundreds of possible combinations.

The Chipotle Cheese Steak with sliced steak, melted jalapeno jack and cheddar, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms drenched in mild chipotle dressing will satisfy you. It comes with fresh salsa.

Phone: 337-234-3289, 1004 Coolidge St, Lafayette, Louisiana

11.Tsunami, Lafayette, Louisiana

It is difficult to make good sushi. Making sushi that is one-of-a-kind, innovative, and incorporates local ingredients without sacrificing the authentic flavor of sushi is an art that requires a certain amount of magic. Tsunami creates sushi that gets people talking, and even those who have never liked sushi begin to appreciate it after trying one of Tsunami’s creations.

The venue on Jefferson Street in downtown Lafayette is spacious, simple, and inviting, and the food is excellent. The chef’s thoughtfulness and imagination are evident in the combination of incredibly fresh ingredients, and each plate is a work of art. This is a great place to go if you’re looking for romantic date night ideas in Lafayette.

Check out one of the local favorites, the Candy Cane, which has panko sea bass and tuna on the inside, asparagus, cream cheese, and cucumber on the outside, and tuna, snow crab, kani, scallions, crunchies, and masago on the inside. It is accompanied by kazan and Tsunami sauces. Tsunami also has excellent cocktails.

337-234-3474, 412 Jefferson St., Lafayette, Louisiana

12. Vermilionville is one of the best places to visit in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Vermilionville, located on Fisher Road near the Lafayette Regional Airport, is a museum and park dedicated to educating the public about the culture of south central Louisiana. The park, which spans 23 acres along the banks of Bayou Vermillion, focuses on Acadian, Creole, and Native American cultures from 1765 to 1890.

The park has 19 attractions, 13 artisans displaying early settlers’ crafts, and seven restored homes. The park hosts workshops like Canning and Preserving, as well as events like Native American Culture Day and musical performances by local musicians. Adult Group Tours and Boat Tours are among the tours available.

337-233-4077, 300 Fisher Road, Lafayette, Louisiana

13.Bon Temps Grill in Lafayette, Louisiana

Bon Temps Grill is a welcoming, down-to-earth neighborhood restaurant where you’ll want to bring the whole family for dinner. It’s also a great place to try authentic’swamp edge cuisine,’ a mash-up of Cajun and Creole dishes that’s difficult to separate but fiercely defended.

The restaurant uses fragrant mesquite wood to grill its food, which adds a fine tang to the meats. Try their grilled pork chops with apple and tasso sauce (pork shoulder.) They have some excellent local craft beer on tap as well as some interesting local cocktails.

337-706-8850, 11211 W Pinhook Rd, Lafayette, LA 70503

14. Lafayette, Louisiana’s The French Press

The French Press is the place where they revolutionized breakfast. At first glance, it appears to be a casual dining establishment in downtown Lafayette, tastefully decorated and cozy. They do serve lunch and dinner, but the French Press’s breakfast has become the talk of the town and is what really sets this place apart. Chef Justin Girouard, a James Beard nominee, takes his native Cajun cuisine and modernizes it with his own spin. It is both innovative and recognizable, true comfort food that will leave you completely satisfied.

He uses only fresh and local ingredients, and he even makes his own sausages. His Cajun Benedict is out of this world: toasted French bread with Hebert’s boudin sausage and two poached eggs soaked in chicken and Andouille sausage gumbo, topped with fresh scallions.

337-233-9449, 214 E. Vermilion St., Lafayette, Louisiana

15. The Acadiana Center for the Arts is one of the best things to do in Lafayette, Louisiana.

The Acadiana Center for the Arts is a downtown Lafayette gallery and performance venue located on West Vermilion Street. In its James Devin Moncus Theater, the center shows films and music, as well as theater and visual performances. The museum’s galleries feature a variety of interesting exhibits, as well as arts and cultural classes and workshops in its educational spaces.

Arts Grants for Teachers, Student Arts Expo, Teaching Artists Program, Touring Arts Performances, and other programs are available through the center. Several spaces in the center can be rented for special events such as meetings and weddings. The Art House, the Atrium/Café, the Board Room, and the theater are among these areas.

(337) 233-7060, 101 West Vermilion Street, Lafayette, LA 70501

16.Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site

The Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site, located on North Main Street in St. Martinville, 18 miles southeast of Lafayette, is Louisiana’s oldest state park and focuses on the culture of the Bayou Teche region of the state. The Bayou Teche is a 125-mile-long waterway in south central Louisiana, and the site explores the region’s various cultures, including Cajuns, Creoles, Native Americans, and others.

The poem “Evangeline” by Henry Wadsworth Longsworth tells the story of two Acadian lovers, Evangeline and Gabriel, and the tree where they met and Evangeline’s grave are both located on the site. There are guided tours available of the Maison Olivier, a historic 1815 plantation home.

337-394-3754, 1200 North Main Street, St. Martinville, LA 70582.

17. House of Alexandre Mouton

The Alexandre Mouton House, also known as the Lafayette Museum, is a beloved historical landmark in Lafayette known for being the home of Louisiana’s 9th Governor, and first Democratic Governor. The museum is now dedicated to promoting and preserving the culture and history of the Mouton Family, as well as the many historically significant families who have lived in the house.

Learn about the home’s unique architecture and features, such as the dogtrot that connects the kitchen to the home, as well as the unique ways the home’s inhabitants lived. Aside from Alexandre Mouton, visitors can learn about the lives of Judge Cornelius Voorhies, Samuel and Benjamin Paxton, and Dr. W.G. Mills.

337-234-2208, 1122 Lafayette Street, Lafayette, LA 70501

18. Moncus Park

Moncus Park, which opened in January 2022, arose from a campaign to save the property formerly known as The Horse Farm – the equestrian center of the Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute. Construction to transform the land into a world-class park began in 2018 after much hard work and advocacy from many supporters, with the second wave of construction of the other half of the 125-acre property beginning in 2021.

The park, named after philanthropist James Moncus, is entirely funded by donations and local organizations, making it a true community park in every sense of the term. Guests can walk the park’s 1-mile loop trail, relax at the Cajun Prairie, explore the Ravine Gardens, or soak up the sun on one of the many grand lawns. There is also a fishing pier, a hammock grove, a treehouse, a water playground, and a veterans memorial in the park.

337-500-1177, 2913 Johnston Street, Lafayette, LA 70503.

19. Kart Ranch

The Kart Ranch, which is family-owned and operated, first opened its doors to the public in 1985 and has since provided high-speed fun and entertainment to guests of all ages. Kart Ranch is best known for its go-kart track, which provides racers with 5-minute high-speed rides.

Meanwhile, there is a Kiddie Kart track, a water wars facility, a laser tag arena, a castle clash, and even an adventure golf course at the ranch. Gamers will also enjoy the arcade and the Battle Botz Arena, while children will enjoy the Kiddie Train, an indoor soft play area, and the Spin Zone Bumper Cars.

Phone: 337-837-5278; 508 Youngsville Highway, Lafayette, Louisiana 70508

20. Azalea Trail

The abundance of azaleas that line the city’s streets is undoubtedly a beautiful and vibrant symbol of Lafayette. The azaleas wind down 20 miles of the city’s streets, with a variety of colors ranging from reds, whites, purples, pinks, and a lovely salmon hue. Some of the larger bushes have been thriving for over 50 years. The Azalea Trail was created and continues to be one of the best walking tours in Lafayette because of the beauty of these flowers and the way they wind in and out of the city.

Many of Lafayette’s most popular attractions, including the Mouton Plantation, Girard Park, the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, and the Heymann Performing Arts Center, will be accessible via the trail. Those who want to walk the Azalea Trail should start at the Lafayette Visitor’s Center, which also has maps and information about the trail’s landmarks.

Lafayette, LA 70501, 1400 NW Evangeline Thruway

21.Premier Lanes

Premier Lanes, a popular and beloved member of Lafayette’s entertainment scene, provides a great atmosphere in which to enjoy a great game of bowling and other activities. Premier Lanes, which opened in 1984, is a community favorite and has been frequented by many over the years. It has 32 state-of-the-art bowling alley lanes as well as a variety of arcade games for other visitors to enjoy. Premier Lanes also shows sporting events on their big screens on a regular basis. One of the most popular times for customers to visit is in the late hours of the weekend to enjoy a few games of glow bowling.

337-981-4034, 3227 Ambassador Caffery Parkway, Lafayette, LA 70506

22.Southern Stone Indoor Climbing Facility

Southern Stone Indoor Climbing is a great place to come and enjoy multiple disciplines of rock climbing, whether you’re a seasoned climber or brand new to the sport. In just ten minutes, newcomers can be traversing some of the center’s walls, with trained coaches on hand to assist them at every step. Southern Stone Indoor Climbing offers a variety of climbing disciplines, including bouldering, which requires no ropes or harnesses and can reach a maximum height of 14 feet.

Top-rope climbing, in which visitors climb in pairs with a belayer, is the most popular type of climbing at Southern Stone. Auto-belayer devices are also available to help solo climbers scale Southern Stone’s highest walls. Sport climbing walls are also available for advanced climbers.

Phone: 337-981-8116, 109 Grand Avenue, Lafayette, LA 70503.

23.Prejean’s

Prejean’s Restaurant serves absolutely delicious and authentic Cajun cuisine. Prejean’s, located along Interstate 49, was founded in April 1980 by Bob Guilbeau. The legacy was passed on to the restaurant’s new owner, Tim Metcalf, who also owns other restaurants in the area, after 40 years of outstanding service. Prejean’s is dedicated to satisfying patrons’ culinary cravings while also displaying some Cajun culture.

Appetizers include the Louisiana Crawfish and Alligator Sausage Cheesecake, Crawfish Enchilada, and the Croc de Jacques. Prejean’s popular entrees include the Blackened Tilapia, Shrimp Skillet Creole, and Oyster Saxaphone.

337-896-3247, 3480 NE Evangeline Thruway, Lafayette, LA 70507

24. T-Restaurant Coon’s

T-Restaurant Coon’s has been serving delectable meals to the Lafayette community for four generations. They are known for serving the best home-cooked food in the shortest amount of time. T- Coon’s, owned and operated by David Billeaud, a sixth-generation Broussard native with French ancestry, serves hearty breakfasts, filling lunches, and delicious dining options.

Though the restaurant offers daily specials, there are some tried-and-true crowd-pleasers on the menu that first-timers should try, such as the T-Coon Breakfast Special, Fried Shrimp or Catfish Jambalaya, Catfish Court bouillon, or Meatball Fricassee. T-delectable Coon’s biscuits and gravy combos, on the other hand, should be ordered without fail!

337-233-0422, 1900 West Pinhook Road, Lafayette, LA 70508

25. Lafayette Escape Room

Escape Room Lafayette is a fantastic option for groups looking for interactive and entertaining gaming experiences, with eight puzzle-filled and exciting rooms to choose from. Escape Room creates each of its rooms to put teams’ wits, attention to detail, problem-solving abilities, and code-breaking skills to the test. The escape rooms in Lafayette can accommodate as few as two or as many as eight players, each with a 60-minute time limit and varying levels of difficulty.

At the Public Wizard School escape room, you can prove your worthiness to be a wizard, or you can escape before a madman returns in the Cabin escape room, or you can figure out who the real culprit is behind a murder you’ve been framed for at Mystery Manor. Escape Room Lafayette has these and many more rooms.

333-371-2883 5520 Johnston Street, Suite D, Lafayette, LA 70503

FAQs about Things to Do in Lafayette La