De-Stress This Season
The holidays can be stressful, but the Cajun Coast has your path to de-stress this season! Take in the beauty of the Atchafalaya Basin, shop main street towns all dressed up for the holidays, and eat your way through spots with the freshest of seafood and Cajun & Creole delights as well as a flurry of desserts in one of the top sugar-producing areas of our state!
Get up-close with nature on our paddling trails, including the new Franklin Paddling Trailhead, or take a Tours by Steven Bayou Teche Kayak adventure! If a covered, pontoon boat is more your speed, take an entertaining journey through the swamps with Captain Caviar! You can even walk out into the swamps on the Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge Boardwalk.
Escape for a little time to yourself, or bring the family along to escape from the everyday stressors of the holidays. Focus on family as you roam our trails and relax in our parks, getting away from it all. We have itineraries, just for the kids, or sorted by your kind of getaway, so check them out and make your to-do list!
If Main Street shopping amazing dining, and all the trappings of an idyllic holiday season are your idea of the perfect getaway, we’ve got you covered on the Cajun Coast! Our beautiful, historic towns dress up for the holidays, featuring lighting ceremonies, tours, celebrations, shopping, and the jolly old elf himself to get you in the holiday spirit! See our complete list of activities for the holiday season!
Shopping is as bountiful as a Thanksgiving table on the Cajun Coast. Offerings throughout the area will fill your stocking with eclectic gift options! Holiday shopping events, like Mistletoe & Moss Holiday Market will get all your holiday gift-giving knocked out in no time!
Give the gift of memories this holiday season. We even have great hotel rates to make your holidays even sweeter on the Cajun Coast!
Fall Fests & Ghostly Fun
Fall not only features Halloween’s spooky fun, but it is also harvest time with cooler temps for outdoor activities, so on the Cajun Coast that means a lot of festivals to celebrate! You will want to schedule your visit to the Cajun Coast in October, since every weekend features a festival full of fun!
Bikers on the Bayou is Back! Whether you are a motorcycle enthusiast or not, you are welcome to come out to the fun in Franklin, Saturday, Oct. 1. There will be live music and lots of food, including a black pot cook-off, along with plenty of vendors for shopping!
Catch the Tour du Teche racers as they come into Franklin Saturday night, October 8th and leave out early Sunday, October 9th at Parc Sur La Teche. These racers travel 135 miles from Port Barre to Berwick in this 3-day race. You could also get in on the racing action for the full tour or shorter racers from Morey Park in Patterson.
October 15 brings a new event to the Cajun Coast – the Halloween Scare Fair, hosted by Couyon Creations in Lawrence Park in Morgan City with music, food trucks, haunted areas & costume contests. The Patterson Main Street Festival will also not disappoint with FREE entry, great live music, and plenty of craft & food vendors at Morey Park.
Oct 22 Features fun for pets (and their owners) at the Morgan City Petting Zoo Fall Fest along with the Morgan City Trunk or Treat with live music and lots of goodies for young and old.
The Harvest Moon Festival is also in full-swing to get your holiday shopping kicked off! The Franklin Main Street Merchants will be decked out in full fall decor, with scarecrow contests, hayrides, pet parade, pumpkin patch, cornhole tournaments, a 5k, live music and even a Sugar Showdown Bake Off! Don’t miss the festivities, October 29!
Harvest Moon Fest – Oct. 29
And ghostly sightings don’t limit themselves to the Halloween season on the Cajun Coast! You can take advantage of Tours by Steven’s Ghost Walk or Captain Caviar’s haunted tours all year, but the spirits do seem a little more animated during Halloween on the Cajun Coast. See our Ghost Page for details and other ghost stories!
So come out for fall festivities, ghostly sightings, and plenty of fun on the Cajun Coast this fall.
Top 10 FREE and CHEAP Things to do with the Kids on the Cajun Coast
Even as school gets started, come weekend on the water on the Cajun Coast! Back to School means extra costs, so we’ve compiled a list of the Top 10 FREE & CHEAP Things to Do with the Kids!
1) Kids will enjoy learning about the oil industry on this retired oil rig and the many ways oil is used at the International Petroleum Museum & Exposition, the “Mr. Charlie.”
2) Visit the Wedell-Williams Aviation & Cypress Sawmill Museum (A Louisiana State Museum).
3) Tour the Chitimacha Museum in Charenton. The Chitimacha were the first settlers to the area and lived in and around the Atchafalaya Basin. The museum documents their history, culture and their efforts in preservation.
4) Walk the “Great Wall,” a 21-foot seawall. Built for flood protection, visitors can climb up for a bird’s eye view of the traffic in the Atchafalaya River, one of the busiest rivers in the state.
5) Southwest Reef Lighthouse in Berwick. This iconic symbol in Berwick is one of only 3 lighthouses in Louisiana that are easily accessible, and visitors can see the structure up-close for FREE at the Everett S. Berry Memorial Lighthouse Park. A Fresnel lens and fog bell similar to what would have been used in the lighthouse are displayed in the lobby of Berwick Town Hall, located 2 blocks west of the park on Third Street. If you have a Lighthouse Passport (available from https://uslhs.org/products/items/lighthouse-passport), bring it by the Berwick Town Hall during regular business hours for a stamp!
6) With a self-guided driving trail, the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area will take you on an adventure, showcasing the dramatic affect water has had on this area.
7) Byway drives along with biking, paddling and hiking trails, create last memories. The Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge and Boardwalk in Franklin will keep your nature-lover happy as well.
8) Check out the Swamp Nature Habitat at the Cajun Coast Visitors Center. Mama alligator Cayenne and her baby (not so little any more!) Paprika, might peek out to say, “Hi” along with their swamp friends.
9) Splash Pads and Spray Parks are always a fun cool-off for the kiddos! Check out the park in Bayou Vista!
10) Indulge in a Louisiana Snowball from one of our many vendors! We’ve compiled a list of Cool Treats, including these icy, sugary concoctions – let us know your favorite!
Celebrate at the Shrimp & Petroleum Festival
Come celebrate at Louisiana’s most unique and oldest chartered harvest festival on Labor Day Weekend! Beginning nearly 90 years ago as a blessing of the shrimp harvest and a celebration of the many who labored in the deep Gulf waters, the petroleum industry was added in 1967 to also honor this important industry. The Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival has grown from a simple event honoring these industries, to the 5-day extravaganza it is today! It features great food (shrimp just about any way you can cook it), continuous, FREE live music, arts & crafts, children’s activities, and traditional events, such as the blessing of the fleet and boat parade.
This fest with a unique name celebrates the unique culture of the Cajun Coast. Food tents feature Cajun and Creole dishes as well as a variety of festival favorites. Artists and crafters showcase their unique merchandise and artistic masterpieces. A street parade, water parade with blessing of the fleet, and fireworks on the Atchafalaya River, mark the joie de vivre, joy of living, so prominent in the Cajun way of life.
And no festival in Louisiana is complete without good music! From Country to Cajun to cover favorites, check out the music line-up and plan to jam to your favorites.
The blessing of the fleet is a special part of the festival, and giving thanks for the harvest begins with Mass in the Park under the oaks in Lawrence Park on Sunday. After the water blessing from the Morgan City docks and celebrations on the Atchafalaya River, a Certificate of Blessing and a prayer card of St. Brendan the Navigator, patron Saint of Seafarers is presented to each participant.
And new to the festival this year, aside from a stunning, new annual festival poster, is the Petro Pit, a special VIP Tent near the music stage with two-day access to special events and other amenities. These will go fast, so get your tickets now!
The Shrimp & Petroleum Festival has been honored as a Festival of the Year by the Louisiana Fairs & Festivals Association, a Top 100 American Bus Association event and a top 20 Southeast Tourism Society event. It was even noted by Time magazine as “…the best, the most unusual, the most down-home, the most moving and the most fun that the country has to offer.”
Come join in the fun – make your reservations now for Labor Day weekend on the Cajun Coast!
Summer Fun on the Coast
Summer on the Cajun Coast means lots of opportunities for full days of adventure and staying cool on the water! We have put together a Family-friendly itinerary for summer fun! And a list of summer options below!
Come summer on the coast!
FUN ON THE WATER
Summer on the Cajun Coast means basking in the sunshine along with ways to beat the heat! Spending time on the water is easy on the coast along with finding an inland splash pad or swimming pool. Check out a few locations to play in the spray or deeper waters.
Splash Pad and Spray Park in Bayou Vista, 985-395-6552
Kiddy Pool at Franklin City Park, 337-828-6324
Lake End Park in Morgan City, 985-380-4623 (beach, fishing)
Lake End Rentals also provides plenty of options for boating (can you say party barge!), jet skis or just that perfect place to park an umbrella along the water’s edge!
Lake End Rentals in Morgan City, 985-518-1577
Cypremort Point State Park, 337-867-4510 (beach, fishing)
With a self-guided driving trail, the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area will take you on an adventure, showcasing the dramatic affect water has had on this area. Byway drives along with biking, paddling and hiking trails, https://www.cajuncoast.com/activities/trails-byways along with the Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge and Boardwalk in Franklin will keep your nature-lover happy as well.
Fishing also makes for a great day on the water! Find a captain to take you off-shore or even find a houseboat to STAY on the water!
RECREATION
In addition to waterway adventures, there are plenty of other indoor and outdoor recreation on the Cajun Coast, from golf and skate parks to bowling and movies. Lake Cinema even has FREE summer movies, Tuesday-Thursday!
COOL TREATS
Cooling off with a good old fashioned snowball is also a delicious solution! These shaved ice concoctions of sugary syrup and any number of add-ins, from condensed milk to fruits and candies, are a prized commodity on a summer afternoon. Below are a few locations to pick up one of these treats, along with ice cream and other cool treats around the Cajun Coast!
Blizzard 25 Snowballs, 200 Stable Rd Patterson
Cajun Sneaux Snowballs – 804 Marguerite Street, Morgan City
Lamp Station Ice Cream Shoppe, 723 Main St. Franklin
Lily Bea’s Snoballs, Food Truck Court, Downtown, Berwick
Paw Paw’s Sno Cones – 319 Southeast Blvd, Morgan City, 985-395-6100
Sharon’s Tastee Freeze, 7708 Hwy 182 E Morgan City, 985-384-2332
The Big Chill – 202 Tournament Boulevard Berwick, 985-329-2525
So, pack up your crew and find fun in the summer sun on the Cajun Coast!
Fun in the Sun!
From a lakeside retreat (with paddle boat, jet ski or barge rentals!) to a State Park paradise, to historic homes with ample front porches, you can find your perfect summer getaway on the Cajun Coast!
Your Louisiana adventure on the Cajun Coast not only includes Cajun culture, food & music but also the beauty of both the Atchafalaya and the Gulf! Our waterways make the perfect setting for your fun in the sun getaway! Boating and fishing are the most popular water activities, along with paddling along our many paddling trails, but swimming, water skiing, and just playing along the water’s edge at places like Lake End Park are especially popular for families. The addition of Lake End Rentals with kayaks, jet skis, pontoon boats and more, add a little excitement (and ease) to the fun!
Fishing excursions along inland waterways or into the vast Gulf of Mexico can add a lot to the excitement as well with a local guide. And going on a swamp tour is practically mandatory when visiting the Cajun Coast. Guides like Captain Caviar are almost as entertaining as the alligators! Book a tour or check out our abundant wildlife areas where your wild things can view ours!
If golf is your thing, you can book a tee time for a round of golf at The Atchafalaya at Idlewild, an Audubon Golf Trail course! Views from the porch or dining at the Atchafalaya at Idlewild Restaurant.
And, if sandals on the sidewalk is more your thing than sand between your toes or hitting it over the sand trap, a Main Street shopping excursion is perfect for you! We boast plenty of cute boutiques and a lot of antiques and uniques in between! Find just the thing to take home as a reminder of your getaway!
We have plenty of accommodations to allow you to stay and explore! From historic homes with front porches just made for sippin’ away the summer evenings to national chains and local boutique properties, you can find your favorite spot to stay on your Cajun Coast vacation. And, don’t forget the option to STAY in the great outdoors; we offer everything from primitive camping spots to cabins, plenty of RV hookups some steps away from the water, and even houseboats to stay literally on the water!
When you need a little time out of the sun, explore our museums or historic homes, or try your luck at an area casino.
We have a complete list of itineraries prepared to make the planning easy for just about any you want to follow – from Ghosts to Easy Rider! So come, find your fun in the sun this summer on the Cajun Coast!
