7 Best Nightlife in Lafayette, Side Trips from New Orleans

This cottage doesn't look like much from the street, but after you pay your cover at the garden gate, you'll soon find yourself on a large covered deck packed with a young crowd dancing to the hottest local Cajun, zydeco, and roots music acts. Check their calendar online for upcoming shows.

For nearly 40 years, on Friday evenings from mid-March through June and from September through November, dancing crowds converge on downtown Lafayette, where bands play an open-air stage. A happy hour starts at 5 pm, there are local food vendors throughout the evening, and there's even a Kids Zone full of family-friendly activities.

This family-run zydeco club hosts music on Friday and Saturday nights. Sid Williams manages the club, and his brother's band, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas, perform frequently—as does Nathan's son's band, Lil Nathan and the Zydeco Big Timers.

Taking place on the last weekend of April, this free multi-day Lafayette music festival is a worthy alternative to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. A regional favorite, it fills the streets with some of the best entertainers, artisans, and chefs from French-speaking nations and communities.

This huge music-and-food fest—which kicks off with the official "Cutting of the Boudin"—is held mid-October in Girard Park. Admission's free and the food's outstanding, but the music is the best thing about it all.

The biggest bash in this neck of the woods is in February or March (depending on when Lent occurs). About a dozen parades take to the streets over a couple of weeks, culminating on "Fat Tuesday," and a festive atmosphere fills the city.

This good Cajun restaurant is also a salle de danse, with music and dancing seven nights a week.