6 Best Sights in Side Trips from New Orleans, Louisiana

Directly behind the Acadian Cultural Center, this living-history village—serene and set beautifully along a bayou—re-creates the early life of the region's Creoles, Cajuns, and Native Americans, focusing on the late 1700s to 1890. On select days, visitors can see a blacksmith demonstration or watch weavers at work. There are exhibits in 19 Acadian-style structures, including a music hall where live Cajun or zydeco music is played on weekend afternoons, often luring dancers onto the floor. A large, rustic restaurant serves Cajun classics. Check ahead for live demonstrations from the on-site cooking school.

Naturalists are on hand in the interpretive center at this three-story cypress structure, which overlooks 150 acres of easy, peaceful nature trails and natural forest. The northern section includes a managed butterfly habitat. The focus here is on environmental education. Free weekend nature talks begin at 1 pm on the first Saturday of each month, and free guided tours are offered on the first Saturday and Sunday of every month by request. A guided evening hike on the last Saturday of the month is available by reservation ($2.17 per person).

Good on a rainy day or to burn off extra energy in the kids, this museum is basically a large indoor playground, with educational games and interactive exhibits such as a grocery store, a kid-size TV news studio, a bubble exhibit, and a health exhibit.

This 170-acre garden has trails through stands of wisteria, palms, lilies, irises, and ferns, and offers a lovely perspective on south Louisiana wilderness. Birdlife includes white egrets and Louisiana herons, and there's also a 900-year-old statue of Buddha. These gardens belonged to Edward Avery McIlhenny, the son of the Tabasco company's founder, who brought back plants from his travels: lotus and papyrus from Egypt, bamboo from China. You can park your car at the beginning of the trails and strike out on foot, or drive through the gardens and stop at will.

This sparkling natural-history museum includes changing exhibitions and lots of fun hands-on science for kids. The most popular permanent attraction is the planetarium, outfitted with high-definition digital equipment.

Housed in a 1925 Illinois Central railroad station near the Old State Capitol, this idiosyncratic but high-quality collection brings together a contemporary art gallery, an Egyptian tomb exhibit featuring a mummy from 300 BC, a children's museum, and a kid-friendly planetarium. The planetarium presents shows regularly, as does the ExxonMobil Space Theater. The museum hosts traveling exhibits, and houses the nation's second-largest collection of sculptures by 20th-century Croatian artist Ivan Meštrović, many of which adorn the entrance hall.