Garden District / Lafayette Cemetery Tour
"Houses and mansions, structures of wild grace. Italianate, Gothic, Romanesque, Greek Revival standing in a long line in the rain. Roman Catholic art. Sweeping front porches, turrets, cast-iron balconies, colonnades- 30-foot columns, gloriously beautiful- double pitched roofs, all the architecture of the whole wide world and it doesn’t move."
– Bob Dylan, Chronicles, Vol. 1, 2004
See The Most Beautiful Homes in New Orleans
We invite you to join us on leisurely stroll through the stunning "Garden District" of New Orleans. See the stomping ground of authors, poets, movie stars, artists, and sports legends such as Anne Rice, John Goodman and Archie Manning. Enjoy the towering Southern Live Oak trees, magnificent Crepe Myrtles, and the stunning Magnolias that some have said makes walking through the neighborhood akin to walking through a fairy-tale. Learn the deep and rich history of the area and how it fits into the overall story of New Orleans including the jealousy and mistrust that led to the "new money" of the "garish" Americans trying to show up the splendor and glory of the "old money" Europeans on the other side of town.
Tour The Lafayette Cemetery
You will also get a chance to visit the oldest Municipal Cemetery in New Orleans Lafayette #1 the site of filming for many famous movies and TV shows including Interview with a Vampire and Double Jeopardy. Learn about New Orleans above ground burial practices and join us in some gossip about dead people.
** Note Lafayette Cemetery is closed on Municipal Holidays such as Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Labor Day. The tour will not include the cemetery on those holidays.
Internet Special - Only $22.00!
Regular $25.00
Receive our two-for-one Hurricane Drink Special at the bar with your ticket!
Tour Testimonials
Monday morning 2/14 we took the Garden District tour with Jeremiah. We had a great time admiring all of the architecture and really learned a lot! Our guide was so friendly and pretty funny too.”
-Alicia V., posted on Yelp
Our tour guide Lee was fabulous. He was informative, personable, and amusing. We also really appreciated his efforts to keep us in the shade. It's so much easier to focus when you're comfortable. His particular area of expertise is architecture but we learned much more about the Garden District and New Orleans.”
-Gloria G., posted on Yelp
Took a tour with Lee of the Garden District on our last day in NOLA. Couldn't be more happy my family and I added this to our itinerary! He was beyond great knew SO much about the mansions even broke down the building materials used in building the famous and posh Commanders Palace. A BIG thanks to Lee for making our Garden District tour a great one!
-Mayra M., posted on Yelp
“I love this tour company. My wife and I enjoy taking tours in the cities we travel to and French Quarter Phantoms gives one of the best experiences anywhere. We did the ghosts and vampire tour on our first visit to town and the Garden District tour on our second visit. Lee was our tour guide for the ghosts and vampires and he was outstanding. Such a great story teller. Brought a ton of life and laughter to the tour. Ducky was our guide on the Garden District tour and, lucky for us, Lee joined him too as he was training to be a guide for this tour as well. Ducky, from what I remember, was a local and brought a really cool perspective to the tour while being keep the whole light and fun. Would recommend a tour with either of those two.”
-James S., posted on Yelp
If you want to do a tour of the Garden District, use this company. If you can, ask for Sam. "Sam"is da Man!!! He was very informative, enthusiastic and truly enjoys sharing his knowledge. Worth the money for the experience and knowledge.
Dartanya was our guide for a very complete tour of the Garden District and Lafayette #1 cemetery. Meeting place for the tour was a Starbucks! Perfect for a good cup of coffee and a breakfast treat before our 2 hour tour. Dartanya was very spirited in her story telling making the tour very entertaining as well as informative.
We took this tour with our son and daughter-in-law. Dardy (Darty? sp.) was our guide. It was such a fun tour and she was terrific. I was very surprised to find out she hadn't been doing the tours that long and wasn't even from the area because her knowledge and her insights led me to believe she was a native! Very informative and fun.
You can wander Garden District and Lafayette Cemetery on your own but you'll miss so much of the history and local stories. Don't shortchange yourself; this tour is excellent. We all enjoyed it. We actually forwarded the link to people we knew going to New Orleans the week before us and they took the tour too. They also enjoyed it as much as we did.
French Quarter Phantoms offers other tours too but don't miss this one. Cemeteries in New Orleans are fascinating and the Garden District is a beautiful change from the French Quarter.
I went on a fabulous Garden District Tour with Ducky as the tour guide. Ducky was fabulous. He was extremely knowledgeable and was so patient answering questions. He was funny and genuine which was awesome. I learned a lot on the tour and am excited to go on the music tour with this company tomorrow. Ducky was a phenomenal tour guide. The tour itself was great. It was great seeing the architecture of the many mansions in the district. The homes were gorgeous! The tour of Lafayette cemetery was informative and very interesting. I'm really glad I went with this company!
We had an excellent tour of the Garden District and Lafayette Cemetery with our tour guide, Aubrey! Aubrey was a great tour guide and did a fantastic job providing historical and architectural information about the homes and the city in general. Having been a tour guide for over a decade myself, I know a great tour guide when I see one; I wish we would have had the opportunity to take her other tours!
I would highly recommend booking this tour. I read through countless reviews of different tour companies before booking this tour with French Quarter Phantoms and am so pleased that we chose this tour. You will not be disappointed!
Our family really enjoyed this tour! We had a great time learning more about the architecture and history of the Garden District and the Cemetery. Our guide was laid-back but knowledgeable, with lots of interesting stories to tell about the things we were seeing. I highly recommend this tour company!
The group met at the Starbucks on Magazine Street and our guide and aspiring actress Aubrey primed us about the history of the area as we made our way to the Garden District. Aubrey impressed myself and my family with her knowledge and her repartee which she imparted to us in a free flowing manner making her presentation sounding fresh and spontaneous and not in anyway rehearsed. After a short break at a local cafe we then made our way to Lafayette Cemetery #1 and the entertaining and historical information kept on coming. Her energy level remained as high at the end as it did in the beginning.
We did two incredible tours with this group and Sam was our tour guide for both. He raised the bar so high that no other tour guide on our trip could compare. From the music tour to the Garden District & Lafayette Cemetery tour his knowledge was incredible. He told the Truth! Sam was funny, witty, and smart and held the attention of everyone on our tour each time. Sam also was willing to give directions and insight into the city with hot spots and highlights of places to go from local cuisine to local sights. I am so glad we had Sam on our adventure and anyone who has him as there guide is lucky!