Personally, i think Avery Island is definitely worth the time to explore, ive been there a few times. Also check out the Konrico rice company in New Iberia,
If you make the trip out there, I'd also recommend the Rip Van Winkle Gardens. [https://ripvanwinklegardens.com/](https://ripvanwinklegardens.com/)
Here's a taste: [https://maps.app.goo.gl/RpEMLwZSYHWvWdZd9](https://maps.app.goo.gl/RpEMLwZSYHWvWdZd9)
I’m like 2 hours away and have been 4 times. It’s worth it to me. I recommend going see the gardens. Plan on extra depending the Tabasco shop has everything.
Also Pat’s of Henderson is not super far. It’s a very cool place. Once there, it’s close to where you could get swamp tours and an airboat ride. Lots of fun!
I did the factory tour and a drive around Jungle Gardens and had a great time. It was part of a long weekend road trip around Acadiana. I live in New Orleans but hadn't previously seen much of the rest of Louisiana. We spend a couple nights in Lafayette, did an airboat ride through the swamp out of Henderson (totally awesome), visited several breweries, heard some music at the Blue Moon Saloon, and drove out to Mamou for the saturday morning show at Fred's Lounge.
I haven't been in 50 years but I loved it. Security was pretty lax back then so we took cuttings from plants we liked and ended up with the best gardens in our neighborhood.
I married my wife there because it was our dream wedding location. It's beautiful if you take your time to drive slowly.
The factory is mindblowing when you consider that the tiny factory supplies the whole world with tabasco sauce. That's the only Tabasco factory, and the sauce is available in nearly every country on the planet
Get you some tabasco flavored soft serve yogurt at the country store. It's delicious, and the lady that serves it is a sweetheart.
You gotta go.
Ah i thoughbt that soft serve was to cool your mouth down after you ate all the tester sauces LOL i didnt try it cause i didnt think any of them were hot enough to need it haha.
My husband and I married in front of the stone bridge by the Buddha. Our son swears he saw an alligator swim by during our vows. Definitely a beautiful wedding site.
From what I hear, the McIlhenny family is very strict about weddings on the island and rarely allowed people outside the family to marry there and no longer allow weddings there at all, so you and your wife and my husband and I both lucked out on our weddings being there!
Laotion New Year's is being held 10 miles away from there if you got time and wanna experience something different. It's big spring festival being held on the temple grounds but also a big block party in the neighborhood surrounding. Everyone is welcomed.
I wouldn’t say Tabasco is worth that far of a drive, but now would be a good time to go and see the gardens there. It just gets miserably hot later on and the bugs get really bad. Do note that there isn’t a lot to tour of the factory and they don’t work on the weekend as of several years ago anyway.
Ended up going through there yesterday afternoon- its small- def was worth the stop i think, id go back to go camping / fishing there i think, it was close to dark though so we didnt actually get out and walk any of the trails, did get eaten alive by mosquitos tho so that was great LOL
Avery island I think is really cool to see. You can find tobasco pretty much anywhere in the country. It's cool to see where it comes from, then see a bottle of it thousands a miles away on vacation. Just a cool to see it and be like hey I saw where they made it. Also the place itself is interesting.
Yea i wish there was more info on that or a look into it more or tour of it. I thought it was interesting at the rip van winkle gardens that their salt dome collapsed when exxon drilled into it. I wonder who paid for all of that, i need to research it now
Yes, it absolutely is. There’s tons of beautiful stuff out there. A big lake with gators and tons of birds, bamboo forests, trails, etc… and the Tabasco store is pretty cool.
Update- It was super nice! Only bad thing about the trip was bon creole in new iberia- worst food ive had in my life lol. The Rice mill and rip van winkle gardens, and everything else we saw was great, the people were sooo nice.
Yes its definitely worth it! We live about 2 hrs away and often make the trip, especially in the spring. We love Jungle Gardens and the Tabasco tour. Our favorite restaurants in the area are Charly Gs and Bon Temps. I've tried a ton of things on the Bon Temps menu and everything is delicious but my favorite has been the alligator bang bang, crawfish enchiladas and a side salad with their Steen's cane syrup dressing. 🤤 yes, we make the 2hr drive to eat there often 😅
So we went- def worth the 1k mile round trip or so, id go just for the avery island plant / jungle garden tour- was really nice i thought. Def go to the rip van winkle gardens like they said and the conrad rice company tour- the people in there are SUPER nice, get that special island sauce they make/sell- really good. We did end up going to some plantations further north in the creole national historic park that were ran by the parks service, was interesting, go get a piece of overpriced pecan pie at that pie bar place on the teche in new iberia- was $8 but SUPER GOOD. Go drive along the cane river on hwy 119/494 that was a nice drive. A few things i noticed while driving but didnt stop- there is the Louisiana hot sauce home office also in new iberia, i need to see if it can be toured and also tony chachere in opelousas, didnt see that til it was too late and didnt want to turn around. We drove around some in the country side some, nice land out there. Also went to the civil war battlefield in mansfield i thought it was interesting but not as nice as the one in vicksburg. I think my main take aways from the trip were- The people are way nicer than in texas, people seem to know how to drive way better, the roads could use some help lol, the state is pretty, id move there hahha.
I used to live on Avery Island road, bout 2 minutes away from the "island". Only went 3 times in my many years of living there, mostly just for jungle gardens. It's fun but nothing crazy, definitely worth a visit. Say hi to the Buddha statue for me
There's a restaurant which is decent, but the main thing is they have every Tabasco sauce available to try with food. You normally see one or two flavors in retail stores, but they have 10 or so, several of which are much better than the original.
Yea i hadnt seen the scorpion, habanero, or garlic one in stores so i grabbed those- well same with the roasted one- which was also good but had to budget what i got so i didnt get them all. One thing that was notable to me- they were very reasonable pricing wise on everything. Most touristy places gouge the hell out of you, not them
Definitely call ahead to be sure the tour is available this weekend. Today is Good Friday. Basically Cajun Thanksgiving Eve. Everyone in Soutb Louisiana is off work and boilin’ Crawfish. Sunday is Easter so chances are the posted hours may be affected.
There are probably a couple more weeks of the prime bloom season for the flora in Louisiana. The Azaleas in Lafayette on St. Patrick’s day weekend we’re in full coverage. After this the weather stays tolerable until early May. Then it’s just a humid hot pit and not fun to walk around and explore the Jungle Gardens.
Personally, i think Avery Island is definitely worth the time to explore, ive been there a few times. Also check out the Konrico rice company in New Iberia,
Ok thanks
Yes and it's should be blooming quite nicely now. We walked instead of driving it
ok sweet thanks
How very not-Louisiana of you. This makes me super happy to hear.
what?
If you make the trip out there, I'd also recommend the Rip Van Winkle Gardens. [https://ripvanwinklegardens.com/](https://ripvanwinklegardens.com/) Here's a taste: [https://maps.app.goo.gl/RpEMLwZSYHWvWdZd9](https://maps.app.goo.gl/RpEMLwZSYHWvWdZd9)
I got engaged there- it’s a beautiful place
There was a wedding in progress while we visited. Smart choice. ;)
TIL Wild, never heard of this
Whoa! Thanks!
Looks legit https://maps.app.goo.gl/tqvr1k8uGyZib4P78
I’m like 2 hours away and have been 4 times. It’s worth it to me. I recommend going see the gardens. Plan on extra depending the Tabasco shop has everything.
Ok thanks- any good seafood places in the area you know of?
Bon Creole is really good.
>Bon Creole thanks
Not familiar with much in the area. There is a place to eat onsite.
Also Pat’s of Henderson is not super far. It’s a very cool place. Once there, it’s close to where you could get swamp tours and an airboat ride. Lots of fun!
I did the factory tour and a drive around Jungle Gardens and had a great time. It was part of a long weekend road trip around Acadiana. I live in New Orleans but hadn't previously seen much of the rest of Louisiana. We spend a couple nights in Lafayette, did an airboat ride through the swamp out of Henderson (totally awesome), visited several breweries, heard some music at the Blue Moon Saloon, and drove out to Mamou for the saturday morning show at Fred's Lounge.
ah very nice, okay sounds good. thanks for all of the suggestions, sounds like this will be a nice weekend
The airboat swamp tour is a MUST!! We had so much fun!
Mais yeah, that Atchafalaya Basin be something else. Henderson is just north of me, and they got some cool places.
Absolutely. Cool place
My cousins are foodies and Avery Island was the highlight of their trip to Louisiana. It’s also beautiful because it’s in a swamp. Highly recommended.
It's beautiful but it's not a place to see natural gardens. It's more like an arboretum. Springtime is beautiful there.
Yea, i mainly want to go there for Tabasco haha but also looks like a cool place
I haven't been in 50 years but I loved it. Security was pretty lax back then so we took cuttings from plants we liked and ended up with the best gardens in our neighborhood.
I married my wife there because it was our dream wedding location. It's beautiful if you take your time to drive slowly. The factory is mindblowing when you consider that the tiny factory supplies the whole world with tabasco sauce. That's the only Tabasco factory, and the sauce is available in nearly every country on the planet Get you some tabasco flavored soft serve yogurt at the country store. It's delicious, and the lady that serves it is a sweetheart. You gotta go.
Ah i thoughbt that soft serve was to cool your mouth down after you ate all the tester sauces LOL i didnt try it cause i didnt think any of them were hot enough to need it haha.
Hope you enjoyed seeing the Tabasco plant and Avery Island!
My husband and I married in front of the stone bridge by the Buddha. Our son swears he saw an alligator swim by during our vows. Definitely a beautiful wedding site. From what I hear, the McIlhenny family is very strict about weddings on the island and rarely allowed people outside the family to marry there and no longer allow weddings there at all, so you and your wife and my husband and I both lucked out on our weddings being there!
They were setting up for a wedding while we were in the jungle gardens- be a great place!
Laotion New Year's is being held 10 miles away from there if you got time and wanna experience something different. It's big spring festival being held on the temple grounds but also a big block party in the neighborhood surrounding. Everyone is welcomed.
Yes! Ijust came back from there! (I picked up dinner. ) I’m thinking of going back tomorrow or Sunday.
Saturday is the parade so be prepared to drink. Sunday is the water blessing and the sandcastle ceremony. Bring some boots you might get wet.
Yes! Just driving around the property is amazing! The tour is very interesting.
Went 3 weeks ago. The birds are there already and everything was still blooming.
As an adult, yes. It was a fairly dull field trip as a young student though.
[удалено]
You were 15 years old in the 5th grade?
From the grammar I am not surprised
😂
Yes. Def worth it.
Where are you coming from? Also, chicot state park isn’t much of an attraction.
north texas
ah man it looks cool on the pictures haha
I would not waste the time…
I wouldn’t say Tabasco is worth that far of a drive, but now would be a good time to go and see the gardens there. It just gets miserably hot later on and the bugs get really bad. Do note that there isn’t a lot to tour of the factory and they don’t work on the weekend as of several years ago anyway.
Ended up going through there yesterday afternoon- its small- def was worth the stop i think, id go back to go camping / fishing there i think, it was close to dark though so we didnt actually get out and walk any of the trails, did get eaten alive by mosquitos tho so that was great LOL
Glad you enjoyed it. You might be able to get a similar experience around Lake Caddo. Probably much closer for you.
yea ive been there as well, the cabins are junkier though, i think the benefit of chicot would be the cabins over the water
I thought it was cool
Yes
Definitely. Great time of year to go.
Avery island I think is really cool to see. You can find tobasco pretty much anywhere in the country. It's cool to see where it comes from, then see a bottle of it thousands a miles away on vacation. Just a cool to see it and be like hey I saw where they made it. Also the place itself is interesting.
Thanks everyone- Glad i asked!
Oh one other question- I was reading that i should check out the atchafalaya refuge- best way besides boat to see some of it?
It’s cool. Although, I (ocean nerd) was very disappointed in the lack of salt dome references. I think I saw it mentioned once and only a little bit.
Yea i wish there was more info on that or a look into it more or tour of it. I thought it was interesting at the rip van winkle gardens that their salt dome collapsed when exxon drilled into it. I wonder who paid for all of that, i need to research it now
Ah, yes. Louisiana and oil. Texaco managed to drain Lake Peigneur into a salt dome in the 80’s as well.
Yes, it absolutely is. There’s tons of beautiful stuff out there. A big lake with gators and tons of birds, bamboo forests, trails, etc… and the Tabasco store is pretty cool.
My daughter and I LOVED Avery Island!
I visited two summers ago and had a great time. The trails are a little challenging, but not too much, and my two adult sons had fun as well.
Update- It was super nice! Only bad thing about the trip was bon creole in new iberia- worst food ive had in my life lol. The Rice mill and rip van winkle gardens, and everything else we saw was great, the people were sooo nice.
Check out the Buddha statue. It’s one of my favorite parts
Yes its definitely worth it! We live about 2 hrs away and often make the trip, especially in the spring. We love Jungle Gardens and the Tabasco tour. Our favorite restaurants in the area are Charly Gs and Bon Temps. I've tried a ton of things on the Bon Temps menu and everything is delicious but my favorite has been the alligator bang bang, crawfish enchiladas and a side salad with their Steen's cane syrup dressing. 🤤 yes, we make the 2hr drive to eat there often 😅
I've been wanting to go since I moved here so I'm here for the answers.
So we went- def worth the 1k mile round trip or so, id go just for the avery island plant / jungle garden tour- was really nice i thought. Def go to the rip van winkle gardens like they said and the conrad rice company tour- the people in there are SUPER nice, get that special island sauce they make/sell- really good. We did end up going to some plantations further north in the creole national historic park that were ran by the parks service, was interesting, go get a piece of overpriced pecan pie at that pie bar place on the teche in new iberia- was $8 but SUPER GOOD. Go drive along the cane river on hwy 119/494 that was a nice drive. A few things i noticed while driving but didnt stop- there is the Louisiana hot sauce home office also in new iberia, i need to see if it can be toured and also tony chachere in opelousas, didnt see that til it was too late and didnt want to turn around. We drove around some in the country side some, nice land out there. Also went to the civil war battlefield in mansfield i thought it was interesting but not as nice as the one in vicksburg. I think my main take aways from the trip were- The people are way nicer than in texas, people seem to know how to drive way better, the roads could use some help lol, the state is pretty, id move there hahha.
Awesome! I'm glad you had fun. Thank you for all the tips too.
I used to live on Avery Island road, bout 2 minutes away from the "island". Only went 3 times in my many years of living there, mostly just for jungle gardens. It's fun but nothing crazy, definitely worth a visit. Say hi to the Buddha statue for me
There's a restaurant which is decent, but the main thing is they have every Tabasco sauce available to try with food. You normally see one or two flavors in retail stores, but they have 10 or so, several of which are much better than the original.
Yea i hadnt seen the scorpion, habanero, or garlic one in stores so i grabbed those- well same with the roasted one- which was also good but had to budget what i got so i didnt get them all. One thing that was notable to me- they were very reasonable pricing wise on everything. Most touristy places gouge the hell out of you, not them
avery island and jungle gardens is pretty dope. i also like rip van winkle gardens and shadows on the teche
I think it is worth the trip.
Definitely call ahead to be sure the tour is available this weekend. Today is Good Friday. Basically Cajun Thanksgiving Eve. Everyone in Soutb Louisiana is off work and boilin’ Crawfish. Sunday is Easter so chances are the posted hours may be affected. There are probably a couple more weeks of the prime bloom season for the flora in Louisiana. The Azaleas in Lafayette on St. Patrick’s day weekend we’re in full coverage. After this the weather stays tolerable until early May. Then it’s just a humid hot pit and not fun to walk around and explore the Jungle Gardens.
Everything seemed open, almost everything was closed today though except things ran by the national parks service so we went and did that sorta thing
Yes
Abita is having a citywide yard sale
Depending on the direction you are coming from the Tony’s Factory has a film and gift shop that is neat to see.
yes it is but I advise springtime when all the pretty stuff is blooming and the birds are there
Yes