Most Beautiful Gardens and Parks in New Orleans
Explore New Orleans’ Most Beautiful Outdoor Spaces
The most beautiful parks in New Orleans include public greenspaces with modern sporting facilities, historic manor grounds peppered with live oaks, and expansive nature preserves set deep in the bayous. For classical landscaping, you can visit a botanical garden that features fragrant roses and a tropical conservatory.
Art enthusiasts can stroll through a sculpture garden, while green thumbs can enjoy picnics on the lawns of a majestic historic house. Come sunset, the waterfront comes alive with old-world steamboats and local buskers, while echoes of the city’s voodoo history linger in a park dedicated to a legendary jazz musician.
1. New Orleans Botanical Garden
An oasis that was built for the people
Good for: Photo, Couples, Families
Located in City Park, New Orleans Botanical Garden is a classical greenspace from the 1930s when it was envisioned for urban families as part of a major redevelopment scheme. Today, it showcases over 2,000 varieties of plants and is imbued with Art Deco flourishes from creatives, including Architect Richard Koch, sculptor Enrique Alférez, and landscape designer William Wiedorn.
Come for the Rose Parterre Pond and its giant lily pads, but stay for attractions like the Historic New Orleans Train Garden, which features miniature replica streetcars across 1,300 ft (396 meters) of winding tracks. The Conservatory of the Two Sisters boasts prehistoric plant life and a fairy tale waterfall, while the Yakumo Japanese Garden is home to bonsai trees and ikebana.
Location: 5 Victory Ave, New Orleans, LA 70119, USA
Open: Tuesday–Sunday from 10 am to 4.30 pm (closed on Mondays)
Phone: +1 504-483-9402
New Orleans Botanical Garden
2. New Orleans City Park
Outdoor fun for all the family
Good for: Budget, Families, Couples
City Park is a 1,300-acre (526-hectare) sanctuary 10 minutes from the French Quarter. Twice the size of New York’s Central Park, this epic public garden is home to an array of attractions that draw families from across the state, including the Louisiana Children’s Museum, the Carousel Amusement Park, and Storyland Playground, which features larger-than-life sculptures based on Grimms’ Fairy Tales.
If you’re not with the kids, admire French and American works in the New Orleans Museum of Art, gaze at exotic plants in the Pelican Greenhouse, or hike the shady trails of Couturie Forest. For a magical day out, hire bicycles or swan boats from The Boat House on Big Lake.
Location: 1 Palm Drive, New Orleans, LA 70124, USA
Open: Daily from 5 am to 10 pm
Phone: +1 504-482-4888
New Orleans City Park
3. Longue Vue House and Gardens
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Good for: Photo, Couples
Set in the leafy Lakewood neighborhood, Longue Vue House and Gardens, circa 1939, is a stately manor and museum that was once the residence of philanthropists Edgar and Edith Stern. Designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman, this Neo-Classical beauty was gifted to New Orleans in the early 1980s and is now a public space that’s open to everyone.
Spend a day here strolling the flower-filled gardens, picnicking on lawns under gnarled old live oaks, and exploring the mansion’s historic interiors with Director of Collections, Lenora Costa. Check the online calendar for events like yoga classes, garden dinners, and traditional Japanese karate shows. Highly recommended is the Twilight Concert series featuring NOLA’s hottest artists.
Location: 7 Bamboo Rd, New Orleans, LA 70124, USA
Open: Daily from 9.30 am to 5 pm
Phone: +1 504-488-5488
Longue Vue House and Gardens
4. Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden
One of America’s most important art exhibits
Good for: Budget, Photo, Unusual
Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden showcases over 90 installations by contemporary artists in a landscape marked with shimmering lagoons, fragrant magnolia trees, and live oaks draped with Spanish moss. Spanning 11 photogenic acres (4.5 hectares), this City Park exhibit is barrier-free and wheelchair accessible. Even better is that it’s free of charge.
Discover show-stopping pieces like Colored Stacked Frames by multi-disciplinary maestro Sean Scully or the Reclining Mother and Child bronze by master Henry Moore. Must-sees include the Mirror Labyrinth by Jeppe Hein and the metallic bear by the legendary Frank Gehry. It’s a great place for an Insta selfie or a happy snap for the photo album.
Location: 1 Collins Diboll Cir, New Orleans, LA 70124, USA
Open: April–September: daily from 10 am to 6 pm. October–March: daily from 10 am to 5 pm
Phone: +1 504-658-4100
Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden
5. Audubon Park
A picture-postcard pleasure garden dating to 1871
Good for: Budget, Families, Couples
One of NOLA’s most celebrated parks, Audubon Park is bordered by the mighty Mississippi River on one side and leafy St. Charles Avenue on the other. Ride the atmospheric streetcars to see its Southern Gothic mansions and strands of Spanish moss. For over 100 years, citizens have flocked here to enjoy the park’s avenues of ancient live oaks, collection of children’s playgrounds, and unpaved snake-like trails that are ideal for jogging and strolling.
For a memorable family lunch, skip the emerald picnic lawns and hire a spacious al fresco pavilion, or buy a one-off permit from the park’s department to host a down-home crawfish boil. You can even play a round of golf on the Denis Griffiths course.
Location: 6500 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA
Open: Daily from 5 am to 10 pm
Phone: +1 504-861-2537
Audubon Park
6. Lafitte Greenway
Urban art and lush parks
Good for: Budget, Adventure
Connecting the French Quarter and City Park, Lafitte Greenway is New Orleans’ answer to the urban trail renaissance. Stretching 2.6 miles (4 km) along a reclaimed rail and canal corridor, this lush linear park is where locals jog at sunrise, cyclists cruise under shady oaks, and weekend markets pulse with neighborhood energy.
Art installations, rain gardens, and native landscaping elevate the experience beyond the average stroll. But it’s more than just a pretty path; it’s a vibrant thread stitching together historic neighborhoods, offering visitors a fresh, off-the-beaten-path way to explore the city on foot or by bike.
Lafitte Greenway
7. Louis Armstrong Park
A charismatic respite place that’s steeped in rhythm
Good for: Budget, Couples, Families
You’ll find Louis Armstrong Park in historic Tremé, a neighborhood that’s famed for its Congo Square, a gathering place with a voodoo past linked to Marie Laveau, the Creole herbalist. Louis Armstrong Park honors the late great jazz musician “Satchmo” across 32 tree-lined acres (13 hectares). He’s famous for songs like West End Blues and What a Wonderful World.
Residents come here to cool off by the artificial lagoon and admire statues of the Mardi Gras Indian chief Tootie Montana, the brass band pioneer Buddy Bolden, and revered local gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. Every year, the park hosts the Congo Square Rhythms Festival and the Tremé Creole Gumbo Fest, which deliver foot-stomping music and regional soul food.
Location: 701 N Rampart St, New Orleans, LA 70116, USA
Open: Daily from 8 am to 6 pm
Phone: +1 504-658-3200
Louis Armstrong Park
8. Woldenberg Park
For panoramic river views
Good for: Budget, Photo, Families
Located along the mighty Mississippi, Woldenberg Park is only moments from the French Quarter and its numerous attractions, including Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral, and the storied Café du Monde. Currently undergoing a mammoth revamp, it’s known for breathtaking views from its Riverwalk Gazebo, which casts its gaze towards the steamboats and the West Bank district of Algiers Point.
Visit the Ocean Song Sculpture by artist John Scott, the New Orleans Holocaust Memorial by sculptor Yaacov Agam, and the Steamboat Natchez headquarters for tickets to a buffet cruise. The park attracts a plethora of local performers who sing, dance, and juggle for change. Plus, there are plenty of lawns and benches for an impromptu midday picnic.
Location: 1 Canal St, New Orleans, LA 70130, USA
Open: Sunday–Thursday from 6 am to 10 pm, Friday–Saturday from 6 am to midnight
Phone: +1 504-861-2537
Woldenberg Park
9. Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve
The wild side of The Pelican State
Good for: Adventure, Photo
Named after an infamous French pirate, Jean Lafitte National Historical Park comprises several distinct sites in the state of Louisiana. These include the Barataria Preserve in Marrero, Jefferson County, and the Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery. Explore the region’s sultry swamps and bayous, 17 miles (27 km) from New Orleans, or celebrate the backwoods way of life at a range of unique visitor hubs.
To learn about the region’s Cajun, Creole, and cowboy history, swing by the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center, where you can take part in a cooking demonstration before tapping your toes to a local band. Meanwhile, the Barataria Reserve’s wetlands, marshes, and hardwood forests are ideal for canoeing, hiking, and bird watching.
Location: Marrero, LA 70072, USA
Open: 24/7
Phone: +1 504-589-3882
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve
10. Lafreniere Park
An urban oasis that brings out the crowds
Good for: Budget, Photo
A sprawling recreation area in Metairie, Louisiana, Lafreniere Park features a 2-mile (3.2-km) jogging track, 8 picnic shelters, a pair of children’s playgrounds, and a lagoon. The carousel near the center boasts moving horses, African animals, and 2 accessible chariots, while an 18-hole disc golf course provides hours of sporting fun.
Nature photographers love it here thanks to the abundance of flora and fauna, as well as a bridge-connected island that is home to an array of beautiful birds. There’s even a state-of-the-art soccer complex and a spray park featuring water cannons. Watch out for the fireworks party that takes place every year.
Location: 3000 Downs Blvd, Metairie, LA 70003, USA
Open: Daily from 6 am to 9.45 pm
Phone: +1 504-838-4389
Lafreniere Park
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