Four hours to five and a half, one admission, no boat. You are back in New Orleans with the afternoon still in front of you, and two of these give you three hours on the grounds rather than the usual two.
Five and a half hours, hotel pick-up, entry ticket and a guided house tour included.
The drive out, two to three hours at the plantation, the drive back. Nothing else is attached. You leave New Orleans between eight and nine in the morning and you are back between one and two in the afternoon.
Every one of these includes the gate ticket and the guided Big House tour. What separates them is the vehicle, the collection arrangement, and how long they leave you on the grounds — which runs from two hours to three, and that hour is the whole difference.
Back by two. That leaves the afternoon and the whole evening, which matters if New Orleans itself is the reason you came.
The gate ticket is $30. These start at $75 and already contain it, so you are paying about $45 for a hundred and twenty miles.
No combination trip does. If the exhibits matter as much as the house, the longest half-day beats the longest full day.
There is no boat, so none of the airboat rule book applies. Everyone who can walk the grounds can take one of these.
Same plantation, same guided house tour, same exhibits. Everything below is what changes when you attach a boat.
| Half-day, plantation only | Swamp combination | |
|---|---|---|
| Door to door | 4 to 5h 30 | 7 to 8h 30 |
| At the plantation | 2 to 3 hours | 2 to 2h 15 |
| Back in New Orleans | 1:00–2:00 p.m. | 5:30–6:00 p.m. |
| Price band | $75–$89 | $125–$185 |
| Age or health limits | None | On airboats, yes |
| Wheelchair option | One coach, with 48 hours’ notice | One covered-boat trip |
Bands across every departure in each shape.
Compare every Oak Alley Plantation tour
The row that surprises people is the second one. A half-day can give you more time at Oak Alley than a full day can, because the full day spends the difference on a boat and on driving between two sites. The combinations are here if the wetlands are the draw.
Not much on price: $75 to $89 covers all of them. The differences are practical and they matter more than the nine dollars.
| Trip | At the plantation | Group cap | How it collects you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana Tour Co. half-day | 2 hours | Not stated | Hotel pick-up, 198 addresses |
| Gray Line coach | 2 hours | Up to 55 | French Quarter, 400 Toulouse Street |
| Small-group with pick-up | 3 hours | Up to 12 | Pick-up or meet the driver |
| Louisiana Tour half-day | 2 hours | Up to 32 | Hotel pick-up from 8:15 a.m. |
Group caps and collection arrangements as each operator publishes them.
Compare every Oak Alley Plantation tour
Twelve people and three hours is a different day from fifty-five people and two. So is being collected from your door versus walking to Toulouse Street. Pick on those two columns, not on the fare.
You get return transport, a guide, the Oak Alley admission and a slot on the guided house tour. Three of the four collect you from a hotel.
You do not get lunch. None of these includes a meal, and most exclude food and drink explicitly. You do not get gratuities covered. And on the Gray Line coach you do not get collected at all — that one departs from the French Quarter and says so on the listing.
These leave earliest of anything here, between 8 a.m. and 8:30, because the point is to have you back by early afternoon. Pick-up windows are windows: be outside at the start of yours, because several operators state plainly that the bus does not wait.
All four refund in full up to 24 hours ahead, which makes booking early close to free of risk. Book about three weeks out for spring and autumn. The transport page covers the four collection patterns if you are unsure which suits where you are staying.
Anyone who wants the wetlands as well. Adding a boat later is not possible, so take a combination trip from the start.
Anyone whose interest is the history of slavery rather than the architecture. Travellers on these trips say repeatedly that the interpretation leans towards the house and the family, and that they would choose Whitney next time. The pairings exist for exactly that.
And anyone with a car and three or more people. Two gate tickets and a hire car beat four fares, and you can stay until closing rather than until the coach leaves. The self-drive costing runs the numbers.
The longest time at the plantation of any half-day, in the smallest vehicle. Pick-up, or meet the driver.
Four to five and a half hours door to door. About two and a half of those are driving, and the rest is time on the grounds.
Between one and two in the afternoon on most of these. That is the whole point of a half-day: the evening stays yours.
Yes, on all four. A slot on the guided Big House tour comes with it, so there is nothing to pay at the gate.
The twelve-seat trip with pick-up, at three hours. The others give two, which covers the house and one exhibit.
The Gray Line coach can carry a folding wheelchair with 48 hours’ notice to the operator. The house tour itself is stairs and an iPad tour is offered instead.
No. There is a restaurant about a block from the house and the free time covers a stop there.
One of them offers a pontoon upgrade at checkout. Otherwise take a combination trip instead.
Four trips that visit Oak Alley and nothing else, with the group cap and the collection arrangement on each card.
The cheapest way to Oak Alley with a guide and a ticket included. Hotel pick-up from 198 addresses, a costumed house tour, and two hours to yourself on the grounds. Back in the city by early afternoon.
From $75 per personFree cancellation up to 24 hours before
The most reviewed plantation-only trip here, and the only one that will carry a folding wheelchair with 48 hours’ notice. A full-size coach from the French Quarter, with an optional pontoon swamp upgrade.
From $89 per personFree cancellation up to 24 hours before
Three hours on the grounds and twelve travellers maximum. That combination exists nowhere else on this sheet, and it is the one to book if the exhibits matter as much as the house. Pick-up or meet the driver.
From $86 per personFree cancellation up to 24 hours before
Hotel pick-up from 8:15 a.m., two hours at the plantation, and an optional three-hour New Orleans city tour with a cemetery stop bolted on at checkout. Thirty-two travellers maximum.
From $75 per personFree cancellation up to 24 hours before
Everything else from New Orleans, including the trips that take a different shape entirely, sits on Oak Alley Plantation Tours.
