Oak Alley Plantation is beautiful, with 200-year-old oaks along the entrance. A lot of history mixed with sadness and grandeur. The Big House tour is guided and everything else you take on your own.
Laura R, United States · Couple · August 2026
Oak Alley Plantation Tour with Transportation from New Orleans
Most reviewed plantation-only trip
From $89 per person
- Duration5 hours 30 minutes
- At the plantation2 hours
- Departs fromGray Line Lighthouse Ticket Office, 400 Toulouse St, New Orleans — no hotel pick-up
- OperatorGray Line New Orleans
- Group sizeUp to 55
- CancellationFree cancellation up to 24 hours before
- AccessibilityWheelchair, Stroller
The plantation and nothing else, on a full-size coach from the French Quarter. It is the most reviewed Oak Alley-only trip on either platform, and the only one that can take a folding wheelchair.
Why this one
Oak Alley and nothing else
No boat, no second house, no bolt-on: two hours on the grounds and back.
Wheelchair accessible with notice
The only plantation-only departure that will carry a folding wheelchair.
Admission and guided house tour included
The $30 gate ticket is inside the $89.
An optional pontoon swamp add-on
Ninety minutes on the water if you want it, and nothing if you do not.
Back in the Quarter by mid-afternoon
Five and a half hours door to door from a 400 Toulouse Street start.
How the day runs
- Check in at the Lighthouse, French Quarter
- Coach along the Great River Road
- Oak Alley Plantation, guided, 2 hours
- Free time on the grounds and gift shop
- Optional 90-minute pontoon swamp tour
- Return to the French Quarter
A full-size coach, and what that means
This trip runs a coach that seats up to fifty-five. That is the largest vehicle of any departure here, and it cuts both ways. It is why the price is $89 rather than $130, and it is why the trip has more reviews than any other plantation-only option.
It also means you will not be in a small group. If a quiet vehicle and a guide who knows your name matter more than the fare, the twelve-seat trips are the alternative.
The one plantation-only trip that carries a wheelchair
A folding wheelchair can travel on this coach, but the operator needs forty-eight hours’ notice to arrange a lift-equipped vehicle. Contact details are on the voucher, and the arrangement has to be made before you travel rather than on the day.
On the site itself, the grounds, the gift shop, the restrooms and the ramped basement level are all reachable. The Big House tour is stairs and is not adaptable, and the Foundation offers an iPad tour of the upper floor instead. Paths on the grounds are narrow and uneven in places, so an alternative route is sometimes needed.
The ninety-minute swamp upgrade
At checkout this trip offers a pontoon swamp tour as an add-on. Taken, it turns a five-and-a-half-hour afternoon into a full day. Left alone, the trip is the shortest plantation-only run on a coach.
The upgrade is worth comparing against the trips that bundle a boat from the start, because those are often cheaper than base fare plus add-on. Every one of them is set out on the swamp tours page.
Reading the 4.3
This is the lowest-rated of the three featured trips, and the figure is on the card rather than hidden. Fifty-five people on a coach is a different day from twelve in a van, and the rating reflects that as much as anything else.
What the reviews are consistent about is the driver commentary on the River Road and the quality of the guiding at the plantation itself, both of which are the same whichever vehicle you arrive in.
What is included, and what is not
- ✓ Guided tour of plantation home
- ✓ Air-conditioned vehicle
- ✓ Local guide
- ✓ Round trip transportation by coach
- ✓ 90-minute pontoon swamp tour (if upgrade option chosen)
- ✗ Gratuities
- ✗ Lunch
- ✗ Parking Fees
Photographs from the site
Who this suits, and who should book something else
It suits you if
Anyone who wants Oak Alley alone at the lowest coach fare, anyone travelling with a folding wheelchair, and anyone staying near Jackson Square.
Choose something else if
Anyone who wants a small group, hotel collection, or more than two hours on the grounds. In that case go to the half-day tours instead — the half-days with hotel pick-up included.
Know before you go
- Departure is from 400 Toulouse Street, not your hotel. It is one block from Jackson Square; allow fifteen minutes to check in.
- A wheelchair needs 48 hours of notice. Contact the operator using the details on your voucher, before you travel.
- The coach can carry up to fifty-five. Book an early departure if you want the alley before the crowd.
- Lunch, parking fees and gratuities are excluded. The restaurant on site covers lunch; the free time is enough for it.
- Photography is not permitted inside the house. The upper balcony is the exception and the best frame on the property.
- The swamp add-on has to be chosen at booking. Compare it against the bundled combinations before you decide.
What travellers said about this trip
I appreciated the contrast the site draws between the life of an enslaved house worker and the planter family, but I wanted more detail than the format allows.
Chelle C, United States · Solo traveller · August 2026
A wonderful adventure. Oak Alley Plantation is beautiful and the bus driver was good company — I would recommend this one.
Ladonna C, United States · Couple · August 2026
Questions about this trip
Is this trip wheelchair accessible?
The coach can take a folding wheelchair with 48 hours’ notice to the operator. The house tour itself is stairs and is not adaptable; an iPad tour of the upper floor is offered instead.
How big is the group?
Up to fifty-five. If that is too many, the twelve-seat half-day is the small-group alternative.
Is the admission included?
Yes. The $30 gate ticket including the Big House exhibit is inside the fare.
Will the tour pick me up?
No. This one departs from the Gray Line Lighthouse ticket office at 400 Toulouse Street in the French Quarter.
What is the swamp upgrade?
A ninety-minute pontoon swamp tour added at checkout. It makes the day roughly twice as long.
Why is it rated lower than the others?
It runs the largest vehicle of any departure here. The guiding at the plantation is the same; the coach is the difference.
The other featured trips:
- Swamp Boat Ride and Oak Alley Plantation Tour from New Orleans
- New Orleans: Oak Alley Plantation & Airboat Swamp Combo Tour
Everything else from New Orleans is compared on Oak Alley Plantation Tours.
Ready to book Oak Alley Plantation Tour with Transportation from New Orleans?
Live dates, the pick-up window for your hotel, and traveller photographs.