houmas house plantation and gardens

This is a beautiful plantation house with absolutely beautiful grounds. You spend 1 hour in the tour and can spend 1 or 2 hours on the grounds. We had an amazing tour guide, Sandy Reed. She is very knowledgeable, the tour was very informative and she tells the story just like she was part of the Houmas House. She also involves those listening to the tour making it interactive and just absolutely splendid. You are allowed to take pictures and visit the grounds as long as you like. We stop and had a drink at the Turtle Bar which is absolutely precious. Tiny but a lot of fun. It is housed in what used to be one of the garcionners (boys homes) of the plantations. The bartender we had was very pleasant and also knew a lot about the plantation. The current owner of the house still lives in the House and you actually tour his office and his bedroom. You can get AAA discount for tickets.

We went and did the house and garden tour. Our guide was the greatest, he was very knowledgable and a lot of fun! The gardens were beautiful as well.

Nice gardens, informative tour, great guides, a lovely plantation, if you can only visit one plantation in the area this is a good one!

This response is to clarify misinformation in this review. If one does not want to take the tour, there is a charge to view the gardens. The charge is $15 per person for the garden tour. There is no charge to view the film in the gift shop.

Beautiful place with amazing gardens & pathways that are just delightful. I have been on several tours around the country and Sandy has to be one of the best guides ever!! Her southern accent, humor and knowledge of the place makes the tour so enjoyable. Such a gorgeous setting! Three of us had lunch and everything was just delicious! Enjoyed the dragon fly shaped biscuits and the beautiful environment of the restaurant. I have been to several southern attractions and the is one of the top three for me! Just lovely!!

This was a great experience with the beautiful sitting and tour. Our tour guide Sandy was fantastic. She was very knowledgeable and friendly. Was the best tour on this trip.

we booked online with old South tours and was picked up outside the marriott on canal St. The drive was a very comfortable 1 hour and the house and gardens were fabulous and so well kept. Our guise was Susan who gets into character as the lady of the plantation really well and gave us a very entertaining and informed tour. We had lunch in the burnside cafe and it was delicious and good value and service followed by a drink in the turtle bar which had an amazing selection of spirits available. The gardens are stunning and the whole day was really worthwhile and a great experience which I would certainly recommend. I've not been to any other plantations but this one fulfilled my curiosity and I was amazed how up close you can get to the history and furnishings in the house.

Really an Awesome way to spend a whole day and/or night! The entire experience is really cool. We went to take the tour and learn about the history of this magnificent sugar plantation. We took the tour, led by a period actress and historian Susan Harris dressed as a bonified Southern Belle! The Mansion is beautiful and as good an example as I've ever seen.Afterwards we decided to have lunch at one of the 3 restaurants on site. Café Burnside is the less formal but still formidable, open for lunch 11AM-2:00PM and SUNDAY Brunch 11AM-3:00PM. Great menu, reasonable prices, I had the Fried Shrimp Po Boy and my friend had the Crown Jewel Hamburger. Both were ENOURMOUS and FABULOUS. Our server Tammy was 2nd to none (A delightful lady who engaged with us just enough and anticipated our every need.From there to The Turtle Bar, where our expert Mixologist Derek, whipped up a perfect Mint Julip (in a sterling silver Julip glass) followed by a "real" Old Fashion (pre 1900 without the "cherry") and a Killer Amaretto Sour. He also gladly served up a little bartending history, explaining the use of various "bitters", citrus fruits and the like.After that we joyously and relaxedly explored the grounds with it's "Secret Gardens" and such.Exiting through the Gift Shop (funny how that happens), we were treated to a GREAT selection of one of a kind offerings and wonderful book collection AND an Art Galley in the back.I know this is a long write up, but one well deserved. We spent about 5 hours there at OUR digression, could have been 1 or could have been OVERNIGHT (they have wonderfully appointed "cabins" on site.

We recently toured a few plantations on Feb. 7th and the tour at Houmas House was by far the BEST! Our tour guide Susan Harris was awesome. Very knowledgeable about the house and it's history as well as the history of the area. She was very entertaining. We've toured pretty much every plantation in that area and not many guides get into playing the part but she was fantastic. Also the house and grounds are gorgeous!

My wife and I visited the property on a Saturday. We were picked up from our hotel and driven (about an hour) in a comfortable larger size van/coach. I think it was called Old South Tours. So when we arrived. We met with a tour guide (I cant remember her name),she was from the area but had lived for a brief time in my County in Maryland. She was excellent. She knew historical facts about every item in the house. And also knew about every event in history about the area, the house, and all of the figures of the houses history. The house/gardens were beautiful, the tour was enjoyable, and the lunch was great. As the tour ended, we went to the lunch area. My wife ordered shrimp and grits, great! I ordered the crab cake, which was good but I like Maryland style better (still good though.) The praline butter was out of this world. I did not care for the gumbo. Not much to it anyway. The day was very nice. It cost about $60 each for the tour and ride out to the plantation.

We stayed in one of the new cottages. It was a wonderful experience except for when we were locked out of our cottage. They installed card entry. It does not slide in. It like a card fob. It mysteriously got demagnetized. Other than that it was lovely.

We were passing through the area and we stopped first thing on a weekday morning to take a tour. At first, we were only going to do the gardens outside but for an extra $9/adult, we decided to do the inside of the house tour too. It was worth it! We were the only ones first thing in the morning so we got a private tour with Sandy, who was a delightful, spunky gal with a sense of humor and quick wit. She was so sweet and took a few nice pictures of us. We were impressed with the gardens, even in late January when there wasn't a lot in bloom. I'd like to come back again someday during the spring when there are more flowers, I'm sure it would be even more outstanding! Take time and wander the grounds - there are lovely little spots all over the property. There might even be a few dogs to play with! There is a place to eat but we didn't stay long enough to check it out. There are restrooms in a few places (gift shop and near the food buildings)

This is not my first visit here, and I still think the plantation is very worthwhile! The tour guide Sandy was very knowledgeable and entertaining and the home, grounds, and history are excellent!

What sets this tour out from others is that you can touch things in the house because the house is privately owned. The tour guides are knowledgeable and the staff exemplify hospitality. If you go on a tour see about getting Judy as your tour guide she is the best.

Worth the $24 per person tour. Nice gift shop and the grounds are kept up to high standards. A little further than some of the other plantations, but worth the drive. The tour guide came dressed in a period costume and did a great job in explaining the history of the property.