Where to camp near New Orleans, Louisiana
We had the good fortune of having some excellent guides in the area and the consensus was to stay in the state parks in Mandeville and drive in to New Orleans.
This was a really good tip and the first place we stayed was at Fontainebleau State Park.
Fontainebleau State Park
Fontainebleau State Park offers several sections of camping. As with so many state parks the rates are quite affordable at about $30/night with full hook-ups. They also had nice, clean shower houses and everything was in great shape.
The park is located on Lake Pontchartrain and there is a pier, boat launch and a tremendous amount of parking.
You’ll want to stop at the visitor’s center which is adjacent to the old mill site. The park’s organizers have done a good job with illustrating both the human and natural history of the area.
The mill itself was an old sugar mill and some of the brick structure is still in place. You wouldn’t want to wander around in there but the visitor’s center has a large plate glass window with an outline of what the mill used to look like.
Depending on what time of year you’re through these parts the visitor’s center also tells of a huge variety of birds that also stop in for a visit. The color and variety of these winged creates is great and sitting quietly will get you a good look at the fowl inhabitants of the area.
Tammany Trace
Fontainebleau is also right on the Tammany Trace which is a 31 miles long bike trail that winds through several communities, along Lake Pontchartrain and offers great riding.
But here are reasons to veer off the Tammany Trail and visit here even you aren’t camping there.
If you’re not staying at the state park this might be a great place to actually start your ride. We took a day to ride our Lectric eBikes on the Tammany Trace and found all sorts of great locally-owned businesses.
We found an easy lunch at the Beach House Bar & Grill which is exactly the kind of setting I had hoped for. This open-air restaurant has that relaxed beach feel that you hear about in Jimmy Buffett songs and the atmosphere didn’t disappoint.
From there we actually discovered we knew someone who lives in the area, Terry Broussard from Spot2Nite, so we meandered up the street and met him at the Candy Bank.
This little place is something that, if you have children, be forewarned. It will be the highlight of their visit.
It literally is an old bank building that has been converted to a candy shop. Much of what is sold here is also made here and they are famous for milk shakes, fudge and ice cream. But the candy selection is tremendous and many of the sweets I hadn’t seen since I was a kid were in ready supply here.
We also made it as far as Abita Springs, where we found the Abita Brewing Company’s tap room and restaurant.
True to the spirit of this area in general we arrived along with a local band and listened to some great tunes. Music is a constant in this area with so many wonderful opportunities to catch live performances of all sorts.
In fact we liked this area so much we bounced back into town and then stayed at Fairview-Riverside State Park. This is also an affordable place with clean, large sites and we even ran into fellow Mini Lite owners Lynne and David Cutforth here.
New Orleans adjacent
Of course we also spent several days in New Orleans and you’d be crazy not to cross the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway and do so yourself. We have several articles about this on our own website which you can find here.
Thanks to Alicia and Scott from The Route of it All who not only provided this great recommendation, but were guests on the podcast and even camped with us here. Oh, and made a terrific gumbo that we truly enjoyed. They’re also dark sky and astronomy aficionados - if that’s your passion, too, you might check out our podcast episode with them on this topic.
We enjoyed the area so much that a week wasn’t anywhere near enough so we bounced into Mississippi and are heading back to spend another week there. You can bet we’ll be on the Tammany Trace and explore more of this area. Laissez le bon temps rouler!
