On a recent weekend trip to New Orleans, my family took La Vie’s private city tour of New Orleans with Benjamin as our guide. It was an excellent tour and highlight of our weekend!
When initially planning our trip for a group of 4 adults + 1 infant, I wasn’t sure if we could find a tour of New Orleans that would be a good fit. I hoped to find a private tour, since we were traveling with a baby and wanted flexibility, but also ideally a driving tour, since one person in our group was on crutches with limited mobility at the time. The tour with La Vie happened to check all of our boxes, and had great reviews, so I’m glad we did it. Our group also has a variety of experience levels with New Orleans, ranging from frequent visitors, to some who were not as familiar with the city, and everyone found the tour interesting and informative. I think this is a testament to the broad appeal of the structure of the tour and interesting information that is shared about the city and its history.
After reserving the tour, I appreciated the clear communication and prompt responses from Cyd when emailing about logistics. She understood our concerns about taking our infant on a three-hour tour, and with traveling with my mom who had limited mobility at the time. She immediately put me at ease and assured me that if our infant had any difficulty making it through the tour, Benjamin could take us right back to our hotel. She also assured me that there would be no required walking, with only one optional stop for beignets that would involve minimal walking.
On the morning of our tour, Benjamin arrived early at our hotel, and was ready to go with a clean and well-appointed Suburban that was very comfortable for the duration of the tour. He had a cooler full of Fiji and Perrier waters for us, which was a really nice extra touch. From the very beginning, we felt at ease with Benjamin. He was well-spoken and well-prepared for the tour, and his easy-going nature in leading the tour was so nice. He told us right away that he knew about our concerns, and would be happy to alter the tour at any point if we needed to go back early. When our daughter did proceed to cry for the first 20 minutes of the tour, he took it in stride as a parent himself, never showing any annoyance whatsoever.
The tour was basically a big loop of many of the most notable neighborhoods in the city, starting with the French Quarter, and then going into the Marigny and Bayou St. John, before a stop at the Café du Monde location in City Park about halfway through the tour. The stop was really well-timed to give us a chance to stretch our legs and have a bathroom stop, as well as get beignets in a significantly less crowded (and nicer) setting than the most popular Café du Monde location in the French Quarter.
Everyone agreed that our favorite stop of the entire tour was after that, when we drove through Metairie Cemetery to see classic above-ground tombs up close, many of which were incredibly ornate and serve as the resting places for some very prominent people. Just learning about the mechanics of above-ground burial and seeing the art involved in the tombs in that cemetery was so interesting. The final stops after that included Uptown and the Garden District, before making our way back to our hotel that was closer to the CBD.
Every portion of the tour included interesting stories and history, personal anecdotes and recommendations from Benjamin (who was born and raised in New Orleans), and just a great overview of what makes New Orleans so special and how it has developed into the unique city that it is today. We all learned a lot from the tour, enjoyed our conversation, and felt that the three hours flew by. We were so glad that our infant made it through the entire tour so that we didn’t have to miss anything.
At the end of the tour, Benjamin was also so accommodating, dropping half of us back off at our hotel as planned, but also offering to drop my parents off at their next stop, the National WWII Museum, so they didn’t have to get out of the car and then transfer to an Uber. We all really appreciated this, especially since my mom was on crutches at the time. Removing the extra logistical step was really helpful.
I cannot recommend a tour with La Vie New Orleans highly enough. Benjamin was a wonderful tour guide who made us all feel so comfortable and provided a perfect overview tour of New Orleans. We loved everything we saw and learned. I recommend doing this tour early in your visit to the city, as it will be a perfect overview and chance to whet your appetite to revisit areas covered on the tour later in your stay.
Benjamin was an amazing guide, we were a group of 5 ages 20 to 60 and we all had an amazing time.
He knows so much about the city and history that we all learned so much.
We’re looking forward to another visit and seeing more of NOLA
We had a wonderful afternoon with Ben of La Vie New Orleans …he is extremely knowledgeable with a great personality…we experienced all the highlights of New Orleans in our private tour…the architecture of the neighborhoods, the famous cemeteries, cafe du monde for beignets, recommendations for restaurants and much more. We highly recommend taking his tours!!