New Orleans Swamp Map: Which Swamp Lies in Which Direction
Three wetland areas sit around New Orleans, one to the south, one east and one west, each with its own docks and its own drive. The map below plots them with the published addresses, the road corridors and the distances.
Updated 3 November 2026
In shortThree wetland areas sit close to the French Quarter. The Barataria and Lafitte departure points lie south, from 25 minutes out at Marrero to about 45 minutes at Fleming Park Rd. On the eastern pin, 55345 US-90 in Slidell marks the Honey Island dock area, about 35 miles of I-10 East away. The refuge dock on Frenier Road at LaPlace is about 25 miles west.
25 minutesMarrero docks, the closest south
about 35 milesQuarter to Slidell dock
about 25 mileswest to LaPlace dock
about 26,000 acresBarataria Preserve, south
Main swamp and bayou areaSwamps and sights on the tour routesTowns and departure areasVisitor point
The swamps on the tour routes lie on three sides of New Orleans: Barataria and Lafitte to the south, Honey Island to the northeast, Manchac and LaPlace to the northwest.
How to read the New Orleans swamp map
The map plots the wetland areas and the departure addresses together, so you can see which way you will be driving before you pick a tour. Zoom out one step and the pins fall into three groups: south of the Mississippi behind Marrero and Lafitte, east toward Slidell, and west toward LaPlace and the Manchac wetlands. Zoom back in on one group and the individual docks appear with the road that reaches each one.
Two pins sit inside the French Quarter, because several tours start there rather than at the water: the shuttle collection points at 317 North Rampart Street and 740 N Rampart Street. Every other pin is an address you drive to, and the arrival time is set by the tour.
South of the river: Barataria Preserve, the Marrero docks and the Lafitte airboat facility, the closest cluster to the city
East, toward Slidell: the Honey Island Swamp and Pearl River dock area on US-90, reached on I-10 East
West, toward LaPlace: the Frenier Road refuge dock and the Laplace zipline course, with the Manchac swamp and Lake Maurepas beyond them
In the Quarter: 317 North Rampart Street for the Honey Island boat shuttle, 740 N Rampart Street for the Manchac kayak shuttle
Where are the swamps near New Orleans
The swamps near New Orleans fall into three compass directions, and the drive matters as much as the water. The Barataria Basin lies south and southwest, behind Marrero and down toward Lafitte. Honey Island Swamp and the Pearl River are east, out toward Slidell. Past LaPlace, west and north, come the Manchac swamp, Frenier and Lake Maurepas.
Addresses in the table are the published dock and trailhead ones, with the distance or travel time each source states and the corridor you use to get there. These are driving estimates, so allow extra on a weekday morning and go by the arrival time shown on the tour you choose.
Area
Direction from the French Quarter
Dock or trailhead address
Distance or drive time
Road corridor
Barataria Preserve
South
6588 Barataria Blvd, Marrero, LA 70072
30 minutes outside the French Quarter
Barataria Boulevard south through Marrero
Marrero docks
South
6601 Leo Kerner Lafitte Parkway and 4757 Orleans Way, Marrero
25 minutes from New Orleans
Barataria Boulevard, then Leo Kerner Lafitte Parkway
Barataria Blvd departure, Marrero
South
9706 Barataria Blvd, Marrero, LA 70072
Arrive at least 20 minutes before the tour time
Barataria Boulevard south
Lafitte airboat facility
South
5145 Fleming Park Road, Lafitte, LA 70067
About 45 minutes from the French Quarter
Leo Kerner Lafitte Parkway toward Lafitte, entrance via Texas Street
Honey Island Swamp dock area
East, toward Slidell
55345 US-90, Slidell, LA 70461
About 35 miles
I-10 East to exit 263, then two miles on US-90 East
Frenier and LaPlace refuge dock
West
110 Frenier Road, LaPlace
About 25 miles from New Orleans
I-10 West toward LaPlace
Laplace zipline course
West
301 Peavine Rd, Laplace, LA 70068
Arrive 30 minutes before the start time
I-10 West toward LaPlace
Manchac wetlands and Lake Maurepas
West and north of the lake
Reachable mostly by water; shuttle from 740 N Rampart Street
Bounded by Lake Maurepas, Lake Pontchartrain and the Tangipahoa River
I-10 West toward LaPlace
Honey Island boat tour with the shuttle included
The east cluster is 35 miles out on I-10 East, so this 5-hour listing from $76, with pickup at 317 North Rampart Street, takes the drive off you.
Barataria, Marrero and Lafitte sit south of the river
The southern wetlands are the ones you reach fastest, and Barataria Boulevard is the spine of the cluster. The preserve address is 6588 Barataria Blvd, Marrero, which New Orleans & Company places 30 minutes outside the French Quarter, and a boat departure sits further down the same road at 9706 Barataria Blvd.
Carry on and the route bends toward Lafitte. The docks at 6601 Leo Kerner Lafitte Parkway and 4757 Orleans Way in Marrero are given as 25 minutes from the city, the shortest drive on the whole map, while the airboat facility at 5145 Fleming Park Road in Lafitte is about 45 minutes out. To enter that facility you turn right on Texas Street, the next right, rather than on Fleming Park Rd.
Barataria Preserve covers about 26,000 acres of bayous, swamps, marshes and forests, and its Nature page gives more than 23,000 acres of swamp, marsh, trails and waterways. Most of the trail pins inside that acreage are off the table for the moment, since the Visitor Center and the bulk of the trails shut on 2 February 2026 for Hurricane Ida repair work the National Park Service puts at roughly two years. Plan the south around a departure point and the water.
The shortest listing on this site leaves from this cluster. The New Orleans Swamp Tour Boat Adventure departs 9706 Barataria Blvd in Marrero, runs 1 hour 40 minutes, starts from $35 and is rated 4.9 ★ (2348 reviews), with arrival set for 20 minutes before the boats leave.
Honey Island and the Pearl River lie east, toward Slidell
Honey Island sits on the opposite side of the city from Barataria, and the drive is one road for most of its length: about 35 miles on I-10 East to exit 263, then two miles on US-90 East to the dock area at 55345 US-90, Slidell, LA 70461. Two dock operations share that same stretch of US-90, which is why the pins there almost overlap at full zoom.
The swamp behind that dock is the largest area on the map at about 70,000 acres, over 20 miles long and nearly 7 miles across, with roughly 34,896 acres permanently protected. Pearl River WMA and the Honey Island Swamp also hold the highest bird total of the three directions, 214 recorded species.
Shuttles for this area start in the Quarter rather than at the dock. Pickup for the covered boat is outside 317 North Rampart Street at the beginning of the pickup window, and the shuttle departs promptly, with boats at 9:30 AM, 12:15 PM, 2:45 PM and 5:00 PM.
Manchac, Frenier and Lake Maurepas lie west along the lake
West of the city the wetlands follow I-10 toward LaPlace. The wildlife refuge dock at 110 Frenier Road is about 25 miles out, and the zipline course at 301 Peavine Rd in Laplace sits in the same cluster, so those two pins read as neighbours on the map even though the formats have nothing in common.
Joyce WMA, the Manchac block further north, carries no roadside pin you can drive to: its edges are Lake Maurepas, Lake Pontchartrain and the Tangipahoa River, and most of what lies between them is water access. That is why the Manchac trips begin with a road transfer: paddlers meet at The Rampart Tree House, 740 N Rampart Street, one hour and 15 minutes before the scheduled tour time.
Frenier was rebuilt after the 1915 hurricane, a Category 4 storm, while the sawmill town of Ruddock nearby was never rebuilt. Local folklore still attaches to 'Aunt' Julia Brown of Frenier, born about 1845, who inherited a 40-acre homestead and whose funeral was set for 29 September, the day the storm reached the lake.
Cypress on this side of the lake stands on cut-over ground: the whole Maurepas land bridge between Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas was clear cut in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The young bald cypress that would close those gaps gets chewed through at the base by nutria, an animal let loose from a south Louisiana fur ranch in the 1920s. CPRA's River Reintroduction into Maurepas Swamp will send Mississippi River freshwater through a 5.5-mile controlled-flow diversion, with construction starting at Hope Canal in 2024, work near Garyville in 2027 and completion estimated for 2030.
The listing to look at in this direction is the Small-Group Manchac Swamp Kayak Tour: 2.5 hours, from $90, rated 4.9 ★ (995 reviews), with the paddle lesson, all the gear and the ride from the French Quarter included.
Choose the direction first, then the tour from it
Go east if you want the biggest water and do not mind about 35 miles of interstate, since Honey Island is where the two best-documented dock operations work from a single address. South suits a tight schedule or an airboat, with the Marrero docks 25 minutes out and the Lafitte facility about 45 minutes. West is for paddling the cypress corridors of Manchac, or for the aerial run over the canopy at Laplace.
Morning slots suit every direction. Pick the month with the same care as the compass point: average highs run in the 60s°F through October and November with lows in the 40s-50s°F and rain less frequent, against the low 90s°F from June to September and a heat index that can reach 110°F. June through November is hurricane season, and spring afternoons bring thunderstorms often enough to keep boats at the dock in any of the three directions, so hold a spare day in the itinerary.
East with no car to drive: the Swamp and Bayou Boat Tour with Transportation, from $76, 4.9 ★ (7171 reviews), 5 hours counting the run out to US-90, collected at 317 North Rampart Street
South, with a car and one free morning: the New Orleans Swamp Tour Boat Adventure, 1 hour 40 minutes, from $35, 4.9 ★ (2348 reviews), from 9706 Barataria Blvd, Marrero
West to the Manchac cypress: the Small-Group Manchac Swamp Kayak Tour, from $90, 4.9 ★ (995 reviews), 2.5 hours, and the ride out of the French Quarter is part of it
Questions people ask
Is a bayou the same thing as a swamp?
No, and the map labels keep them apart. The Park Service defines a bayou as a slow-moving marshy waterway, the constantly flowing, typically wide and shallow part of a river, stream or coastal estuary, from the Choctaw word 'Bayuk', meaning small stream, with water that can be fresh, brackish or salt. A swamp, in the EPA's definition, is a wetland dominated by woody plants such as cypress, red maple, overcup oak and willows, fed by surface water or groundwater and either stagnant or flowing. Barataria Preserve is organised into three plant systems: hardwood forest, swamp and freshwater marsh.
Can I see two of the three swamp areas in one day?
In practice, no. The three areas lie in different directions from the French Quarter and the drives stack up instead of overlapping: about 35 miles east on I-10 to the Slidell dock area, 25 to 45 minutes south to the Marrero and Lafitte docks, about 25 miles west to Frenier Road. Pick one direction per day and choose the format inside it.
Which area records the most bird species?
Pearl River WMA and the Honey Island Swamp, east of the city, with 214 recorded bird species including nesting Swallow-tailed Kite, Barred Owl, Acadian Flycatcher and Swainson's Warbler. Barataria Preserve to the south has over 200 species using its waterways on the Mississippi Flyway. The Manchac-area marsh at Joyce WMA has nearly 200 logged, with Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk and Bald Eagle from fall through spring.
Do all the shuttles leave from the same point in the Quarter?
No. For the eastbound covered boat to Honey Island the pin is 317 North Rampart Street, outside the Homewood Suites French Quarter, and you want to be standing there as the pickup window opens. The Manchac kayak shuttle uses The Rampart Tree House at 740 N Rampart Street, where shuttle users meet one hour and 15 minutes before the tour time. Check which address is on the tour you choose, because they are different street numbers on the same corridor.
How much of the Barataria Preserve trail network is usable in 2026 and 2027?
Very little of it. Closed on 2 February 2026 for repair work the National Park Service expects to last about two years: the Visitor Center, the Bayou Coquille and Marsh Overlook boardwalk, and Palmetto, Plantation, Old Barataria, Christmas Road, Ring Levee and Wood Duck. Set that against the over 9 miles of hiking trails the Louisiana Office of Tourism credits to the preserve, and only a fraction stays walkable through both seasons. For these two seasons the water, on a boat or kayak tour, is where the preserve's wetlands are easiest to see.
Pick the direction, then the boat that leaves from it
Honey Island is the longest drive and the biggest water, and the covered boat with transportation starts in the French Quarter rather than at the dock. Count 5 hours from the Rampart Street kerb and back, from $76, 4.9 ★ (7171 reviews).
