10 Louisiana Experiences Everyone Should Have At Least Once, Including An Epic Louisiana Sunrise Bayou Ride

Louisiana isn't a place you simply visit. It's a place you experience.

You taste it in a bowl of gumbo that's been simmering all afternoon. You hear it when an accordion and fiddle strike up and somebody clears a little room for dancing. You feel it when a redfish takes the line, when the sun disappears behind a cypress tree, or when someone you've never met tells you to pull up a chair because there's plenty of food.

New Orleans may be Louisiana's most famous destination, but beyond the French Quarter lies an entirely different Louisiana—small towns, working bayous, fishing communities, family kitchens, festivals, marshes, prairies and people who still hold tightly to traditions passed from one generation to the next.

That's the Louisiana we want you to discover.

So if you're ready to experience the real Louisiana, here are ten things we think everyone should experience at least once.

1. Eat a Real Louisiana Gumbo

There are meals—and then there are meals that tell you something about where you are.

Gumbo is one of them.

Across Louisiana, you'll find countless variations. Chicken and sausage. Seafood. Duck. And recipes that families have guarded and debated for generations.

The ingredients matter, but gumbo is about more than ingredients. It's the dark roux slowly developing in the pot, the smell filling the kitchen and the anticipation of everybody waiting for supper.

Don't just order gumbo because it's something you're supposed to eat in Louisiana.

Find a good one. Slow down. Get some French bread.

And enjoy it.

LA Adventure Tip: If someone tells you their grandmother made the best gumbo in Louisiana, don't argue. Every Louisiana grandmother apparently did.

2. Get Out on a Louisiana Bayou

You haven't completely experienced Louisiana until you've seen some of it from the water.

Cypress trees rise from dark water. Spanish moss hangs overhead. Herons patrol the shoreline. An alligator may disappear beneath the surface before you ever get a good look at him.

Whether you're exploring the Atchafalaya Basin, paddling a quiet bayou or taking a boat through Louisiana's wetlands, getting on the water gives you a completely different perspective on the state.

The bayou isn't a theme park attraction.

For generations, these waterways have provided food, transportation, livelihoods and homes. They remain an important part of Louisiana life today.

Take your time.

Look around.

And listen.

Louisiana gets pretty interesting when things get quiet.

Be sure to take an epic Louisiana sunrise bayou ride.

3. Go Fishing

Louisiana isn't called the Sportsman's Paradise for nothing.

Freshwater lakes, bayous, marshes and the Gulf give anglers an extraordinary variety of opportunities—from bass and sac-a-lait to redfish, speckled trout and offshore tuna.

But Louisiana fishing isn't only about catching fish.

It's the boat ride before daylight. The first glimpse of the sun over the marsh. Birds working over the water. Somebody telling a story you've probably heard three times before.

And then the line starts screaming.

Whether you're an experienced angler or have never held a fishing rod, spending a day on Louisiana water belongs on the list.

LA Adventure Tip: If you've never fished Louisiana waters, consider going with an experienced local guide. You'll learn more than where the fish are—you'll often learn something about the place itself.

4. Go to a Louisiana Festival

We can turn almost anything into a festival.

Crawfish? Absolutely.

Rice? Yep.

Strawberries? Of course.

Frogs?

Welcome to Louisiana.

Festivals are one of the best ways to experience the personality of Louisiana communities. Food, music, dancing, crafts, cook-offs and traditions come together in celebrations that can feel more like enormous family reunions than organized events.

Some are internationally known. Others happen in small communities that visitors may never have heard of.

Don't overlook the little ones.

Sometimes that's where you'll find the Louisiana you've been looking for.

5. Eat Crawfish the Louisiana Way

Forget the fork.

You're going to have to get involved.

A Louisiana crawfish boil isn't simply a way of preparing seafood. It's a social event.

Crawfish spill across a table alongside corn, potatoes, sausage and whatever else the person running the boil has decided belongs in the pot.

Then everybody gathers around.

Eating crawfish is slow enough to encourage conversation, messy enough to eliminate formality and communal enough to turn a meal into an event.

If you're visiting during crawfish season and somebody invites you to a backyard boil, go.

Restaurants can serve excellent crawfish.

But the backyard is where you'll understand why we love the tradition.

6. Hear Louisiana Music Where Louisiana People Dance to It

Louisiana music wasn't created to sit quietly in the background.

It moves.

Cajun, zydeco, blues, swamp pop and the many other sounds associated with Louisiana reflect generations of cultural influences.

Find a dance hall, festival, restaurant or local gathering where musicians are actually playing for Louisiana people.

You don't have to know how to dance.

Nobody started out knowing.

And if someone offers to show you, you've just discovered another Louisiana tradition.

7. Take the Road Nobody Told You to Take

Some of the best Louisiana experiences happen between destinations.

Get away from the interstate occasionally.

Drive through Acadiana. Follow a road along the bayou. Cross through small communities. Stop when you see a place that looks interesting.

You might discover a meat market selling homemade boudin, a tiny restaurant packed at lunchtime, an old church, a roadside produce stand, a historic downtown or a view that never made anybody's travel brochure.

Major attractions tell you something about Louisiana.

Back roads introduce you to it.

8. Spend Some Time Along Louisiana's Coast

Louisiana's relationship with water extends all the way to the Gulf.

Coastal communities have built ways of life around fishing, shrimping, crabbing, oysters and offshore industries. They're also places where the beauty and vulnerability of Louisiana exist side by side.

Visit communities along the coast. Eat seafood close to where it was caught. Watch the boats. Talk to people.

And if you get the opportunity to watch a Louisiana sunset from the water, take it.

9. Experience a Small Louisiana Town

Louisiana's biggest stories aren't confined to its biggest cities.

Places such as Breaux Bridge, St. Francisville, Natchitoches, Abbeville, Grand Isle and dozens of other communities each reveal another part of the state's character.

The architecture changes.

The food changes.

The landscape changes.

Sometimes even the accents change.

Instead of trying to see all of Louisiana on one trip, choose a community and spend some time there.

Eat locally. Walk around. Visit something historic. Ask somebody what you shouldn't leave town without seeing.

You might be surprised by the answer.

10. Sit Down at a Louisiana Table

This may be the most important experience on the list.

Louisiana's greatest attraction isn't something you can buy a ticket to see.

It's the people.

If you're fortunate enough to be invited to a family gathering, fish fry, crawfish boil, tailgate, backyard barbecue or Sunday dinner, you've been given an opportunity to experience something special.

Food has always been one of the ways Louisiana people bring others together.

Someone cooks.

Someone tells stories.

Someone laughs too loudly.

Someone insists you haven't eaten enough.

And eventually you realize you've been sitting there for three hours.

That's Louisiana.

Your Louisiana Adventure Is Just Beginning

You could spend a lifetime exploring Louisiana and still discover something new.

That's precisely the point.

The real Louisiana isn't one destination, one dish or one culture. It's a collection of people, places, traditions, flavors and adventures that reveal themselves a little at a time.

Here at Cajun Lifestyle Network, that's the Louisiana we're interested in—the Louisiana beyond the postcards.

We'll be traveling the back roads, finding the food, meeting the people, exploring the outdoors and sharing the experiences that make this place unlike anywhere else.

Some will be famous.

Others may be places you've never heard of.

Either way, there's another Louisiana adventure waiting.

Experience the Real Louisiana.