Houston to New Orleans drive: Best stops, time & distance
The best road trip stops on the Houston to New Orleans drive are Beaumont TX, Lafayette LA and Baton Rouge. The distance from Houston to New Orleans is 348 miles, with a 5h11m driving time.
Planning a Houston to New Orleans road trip itinerary
The Houston to New Orleans drive connects the biggest city in Texas with the most fun city in Louisiana.
The top Houston attraction is unquestionably the NASA Space Center, which takes you behind the scenes of the Johnson Space Center. This includes the Mission Briefing Center, and a vast array of high tech exhibitions.
Other attractions include the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Children’s Museum,
Top Houston accommodation options include the superb value Club Quarters Houston Downtown and the upscale but boutique Magnolia.
For more Houston experiences, try hip hop party bike tours, foodie walks in the Montrose neighbourhood and quirky tours of Houston’s tunnel system.
New Orleans resolutely refuses to feel like any other American city. From the raucous hedonism of Bourbon Street to the European-influenced charm of the French Quarter, New Orleans is mesmerizingly unusual to hang out in.
Top New Orleans experiences include French Quarter food tours, haunted pub crawls, jazz cruises aboard the steamboat Natchez and cemetery walking tours.
For other attractions, try the National WWII Museum, the Vue Orleans observation deck and the urban enslavement tours at Hermann Grima House.
Houston to New Orleans distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Houston to New Orleans is 348 miles. That makes for a driving time of around five hours and 11 minutes. The quickest route is largely along the I-10.
The best stops to add to a Houston to New Orleans road trip itinerary are Beaumont TX, Lafayette LA and Baton Rouge.
Houston to New Orleans road trip attractions: Beaumont TX
Beaumont TX is just west of the Louisiana border. The top attraction is the Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum, located on the site of a 1901 oil strike that changed West Texas forever. It’s a recreated town, with rebuilt historic buildings, and plenty of Texas oil history.
Also worth looking at is the McFaddin-Ward House Museum, a heritage home with original art and furnishings. It gives a good idea of how much money was sloshing around in the early 20th century.
- Find more attractions in the guide to the Houston to Beaumont TX drive.
Houston to New Orleans drive: Lafayette LA
Lafayette’s top attractions include Acadian Village, a recreated 19th-century Cajun village, which plays host to artisans and craftspeople among the historic homes.
Vermilionville is similar, but the living history museum here looks at the cultures of Native American and Creole people as well as the Acadians.
Elsewhere, the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist is famed for its stained glass windows.
Top Lafayette experiences include Cajun food tours.
For Lafayette accommodation, the SpringHill Suites and Home2 Suites tend to get the best reviews.
Best stops between Houston and New Orleans: Baton Rouge
The obvious attraction in Baton Rouge is the Louisiana Capitol Building, but the castle-like Old Capitol Building is more attractive. It’s also now a museum, with interactive exhibits on democracy and the colourful characters who have walked the corridors over the decades. The colourful stained glass dome is spectacular, too.
As a museum, the Capitol Park Museum is better, telling multiple strands of Louisiana’s story. Other Baton Rouge attractions include the Magnolia Mound Plantation, built in 1791, and the environmentally educational Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center.
Great places to stay in Baton Rouge include the affordable Hampton Inn & Suites Baton Rouge Downtown and the historic Watermark.
- For more suggestions, read the guide to the Baton Rouge to New Orleans drive.
More Houston road trips
Abilene to Houston | Houston to Albuquerque | Houston to Amarillo | Arlington TX to Houston | Houston to Atlanta | Houston to Austin | Houston to Baltimore | Houston to Baton Rouge | Houston to Beaumont TX | Houston to Biloxi | Houston to Birmingham AL | Houston to Buffalo | Bryan TX to Houston | Carrollton TX to Houston | Houston to Charlotte | Houston to Chattanooga | Cincinnati to Houston | College Station to Houston | Houston to Colorado Springs.
Dallas to Houston | Denton TX to Houston | Houston to Denver | Houston to Destin FL | Houston to Detroit | Houston to El Paso | Frisco TX to Houston | Houston to Fort Lauderdale | Houston to Fort Worth | Houston to Fredericksburg | Garland TX to Houston | Houston to Gatlinburg | Houston to Hot Springs | Indianapolis to Houston | Irving TX to Houston | Houston to Jackson MS | Houston to Jacksonville | Houston to Knoxville.
Houston to Lafayette | Houston to Lake Charles | Lewisville TX to Houston | Little Rock to Houston | Longview TX to Houston | Houston to Lubbock | Magnolia TX to Houston | Marshall TX to Houston | Houston to Memphis | Houston to Milwaukee | Houston to Mobile AL | Nacogdoches to Houston | Nashville to Houston | Houston to New Braunfels | Houston to New York City | Houston to Oklahoma City | Houston to Omaha NE | Houston to Orlando.
Houston to Panama City | Houston to Pensacola | Houston to Philadelphia | Houston to Phoenix | Houston to Pittsburgh | Plano TX to Houston | Houston to Salt Lake City | San Angelo TX to Houston | Houston to San Antonio | Houston to San Marcos | Houston to Santa Fe | Shreveport to Houston | Houston to St Louis | Houston to Tampa | Temple TX to Houston | Texarkana to Houston | Houston to Tucson | Houston to Tulsa | Waco TX to Houston | Houston to Washington DC | Houston to Wichita | Wichita Falls to Houston.
More New Orleans road trips
Atlanta to New Orleans | Baton Rouge to New Orleans | New Orleans to Biloxi | Chicago to New Orleans | Cincinnati to New Orleans | Cleveland to New Orleans | Dallas to New Orleans | New Orleans to Destin FL | New Orleans to Galveston | New Orleans to Gulf Shores | Huntsville to New Orleans | Jackson MS to New Orleans | Kansas City to New Orleans | Memphis to New Orleans | Nashville to New Orleans | New Orleans to Orlando | Panama City to New Orleans | Pensacola to New Orleans | New Orleans to San Antonio | Savannah to New Orleans | Tallahassee to New Orleans | Tulsa to New Orleans.