Tulsa to New Orleans road trip: Best stops, drive time & distance

The best road trip stops on the Tulsa to New Orleans drive are Paris TX, Natchitoches LA and Baton Rouge. The distance from Tulsa to New Orleans by car is 642 miles, with a 10h19m driving time.

Planning a Tulsa to New Orleans road trip itinerary

The Tulsa to New Orleans drive takes you from Oklahoma’s oil hub to a famously bewitching city in Louisiana.

Tulsa’s big ticket attraction is the Philbrook Museum of Art, but you’ll get more of a local cultural education at the Woody Guthrie Center.

Alternatively, the Tulsa Air and Space Museum has a decent planetarium and Gathering Place is a great park with play areas on the Arkansas River. The classic photo stop, though, is at the enormous Golden Driller Statue.

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.

If looking for New Orleans accommodation, the pool and jazz bar-equipped Royal Sonesta in the French Quarter is a great option. The Virgin Hotel downtown has a huge sense of fun, too.

Tulsa to New Orleans distance and driving time

By car, the distance from Tulsa to New Orleans is 642 miles. That makes for a driving time of around ten hours and 19 minutes.

The best stops to add to a Tulsa to New Orleans road trip itinerary are Paris TX, Natchitoches LA and Baton Rouge.

Tulsa to New Orleans road trip attractions: Paris, Texas

Paris, Texas, isn’t all that similar to its French namesake. It does, however, have it’s own scale model of the Eiffel Tower. About one-sixteenth the size of the real deal, the Texas version is topped with a cowboy hat.

The Museum of the Caddo Valley does the local heritage thing, while the Sam Bell Maxey House State Historic Site ticks the gorgeous old home box. The Italianate-style house was built by a former Confederate general in 1868.

Best stops between Tulsa and New Orleans: Natchitoches LA

Natchitoches is the oldest city within the Louisiana Purchase area, with a wealth of well-preserved Creole architecture. The Oakland and Magnolia plantations within the Cane River Creole National Historical Park offer tours that go into the lives of those who lived and worked there.

Less historic but still fairly engrossing is the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. The Northwest Louisiana History Museum is in the same building.

Tulsa to New Orleans drive: 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.