Coast & small towns · Mississippi

Mississippi Gulf Coast day trip

Mississippi Gulf Coast

A full day east of New Orleans along the Mississippi coast: Old Town Bay St. Louis and its depot, the shrimp-boat harbor at Pass Christian, the long sand beach on US-90, the Biloxi Lighthouse and the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum, Walter Anderson's art in Ocean Springs, and the marsh boardwalks of Davis Bayou at the end of the afternoon.

Time: 10–11 hour day
Driving: About 3½–4 hours of driving in all, including the slow US-90 beach drive
Best time: All year; best March–May and October–November
Updated: October 14, 2026 at 1:01 AM Pacific

$4 USD

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A wide, empty stretch of pale sand beach with footprints, a line of dune fencing and calm blue water of the Mississippi Sound under a bright sky — Tony Webster · CC BY 2.0. June 2016 photograph of the sand beach at Gulfport; resized.

Suggested times, not bookings

Your day at a glance

8:30 amLeave the French Quarter
9:30 amBay St. Louis Old Town and the depot
11:15 amPass Christian Harbor and the US-90 beach drive
12:30 pmBiloxi Lighthouse and the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum
3:00 pmWalter Anderson Museum of Art, Ocean Springs
4:30 pmDavis Bayou, Gulf Islands National Seashore
6:00 pmDinner and the drive back to New Orleans

Highlights

Worth the trip

Old Town Bay St. Louis and the Spanish Mission-style L&N depot
The US-90 drive beside Harrison County's long sand beach, from Pass Christian to the Biloxi Lighthouse
Walter Anderson's paintings in Ocean Springs, then sunset light over the Davis Bayou marsh

What’s in the guide

Detailed stop guidance, rules, practical pitfalls, a route map, Google Maps, Waze and Apple Maps links and weather alternatives. Read it online any time, or keep it offline in the Greg’s Guides app for iPhone and iPad. See an example guide →

Plan for the conditions

Expected seasonal weather

In spring and fall, the Mississippi coast usually brings warm days, cooler mornings and lower humidity, with a breeze off the Sound. Summer is hot and humid, with near-daily afternoon thunderstorms and strong sun on the beach. Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, peaking in late summer and early fall. Winter days are mild to cool, with occasional cold fronts and gray, windy weather. These are seasonal expectations, not a forecast for your travel date; check the NWS forecast.

Admission and parking are separate. Check current conditions before departure.

Another good day

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A dirt lane under huge, moss-draped live oaks at Evergreen Plantation, with a small white cabin from the rows of former slave quarters at the left

History & heritage

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River Road Plantations

A day up the Mississippi River Road from the French Quarter, led by Whitney Plantation, the museum that tells plantation history from the side of the people enslaved there, then Laura's Creole farmstead and its 1840s cabins, lunch in Vacherie, and Oak Alley's oaks and slavery exhibit, home over the high Veterans Memorial Bridge.

9–10 hour day·About 2½ hours of driving in total, on I-10, I-310 and the two-lane River Road (LA 18)

Best: All year except Tuesdays; best late October–April

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Cypress trunks and dozens of knobby cypress knees rising from a swamp floor carpeted in bright green duckweed in the Barataria Preserve

Swamps & wildlife

French Quarter → Twin Canals Trail → Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours → Crown Point → Lafitte Wetlands Center → Westwego Shrimp Lot

Swamps & Barataria

A day in the cypress swamps and bayous south of New Orleans: an early alligator walk on the one open trail in the Barataria Preserve, a guided swamp boat tour, a bayou-side lunch at Crown Point, the boardwalk and new wetlands center in Jean Lafitte, and fresh shrimp from the Westwego lot on the way home.

8–9 hour day·About 1½ hours of driving in all, on the West Bank south of New Orleans

Best: All year; best March–May and October–November

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Bald cypress trunks hung with Spanish moss rising from the still, dark water of Lake Martin, their reflections doubled in the swamp

Food, swamp & Acadian heritage

New Orleans → Breaux Bridge → Lake Martin → St. Martinville → Longfellow-Evangeline → Atchafalaya Welcome Center

Cajun Country: Breaux Bridge & Lake Martin

A long Saturday west across the Atchafalaya Basin: zydeco and boudin for breakfast in Breaux Bridge, cypress, birds and alligators at Lake Martin, the Evangeline Oak and Acadian Memorial in St. Martinville, a Creole cottage on Bayou Teche, and the Atchafalaya Welcome Center on the way home.

12–13 hour day·About 5–6 hours of driving in total: roughly 2–2½ hours each way on I-10, plus about an hour between stops

Best: All year on Saturdays; best March–May

$4 USD

The two-lane Causeway roadway running straight out across gray-blue Lake Pontchartrain toward a faint horizon, with the parallel span and a crossover to the left

Small towns & lakefront

French Quarter → Causeway → Covington → Abita Springs → Abita Brewing → Fontainebleau State Park → Mandeville lakefront

The Northshore: Abita Springs & Covington

A day across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans: over the 24-mile Causeway to Covington's walkable old downtown and riverside park, the healing-springs town of Abita Springs and its roadside Mystery House, a tour and tasting at Abita Brewing, the sugar mill ruins and lakefront at Fontainebleau State Park, and sunset under the oaks on Mandeville's lakefront.

10–11 hour day·About 2–2½ hours of driving, including two crossings of the 24-mile Causeway

Best: All year; best October–November and March–May

$4 USD