The calendar has grown, and I keep hearing the same thing from travelers who are trying to pick something. There is a lot on here now, and it is not obvious where to start. So let me fix that.
Here is the thing nobody tells you about running a tour company. The more trips you offer, the harder you make it for somebody to choose one. I still catch myself listing off destinations when what somebody actually needs is help narrowing down.
So I sorted every trip into seven kinds. Not marketing categories. Actual different kinds of travel, with different pacing and different reasons to go.
Find the one that sounds like you and start there.
🏡 Local Adventures
These leave from right here in the New Orleans area. Motorcoach, day trip or overnight, and you are back before the week gets away from you.
The Angola Prison Rodeo. A day at Avery Island and the TABASCO factory. An evening in Hattiesburg for the Elvis tribute show. Louisiana Lights at Windrush Gardens. Branson at Christmas. The Boston shoreline and Salem in the fall.
No airport. No parking deck. No white-knuckle drive home at eleven at night. If you have never traveled with a group before and you are not sure about it, start here. Four hours in you will know whether this is your kind of thing.
⭐ Classics
The ones you already have in mind. Mackinac Island. Mardi Gras. Nashville. The manatees at Crystal River in Florida.
Nothing experimental about these. They are the places you have been meaning to get to, done at a pace that lets you actually enjoy them. I am not going to march you through a city at seven in the morning to tick a box.
🏔️ National Treasures
The parks. Yellowstone in January when they close the roads and the crowds vanish and it is just steam coming off the snow. The big Western parks. The Smokies during the one week the wildflowers actually peak, which I timed on purpose.
I will be straight with you. These involve more walking than the Classics. I say so on every page because I would rather you know now than find out on day two. But standing somewhere truly wild and magnificent is not something a photograph prepares you for.
✨ Best Of
A whole state or region, given the time it deserves. Best of Michigan. New England at peak color. The Upper Midwest. Louisiana through the bayous and the back roads that are not just New Orleans.
Seven or eight days each. These are for anyone who has driven through somewhere beautiful and wished they had pulled over.
🎭 Front Row
Built around an event, where the event is the whole point.
Derby weekend in Louisville. St. Patrick's Day in Savannah, which is one of the biggest in the country and almost nobody outside Georgia realizes it. Mardi Gras in Mobile, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette — not just New Orleans.
The reason to do these with a group is the seats. I book a year out and get blocks. Try buying those tickets on your own in March and see what is left.
🌆 Cityscapes
Great cities, four or five days, on foot rather than through a bus window. San Francisco at Christmas. Chicago from the river. New York in early November when the crowds have gone.
I build in more free time on these than on anything else I run, because a city rewards wandering. I will point you at what is worth seeing and then get out of your way.
✈️ Passport
International, and the longest trips I do. Italy for twelve days. Ireland. Seventeen days across Scandinavia and the Baltics. The Christmas markets by river from Nuremberg down to Budapest. Alaska on the Norwegian Bliss. Tulip time on the Rhine.
Book these earlier than feels necessary. I mean that. The good staterooms and the good departure dates go about a year ahead, and I would rather you hear it from me now than be disappointed later.
These are also the trips people tell me about years afterward.
A few belong to two
Some trips give you a real choice about how you get there — fly and meet us, or ride the motorcoach from New Orleans. If a trip gives you that option, it makes sense in more than one category. When in doubt, just call and I will tell you exactly what fits your situation.
How to actually use this
Go to the tours page. There is a row of buttons across the top — tap a family and the list shrinks to just those trips. You can mix and match, filter by year, or browse the whole calendar at once.
And here is what I would really rather you do. Call us.
I can usually tell within about two minutes which kind of trip suits somebody, because we have scouted these places ourselves before putting them on a calendar. We have opinions about all of them. Ask which one has too much walking. Ask which hotel has the better beds. Ask which trip we would send our own family on.
Not sure which trip is right for you?
Call us and we'll help you find the perfect fit. We've been matching travelers to the right tours for nearly 40 years.
Browse All Trips 📞 (504) 438-1180— Frances Manzitto
VP of Marketing, Trips Unlimited