Spring-Summer 2024 Visitor Guide

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Family Fun - Cajun Encounters - kids with alligator
Cajun Encounters Honey Island Swamp Tour

Family Fun Itinerary

Rent bikes or kayaks and travel The Trace, explore a playground or a park, and get close, real close, to giraffes in this day’s adventure on the Northshore…

1. Pancakes, anyone?

Fill up on omelets, pancakes and other soulful breakfast food at Mandeville's Liz's Where Y'at Diner, or start your day in east St. Tammany with a great breakfast (served all day) of premium kettle-made bagels, crepes, shrimp and grits and lots more at Creole Bagelry in Slidell. Then, head over to Canoe & Trail Adventures, where you can rent kayaks and watch osprey, bald eagles and maybe even a gator as you paddle around Bayou Cane. Make it a full day and call ahead to reserve a boxed lunch from the Passionate Platter in Slidell.

 

2. Pick your ride

Back in west St. Tammany, cycling aficionados will want to visit Brooks' Bike Shop, which has locations in Covington, just one block from the Covington Trailhead, and on Girod Street in Mandeville. Buy, sell, rent or trade bikes of all sorts, or take one of their popular guided tours exploring cool places along the Tammany Trace, historic areas of the Covington and Mandeville, or St. Tammany's great local brewery scene--Abita Brewing Company, Chafunkta Brewing Company and Old Rail Brewing Company are all stops on the tour. Kayak and skateboard rentals are also available, and you can book them all online at Brooks' website.

You can explore the quaint downtowns of Covington and Abita, or you can hop on the Tammany Trace, a wonderful paved hike and bike trail, and ride all the way from Covington to Slidell. The first rails-to-trails bike path in Louisiana, the Trace is perfect for family riding, providing a safe path through beautiful green spaces and connecting a number of the Northshore’s communities. Ride only as far as you want. Order lunch to go at any of Mandeville's great eateries, then ride to Fontainebleau State Park for picnic under the oaks.

 

 

3. Place to play

If little legs can handle a leisurely 4 - mile ride (remember, it'll be 9 miles altogether including the return trip), take the Trace northward toward its main trailhead, situated in an old caboose. The caboose is adjacent to a great new place space, the Kids Konnection Playground, built to suit children of all abilities. Spend a little time there enjoying the sunshine before pedaling back to Mandeville.

4. Take a break

Grab a po-boy and a Barq's root beer at Bear's Restaurant in Covington before choosing your next adventure. Don't let this unpretentious lunch counter fool you: Bear's po-boys are enormously popular with locals, the Roast Beef and Ferdie regularly getting mentioned in favorites list among Greater New Orleans sandwich shops (no small feat in the foodie town). Get it to go and walk next door for a quiet lunch at one of the Covington Library's shady picnic tables, or take a short drive over to Columbia Street Landing for a picnic on the banks of the Bogue Falaya.

5. Animals everywhere

Hit the road for Folsom and Global Wildlife Center. Large trams carry visitors across Global Wildlife Center's lovely 900 savanna-like acres, offering the chance to see some 4,000 creatures, including camels, giraffes, llamas, deer and more, as well as feed and touch them. Parents enjoy the ride and the animals as least as much as their offspring; it's a wonderful and memorable family experience.

Or, for an up-close experience holding, or even hatching, a baby alligator, visit Insta-Gator Ranch and Hatchery in Covington. A working alligator ranch, Insta-Gator gives educational tours about the ranching industry and has hundreds of grown-up gators living in clear water. Kids love holding and petting baby gators at the touch pool. Insta-Gator will even let you help hatch a baby gator from its egg (in season.)

 

Near Insta-Gator Ranch is the Abita Mystery House, a wacky and eccentric collection of art, found objects, and strange animals like the Darrell the Dogigator and Buford the Bassigator. Abita Mystery House continues the tradition of roadside attractions, evoking both nostalgia and a laugh.


Another option is heading on over to Slidell for a Honey Island Swamp tour with one of the four tour companies in St. Tammany offering leisurely explorations of the swamp from the comfort of a tour boat. You'll see wild hogs, alligators, and lots of other native flora and fauna. 

Afterward, head into historic Slidell and feel as if you've stepped back in time at the Old Town Slidell Soda Shop. Celebs Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis were spotted here having their own sweet treat.

6. Mealtime?

Head to Covington for delicious pizza from Pizza Man of Covington, where you can watch the chefs expertly toss dough high in the air, and check out the one-of-a-kind collection of pizza boxes lining the walls, each decorated in fun themes dating back many years, all by local artist Suzanne King.

Check out The Chimes and walk the boardwalk down to the scenic Bogue Falaya River and meet the resident goats, or work off all those delicious calories with a kayak trip on the river with Canoe & Trail Adventures.


If you go...

Hungry for more vacation itineraries? To see them all, click here.

To watch videos featuring the Tammany Trace, Insta-Gator Ranch, Honey Island Swamp, the Abita Mystery House and Global Wildlife click here.