Audubon Park
A grand oak-shaded park where Uptown New Orleans exhales.
Audubon Park is a 350-acre urban green space tucked into the Uptown neighborhood between the Mississippi River and St. Charles Avenue. Designed in the late 19th century and later reworked by landscape architect John Charles Olmsted — son of Frederick Law Olmsted — it served as the grounds for the 1884 World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition. Today it's one of the most beloved public parks in the South, a place where locals come to breathe, move, and simply be, surrounded by some of the most spectacular live oak trees you'll find anywhere in the country.
The park's centerpiece is a lagoon loop trail of about 1.8 miles, popular with joggers, cyclists, and strolling families at almost any hour. Ancient live oaks draped in Spanish moss arc over the path, their roots buckling the ground in that particular New Orleans way. There's a small golf course, tennis courts, picnic areas, a wading pool and playground for kids, and the Audubon Zoo occupies the river side of the park — a well-regarded institution with a strong focus on Louisiana wildlife and wetlands habitats. The whole place has a lazy, leafy beauty that feels genuinely restorative.
The park is free to enter and open early until late every day, making it perfect for a morning run before the heat sets in or a late-afternoon wander as the light goes golden through the oaks. The Magazine Street side borders a stretch of excellent coffee shops and restaurants — Camellia Grill is nearby, and the whole Uptown strip rewards exploration before or after. If you're combining a visit with the zoo, budget extra time and buy tickets separately at the gate.
