South Louisiana. The Heart of Acadiana. Cajun Country. The words roll over the tongue like warm molasses. The mere mention conjures up images of crawfish boils, Mardi Gras parades and a sportsman’s paradise steeped in history and culture like no other place in America.

Yes, Louisiana is truly the soul of America, and Louisiana Cajun Country is one of our nation’s greatest treasures. As a destination, New Orleans travel interests bring millions of visitors to Southern Louisiana each year. Most come for the food, festivals and culture. But some come to the New Orleans Cajun Country for a different reason. They come for centuries-old Cajun culture. They come for adventure.

Down south and west, only about an hour from New Orleans, is where the mysterious and the exotic mingle in the bayous and the wetlands. If you can picture yourself paddling across an open pond at dusk, with the moon just peeking over a canopy of cypress trees, you’re half-way there. Hear the symphony of night sounds coming off the bayou? They’re calling to you. And, if you stretch your ear, perhaps you can even hear a zydeco band tuning up at a Cajun dance hall in the distance. Got the fever for the bayou now? You’re closer to adventure than you think.

So, where is this stretch of Cajun paradise? You’ll find it in Houma, Louisiana – a historic city settled by the Cajuns over 300 years ago.

Houma, Louisiana, the Heart of Louisiana’s Wetlands, is located 55 miles southwest of New Orleans, only 20 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. Its central location makes it an easy reach for travelers from New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette. The land encompasses 2,500 square miles of swamps, bayous and wetlands that play home to exotic wildlife and unusual flora. Most travelers come for the natural elements, as Houma is home to nature preserves, airboat rides, year-round fishing, birding trails, and fishing tournaments. But there’s so much more to Houma.

Houma is a vacation and travel paradise full of wondrous and uncommon attractions. As one of the fastest-growing cities in Louisiana, Houma is often called a “Cajun Metropolis.” The city has one of the richest histories in the state and is the proud home to the Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum, the Folklife Culture Center, and the Southdown Plantation House (a 19th-century sugar manor house). And if you venture down to Houma’s Gulf Coast, you’ll find some of the best fishing in the nation. Whether it’s deep sea or inland, freshwater or swamp, Houma’s liberal fishing limits and tropical climate make it one of the best fishing regions in Louisiana.

With its centuries-old Cajun culture, Houma is steeped in history and mystery. If you’re ready for adventure, make the short trip across Highway 90 from New Orleans to the true heart of Louisiana Cajun Country in Houma. Step off the beaten path and you’ll soon find yourself immersed in the exotic and the unexpected.

And as they say down here in Cajun Country: “Laissez les bons temps rouler!”

Let the good times roll!

Louisiana is a travel destination unlike any other in America. Known for its unique history, bountiful seafood, zydeco and Creole music, wetlands, swamps, bayous and
distinct Cajun culture, the state draws millions of visitors each year. Many folks
travel to New Orleans, stick to the guidebook and take in sights around the Crescent City. But with the growing popularity of New Orleans travel, many visitors are found paging through their guidebooks and asking “Where can we find the real Cajun Country?”

Although many travelers to Louisiana have only heard about New Orleans
Cajun Country, those more adventurous folks who’ve travelled an hour south and
west of The Big Easy, down into Acadiana, are the ones who truly know where Cajun Country is located and what real Cajun culture is all about.

Can Louisiana Cajun Country be found at a chateau on the bayou? Yes it can.

Can it be found in a seafood shack at the edge of Lake Boudreaux? You bet.

Houma, Louisiana is where Cajun Country begins. You’ll find Cajun
heritage and history around every corner – from tableside in Houma restaurants
to a strut across the floor in one of Houma’s dance halls. True Cajun Country
is evidenced in Houma architecture, festivals, museums, and wildlife. Cajun
Country permeates every nook and cranny in Houma, Louisiana, coursing through
the air like the tempting aroma of fresh gumbo and étouffée on a warm Saturday
night on the bayou.

The real Louisiana Cajun country is a 300-mile stretch that begins in
the east – in wetlands surrounding Houma – and ends with the Sabine National
Wildlife Refuge at the west-end of the state. And although real Cajun Country
spans thousands of square miles, most folks down here will tell you that it
begins in the east, with Houma.

A Cajun is an Acadian (a person of French-Canadian descent), one of the
many who came down from Nova Scotia in 1755 to settle along the bayous,
marshes, and prairies of southern Louisiana. Over the next 300 years, the
‘Cadiens (or Cajuns as we now know them) farmed and fished and trapped,
spreading their unique French-Canadian dialect, music, piquant culinary style,
and lust for life all across Southern Louisiana. The Cajun Country population –
which began as no more than a few hundred in the earliest days – has melded with Spanish, Native American, English and German influences in the region and grown to be a thriving population that numbers near half a million people!

So, what can be found in Acadiana, the birthplace of Cajun Country in Louisiana? An excellent question.

If you travel to Houma, Louisiana, where Cajun Country begins, you may
soon find yourself on a high-speed airboat ride across the wetlands. You may
end up at a table graced by the best Cajun food you’ll ever find. Perhaps
you’ll soon take a leisurely swamp tour for a little wildlife photography and “gator
gazing” expedition. You can visit the home of a century-old sugar plantation or
try your hand at some of the best inland and brackish fishing in the
nation.

The real Cajun Country is Houma, Louisiana, where visitors discover the music, dialect, food and history of a proud and lively culture that was founded over 300 years ago. And those travelers who venture down from New Orleans to Houma are never at a loss for Cajun hospitality.