Great Ways to Spend a Day in City Park

City Park is one of our nations oldest urban parks and it's right in our backyard. At over 150 years old and encompassing 1,300-acres, there is a plethora of space to venture out and explore everything this park has to offer! Whether you want to partake in an athletic activity, play with your dog in the dog park or stroll under ancient oaks there is something for everyone. And best of all, a lot of these activities cost little to no money!

Golf - Book your tee time here for the recently opened championship level course Bayou Oaks at City Park South or the more affordable option Bayou Oaks at City Park North ($12-$119)

The brand new Bayou Oaks at City Park South course
Tennis - Come test your stroke out of one of 26 lighted courts (16 hard; 10 clay) at the City Park/Pepsi Tennis Center. Book a private lesson and classes available for all ages. Call the clubhouse more info @ 504-483-9383. ($12-$15/hr to rent a court)

Botanical Garden - Opened in 1936, the garden today has more a than 2,000 variety of plants from around the world. Take a leisurely stroll and enjoy the plant life.

City Putt - 2 courses, 36 holes of fun. The Louisiana course highlights cities around the state and the New Orleans course showcases themes from around our city. ($6 for kids; $8 for adults)

Disc Golf - 18 challenging holes. Every hole is a Par 3. (Free)


Dog Park - Bring your canine friend for some fun and exercise. City Bark offers separate play areas for large and small dogs.

Paddle Boat/Bike Rental - Rent paddle boats, kayaks, canoes, bikes, tandoms, cruisers and more to bike around the 3 trails in City Park. There's a 4 mile trail that follows Bayou St. John to the Lake, a mile trail around the festival grounds and a 3/4 mile trail around Big Lake. ($8-$36/hr)

Carousel Gardens Amusement Park - City Parks carousel is one of 100 like it and is listed in the National Register of Historic places. Come take a ride on "flying horses" and be a kid again. There are also many other rides to have fund with. Check them out here. The amusement park is open seasonally including Celebration in the Oaks during Christmas time.

Storyland - All your favorite storybook characters located in one spot! Kids will enjoy an outing in Storyland climbing aboard Captain Hook's pirate ship, or jumping into the mouth of a whale with Pinocchio. There are a total of 20 storybook sculptures in Storyland. You'll also have access to Carousel Gardens from here.

NOMA & Sculpture Garden- Come check out New Orleans Museum of Art and its permanent collection of over 40,000 pieces of art. NOMA specializes in French and American art as well as photography and Japanese art. Exhibitions change periodically, so check the schedule here ($6-$12; Louisiana residents enter free on Wednesdays with valid license).

Tad Gormley Stadium - A 26,500 seat stadium that holds sporting events such as high school football, soccer and track and field.

Morning Call - Enjoy some hot coffee and beignets 24 hours a day! Morning Call is located behind NOMA in the Casino Building on Dreyfus Ave. Bring your cash money though as the plastic isn't accepted here.

Fishing - There are 11+ miles of lagoon that are great fishing spots within City Park. The park encourages anglers to catch and release however and you must have a valid freshwater fishing licenses from the Louisiana Dept of Wildlife and Fisheries. Look here for a list of fish you're likely to see in City Park and Bayou St. John.

Equestrian center - A full service 13-acre equestrian center offering horseback riding lessons, boarding, summer camps and more. Find out more info here.

Festival Grounds and Sports Fields - Voodoo Music Fest (October); After party are for local races (CCC 10K, Rock n' Roll Marathon) Check out the calendar of events for ongoing events on the festival grounds. There are 5 soccer fields and an 18 foot wide path for biking, running or walking. Also, the festival grounds have a reunion shelter powered by 65 solar panels. More info about renting the shelter here.

City Splash (coming soon) - a 4 acre waterpark with room to expand will break ground soon and allow you to cool off on those hot summer days.

Kayaking/Paddleboarding/Canoeing (in nearby Bayou St. John) - Bring your own kayaks/canoes out to Bayou St. John for an enjoyable day on the water. Calm water makes it easy to get a workout or a relaxing float on the bayou. Kayak/paddleboard rentals are also available from Bayou Paddlesports. Make your reservations here.

As you can see, there are numerous activities and even more not listed that you can jump into to enjoy some time in City Park. Get together with family and friends and make some memories together! As always, let me know if you have any questions about anything travel related.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Check Your Credit Scores

There are ways of getting your credit scores that most people know about, but it isn't free. If you want to be able to check your scores for free, I have a couple of options for you. I use both to check my scores monthly to make sure everything is going good and I am keeping up my good credit. The two places to check them are: Credit Karma Credit Sesame   They both also have Iphone apps for easy access if you want to check them on the go. Both are 100% free and I have been using them for almost a year now. Ever since I started churning cards a year ago my credit has fluctuated about 10 points up or down which isn't a lot and not what the average person would think. Getting credit cards and earning miles and points in the process can actually help build your credit score! Have no fear!
Read more

A Four Day Weekend in Northern California for $100

Image
This past weekend I took a trip to San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, California. The flight, hotels and rental car only cost me $100 total and it could have ended up being a lot less! I used American Airlines miles to fly from New Orleans to San Francisco. This usually costs 25,000 miles and $10 in taxes and fees if you book before 21 days of departure. Also, if you have a Citibank American Air credit card you receive a 10% refund of points used. So it only "cost" me 22,500 points to take this flight. I didn't book before 21 days of departure so I had to pay a $75 late fee to book, which is a bummer, bringing my total amount paid for the flight to $85. Still not bad at all for a flight that would normally cost anywhere from $300-500+ depending on when you go and when you book. Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco  For my hotel rooms, I used Marriott reward points that I earned from my Chase Marriott credit card. I stayed my first night in Rancho Cordova which is just ea
Read more

Day Tripping: Orvieto

Image
There are quite a few day trips you can take if you're based in Rome on vacation. You can head south to Naples, Pompeii (Mt. Vesuvius) or the Amalfi coast. You'll want to spend more than a day around the mountainside/seaside towns along the Amalfi coast though. Save a few days to explore this stunningly beautiful part of Italy. If you head east, you can visit Tivoli where you'll see two famous villas. Villa Adriana is the former emperor Hadrian's huge estate during the 2nd Century and Villa d'este, the Renaissance era estate with lavish gardens. Head north and you can check out the city of Florence or Pisa which also falls into the basket of 'you should stay a few days here.' But a gem halfway to Florence and a perfect day trip in Tuscany lies the quaint town of Orvieto. Orvieto funicular via Orvietoviva.com A popular destination only about 75 miles north of Rome lies this beautiful, serene hilltop town (It actually sits on a large, flat butte of v
Read more