Drive to New Orleans? (Houston, Austin: spring break, hotels, wedding)

[mickey65]

I may be going to a wedding Memorial Day weekend out in New Orleans. I'm thinking about driving out there from Round Rock. Any tips on the drive? Where traffic is the heaviest, etc? How long of a drive it is.

I may even fly out there, but I've never been there before and would probably feel more comfortable having my car with me out there. I know that sounds weird.

TIA!

[RooCeleste]

It's an easy 7-8 hour drive, depending on your driving habits. :-) Traffic is the worst through Houston, obviously, and when you get closer to Baton Rouge and NO.

Will you be right in the city the whole weekend? If so, be sure to find out about parking. It might be best to fly (quick flight) and then just Uber your way from the airport to the hotel and back, and around town if it's too far to walk. If you are right in the French Quarter, you won't be driving; you'll be walking everywhere. Parking even at hotels in the FQ is usually in the $25-40/day range, so that's a lot of Ubering to make up the difference, and the difference in the 16 hour drive.

Enjoy! I love that city! (And Deanie's coconut custard bread pudding!)

[Idlewile]

It's easy, I've done it with small children but gone father than NOLA, 4 more hours to Destin. Basically the worst traffic we hit was in Houston. I was was shocked -- almost immediately after crossing the TX border into Louisiana the scenery became interesting and improved immensely.

[clarksvillemom]

Love that place. You won't need a car if you're staying close to the Quarter, Garden District, etc. But might want one if you're venturing out to City Park, bayou tours, jazz out of the quarter.

[hts]

Yes, if you're able, time your drive to miss rush hour in/around Houston. As others have said, it's not a difficult drive (we drove there for a cruise departing NOLA over spring break last year).

[Austin97]

houston has beltway 8 which I would take north even though it takes you out of your way. It will bypass most of the worst of houston traffic although 290 to the beltway can get clogged in the morning. Beltway 8 south hits 10 on the west side but then you go through the very center of houston so I would avoid that. The toll way uses the same eztag that we use in Austin.

Taking 105 from college station is probably not worth it, but I have done that and it is an easy fast road.

[Moonlady]

It's 500 miles - I would add in a little more time. Google says around 8 hours, but we have done the trip to Louisiana many, many times and it took us on average 7 hours to get to Lafayette with Houston traffic and rest stops along the way. It's another 2, 2.5 hours from Lafayette to NOLA, so unless you are planning on driving off peak hours and not stopping, you might want to plan for a 9-10 hour trip.

[Texas Ag 93]

If you can avoid morning or evening rush Hour, going I-10 straight through Houston is the most direct route and there should be little, to any, traffic (assuming no accident). Going to the Beltway adds a lot of unnecessary miles, IMO. Also keep in mind that if you don't have a toll tag, you will have to use the cash only lanes and the lines there can be long.

There also seems to often be a lot of bad traffic and accidents around the Beaumont area.

As PP's have mentioned, if you are staying in the quarter or CDB, bear in mind that overnight parking will be expensive. Most places I have stayed have been close to $40 per night.

Personally, if I were you, I would fly considering you've never been to the city. Directions and roadways are not always what you expect and it's not an easy city to navigate. Then again, I kind of have an anti car bias about New Orleans because I lived there for 2 years and lost not one, but two, cars (one to a flood, one to theft).

[m1a1mg]

My personal preference is fly and use Uber once there.

[cBach]

6 hours to Lake Charles then another 3 hours to New Orleans so around 9 hours.

The bottleneck is Baton Rouge, where I-10 goes down to one lane. I suggest taking Highway 90 south (future I-49 so parts are interstate standards). It's a more scenic drive through Cajun Country as well...