The New Orleans stories to know before you book
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is the oldest of the Cities of the Dead and the address every guide names first. The National Park Service carries it on the National Register of Historic Places under reference 75000855, published July 30, 1975, with 1789 recorded as its significant year and its boundaries given as Basin, St. Louis, Conti, and Treme Streets. The Library of Congress holds the Historic American Buildings Survey file for its front entrance gate, HABS LA-1309-A, whose documentation records that the earliest section of the cemetery was lost in the early twentieth century to make way for Basin Street, and that the original wrought iron gate moved with the entrance. Marie Laveau's tomb is inside those walls, which is why so many night routes end at that gate.
The 1853 yellow fever epidemic is the reason so many of those tombs went up at once, and the city's own papers counted it week by week. On September 12, 1853, page two of the New Orleans Daily Crescent carried a table of deaths in the city by yellow fever and by other causes for every week from May 28 through September 11 of that year, printed beside a physician's letter dated September 9 arguing about quinine doses. Directly above the table, under the heading The Epidemic, the paper summed up where the season stood in two sentences.
"The epidemic is sensibly on the decline. This is mainly attributable to the absence of material, and prudent people will keep out of town until frost," the Daily Crescent told its readers on September 12, 1853, in the copy digitized by the Library of Congress. The New Orleans Yellow Fever Ghost Tour, the highest rated route in our table, is built on that season.
The LaLaurie Mansion on Royal Street is the stop your guide saves for last, and it was already carrying the nickname a century ago. Sometime between 1920 and 1926 the photographer Arnold Genthe made a negative that the Library of Congress catalogs as "View down Royal Street to the 'Haunted House' (Lalaurie House), New Orleans", now held in the Prints and Photographs Division as part of the Genthe photograph collection, purchased from the Genthe estate in 1942 or 1943. What happened inside is grim enough that the telling is done on the sidewalk out front, after dark, with some care.
The Old Ursuline Convent at 1100 Chartres Street holds the other end of the timeline. The National Park Service lists it under National Register reference 66000376, published October 15, 1966, with 1745 and 1750 among its significant years, and it is the oldest surviving building in the French Quarter. The vampire legend attached to it fails on the calendar: the women called casket girls reached Louisiana around 1728, and the building standing there was not finished until 1752. Around those two poles orbit Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, marketed as the oldest bar in the country though its use as a bar dates to the mid-1940s, the Old Absinthe House, another address local lore ties to Jean Lafitte, the Hotel Monteleone's playful Maurice, and the Bourbon Orleans. The longer files on every address in this section live in our guide to haunted New Orleans.
Which New Orleans ghost tour is right for your group?
The classic French Quarter walk
The classic walk is the default for good reason: the Quarter after dark does most of the work, and one guide covers ghosts, voodoo, and vampires in a single pass. Our pick is the New Orleans Premier Ghost, Voodoo and Vampire Walking Tour, the most reviewed tour on this page at 4.5 stars across 13,610 reviews, 1 hour 45 minutes from $36.99. Its listing runs in all weather, cancels free up to 24 hours out, and is honest about the ground: it does not offer wheelchair access, and it names the French Quarter's terrain as the reason.
- Choose it if this is your first ghost tour in New Orleans and you want the route the most people have taken.
- Choose it if the forecast looks bad; its listing operates in all weather.
- Skip it if anyone in the party needs wheelchair access; this is one of the three compared tours that does not offer it.
Verdict: the default pick, and the one we would book first.
Book the classic ghost walk in New Orleans
The adults-only night walk
Adults get a route with the harder material left in. The pick is the Adults-Only New Orleans Ghost, Crime, Voodoo, and Vampire Tour, 4.8 stars across 7,030 reviews, 1 hour 45 minutes from $37, with a Recommended by 93% badge on its listing. Two lines from that listing matter before you book: the age rule reads "Adults only - 17+", and the operator warns that these tours tend to sell out quickly. Late arrivals are not accommodated, and wheelchair access is offered.
- Choose it if nobody in the party is under 17 and you want the strongest rating among the high-volume tours here.
- Choose it if wheelchair access matters on a night walk; unlike the classic route, this listing offers it.
- Skip it if kids are along; the age line is written into the listing, not left to the guide.
Verdict: the adults pick, and the one to book earliest.
Book the adults only ghost walk in New Orleans
The BYOB cemetery bus
The bus is the only route in our table that trades the Quarter for the Cities of the Dead after dark. The pick is the Cemetery and Ghost BYOB Bus Tour in New Orleans, 4.5 stars across 2,809 reviews, two hours from $30. Its listing invites you to bring your own drink and asks you to drink responsibly, sets a smart casual dress code, cancels free up to 24 hours out, and does not offer wheelchair access.
- Choose it if the above-ground tombs after dark are the reason you came.
- Choose it if you want a seat between stops and your own drink in hand.
- Skip it if anyone needs wheelchair access, or if a dress code is a problem.
Verdict: the one format on this page that gets you past a cemetery gate at night.
Book the cemetery bus tour in New Orleans
The mule-drawn carriage
The carriage trades distance for a seat and posts the shortest running time in our table. The pick is the New Orleans Small-Group Haunted History Carriage Tour, 4.6 stars across 2,530 reviews, one hour from $65. It is also the listing with the hardest rule at the curb: arrive 15 minutes early, because late arrivals miss the tour with no refund. Wheelchair access is offered, and cancellation is otherwise free up to 24 hours out.
- Choose it if the Quarter's stones are the problem, not the ghost stories.
- Choose it if one hour is all the night you have.
- Skip it if you tend to run late; this is the one compared listing that says outright a late arrival costs you the fare.
Verdict: the seated option, and the priciest hour in the table.
Book the haunted carriage tour in New Orleans
The family walk
The family format keeps the scares at a size kids can carry home. The pick is the Spooky Family-Friendly Ghost Tour in New Orleans from Unique NOLA, 4.7 stars across 232 reviews, two evening hours from $37. Its listing offers wheelchair access, cancels free up to 24 hours out, and asks that children be accompanied by an adult.
- Choose it if the youngest person in the group sets the tone for the night.
- Choose it if you want the family option that still offers wheelchair access.
- Skip it if there are no kids along; the adults-only walk keeps the harder material in.
Verdict: the easy yes for mixed ages, though it carries the smallest review count in our table, so read a few before you book.
Book the family ghost tour in New Orleans
The ghost hunt that goes inside
Almost every route on this page is exterior storytelling told from the sidewalk. The exception is the Ghost Hunt inside Haunted Locations with New Orleans Paranormal, 4.8 stars across 535 reviews, three hours from $59, which by its own name works inside haunted locations rather than stopping at the curb. The listing carries a Recommended by 95% badge, confirms bookings within 48 hours, offers wheelchair access with an advisory to call first, and cancels free up to 24 hours out.
- Choose it if standing outside the story is not enough.
- Choose it if you want the longest run time in our table at three hours.
- Skip it if your plans are still moving; confirmation can take 48 hours.
Verdict: the hands-on pick, best booked once the night is locked.
Book the New Orleans ghost hunt
The epidemic walk
One route is built on the season those 1853 papers were counting. The pick is the New Orleans Yellow Fever Ghost Tour from SUPER CITY TOURS, the highest rated tour in our table at 4.9 stars across 1,426 reviews, 1 hour 30 minutes from $35. Its listing asks for a moderate fitness level, welcomes strollers, cancels free up to 24 hours out, and does not offer wheelchair access.
- Choose it if the documented history matters more to you than the jump scares.
- Choose it if you want the shortest evening walk in our table.
- Skip it if anyone needs wheelchair access or a low-exertion route.
Verdict: the history pick, and the best-rated tour on this page.
Book the Yellow Fever ghost tour in New Orleans
Practical notes: every compared tour runs after sunset, split between evening and night departures, and the Quarter's stones are uneven, so wear real shoes. Fall dates fill first, October hardest of all. Cemetery visits outside a licensed tour are restricted, which is another argument for the bus. Expect reports of cold spots and orbs at the usual addresses whether or not you brought a camera.
On accessibility, the listings run better than instinct suggests: seven of the ten compared tours offer wheelchair access, and the three that do not are the Premier walk, whose listing names the French Quarter's terrain, the BYOB cemetery bus, and the Yellow Fever walk. Strollers are welcome on the Yellow Fever walk, on the New Orleans Haunted History Ghost Tour, and on The Ghosts of New Orleans Tour. The Ghost, Vampire, Witch, Voodoo, and Mystery Tour is the walk whose listing calls out accessible surfaces as well as wheelchair access, and the ghost hunt lists wheelchair access with an advisory to call the operator first. The Yellow Fever walk is also the one asking for a moderate fitness level.
Haunted hotels in New Orleans
In this city the hotels are on the routes. Guides name the Hotel Monteleone's resident out loud, the Bourbon Orleans turns up on the French Quarter Ghosts walk, the Andrew Jackson Hotel carries the story of its boys, and the Cornstalk Hotel is a stop on the bar crawl. We keep the longer versions in our guide to haunted New Orleans; the short version is that in the Quarter, checking in does not always mean checking out.
If you would rather sleep inside the story than beside it, the three booking cards above cover the range. Hotel Monteleone is the Quarter's landmark, one block from Bourbon Street, with the Carousel Bar downstairs and a rooftop pool. The Ritz-Carlton sits at the edge of the Quarter, 1,640 feet from Bourbon Street, with a 25,000-square-foot spa and live jazz in the Davenport Lounge on select evenings. The Four Seasons keeps the river end, within reach of both Bourbon Street and St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.
The full rundown, the Canal Street towers and the quieter blocks toward the river included, lives in our guide to where to stay in New Orleans.
Planning your New Orleans ghost tour night
Two tracks work here. The family track books the early end of the evening: the Spooky Family-Friendly Ghost Tour runs two hours with the material sized for kids, so put dinner in the Quarter first and let the walk finish the night. Daylight plans live in our guide to things to do in New Orleans.
The adults track starts later. Either take the Adults-Only walk, which is a night departure and holds the 17-and-over line, or take the BYOB cemetery bus, whose listing invites you to bring your own drink and asks you to drink responsibly; that invitation belongs to that listing, so treat it as a rule for that bus rather than a rule for the street. The two bar routes on our cards, the Haunted Pub Crawl in New Orleans and the ghost tour and bar crawl, are grown-up by definition.
Meeting points sit on each listing, and two of them come with rules worth reading twice. The carriage tour asks you to arrive 15 minutes early and states that late arrivals miss the tour with no refund; the Adults-Only walk does not accommodate late arrivals either. Treat 15 minutes early as the habit for every tour on this page. If you are not driving, the Regional Transit Authority charges $1.25 for a single ride on a bus or streetcar and $3.00 for a 1-Day Jazzy Pass, per its own fare table, which makes the streetcar the cheapest way back to a hotel after a night walk.
Book the adults only ghost, crime, voodoo, and vampire tour
