Lafayette is a popular destination for travelers with kids in tow. This hub city of Cajun Louisiana (a region more generally known as “Acadiana”) offers great food, live music, beautiful nature, and an overall Cajun joie de vivre which appeals universally to all ages -- plus it’s a bit cheaper and a bit easier to grasp than its bigger neighbors down the river. Need some reasons to make this your next family vacation destination?

Try these:

1. Festivals

I encourage families to plan their trips around one of the larger free festivals in the Lafayette area. Festival International de Louisiane (last full week of April)  is one of the largest free festivals in the country, and sees artists from all over the world performing on stages nestled among Lafayette’s historic downtown. Festivals Acadiens et Créoles (second weekend of October) puts local culture on display in the tree-filled expanse of Girard Park. Both offer extensive children-specific programming and activities.

There are also plenty of small festivals throughout the year (mostly in the temperate spring and fall), with each small town in Acadiana offering up their own food or heritage celebration: The Scott Boudin Festival (April), the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival, (May), the Rayne Frog Festival (May), the Crowley Rice Festival (October), the Roberts Cove German Festival (October), and so on.

2. Mardi Gras

Though Mardi Gras in New Orleans is, yes, plenty family-friendly, the large crowds and expensive lodging situation can make it a bit untenable for some family travelers.

Lafayette offers a reasonable alternative. The parades through town aren’t quite as spectacular as New Orleans’ displays, but there are plenty of beads to be caught (and don’t worry -- Lafayette enforces a no-flashing law).

If you’d like something completely different than float parades and flying beads, Acadiana’s got you covered, too. Consider heading up to the Cajun prairie to watch a Mardi Gras courir -- the traditional Cajun celebration with roots that stretch back to medieval France. Kids are welcome spectators and can even participate in some designated runs: Eunice, for example, holds a children’s courir on the Sunday before Fat Tuesday.

3. Living History Museums

There are two excellent living history museums in Lafayette: Vermilionville and Acadian Village. Both offer historic replicas of Cajun villages and hands-on demonstrations of traditional arts and crafts (cooking, weaving, blacksmithing, and even playing music), as well as guided and self-guided tours that explain the history of the Acadian expulsion from Canada and arrival in Louisiana, and the influence of Native American and African culture, as well as other European cultures.

Vermilionville also tackles environmental issues, offering boat tours and discussions on water issues in Acadiana. They also have a full-service restaurant that offers some of the best authentic Cajun and Creole food in Lafayette.

Acadian Village is a particularly good choice at Christmastime, as they transform their property into a Festival of Lights, complete with Carnival rides and Santa visits.

4. Free Live Music

Even if you don’t find yourself in Lafayette during festival season, odds are good that you’ll find a free outdoor concert that the whole family can enjoy. Most of these series offer primarily local bands, but keep in mind that there are few places in the world where local talent is so singularly spectacular as the greater South Louisiana region.

• The Bach Lunch series takes place in downtown Lafayette on Fridays at lunchtime during spring and fall and features mostly local Cajun, zydeco, folk, and jazz performers.
• Downtown Alive fills downtown Lafayette with local and national touring artists on Friday nights during spring and fall.
• Rhythms on the River takes place in the planned community of River Ranch on Thursdays in spring and fall and features a diverse lineup of local acts.
• The Horse Farm Park offers a farmers market and food truck round-up to accompany their Wednesday night concerts in the summertime.
   

5. Cajun Dance Restaurants

Though children aren’t allowed at nightclubs or bars that feature Cajun music and dancing, there are a handful of good old-fashioned family restaurants that offer live bands and dance floors adjacent to the dining area -- a nice two-in-one destination. In Lafayette proper, Randol’s is the most reliable for music, and their dance floor is often filled with couples waltzing and two-stepping. Outside the city limits, Breaux Bridge’s Pont Breaux’s Restaurant (formerly Mulate’s) is a classic favorite.

6. Museums

Lafayette has a handful of small historical museums that older children might enjoy, but younger kids will be most enthralled by the Children’s Museum of Acadiana and the Lafayette Science Museum. They’re just a block away from each other in Downtown Lafayette, so the two of them can be swooped into one day.

The Children’s Museum of Acadiana is a cute small-town version of some of the larger, admittedly more impressive kids’ museums around the country, but at $5 admission, it’s a steal that’ll keep kids occupied for hours.

The Lafayette Science Museum offers rotating interactive exhibits covering everything from space to dinosaurs. There’s also a Planetarium in the museum, where daily demonstrations are offered, most of which are aimed at elementary-aged children.

7. Nature

To really get deep into the swamps of South Louisiana, you’ll need to head a fair bit outside of the city limits, but Lake Martin is within striking distance and offers a swamp experience with minimal effort (you can see wildlife from your car). Just a bit further are the swamp tours of the Henderson levee, where a flatboat takes you out onto the Atchafalaya Basin and a guide explains the natural history of the area.

If hiking is more your thing, there is a hiking trail at the Acadiana Park Nature Station within the city limits. You won’t see alligators, but the birding is quite good and there’s an impressive array of local plant life. There are also guides and exhibits available to explain what you’re looking at.

If your idea of nature is a bit less swampy and perhaps observed from the safety of a boardwalk, visit Zoosiana, a small but nationally-accredited zoo which houses giraffes, lions, tigers, monkeys, and local animals like alligators and nutria, as well as a petting zoo with sheep and pigs and llamas and whatnot.

8. Ice Cream

You might laugh that I’ve given ice cream equal billing with “festivals” and “nature,” but after a day of swamp-touring or dancing in the street, I promise you, there’s nothing better. There are plenty of chain fro-yo and cold slab shops around the city, but Lafayette also offers some very cool one-of-a-kind cold treat options.

Want European gelato? Try Carpe Diem downtown, where the Italian-born proprietor Silvia Bertolazzi has won awards for her house-made flavors that change daily, but include everything from Biscoff cookie to avocado basil. The Lab in River Ranch also offers a variety of handcrafted gelatos alongside the city’s best coffee and tea selection.

For something a bit more classic, head to Borden’s Ice Cream Shoppe -- the last surviving one in the United States! Bedecked in chrome and red leatherette, it’s got a classic soda shop feel, tiny tables for kids, and delicious ice cream.

Local kids also love to get snowballs -- the New Orleans-style shaved-ice version of the snowcone. Stop into the Olde Tyme Grocery to get the best po-boy in town and then walk around to their snowball stand in the back to get a little something to cool you down. Snowballs are sweet to the extreme, so fair warning to sugar-conscious moms and dads, but they’re a fun treat once in awhile.