New Orleans is one of the most unique, architecturally beautiful cities in all of North America. However, behind the gorgeous structures lie some of the darkest stories that have occurred in America.

From the yellow fever epidemics and notorious Voodoo practice to plantations and suffering, there’s certainly no shortage of intense tales in NOLA. However, if you really want to dive in deep into that darkness and its history, I highly recommend going on a cemetery tour.

I’ve gone ahead and reviewed the 5 top New Orleans cemetery tours, that are well worth your time and money. Let’s jump right in!

Be sure to see our reviews of New Orleans Swamp Tours, New Orleans Plantation Tours and New Orleans Food Tours.

Best Cemetery Tours in New Orleans

	New Orleans City and Cemetery Sightseeing Tour	New Orleans Historic Cemetery Walking Tour	New Orleans Cemetery Walking Tour
Duration:	2 hours	2 hours	2 hours
Departure:	317 N Rampart St, New Orleans	G's Pizza, 4840 Bienville St, New Orleans	5101 Canal Blvd, New Orleans
Start:	8:30 AM, 11:30 AM, 2:30 PM	11:00 AM	10:15 AM, 1:15 PM
Includes:	Local guide, transport by air-conditioned mini-coach, round-trip transportation	Guided walking tour with a master storyteller, tour three historic New Orleans cemeteries	Local guided tour, exclusive access to the city's most famous cemeteries
	Tour Information & Booking	Tour Information & Booking	Tour Information & Booking

Quick Answer: The 5 Best Rated New Orleans Cemetery Tours For 2026

1. New Orleans City and Cemetery Sightseeing Tour
2. New Orleans Historic Cemetery Walking Tour
3. New Orleans Cemetery Walking Tour
4. New Orleans Dead of Night Ghosts and Cemetery Bus Tour
5. After Dark Haunted New Orleans City and Cemetery Bus Tour

New Orleans Cemetery Tour Reviews

1. New Orleans City and Cemetery Sightseeing Tour

Starting things off on the right foot, we have the New Orleans City and Cemetery Sightseeing Tour. This is a 2-hour excursion designed to show off the city’s cultural and architectural history, and beyond.

Even if you aren’t necessarily into the darker aspects of the city’s past, there’s sure to be at least one aspect that draws your attention. For this reason and more, I’d say that this is one of the best cemetery tours for those bringing children along for the ride.

There are a few different start times available, starting around 9 am and ending around 2:30, which allows enough flexibility to make planning your day’s itinerary seamless.

While hotel pickup isn’t included, the meeting point is the Homewood Suites in the French Quarter, which is still convenient for most visitors. Our guide was prompt, made checking in a breeze, and was very friendly and personable, ensuring everyone was taken care of throughout our time together.

We sat back and relaxed in our air-conditioned mini-coach, with a small group size perfect for a more intimate experience that doesn’t involve massive crowds and noise.

We rolled on through different neighborhoods as our guide regaled us with interesting stories about various sights, including countless French and Spanish-influenced designs, along with Creole townhouses and shotgun homes.

The endless lush courtyards, the voodoo specialty shops, and so on – they all offered such varied looks into what makes New Orleans so unique.

Outside of the French Quarter, we passed the iconic Jackson Square, the Pontalba Apartments (oldest in the US!), and then made our way to the Tremé neighborhood known for its jazz (and obviously the HBO series Tremé), its antebellum mansions, lake views, and more.

Visiting St Louis Cemetery No 3 was incredible, and I loved the commentary from our guide! We learned about how it’s not only the oldest but most famous cemetery in the city, and got to see tons of 18th-century and 19th-century tombs, mausoleums, and more.

2. New Orleans Historic Cemetery Walking Tour

Next, we have the New Orleans Historic Cemetery Walking Tour, which is yet another 2-hour experience that feels a bit more up close and personal than the coach tours. If you’re really looking to get to know the city like a local, there’s no better way to do it than to get down on ground level.

If you’re also on the hunt for a proper fun, educational excursion that is easy on the wallet, this is one of the most budget-friendly New Orleans tours.

The only real downside to this one is that there’s only one start time available: 11:00 am. For us, it was perfect, because it allowed us time to sleep in, grab breakfast, and get ready without rushing.

As it’s only 2 hours, it’s also super easy to fit into a tight schedule, and you’ll be finished around lunchtime! We met up with our guide and the rest of our small group at G’s Pizza (which is delicious, and worth a stop on its own!), and set off the beaten path.

Sitting in the middle of the Canal Street burial corridor and surrounded by Greenwood Cemetery was the first stop of our journey: Saint Patrick’s Cemetery No. 2.

As one of 3 established in 1841 by Irish immigrants, it features 4 quadrants filled with different mausoleums, family tombs, and overall fascinating architecture and stories. Before the Civil War, it was actually an old racetrack, which came with plenty of stories, as well.

We also got to visit the famed Saint Patrick Cemetery No. 1, which is renowned for its history and plenty of spooky encounters. You’ll get to learn all about different burial rituals that took place here over time, as well as local traditions, ghost stories, and about some of the people buried there.

Last but certainly not least, you’ll see the Katrina Memorial at Charity Hospital Cemetery, where you’ll learn about those who passed during Hurricane Katrina, the yellow fever epidemic, and beyond.

3. New Orleans Cemetery Walking Tour

If walking tours are your thing and you’re looking for an adventure with plenty of scheduling flexibility, check out this next excursion. The New Orleans Cemetery Walking Tour is a 2-hour experience, which is yet another one of the most affordable tours of its kind.

Given that it is so easy on the wallet, I was surprised by the quality and the knowledge gained on this one, with one of my favorite guides to date.

There were a ton of different start times available, though we decided to select the earliest one, as that day was projected to be quite hot and humid.

Our guide was a blast, with a ton of energy, and as he was born and raised in NOLA, he had not only the signature southern hospitality, but plenty of local knowledge to go along with it. Starting on Canal Blvd., we wasted no time getting right into the nitty-gritty of the city.

Most visitors who see anything regarding the famed cemeteries only see them from outside the wrought iron gates. However, on this journey, you’ll join your guide and venture beyond them, into a world full of countless tales of tragedy, disease, misunderstandings, exploitation, and more.

If you’re at all interested in history, you’ll appreciate the way your guide weaves in larger historical tales and culture and relates them back to each cemetery and stop on the tour.

We had the chance to learn about the above-ground burial and why history, culture, and climate all played a role. If you’re going on your own, then you’re not likely to find the tombs of various legendary figures like you’re able to with an expert guide.

Not only that, but you receive exclusive access to some places most don’t get to see!

4. New Orleans Dead of Night Ghosts and Cemetery Bus Tour

If the idea of walking isn’t really your thing, or if the weather happens to be less than great, this is the perfect alternative.

The New Orleans Dead of Night Ghosts and Cemetery Bus Tour is not only one of the most entertaining cemetery tours I’ve been on, but it was also one of the most convenient. Just like the others we’ve covered, this is also a 2-hour tour, so it’s quite simple to fit into a busy schedule.

There are also a few different start times to choose from, making planning your itinerary much more streamlined. Start your adventure by meeting your spooky guide at the famed Rampart Treehouse, wasting no time by heading straight to the Bayou St. John.

I actually hadn’t heard of this place before, but after learning about it, I was quite surprised I hadn’t. Apparently, the notorious Marie Laveau is said to have carried out countless voodoo rituals, and the vibe feels heavy as such.

After learning a bit about the figure and the place, we headed to the St. Louis Cemetery No. 3, which was also constructed in the 1700s during the yellow fever epidemics, as they desperately needed more room to bury the dead.

You’ll hear enthralling tales about these times, how gripping the epidemic was, and even about the history as a leper colony! Then, make your way to Charity Hospital Cemetery, which is known for hundreds of different ghost sightings and other strange experiences.

You’ll be able to pay your respects to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, where you’ll see tombs of 85 unidentified victims, before wrapping things up at New Orleans City Park. Grab some food at the delicious Cafe du Monde (they have amazing coffee, too!), and reminisce on everything you just experienced!

5. After Dark Haunted New Orleans City and Cemetery Bus Tour

Last but certainly not least is the After Dark Haunted New Orleans City and Cemetery Bus Tour. While the other tours could be a bit macabre, this one definitely took the top spot for the “scariest”, taking ghost hunting to a whole new level.

While the other tours felt more educational and cultural, you really dive into the actual potential communications with spirits from beyond – be prepared! For this reason, I probably wouldn’t recommend that kids join you on this one, unless they’re a teenager and specifically interested in the subject.

The 2-hour excursion does come with plenty of start times, and you don’t have to rely just on your feet, as you have the convenience of riding in an air-conditioned vehicle. Once you all meet at the Ghost Adventures tour offices and get checked in by the friendly staff, you’ll board your vehicle and enter the Odd Fellows Rest.

This cemetery is quite exclusive, and only THIS company is allowed access, which was pretty cool to get to experience!

After hearing about the different ghost stories and even using EMF readers to hear some of them, we set off through Cypress Grove and Greenwood Cemeteries, stopping at 5055 Canal St’s above-ground cemetery.

Things were getting intense (though VERY intriguing), but we decided to make a stop for coffee and take a restroom break.

Our last stops were to the Hurricane Katrina Memorial, seeing outside the gates and learning about the victims. Lastly, we walked by St. Patrick Cemetery No. 2, which was where we picked up a lot of activity! Again, come into this prepared to communicate with spirits!

A Guide to New Orleans Cemetery Tours

The guide stops at a plain white tomb with red X marks scratched into the plaster and half the group doesn’t even notice it at first.

Then she says the name Marie Laveau, and every phone in the group comes out at once. That tomb, the crowd, the scratched marks nobody’s supposed to leave anymore, tells you most of what you need to know about why people fly to New Orleans just to walk through a graveyard.

Why New Orleans Cemetery Tours

New Orleans sits below sea level in most spots, so burying anyone six feet down was never really an option. Coffins used to float back up during floods, which is about as blunt a problem as a city can have.

The fix was building up instead of down. Families built above-ground tombs and reused them generation after generation, since the Louisiana heat does the work of decomposition in about a year, after which the remains get swept to the back to make room for the next relative.

Mark Twain called these places “cities of the dead,” and once you’re standing inside one, the name makes total sense. Narrow lanes between rows of house-shaped vaults, some falling apart, some restored to marble white, and almost nothing at ground level to remind you it’s a cemetery instead of a strange little town.

This isn’t ghost-tour theater dressed up as history. It’s real Catholic and Creole burial tradition going back to the 1700s, and the people buried here, voodoo priestesses, pirates, civil rights figures, city founders, are the actual reason New Orleans became New Orleans.

A lot of the tombs you’ll pass are society tombs, shared between dozens of families through a benevolent association or a trade guild, rather than one private plot per family. It’s a practical answer to a city where private land for the dead was never cheap or plentiful, and it explains why some of these vaults look almost like small apartment buildings.

When to Go

Summer in New Orleans is brutal, and a cemetery with zero shade and white stone reflecting the sun back at you is not where you want to be at 2pm in July. Most tours run in the morning for exactly this reason.

Spring and fall give you the best of it. March through May and October through November keep the heat manageable and the humidity down a notch, without losing any of the atmosphere.

Winter works too, and it’s genuinely the quietest season if you don’t mind a light jacket some mornings. Rain shows up year-round, so tours generally run rain or shine, and you should dress like they mean it.

Getting In, and Why It’s Complicated

Here’s the part almost nobody explains clearly before you book, so read this before you plan your day.

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is closed to the general public and can only be entered with a licensed guide. That rule went in after repeated vandalism, including damage to Marie Laveau’s tomb.

There’s no walking in on your own no matter how badly you want to, and no amount of asking nicely at the gate changes that. The Archdiocese controls access now, and licensed tour operators are the only way through.

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 in the Garden District has gone further. The city closed it to the public for repairs, and most tours now walk you around the outside and talk through the gates rather than taking you inside.

Ask directly before booking if going inside actually matters to you. Plenty of listings still advertise it like you’re walking through when you’re really just standing at the fence, and it’s a fair question to ask a booking agent before you pay.

St. Louis Cemetery No. 2 is currently closed altogether, so skip any tour still listing it without checking first. Operators sometimes leave old itineraries up long after access changes, so a quick email before booking saves you a wasted stop.

Metairie Cemetery and St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 don’t have these restrictions and are open for regular walking tours. That makes them a solid option if getting inside the gates actually matters more to you than checking a famous name off a list.

Which Cemetery to Tour

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

This is the one everyone means when they say “New Orleans cemetery tour.” Founded in 1789, it’s the oldest cemetery in the city, and it holds Marie Laveau’s tomb, Bernard de Marigny, and Homer Plessy of Plessy v. Ferguson.

The Official Tour runs about 55 minutes and departs from the Cemetery Tour Desk at Basin Street Station, right across from the cemetery gates. Prices run roughly $28 to $48 per adult depending on where you book, and reviewers consistently mention specific guides by name, Mama Nita, Zelda, Taylor, so read a few recent reviews before you pick an operator if a great storyteller matters to you.

Book ahead. Tours sell out, especially in the middle of the day, and there’s no walk-up option if a slot is full.

Some operators sell the same tour under different names at different price points, so compare what’s actually included, group size and tour length especially, rather than just picking whatever shows up first in search results.

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1

Founded in 1833 in the Garden District, this is the third-largest cemetery in the city and the one you’ve probably seen without knowing it, Anne Rice used it as inspiration for her vampire novels, and it’s shown up in “Interview with the Vampire” and “Double Jeopardy.”

Most current tours pair it with a two-hour Garden District walk past antebellum mansions and celebrity homes, since the cemetery itself is closed for repairs right now. Prices for the combined walk run around $25 to $40 per person, and it’s worth booking one that’s upfront about the exterior-only access instead of one that dances around it.

Metairie Cemetery and St. Louis No. 3

Save Our Cemeteries, the city’s only nonprofit cemetery tour operator, runs guided walks through both of these, and a chunk of your ticket price actually goes toward tomb restoration and craft training programs instead of just an operator’s margin.

They also run occasional themed walks worth watching for, including a monthly tour of St. Roch Cemetery, honoring the patron saint of good health, known for a small chapel filled with tokens left by people who believe they were healed there.

Metairie was built in 1872 on a former racetrack and it shows. The layout still curves like a track, and the monuments here are bigger and more ornate than almost anywhere else in the city.

Old-money New Orleans families competed to outdo each other with marble temples and mini-mausoleums here, and the result is closer to a sculpture garden than a traditional graveyard. St. Louis No. 3 sits near City Park and pairs naturally with a stop at the historic Pitot House if you want to make a fuller afternoon of it.

What It Costs and How to Plan

Expect $15 to $30 per person for most standard walking tours. The official St. Louis No. 1 tour runs higher, up toward $48, since it’s the only way in and demand stays constant year-round.

Parking near St. Louis No. 1 runs $5 to $10 for several hours at the Park First lot next to the cemetery, which beats circling the block looking for street parking in that neighborhood.

Wear real shoes. Uneven brick paths and centuries-old ground are not the place for sandals, and most operators say so directly in their booking confirmations.

Bring water with a lid, since it’s the only food or drink most cemeteries allow inside the gates. Skip the snacks entirely, this is sacred ground and active cemeteries, not a park bench.

Book online ahead of your visit rather than showing up hoping for space. Tours fill up fast in peak season, and a few operators cancel outright if fewer than three people register.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I just walk into St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 on my own?

No. It’s been closed to unguided visitors for years after repeated vandalism, so every visit requires a licensed guide and a booked tour slot.

Is Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 worth touring if I can’t go inside?

It depends on what you’re after. The Garden District walk around it is still genuinely worthwhile for the mansions and the film history.

But if seeing tombs up close is the whole point for you, Metairie or St. Louis No. 3 will actually deliver that instead.

Is Marie Laveau really buried in the tomb everyone visits?

Historians actually disagree on this, and even some guides will tell you honestly that the record isn’t fully settled. It’s the tomb people believe is hers and treat accordingly, which is really the whole story either way.

How hot does it get, and should I skip summer entirely?

New Orleans summers are genuinely rough, especially standing in full sun on white stone with zero shade. You don’t have to skip it, but book a morning slot and bring water if you’re visiting June through September.

Are these tours okay for kids?

Most are family-friendly and guides are used to keeping younger visitors engaged, though some of the history, disease, yellow fever epidemics, violent deaths, is genuinely dark. Use your judgment on age and maybe skip the specifically ghost-themed evening tours for younger kids.

Do these tours only cover ghost stories, or is there real history too?

The good ones lean heavily on real history, actual burial customs, actual residents, actual architecture, and treat the ghost stuff as a side note rather than the whole show. If a tour’s marketing is all jump scares and voodoo dolls, that’s a decent sign to look elsewhere.