New Orleans trip

[SwampDonkey]

I will be in New Orleans for a couple of days on business and should have a few hours one day open to see one of the facilities. I have been to both the zoo and aquarium, but it was in the late 90s. In your opinion, would my time (3-4 hours) be better spent at the zoo, aquarium, or insectarium? I'll be staying at Harrahs, so all are relatively easy to get to, with the aquarium and insectarium the easiest.

 

[DavidBrown]

Nobody here has written a full review of the Insectarium. By reputation it sounds like a fantastic place and possibly the best insect zoo anywhere.

If you do visit it, your review and any photos would be very welcome and much appreciated.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Nobody here has written a full review of the Insectarium. By reputation it sounds like a fantastic place and possibly the best insect zoo anywhere.

If you do visit it, your review and any photos would be very welcome and much appreciated.

Good call, it looks like they have a combo ticket for the aquarium and insectarium so I think I will get that and try and hit both with spending more time at the insectarium since I have not been there. It looks like the aquarium is open later, until 5PM, and I have from around 1-5 that day, so I think if I budget my time well I should be able to get both as they are so close to each other and to my hotel.

 

[snowleopard]

Touring the zoo in 4 hours or less would make for a stressful situation as you would be conscious of running out of time. The Reptile House there is old-fashioned but full of delights and the entire zoo is fairly well done. The much better option would be to spend 2 hours at the Aquarium (easy enough to do) and then two hours at the Insectarium.

 

[protege]

I’m kind of selfish- i’ve been to the aquarium, but have never seen the zoo. So i’d love to know more about it.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Touring the zoo in 4 hours or less would make for a stressful situation as you would be conscious of running out of time. The Reptile House there is old-fashioned but full of delights and the entire zoo is fairly well done. The much better option would be to spend 2 hours at the Aquarium (easy enough to do) and then two hours at the Insectarium.

I think I agree. When I went to the zoo last time I was there the better part of the day in order to see most everything, and I believe there is even more to see now. Checking out the Insectarium online makes it look like it is worthwhile to spend a couple hours at, so with the aquarium I can spend a nice day between the two facilities.

 

[mweb08]

I just got back from New Orleans, and we did visit the zoo. It can rather easily be seen in 4 hours IMO.

 

[Youssarian]

You've probably already gone on your trip, Steve, but as a New Orleans native my recommendation would be 2 days: one for the zoo and one for the aquarium/insectarium with spending more time at the latter. The aquarium is nice but I always go through it so quickly (maybe I'm just not a fish guy?). The insectarium is great and I always find myself fascinated and spending more time there.

The reason I'd say to do the zoo on a separate day is because not only does it take a few more hours than the other two, but also it's on the other side of the city compared to the aquarium/insectarium being pretty close to each other downtown.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Update: Unfortunately I was not able to make the trip as a last minute family emergency kept me home. Perhaps in the future I will be able to make it back.

You've probably already gone on your trip, Steve, but as a New Orleans native my recommendation would be 2 days: one for the zoo and one for the aquarium/insectarium with spending more time at the latter. The aquarium is nice but I always go through it so quickly (maybe I'm just not a fish guy?). The insectarium is great and I always find myself fascinated and spending more time there.

The reason I'd say to do the zoo on a separate day is because not only does it take a few more hours than the other two, but also it's on the other side of the city compared to the aquarium/insectarium being pretty close to each other downtown.

Thanks for the tips, unfortunately I was only going to have one afternoon as I was supposed to be at a conference the rest of the days, so I could not squeeze more facilities into the schedule; and I have been to both the zoo and aquarium before, but admittedly it was a long time ago. That said, I agree, the one time I went to the zoo I spent the better part of the day there.