Online at prcno.org, the sole tour provider. Groups are 16 people or fewer.
The Washington Avenue gate, across from Commander's Palace and Le Petit Bleu, 15 minutes early. Address: 1400 Washington Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130.
Water, an umbrella for sun or rain, sunscreen, comfortable shoes. There are no restrooms inside.
24 hours ahead for a full refund. If they cancel for weather: a refund or a new time.
Ways to see Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, compared
| Option | What it is | Price (Nov 9, 2026) | Inside the walls? | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Save Our Cemeteries (Preservation Resource Center) | Guided cemetery tour, 1.5 h | $30 adults, $15 ages 6 to 12, under 6 free | Yes, the only way in | Every 30 min, 9:00 to 11:30 a.m.; Tue and Wed 10:00 to 11:30 |
| Historic New Orleans Tours: Garden District / Lafayette Cemetery #1 | Guided neighborhood walk, 2 h | $29 adults; $20 seniors 62+, students, military; 12 and under free | No, "from the gates" | 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. |
| Tours by Foot guided walk | Small-group neighborhood walk, about 2 h and 1 mile | $19 to $29 range for its neighborhood tours | No, "from the entrance" | On its booking page |
| Stories, stop 1 of its walk (ours) | A 2:45 audio story at the wall, in a phone browser | Free; the 8-stop walk is $4.99 for up to 4 phones | No, at the wall | Any time |
| Lafayette Cemetery No. 2 (City of New Orleans) | A different city cemetery, 2100 Washington Ave | Free | Yes, on your own | Mon to Fri 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sat 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
Prices are per person; Stories is one purchase. For the houses, see all nine Garden District tours compared.
Before you pick a time
- Mornings only. The booking calendar listed six starts a day Thursday to Monday and four on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Same-day slots and Thanksgiving said "Call to book".
- Times can move within a 60-minute window. Save Our Cemeteries emails you if yours does: check the evening before.
Why it was closed for seven years
The city closed the cemetery to visitors in September 2019. The director of Save Our Cemeteries told WVUE why: vandalism, restoration needs and overcrowding from large tours, ghost tours among them, with families facing harassment. During the closure, crews renovated walkways and repaired tombs; an 1866 society tomb with 20 vaults was restored to take burials of people in need. The city still lists the cemetery as closed to the public except for guided tours, and the tomb owners' association reminds visitors that every tomb is private property.
What's inside
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 opened in 1833 for the City of Lafayette, a separate town that New Orleans later absorbed. It was the city's first planned cemetery, laid out as a cross so funeral processions could pass down its aisles; about 1,100 family tombs holding some 7,000 people fill its one block.
- Wall vaults. 496 burial chambers in the walls, a cheaper choice than a family tomb (Tours by Foot's cemetery guide).
- Society tombs. Societies buried members who paid dues: the Odd Fellows' tomb, and Jefferson Fire Company No. 22's, with a fire engine carved on its pediment.
- Names you know. John Howard Ferguson, the judge in Plessy v. Ferguson, is buried here, and so is Confederate general Harry T. Hays.
- Film sets. Interview with the Vampire (1994) and Double Jeopardy (1999) were shot here; for Double Jeopardy, the "1" on the gate became a "3".
The rules inside
The city's cemetery rules (revised May 2022) apply on the tour:
- Stay on the main aisles; the tombs belong to families.
- Leave nothing on a tomb and take nothing, coins and flowers included, unless the lot is your family's.
- No alcohol; keep your voice down. Funerals still happen here: if you come upon one, leave the area.
- Commercial filming and photo shoots need a city permit.
Pair it with a Garden District walk
A 9 a.m. tour ends at 10:30 and the 11:30 one at 1 p.m., leaving the day for the houses.
With a guide
Historic New Orleans Tours' 2-hour walk meets in The Rink, at the corner of Washington and Prytania, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. ($29; book more than an hour ahead), so a 9 a.m. cemetery tour gets you there for 11. Its cemetery stop is at the gates: you'll hear about the tombs twice.
On your own
Our free self-guided loop makes ten stops in 60 to 90 minutes. Stories' walk starts at the cemetery's wall and ends at Buckner Mansion: 8 stops, 1.3 miles, about 54 minutes, $4.99 for a group.
- Eat nearby. Commander's Palace, the restaurant, is across Washington Avenue from the gate. It has a dress code.
- Getting there. Take the St. Charles streetcar from Canal Street at Carondelet to Washington Avenue: $1.25 a ride.
No slot, or no tour? Lafayette Cemetery No. 2
The city's Lafayette Cemetery No. 2, at 2100 Washington Avenue, is open without a tour: Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed Sunday (and November 26 and 27 for Thanksgiving). Founded in the early 1850s, it is dominated by the tombs of more than twenty societies, from organized labor to benevolent groups and social aid and pleasure clubs. Save Our Cemeteries also tours Metairie Cemetery, St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 and St. Roch Cemetery.
Some pages haven't caught up: Tours by Foot's cemetery guide still says it is closed, hoping for 2025, and sells a GPS audio tour of the inside for "anytime the cemetery is open". For now, you can't walk in on your own to use it.
Where Stories fits (we make it)
For getting inside, Stories is not the answer; Save Our Cemeteries is. Stories' Garden District walk starts at the cemetery's wall with a free 2:45 story about John Howard Ferguson, playable in a phone browser at any hour, afternoons included, when there are no cemetery tours. All eight stops are $4.99 for a group on up to 4 phones.
Where others are better: only Save Our Cemeteries takes you inside, with a guide who answers questions; Lafayette Cemetery No. 2 is free; and Stories gives the cemetery one story in a synthetic voice, not 90 minutes among the tombs.
Hear the cemetery story free See the whole walk
Questions people ask
- Is Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 open?
- Yes, since October 1, 2026, but only on guided tours by Save Our Cemeteries, part of the Preservation Resource Center.
- Can you go into Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 without a tour?
- No. You can look through the gate on Washington Avenue. Families with relatives buried there can visit by appointment with the city's cemetery office, (504) 658-3781.
- How much is the Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 tour?
- $30 for adults, $15 for ages 6 to 12, free under 6, for 1.5 hours.
- Who is buried in Lafayette Cemetery No. 1?
- About 7,000 people in about 1,100 family tombs, including John Howard Ferguson, the judge in Plessy v. Ferguson, and Confederate general Harry T. Hays.
- Which New Orleans cemetery can you visit without a tour?
- Lafayette Cemetery No. 2, at 2100 Washington Avenue: Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
About this page
Published by Winding AI, Inc., the company that makes Stories. Search results for this cemetery still say it is closed, so we put the tour, the rules and the alternatives on one page.
How we checked: status, rules and Lafayette No. 2's hours from the City of New Orleans; prices from the Preservation Resource Center; times, meeting gate and policies from Save Our Cemeteries' booking calendar; the closure from WVUE; history from Wikipedia and Tours by Foot. All read November 9, 2026; confirm before you go. We take no commissions and invent no ratings. Corrections: support@winding.ai.