Start with the cemetery, because nothing else gets you in
The City of New Orleans still lists Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 as closed to the public except for guided tours, and the Preservation Resource Center calls its Save Our Cemeteries department "the cemetery's sole tour provider." That tour is 90 minutes and costs $30 for adults and $15 for ages 6 to 12, and unless you have family buried there, that is the only way through the gate, whatever a walking tour happens to be called. Historic New Orleans Tours sells a $29 walk named "Garden District / Lafayette Cemetery #1" that stays at the gates, and New Orleans Legendary Walking Tours says plainly that its guests look through them. Both say so on their own pages, which is fair of them, so the only trap is reading the name and not the page. One page does go further than the facts: Gallivanter Tours, on a page still carrying a 2020 copyright, says its walk finishes inside the cemetery. We would ask them before paying.
The seven tight starts that night were Tuesday the 10th at 10:00 and 11:30, Wednesday the 11th at 11:00, Friday the 13th at 11:00 and 11:30, and Saturday the 14th at 10:30 and 11:00. Two usual starts that week, Wednesday at 10:00 and Saturday at 11:30, weren't on the calendar at all, and it doesn't say why. Beyond the 14th, a single start through the end of December showed any shortage, December 28 at 11:30. That is one night's read and not a trend, but it suggests a few days' notice is enough, and a family of four should treat "three spots left" as already gone.
If you do want in, our page on the cemetery tour has the meeting gate, the rules and what to bring.
Then look at which hour you really have
Cemetery tours start on the half hour from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. from Thursday through Monday, and from 10:00 to 11:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday. There is nothing in the afternoon, so landing after lunch settles the cemetery question for you. The neighborhood walks mostly go in the late morning or at 2 p.m. Two Chicks Walking Tours leaves at 10:30 and 2:00, with extra 3:00 starts on Fridays and Saturdays on its calendar through November 21. Historic New Orleans Tours leaves at 11:00 and 2:00, New Orleans Legendary at 11:00, and Gallivanter's page prints 10:00 and 4:00.
The morning that fits a cemetery visit and a guided walk together is a Thursday through Monday: book the 9:00 cemetery tour, which ends at 10:30, and Historic New Orleans Tours' 11:00 walk, which meets inside the Garden District Book Shop at the Rink, across the intersection from the cemetery's white wall. That leaves you thirty minutes unless the cemetery moves your time, and Save Our Cemeteries warns that a start can shift within a 60-minute window, with an email the evening before. A 9:00 that becomes a 10:00 ends at 11:30 and costs you the 11:00 walk, so keep the 2:00 in mind as your fallback. On a Tuesday or Wednesday the pairing doesn't work at all, because the earliest cemetery start is 10:00 and it runs until 11:30.
If none of those clocks suit you, you don't need anyone's schedule. The streets are public, every house is seen from the sidewalk whoever you're with, and Tours by Foot's free route of 19 stops takes 60 to 90 minutes. The audio walks take about an hour and start whenever you do.
Now count everyone who is coming
Prices change this decision more than you'd expect, because they aren't built the same way. For two adults on a guided walk, Historic New Orleans Tours comes to $58, New Orleans Legendary to $59.98 and Two Chicks to $74. Add the cemetery tour at $60 for two and the morning above is $118 for the pair, plus $1.25 each way on the St. Charles streetcar.
A family of four, two adults with children of 8 and 10, lands somewhere quite different. Historic New Orleans Tours lets children 12 and under walk free, so its walk is still $58. New Orleans Legendary charges $18.99 for children under 12, which makes $97.96. Two Chicks' booking page lists one guest price, $37, which would be $148 if it covers children too, so ask before assuming. The cemetery tour is $90 for that family, $30 for each adult and $15 for each child, and the free map is still free.
Audio is a purchase and not a head count. Stories is $4.99 for a group on up to four phones, VoiceMap's walk is $11.99 a copy and 15% to 50% off when you buy for a group, Tours by Foot's audio is $6.99 and Tours Bayou's download is $5.95. None of them gets you past the gate, and our comparison of guides and audio goes into what you give up.
What we would book
For a first visit with a free morning, we'd book the cemetery and a guided walk, because nothing else here gets you inside and a good guide can explain the houses you'll be looking at for the next two hours. We'd choose Historic New Orleans Tours if children are coming, for the 12-and-under rule, and Two Chicks if the history matters most to you, since its page says the guide covers the slave trade and the difference between urban and rural enslavement. If you arrive in the afternoon, take one of the 2:00 walks, and on a tight budget or with a bigger group we'd go without a guide and spend the difference on lunch.
Our own walk is the cheapest of the audio tours here, and it starts at the cemetery wall, which makes it an easy add-on after the tour inside. It has 8 stops against VoiceMap's 30 and a synthetic voice against VoiceMap's local tour guide, and you can hear the first stop free before deciding whether that trade suits you.
Hear the first stop at the cemetery wall
Published by Winding AI, Inc., the company that makes Stories. The counts of spots come from the "spots left" labels on Save Our Cemeteries' public booking calendar, read about 2 a.m. Central on November 10, 2026. Every price and start time comes from each company's own page or booking calendar that day, and they do change by season, so check yours before you book. We take no commissions from anyone named here. If we've got something wrong, write to support@winding.ai.