New Iberia sits in the heart of Cajun Country, along Bayou Teche in southern Louisiana. It is a small, unhurried city where the French-speaking Acadian heritage still runs deep -- in the food, the music, and the easygoing pace of life along the bayou.
The main draw is Avery Island, just south of town, home to the Tabasco factory and the lush Jungle Gardens. Shadows-on-the-Teche, a restored antebellum plantation house on Main Street, offers a window into the area's sugar-planting past. The streets of downtown New Iberia are walkable and pleasant — Bouligny Plaza and the Bayou Teche walking trail both anchor good explorations of the historic district — with a handful of good restaurants specializing in the Cajun and Creole cooking that this part of Louisiana does better than anywhere else.
New Iberia also serves as a good base for exploring the wider Acadiana region, including Lafayette to the north and the swamps and marshes of the Atchafalaya Basin to the east.