Houma is a small city (about 33,000 people in 2019, not including suburbs) in south central Louisiana. It is the seat and largest city in Terrebonne Parish, and the center of the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area. The region in total is home to a little over 200,000.
Bayou Terrebonne runs through the town roughly east to west between Main Street and Park Avenue, with the Intracostal Waterway running north to south.
Get in
[edit]By car
[edit]Houma, Louisiana is just off Highway 90 south New Orleans Louisiana.
Directions from New Orleans (approx. 59 miles or 1 hour, 15 minutes):
- Merge onto I-10 W (9.7 miles)
- Merge onto I-310 S via exit 220 to Boutte/Houma (12.0 miles)
- Exit at US-90 W toward Houma (30.07 miles)
- Turn left at LA-24 E toward Houma (7.3 miles)
Directions from Lafayette, LA (approx. 104 miles or 2 hours, 10 minutes):
- From I-10, merge onto US-167 S via the US-90/US-167 S exit 103A to Lafayette (2.6 miles)
- Continue on US-90 E (93.8 miles)
- Turn right at LA-24 E (7.3 miles)
By bus
[edit]- 1 Greyhound & Greyhound Quicklink, (bus stop) Shop-N-Bag at 7724 W Park (W Park & Lafayette), ☏ +1 985 872-5371. Connects Lafayette to/from New Orleans along US Hwy 90, through Morgan City, Thibodaux, Houma and Raceland
By train
[edit]Amtrak serves the city via its Sunset Limited train, running between New Orleans and Los Angeles. three days a week.
- 2 Schriever station, 145 Burlington Court (just off Highways 20 and 24, the main route between Houma and Thibodaux). A small station with no facilities.
Get around
[edit]See
[edit]- 1 Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum, 7910 W Park Ave, ☏ +1 985 580-7200. Small museum focuses on local relationship to the wetlands habitat. $3.
- 2 Chauvin Sculpture Garden & NSU Folk Art Studio, 5337 Bayouside Dr, Chauvin, ☏ +1 985 594-2546. Sculpture garden 8AM-5PM daily; art studio Sa Su 11AM-4PM or by appointment. The garden has more than 100 concrete sculptures. Free.
- 3 Regional Military Museum, 1154 Barrow St, ☏ +1 985 873-8200. Focuses on the military history and contributions of Houma and the surrounding area, with special focus on World War II. Veterans give tours of the exhibits. When they're not too busy, they'll let you try some "hands on" with some of the artifacts. Adults $3, seniors 55+ $2, students $1, children under 6 and active military free.
- 4 Southdown Plantation House, 1208 Museum Dr (just off Little Bayou Black Dr in the South west part of town), ☏ +1 985 851-0154. Tu-Sa 10AM-4PM. Historic plantation house is now home to the Terrebonne Museum of History and Culture. Adults $10, seniors 65+ and college students $8, children 6-18 $5, children under 6 free.
- 5 Terrebonne Folklife Cultural Center, 317 Goode St, ☏ +1 985 873-6545. Tu-F 9AM-5PM. Local folk arts and crafts. $1.
- 6 Ardoyne Plantation, 2678 LA-311 bldg 1, Schriever, ☏ +1 985-804-2271. Tu-Sa 9:30AM-3PM. It was touched by Hurricane Ida, but it is said to be the largest and finest specimen of Rural Victorian Gothic Architecture in the state of Louisiana.
Do
[edit]- 1 Bayou Black Airboat Swamp Tours, 251 Marina Dr, Gibson, ☏ +1 985 665-8571. 1½ hours. Enter another world, as you venture into the interior of the swamps only accessible by airboat. See alligators, birds and other wildlife. $40 adults, $20 13 and under.
Buy
[edit]- 1 Southland Mall, 5953 W Park Ave, ☏ +1 985 876-4765. 10AM-9PM daily. Southland Mall hosts Dillards, JCPenney and numerous other shops & restaurants in the mall and in the immediate surrounding area not part of the mall (AMC Houma Palace Theaters, Furniture Mart, Sam's Club, amongst others). There are other smaller strip malls & free standing establishments radiating north-south along W Main. Mastercard, Visa, Discover and travelers checks accepted in most establishments.
Eat
[edit]- Boudreau and Thibodeau's Cajun Cookin, 5602 W Main St, ☏ +1 985 872-4711. 24 hours. Shrimp, crabs, crawfish, oysters, turtle, alligator, gumbo, etoufee, po-boys, salads, plate lunches and more. Credit cards accepted: American Express, Mastercard, Visa, Discover.
- Cafe Dominique, 8013 Main St, ☏ +1 985-223-7540. 5PM-10PM daily. Catering to the indulgent diner, as well as the health conscious foodie, our goal is to bring a new kind of dinning experience to the bayou by using organic produce, all natural and free range meats, alongside the wonderful seafood from our local waters.
- Castalano's Deli & Catering, 7881 Main St, ☏ +1 985 853-1090.
- Castalano's Deli & Catering, 6897 W Park Ave, ☏ +1 985 853-2090. M-Sa 11AM-9PM. This location also has a drive-through food pickup.
- Cafe Milano, 314 Belanger St (half a block off Main Street), ☏ +1 985 897-2426. Medium priced Italian lunch and dinner. Lunch M-F; dinner M-Sa; Jazz Brunch Sunday. Sometimes has live jazz other times as well.
Drink
[edit]Sleep
[edit]- 1 Ramada Inn Houma, 1400 W Tunnel Blvd, ☏ +1 985 879-4871.
- 2 MainStay Suites, 1650 Grand Caillou Rd (LA-57/Grand Caillou Rd), ☏ +1 985 876-6210, hotelhelp@choicehotels.com. Check-in: 3PM, check-out: 11AM. An extended stay hotel.
- 3 Carmel Inn, 400 E 1st St, Thibodaux, ☏ +1 985 446-0561, toll-free: +1-877-446-0561, fax: +1 985 446-0559.
Connect
[edit]Telephone area code is 985.
Computer wi-fi can be found at the Coffee Zone listed above.
By mail
[edit]- 1 US Postal Service (USPS), 425 Lafayette St (Lafayette St & Verret St in downtown), ☏ +1 985 223-1722, toll-free: +1-800-275-8777. M-F 8AM-5PM; Sa 9AM-noon. Serves zip code 70360 which is the west side of town.
Go next
[edit]- New Orleans, Louisiana's largest city and most popular visitor destination, is a 90-minute drive to the north east.
- Lafayette, the main city of Louisiana's "Cajun Country", is just over 2 hours to the west.
- River Region (Plantation Country), to see the many historic plantations and other attractions in St. Charles, St. John, and St. James parishes.
| Routes through Houma |
| Houston ← New Iberia ← | W  E |
→ New Orleans → Service east of New Orleans suspended indefinitely |
| Lafayette ← New Iberia ← | W  E |
→ Luling → New Orleans |
| Baton Rouge ← Donaldsonville ← | N  S |
→ Grand Isle → END |