New Orleans, LA – I noticed many reviews for this RV park start with a statement such as “do not judge this park based on its location in a run-down industrial area ” or “drive really slow as the entrance road is full of potholes” or “once inside the gated park you’ll feel safer”. Well, they are all accurate. Having read those statements, and more like them, I was prepared for the drive into the park and wasn’t surprised. The entrance road is not that bad, perhaps because we’ve been to Alaska and seen far worse. But the surrounding area is not nice and not conducive for walking/running/biking. Atypically for us, this was ok as our only goal staying here was to explore the city of New Orleans and take place in the weeks long celebration known as Carnival, leading up to Mardi Gras.
Water front sites face the canal between Pontchartrain Lake and the Mississippi River
Speaking of New Orleans, the park very nicely provides a shuttle into the French Quarter for $6/person round trip. They leave at 10 AM, 3:45 PM, and 7:45 PM to go into the French Quarter and pick up in town at 4 PM and 8 PM to return to the park. While convenient in theory, the latest return time is way too early for most anything we wanted to do in New Orleans (attend Mardi Gras parades and visit Jazz clubs mainly). Likewise the 10 AM time is somewhat late for general touring. So we ended up using Uber about 50% of the time and the shuttle the other 50%. A word on Uber, which applies just as well to anywhere in the world. They use “surge” pricing to increase the price of a trip before, during and after busy events. Taking Uber at 8 AM into the city cost $12. The exact same trip at 1 AM (after a large Mardi Gras parade ended) cost $35.
Interior roads are gravel/dirt and were fairly wide but could get congested with tow vehicles hanging out of sites
The park itself is ok. The roads are crushed gravel/dirt and not very smooth. After heavy rains (which are very common in New Orleans) there are large puddles everywhere and walking around the park while keeping feet dry becomes quite the challenge. The sites themselves are fairly level and all utilities worked well. Much like the park roads they are gravel/dirt, meaning lots of mud will splatter onto your RV during heavy rains. Wifi is only available at the office.
From Pontchartrain Landing we toured New Orleans including the French Quarter. We have also written additional posts on touring:
- New Orleans including the French Quarter
- Attending Mardi Gras & Carnival Parades
- Mardi Gras World (float building)
- National WWII Museum
- New Orleans Jazz Museum
- Oak Alley Plantation
Our site was wide enough to easily accommodate slides and felt private due to the landscaping between sites
We had space to park our tow vehicle, but some rows and canal front sites are shorter and wouldn’t fit a 45′ + tow. They do have some overflow parking
There is an onsite restaurant which is pretty good, and certainly convenient. We ate there a couple of times during our two week stay. I had the “salty pig” po boy, a combination of pulled pork and fried oysters, which was very tasty. We also tried two appetizers, both of which we’d order again: the southwest eggrolls and pulled pork nachos. Karla tried the jambalaya and gumbo and enjoyed both.
One of the laundry/bathroom facility buildings
As for the rating, if this park was located in a rural area I would give it only 3 stars. But as it’s so close to a big city I’ll up it to 4 stars. Note the nightly price almost doubles during Mardi Gras.
Rating: 
Date of stay: February 5 – February 19, 2018
Campground website: Pontchartrain Landing
