Christmas Eve Bonfire Express in New Orleans booking from $69.00

Christmas Eve Bonfire Express

Overview

Celebrate a time-honored Louisiana tradition - the lighting of the bonfires on the banks of the Mississippi River!

The Bonfire Express Tour includes round-trip narrated motor coach transportation to view the bonfires that light the way for Papa Noel (our Cajun Santa Claus) to bayou country. (approximately 4.75 hours)

A police escort will accompany our “sleigh of coaches” to view the bonfires that light the way for Papa Noel. For many years this Cajun community has built mammoth wooden structures along the Mississippi River levee. Come see the "feux de joie" (fires of joy)!

NOTE: You must walk approximately 3 blocks (¼ mile) to view the bonfires. Please wear comfortable clothes and shoes.

City: New Orleans

Sun 23 Feb

Other dates

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Starting at $69.00

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Sun 23 Feb

Starting at $69.00

Make a reservation

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What's Included

Water and Christmas cookies included in price

Driver/guide

Air-conditioned vehicle

Additional Info

Wheelchair accessible
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Public transportation options are available nearby
Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
There is a 1/4 mile walk to the bonfires from your coach bus
Social distancing enforced throughout experience

What To Expect

Gray Line

Board your coach bus here to begin your tour. Boarding begins at 4:15pm.

Mississippi River

Celebrate a time honored Louisiana tradition - the lighting of the bonfires on the banks of the Mississippi River! The Bonfire Tour includes round-trip narrated motor coach transportation to view the bonfires that light the way for Papa Noel (our Cajun Santa Claus) to bayou country. A police escort will accompany our “sleigh of coaches” as we draw near to the bonfires. For many years this Cajun community has built mammoth wooden structures such as cabins, tepees, & riverboats along the Mississippi River levee. Come see the "feux de joie" (fires of joy)! Some walking is necessary.

Cancellation Policy

All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.

Reviews (6)

Negotiator_001

Dec 2019

When my wife mentioned about this event I thought would be a large bonfire with people around celebrating something, a local tradition or something old brought by the French people. I’m generally open mind with new things, so I didn’t object to go. After one hour bus drive we were there. The event: It was a large burning on the levee with around 80 bonfires, 10ft tall. I asked to the locals why so many bonfires, nobody was able to tell something that makes sense, even from religious point of view, one family told me that the father of the man organizing the bonfire used to do that and he keep doing it, “ it became a family tradition”. I don’t want be negative but after all bonfire lit up the scene was very close to my view of apocalipse: Fire everywhere, hot temperature, dark skies and intoxicate smoke smell. This is a no sense event organized by the community, If you care for your health and little one health don’t go to this event, it is intoxicate. If you care about the planet, pollution and the effects on the atmosphere, don’t go either. You are going to be part of the destruction and pollution. It is bad, specially on Christmas eve.

scribe44120

Dec 2018

I couldn't help but read a few of the reviews others posted ... and it seems like I got lucky. Had I experienced a bus with a flat tire causing me to miss this tour altogether, I would have been really disappointed. Had I chosen the dinner option instead of the express tour, I would have been disappointed. And had I been less mobile and unable to walk on uneven ground to see the bonfires up close, I would have been disappointed. This tour cost $59. Not worth the cost ... unless you figure in the fact that you are being transported in a relatively comfy bus with a bathroom and you don't need to fight traffic coming and going during the hour-long drive west of New Orleans. We went to the small town of Lutcher. I thought that part of the trip would include viewing more bonfires than we actually saw. But given that I didn't even know this Christmas Eve tradition existed until about a month before my trip, I didn't really have any expectations. I was just along for the ride. Our tour guide (I can't remember her name) provided some really interesting commentary on the history of the tradition and general New Orleans history as well. On the ride back to New Orleans she also passed out bottled water and store bought sugar cookies. Since this tour is smack dab during the dinner hour, plan on bringing snacks. There seemed to be a Food Court a short walk away from the bus loading area but I don't know what the offerings were. A couple other reviewers have commented on the limited amount of time we were able to spend looking at the bonfires since our buses left 15 minutes late and we only had about an hour total once we got off the bus to walk to where the bonfires were, look at them being lit (the quicker walkers were able to get to the area with a few minutes to spare before the 7 pm lighting), enjoy the fireworks and the overall festive atmosphere and walk back to the bus. For me, that was plenty of time. Would I do this again? Nope. But if you're in New Orleans on Christmas Eve and want to experience a purely Louisiana tradition that only happens one day a year, this is something to consider.

82000411

Dec 2018

We traveled to Louisiana for the holidays specifically to see the bonfires on the levees. We had heard so many amazing reviews about this Gray Line tour (most from Trip Advisor) and were so looking forward to it. When the date came, we arrived early and got on a super long line to board the buses. The weather was perfect despite reports of the possibility of rain or clouds. At least three or four buses filled with tourists and departed a little after 5pm, presumably headed straight for the bonfires. The remaining 20 or 30 of us did not get to go because our bus got a flat tire on its way to the Gray Line lighthouse on Toulouse St. According to the Gray Line bus dispatcher, due to the large number of tourists coming into town for the bonfires, Gray Line Tours rented out buses from another company, and 99 out of 100 times this subcontractor was very reliable. However, on this night, the company did not communicate anything about the flat tire to Gray Line Tours until at least 5:30pm, which was 45 minutes after we were supposed to be on our way there. There is, admittedly, nothing that Gray Line Tours could have done to control or prevent the flat tire from occurring. Still, we were extremely disappointed in Gray Line's response to the problem. As soon as they learned about the flat tire, they decided to wait it out in the hopes that it would be repaired and that the bus would keep heading to its destination. They did not seek an alternative bus to pick us up nor did they seem to have any back up plan. When six o'clock rolled around, we were told that they were still waiting to see whether the repair on the tire would happen but that there was no alternative to that bus. No rental companies nearby would be able to provide a vehicle in that short amount of time; and we were warned that ridesharing services like Uber or Lyft would not be reliable as they could probably drive us out there but would not necessarily be available to drive us back to New Orleans (or couldn't be expected to wait there until we were done). Further complicating the issue was that, even if we found a ride, we would be stuck in traffic and might miss the bonfires anyway. The dispatcher apologized and said that the manager would refund us the total amount of the tickets. That of course was no substitute for not being able to go to the bonfires and it was the right thing for them to do no matter what; but when we approached the ticket office, we saw the cashiers telling some of the other guests that they could not receive a refund and they were talking them into exchanging their tickets for complimentary boat tours. This being an event that only occurred on December 24th, it was not as though any of us could move our tickets to another date for the same event. That was inconsequential anyway since we were leaving New Orleans on the 25th. We told the cashier that we would not be in town later in the week and were able to get a full refund for the tickets. Other families came from much farther than us - one family was New Zealand, another from England; and another party came from Canada to celebrate someone's birthday. All came all the way to New Orleans during this time of year just to see the bonfires but none of them ended up seeing the bonfires. This was an exceptional event and beyond anyone's control. However, Gray Line Tours could have had a back up plan and had an alternative in place rather than waiting it out knowing that the closer we got to the start of the event, the more difficult it would be to get in. They also could have made it easier for the other guests to get full refunds without insisting that they take another tour that Gray Line offered. For these reasons, we were disappointed in this company and do not recommend this tour. That being said, if you want to take this tour, you should have your own back up plan and make sure to have other activities planned so that if this the main reason for your trip falls through, you still have fun. New Orleans has so many interesting things to do and see so luckily it would not be too difficult to find an alternative activity.

Response from Host

Jan 2019

You are correct that we had one bus that did not arrive and it took some time to get the contracted company to respond definitively. In the meantime our personnel called on one of our own drivers to come in on Christmas Eve, which he was very willing to do. The difficulty was that the police escort arranged for the buses would not be able to wait the additional time for that bus to arrive. They reported the traffic to be far heavier that in recent years. Rather than have this group wait longer, take the trip to the bonfire area upriver, but perhaps not arrive in time, brought about the cancellation. Our apologies for the fact that we could not provide the tour and if the information was not shared completely. We did provide refunds for the guests who did not take a tour or cruise with us. As this is the first time this has happened to us, it has initiated a plan for 2019 so results will be enjoyment for all that book this experience.

Christmas Eve Bonfire Express

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