New Orleans Night Tours
New Orleans comes alive after dark. Our night tours take you through the French Quarter when the gas lamps are lit, the streets are quieter, and the ghost stories hit different. Whether you want haunted history, vampire legends, a pub crawl, or a paranormal investigation, we have a tour that starts after sunset.
3,000+ Reviews
After-Dark Tours
Expert Local Guides
Dark by ~5:30pm in Dec/Jan, ~8:30pm in Jun/Jul
Tours Start 6pm to 8:30pm, Latest Wraps Around 11pm
No Night Swamp Tours: All Swamp Boats Run 9:45am to 4pm
Tours for this experience
Most PopularFrom$30
per person
French Quarter Ghost & Vampire Walking Tour
A walking tour through the supernatural French Quarter. Visit haunted mansions, hear vampire legends, and discover locations featured on American Horror Story and Ghost Adventures.
1 hour 45 minutesSee Availability
18+From$45
per person
ADULTS ONLY Ghost & Vampire French Quarter Walking Tour
The Ghost & Vampire tour, uncensored and adults-only. Explicit stories, intimate groups of just 16 guests, and a bar stop midway. The stories guides can't tell when families are around.
About 1 hour 45 minutesSee Availability
21+From$35
per person
Apparitions & Libations Haunted Pub Crawl
A 21+ walking tour through four of the French Quarter's most haunted bars. Your guide shares tales of murder, crimes of passion, and the paranormal. Ghost stories, dark history, and an adult atmosphere.
About 1 hour 45 minutesSee Availability
PremiumFrom$69
per person
Paranormal Ghost Hunt in the French Quarter
A hands-on paranormal investigation experience in the French Quarter. Join an intimate group and use real ghost-hunting equipment at two haunted locations to search for evidence of the other side.
2.5-3 hoursSee Availability
13+From$35
per person
Vampires of New Orleans Haunted History Walking Tour
Step beyond the novels into the real vampire history of New Orleans on this 90-minute evening walking tour. Explore French Quarter streets that inspired Anne Rice while uncovering the legends that made this city the vampire capital of the world.
90 minutesSee Availability
21+From$45
per person
Uncensored No Karens or Kids Allowed 5 in 1 Wicked History Tour
No kids. No filters. Absolutely no Karens. Real occult practitioners, mid-tour bar break, and five topics on one walk: ghosts, vampires, voodoo, witchcraft, and true crime.
2 hoursSee Availability
Walking TourFrom$35
per person
Ghosts of the Past: French Quarter Haunted Walk
Dive into the spooky past of New Orleans on this theatrical walking tour focused on historical hauntings. Skip the vampire stories and discover the authentic ghost legends that have made this city infamous.
1 hour 45 minutesSee Availability
Walking TourFrom$35
per person
New Orleans Voodoo History Tour
A 90-minute walking tour through the French Quarter exploring the real history of voodoo in New Orleans. No jump scares, no Hollywood myths. Just good storytelling about one of the world's most misunderstood religions.
90 minutesSee Availability
When It Actually Gets Dark in New Orleans, Month by Month
New Orleans sits around 30 degrees north latitude, close enough to the equator that daylight doesn't swing as wildly as it does up north, but it still moves more than most visitors expect, and Daylight Saving Time throws in a one-hour jump twice a year on top of that. In December and January, the sun is down by about 5pm and it's properly dark 20 to 30 minutes after that, call it 5:30. February and early March creep toward a 5:45 to 6pm sunset.
Then Daylight Saving Time kicks in on the second Sunday of March and the clock jumps forward an hour overnight, so sunset suddenly lands around 7pm instead of 6. It keeps sliding later through spring, past 7:30 in April, past 7:45 by May, and by June and July, near the summer solstice, the sun doesn't go down until around 8pm, with full dark closer to 8:30. August starts pulling back toward 7:30, September to around 7pm, October down to 6 to 6:30. Then Daylight Saving Time ends on the first Sunday of November and you lose the hour again, back to a roughly 5pm sunset that holds through the rest of the year.
Practically, that means an 8pm tour is full dark, gas lamps and all, every month of the year. A 6pm tour in December starts after sunset. The same 6pm tour in June starts with real daylight still in the sky. If seeing the Quarter genuinely dark is part of what you're after, book 8pm or later regardless of season.
When Our Night Tours Start, and Which One Runs Latest
Start times vary by tour, not by season, the times below are what each one runs year round. French Quarter Ghost & Vampire departs at 6pm or 8pm. Adults Only Ghost & Vampire is 8pm only. Ghosts of the Past has a 3pm daytime slot plus 6pm and 8pm evening ones, so if you specifically want the after-dark version, pick one of the later two. Wicked History starts at 7pm. Haunted Pub Crawl runs 5:30pm or 8:15pm. The Vampires Tour starts at 8:30pm, the latest of our standard walking tours, and runs about 90 minutes. Voodoo History Tour runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 7:30pm, it's not a nightly option, so plan around a weekend if that's the one you want.
For the latest possible finish, Paranormal Ghost Hunt's 8pm departure runs 2.5 to 3 hours and can wrap as late as 10:30 or 11pm (it's closed Tuesdays). If you're looking at cemetery tours specifically rather than French Quarter walking tours, the Haunted Cemetery Shuttle has a 9:30pm departure, the latest start time of anything after-dark we sell. That one's covered on our cemetery tours page, linked below.
No, We Don't Run a Night Swamp Tour
A fair number of people land on this page searching for a night swamp tour, so let's be straight about it: we don't sell one. Every swamp tour we offer, airboat and pontoon alike, runs during the day, with departures at 9:45am, noon, 2pm, and 4pm. The last boat of the day, at 4pm, is back at the dock somewhere around 5:30 to 5:45pm depending on which tour.
Compare that to the sunset numbers above and you'll notice something: in December and January, when sunset is around 5pm, that last boat is coming back right around dusk or just after. The rest of the year it's back well before dark. That's not an accident. Our guess is airboat and pontoon captains need real daylight to read the water, spot alligators, and navigate the channels safely, and the bayou doesn't have the lighting the French Quarter has. If what you actually want is New Orleans after dark, that's every other tour on this page. If you want the swamp, book a daytime slot, ideally an earlier one if you also want a full afternoon left in the city.
Walking the Quarter After Dark
It's fine to walk the Quarter at night. We're not going to pretend it's risk free, because no city block anywhere is, but our routes stick to well-lit, well-traveled streets, and you're in a group with a guide who works these blocks regularly rather than wandering solo. That's a genuinely different situation than walking alone down a quiet side street at 2am.
Ordinary city sense still applies once the tour ends. Keep track of your phone and wallet in a crowd, and if you're heading somewhere else afterward, stick to the same kind of busy, lit-up streets the tour used. One thing that works in your favor here: Louisiana doesn't set a legal last call, so the bars in and around the Quarter stay open and full of people well past midnight. There's rarely a stretch of the main streets that goes empty and dark the way it might in a lot of American downtowns.
What's Still Open When Your Tour Lets Out
Most retail shops in the Quarter close by 9 or 10pm, but that's not really what's happening after dark here. The bars and restaurants are what stay open, several kitchens in and around the Quarter serve food well past midnight and a few run around the clock, so if your 8pm tour lets out at 9:45 and you're hungry, you're not going to have trouble finding somewhere open. We put together a full list of late-night eats after a Facebook thread of local service-industry folks traded their real answers, it's linked below.
The Quarter itself feels different at night than during the day, less horse-drawn carriages and daiquiris-to-go, more live music spilling out of open doors and people moving bar to bar. Jackson Square and the daytime street performers thin out after dark, but Bourbon, and the blocks around it, get louder as the night goes on, not quieter.
You might also be looking for
Haunted Tours in New OrleansThe ghost-story angle on these same after-dark tours, which one is scariest, not what time it gets dark.New Orleans Cemetery ToursHome of the 9:30pm Haunted Cemetery Shuttle, the latest departure of any night tour we sell.New Orleans Haunted Pub CrawlThe one night tour on this list that comes with a drink at every stop.
Book Your Night Tour
Book online or chat with us for personalized recommendations.
Book Your Night TourFrequently Asked Questions
What time do night tours start?+
It depends on the tour. French Quarter Ghost & Vampire runs at 6pm or 8pm. Adults Only Ghost & Vampire is 8pm only. Ghosts of the Past has a 3pm daytime option plus 6pm and 8pm evening slots. Wicked History starts at 7pm. Haunted Pub Crawl runs at 5:30pm or 8:15pm. The Vampires Tour, our latest standard walking tour, starts at 8:30pm. Paranormal Ghost Hunt runs at 7pm or 8pm and can go until 10:30 or 11pm depending on the group (closed Tuesdays). Voodoo History Tour runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 7:30pm only, so it's not a nightly option, check your dates against those three days before counting on it.
When does it actually get dark, and which start time gets me a fully dark tour?+
Depends on the season, and it moves more than you'd think. In December and January it's dark by around 5:30pm, so even a 6pm tour starts in full night. By June and July sunset is closer to 8pm and it isn't properly dark until around 8:30, so a 6pm or 7pm tour that time of year still starts with real daylight in the sky. If you specifically want the Quarter dark, gas lamps and all, for your entire tour no matter what month you're visiting, book an 8pm or later slot.
Are night tours safe?+
Yes. Our routes stick to well-lit, well-traveled streets, and you're walking with an experienced local guide and a group, not alone. Ordinary city sense still applies once the tour ends, keep track of your belongings in a crowd and stick to busy streets if you're heading somewhere else afterward. One thing that helps: Louisiana doesn't set a legal last call, so the Quarter's bars and streets stay full of people well past midnight, which means the main streets rarely go dark and empty the way parts of other cities do late at night.
Which night tour should I pick?+
Ghost & Vampire is the classic and family-friendly, our most popular pick for a first night tour. Adults Only is the same tour uncensored, 18+. Haunted Pub Crawl adds a drink stop at four haunted bars, 21+. Paranormal Ghost Hunt is the most hands-on, using real ghost-hunting equipment at two haunted locations. Wicked History packs five tours (ghosts, vampires, voodoo, witchcraft, true crime) into one 21+ night with a strict no-Karens policy. If you're not sure, chat with us, matching people to the right tour is most of what we do.
Do you run a night swamp tour?+
No. Every swamp tour we sell, airboat and pontoon, runs during the day with departures at 9:45am, noon, 2pm, and 4pm. The last boat back is around 5:30 to 5:45pm, which in December and January lands right around sunset and the rest of the year is comfortably before dark. Captains need real daylight to navigate the channels and spot wildlife safely, and the bayou doesn't have the streetlights the French Quarter does. If you searched for a night swamp tour, what you actually want is probably one of the after-dark French Quarter tours on this page, or a daytime swamp tour timed to wrap up around sunset.
What's open in the Quarter after my tour ends?+
Plenty. Retail shops close by 9 or 10, but the bars and restaurants are just getting going. Several kitchens in the Quarter serve food well past midnight and a few run around the clock, so if an 8pm tour lets you out at 9:45 or 10 and you're hungry, you've got options. We put together a full list of late-night eats after asking local service-industry workers where they actually go, linked below.
Still Exploring?
Where To Eat In New Orleans Late at Night After A Ghost Tour?
Discover Top Late-Night Restaurants in New Orleans, Recommended by Locals, Perfect for Satisfying Your Post-Ghost Tour Cravings. Open Past Midnight and Beyond!
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[2026] Essential Ghost Hunting Tools for Paranormal Investigations in New Orleans’ French Quarter
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Not Sure Which Tour is Right for You?
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