Mardi Gras Transportation

Mardi Gras is parade season, and parade routes close streets for hours before and after each parade, every day for two weeks. A vehicle cannot cross a parade route while it is active, and the stopping points near one are set by the city, so the itinerary is planned around the parade schedule for that day rather than around the bars. We know the routes and the closure times; give us the date and the parades the group wants to see.

In New Orleans specifically, the French Quarter is closed to large vehicles for most of the season, and the drop and pickup points are outside it with a walk; we set the meeting point with a landmark. Beads and throws come on board; glass does not, and the ride home is under the on-board rules on the agreement.

Holiday plans also change more than others, because they depend on families, weather and other people’s parties. We set out the cancellation and change terms in your contract in plain language before you sign, so if the plan shifts you already know what it costs and what notice we need. That conversation is much easier had in advance than on the day.

On the clock, mardi gras charters usually run 6–12+ hours. We quote the schedule you describe rather than a minimum block, and if the route will not fit the hours you have asked for we say so at the quoting stage.

Public holiday events bring rolling closures — parade routes, firework exclusion zones, street festivals — and cities usually publish them in advance. We check them for your date and set the pickup and drop points outside the closure ring, then tell your group where to walk to, which is far better than a vehicle stuck behind a barrier trying to reach an address inside it.

On mardi gras trips the problems we see most are french Quarter is closed to charter buses — pickups happen at edge zones and hotel deposits and minimum-night rules cascade to charter availability. None of them is hard to fix a week out and all of them are expensive to fix on the day, so this is the list we work through with you while we build the quote.

None of this has to be final; rough answers let us size a vehicle and price a schedule on the first call. 6–12 months for NOLA peak weekend.

Two weeks before Fat Tuesday; New Orleans peaks the final weekend. On those dates the popular sizes go first, minimum blocks get longer, and the freedom to move your pickup by half an hour disappears. If your date sits inside that window, hold the vehicle first and refine the route afterwards.