Few American cities lean into Halloween quite like New Orleans does. There’s the actual haunted history, the ghost stories baked into nearly every French Quarter building, and a genuine love of costumes and parades. Put it all together, and Halloween here stops being one night. It turns into a month-long season, with something going on most weekends in October.
Family-Friendly New Orleans Halloween Events
City Park’s Ghosts in the Oaks opens up much of the family calendar, Thursday, October 15 through Sunday, October 18, 5 to 9 pm. Both the amusement park and Storyland stay open for trick-or-treating, rides, a pumpkin patch, arts and crafts, and a DJ dance party. For younger kids who aren’t ready for anything too scary, this is probably the pick.
Audubon Zoo runs Boo at the Zoo from Friday, October 16 through Sunday, October 18, another event built with families in mind. Trick-or-treating stays capped at kids up to 12, the haunted-house-style games lean younger, there’s a Ghost Train, and visitors get the usual chance to meet some of the zoo’s animals on top of it all.
Rounding things out is Boo Carré Halloween Haunt, Saturday, October 24, 11 am to 4 pm, right in the French Quarter. Free, kid-centric, and packed with live music, trick-or-treating, and what’s billed as a Spooky Second Line.
Krewe of BOO! and the Parade Scene
New Orleans Halloween really picks up steam the weekend Krewe of BOO! rolls. That’s the city’s official Halloween parade, Saturday, October 24, 6:30 pm. Kern Studios builds it, the same team behind a lot of Mardi Gras’ biggest floats, and the route sends fiberglass and papier-mâché monsters through the Marigny, French Quarter, and Warehouse District. Zombie Run happens that same Saturday morning. Monster Mash closes the night out as the parade’s official after-party.
Haunted Houses and Ghost Tours
Halloween events in New Orleans stretch well past organized festivals. Take The Mortuary Haunted House, set inside an actual former funeral home. It’s one of the city’s genuinely unsettling attractions, a solid pick for anyone chasing something closer to a traditional haunted house than a family event.
Ghost tours through the French Quarter run basically year-round, though October brings a clear jump in demand. These walking tours dig into the neighborhood’s voodoo history, reported hauntings, and vampire lore, often with stops at some of the Quarter’s most famously haunted hotels and buildings. Want a quieter Halloween night? An evening ghost tour followed by dinner covers a lot of the city’s spooky reputation, no costume required.
Nightlife and New Orleans Halloween Parties
Adults get just as full a calendar. House of Blues hosts the Endless Night Vampire Ball on October 31 itself, one of the city’s more theatrical costume parties. Bar crawls fill the final two weeks of October too, some built specifically around the French Quarter, giving visitors a built-in excuse to hop between the neighborhood’s most atmospheric bars in costume.
Halloween New Orleans 2026 also overlaps with HNO, the city’s long-running LGBTQ Halloween weekend. It runs October 30 through November 1, with its own gala, main party, and tea dance drawing crowds well beyond the city.
Where It All Happens
Most of the city’s Halloween events cluster around a handful of areas. The French Quarter carries the ghost tours, bar crawls, and the Krewe of BOO! route. City Park hosts Ghosts in the Oaks. Audubon Zoo sits further toward Uptown for Boo at the Zoo. With that kind of spread, a single Halloween weekend here can realistically mean stops in three or four neighborhoods, depending on what’s on the list.
Halloween Transportation New Orleans Visitors Should Plan For
With events pulled across the French Quarter, City Park, and Uptown near the zoo, a lot of Halloween transportation comes down to covering real distance between very different parts of town, often on the same night. French Quarter transportation does the job well for the ghost tours, bar crawls, and Krewe of BOO! viewing spots if you’re staying in or near the Quarter.
Headed to Ghosts in the Oaks at City Park, or another family event further out? An airport transfer arranged ahead of time takes visitors flying in straight from MSY to that route, no stop downtown needed first.
Book a Halloween limo service New Orleans ahead of time, and parking stops being an issue. So does the rideshare surge pricing that always seems to spike on parade nights and big event weekends. This one matters most during Krewe of BOO! weekend, when street closures scramble traffic across several neighborhoods at once.
Dinner, a ghost tour, a bar crawl, all in one night? That’s where a chauffeur service earns its keep, moving everyone through each stop together instead of breaking into separate rides every time the plan shifts.
Final Thoughts
Trick-or-treating for one night doesn’t come close to covering Halloween New Orleans 2026. City Park and the zoo host family events all their own. Krewe of BOO! anchors a full parade weekend. Real haunted history winds through the French Quarter, and the nightlife crowd keeps costumes out long after October 31 wraps up. With things this spread out, across several neighborhoods and multiple weekends, getting transportation sorted early isn’t just convenient. It’s what turns “maybe one event” into actually catching three or four.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the biggest Halloween events in New Orleans for 2026?
The big draws are Krewe of BOO! on October 24, Ghosts in the Oaks running October 15–18, Boo at the Zoo from October 16–18, and HNO’s Halloween weekend, October 30 through November 1.
Are there family-friendly Halloween events in New Orleans?
Several, actually. Ghosts in the Oaks at City Park, Boo at the Zoo at Audubon Zoo, and Boo Carré Halloween Haunt in the French Quarter are all geared toward families with younger kids.
Where is most of the Halloween activity in New Orleans?
The French Quarter takes the lead with ghost tours, bar crawls, and the Krewe of BOO! parade route. City Park and Audubon Zoo pick up most of the family-side events.
Is there a haunted house in New Orleans for Halloween?
There is. The Mortuary Haunted House operates out of an actual former funeral home and ranks among the city’s most well-known haunted attractions.
How should I plan transportation for Halloween weekend in New Orleans?
Book ahead. With events scattered across multiple neighborhoods, arranging transportation in advance sidesteps parade-related street closures and the surge pricing that tends to hit hardest on the busiest Halloween weekends.