Louisiana Fall Foliage Map 2026

The county map today

Where to go in Louisiana

The destinations we cover in Louisiana, in the order their color arrives. Each carries its own forecast and its own band, because a state isn’t one place.

1. Upper Ouachita National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
   Too earlyPeak 14 Nov best 13 to 16 Nov
2. Handy Brake National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
   Too earlyPeak 14 Nov best 13 to 16 Nov
3. D 'Arbonne National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
   Too earlyPeak 15 Nov best 14 to 17 Nov
4. Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
   Too earlyPeak 15 Nov best 14 to 17 Nov
5. Kisatchie National ForestLouisiana
   Too earlyPeak 16 Nov best 15 to 18 Nov
6. Tensas River National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
   Too earlyPeak 16 Nov best 15 to 18 Nov
7. Catahoula National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
   Too earlyPeak 16 Nov best 15 to 18 Nov
8. Red Dirt National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
   Too earlyPeak 16 Nov best 15 to 18 Nov
9. Lake Ophelia National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
   Too earlyPeak 16 Nov best 15 to 18 Nov
10. Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
    Too earlyPeak 16 Nov best 15 to 18 Nov
11. Red River National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
    Too earlyPeak 16 Nov best 15 to 18 Nov
12. Kisatchie Hills WildernessLouisiana
    Too earlyPeak 16 Nov best 15 to 18 Nov
13. Grand Cote National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
    Too earlyPeak 17 Nov best 16 to 19 Nov
14. Cat Island National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
    Too earlyPeak 18 Nov, sweetgum 26 Nov best 17 to 20 Nov
15. Bogue Chitto National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana, Mississippi
    Too earlyPeak 19 Nov, sweetgum 27 Nov best 18 to 21 Nov
16. Atchafalaya National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
    Too earlyPeak 19 Nov, sweetgum 27 Nov best 18 to 21 Nov
17. Breton National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
    Too earlyPeak 19 Nov best 18 to 21 Nov
18. Breton WildernessLouisiana
    Too earlyPeak 19 Nov best 18 to 21 Nov
19. Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
    Too earlyPeak 20 Nov, sweetgum 28 Nov best 19 to 22 Nov
20. Bayou Sauvage Urban National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
    Too earlyPeak 20 Nov, sweetgum 28 Nov best 19 to 22 Nov
21. Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
    Too earlyPeak 20 Nov, sweetgum 28 Nov best 19 to 22 Nov
22. Sabine National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
    Too earlyPeak 21 Nov, sweetgum 29 Nov best 20 to 23 Nov
23. Lacassine National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
    Too earlyPeak 21 Nov, sweetgum 29 Nov best 20 to 23 Nov
24. Cameron Prairie National Wildlife RefugeLouisiana
    Too earlyPeak 21 Nov, sweetgum 29 Nov best 20 to 23 Nov

When to go

Across 64 counties, peak color is forecast to arrive first in Webster Parish around Nov 13 and last in Plaquemines Parish around Nov 22. Most of the state peaks near Nov 18.

Each date is the middle of the four days we’d aim a trip at, and each place page names them. We score the model against 7 long-running forest monitoring sites in this part of the country and publish what it got wrong.

This autumn is running 3 days late in Louisiana. September has run warmer than the 1991 to 2020 normal so far, and the dates above already include that. It’s a real signal but a modest one: temperature explains under a tenth of how much peak color moves year to year.

Late November through mid-December, later than most people expect is how Louisiana is usually described.

What actually turns

Bald cypresses turn russet and copper in the swamps while sweetgums and tupelos provide red and purple accents, creating a warm, moody fall in the bayou landscape.

• Bald Cypress
• Sweetgum
• Red Maple
• Hickory
• Tupelo

Chicot State Park in the central piney woods and the Atchafalaya Basin swamps produce the best fall color in Louisiana, especially when the cypresses turn copper in late November.

Every county, by peak week

Latitude does most of the work here: color moves south at about two days per degree, so the north of the state turns a week or more ahead of the south.