Short answer: Thanksgiving in New Orleans in 2026 is a four-day weekend from Thursday, November 26 through Sunday, November 29. The weekend opens with the 118th Annual NOAC Turkey Day Race at Tad Gormley Stadium in City Park on Thanksgiving morning, then runs straight into the Celebration in the Oaks Driving Tour opening night on Black Friday, the Bayou Classic Battle of the Bands on Friday evening at the Caesars Superdome, and the 53rd Bayou Classic game, Southern vs Grambling, on Saturday at 1:00 PM. The smartest way to do the weekend is to book one chauffeured car that drops you at each stop and is staged when you come back out.
Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26, 2026. Thanksgiving Eve is Wednesday, November 25, the Bayou Classic game is Saturday, November 28, and Bayou Classic Sunday is November 29. The full four-day weekend is one block on the same fleet, and the same SUVs and Sprinters cover all of it.
The 2026 Thanksgiving weekend at a glance
| Day | Date | Headline event | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed | Nov 25 (Thanksgiving Eve) | Bar crawl night, French Quarter | Bourbon Street |
| Thu | Nov 26 (Thanksgiving) | 118th NOAC Turkey Day Race, 7 AM | Tad Gormley Stadium, City Park |
| Thu | Nov 26 (Thanksgiving Day) | Thanksgiving Day river cruises, afternoon | Mississippi riverfront |
| Fri | Nov 27 (Black Friday) | Celebration in the Oaks Driving Tour opens, 5 PM | City Park |
| Fri | Nov 27 (Black Friday) | Bayou Classic Battle of the Bands and Greek Show, 7 PM | Caesars Superdome |
| Sat | Nov 28 (Bayou Classic) | 53rd Bayou Classic, Southern vs Grambling, 1 PM | Caesars Superdome |
| Sun | Nov 29 (departure day) | Oaks Driving Tour final Sunday hours, 5 PM to 9 PM | City Park |
The 2026 schedule verified against turkeydayrace.com, celebrationintheoaks.com, caesarssuperdome.com, and WAFB. Tickets for the Bayou Classic game and the Battle of the Bands went on sale in May 2026, per WAFB.
The 118th NOAC Turkey Day Race: Thursday morning at City Park
The Turkey Day Race is the headline Thanksgiving morning event and has been a New Orleans tradition since 1908, according to the New Orleans Track Club and the race's official site. The 118th running starts and finishes at Tad Gormley Stadium inside City Park on Thursday, November 26, 2026 at 7:00 AM. Race registration opens earlier in the fall at runsignup.com, and the race historically raises money for Spina Bifida of Louisiana.
The race format stays the same year over year: a 5-mile run and walk open to all ages, plus a kids' run for younger family members, with both events finishing at Tad Gormley Stadium. Packet pickup is the day before at the same venue, and the race morning draws a crowd that benefits from the City Park roads being closed to vehicle traffic for a few hours.
For runners and supporters staying in the French Quarter or the CBD, the race is about a 15-minute drive from a hotel in either neighborhood to Tad Gormley Stadium. Drivers should be aware that City Park roads (Friederichs Avenue, Marconi Avenue, and Dreyfous Avenue) close early on Thanksgiving morning, so a chauffeured drop-off at the stadium gate is the easier call than self-parking.
Bayou Classic weekend: Friday and Saturday at the Caesars Superdome
The Bayou Classic is the headline Thanksgiving weekend sports event and turns the Caesars Superdome and the surrounding CBD into the busiest weekend of the early holiday season. The full transportation plan, including the per-vehicle pricing chart, the full Friday/Saturday itinerary, and the Superdome bag policy, lives on the Bayou Classic transportation page. The headline facts:
- Friday, November 27, 2026, 7:00 PM: Battle of the Bands and Greek Show, Caesars Superdome.
- Saturday, November 28, 2026, 1:00 PM: the 53rd Bayou Classic game, Southern vs Grambling State, Caesars Superdome.
- Southern University is the designated home team in 2026 on the west sideline; Grambling State is on the east.
- Tickets went on sale in May 2026, with game tickets ranging from about $32 to $255 and Battle of the Bands tickets from $38 to $125, per WAFB.
- The Superdome is cashless for tickets, parking, and concessions.
A chauffeured six-hour block covers the Friday night Battle of the Bands and any pre-game dinner, then the Saturday morning hotel pickup, the pre-game lunch, the 1:00 PM kickoff, and the post-game dinner. Rates are all-in with gratuity and fuel surcharge: $546 for a sedan, $741 for an SUV, $1,170 for an Executive Sprinter for up to 14, and $2,242.50 for a 24-passenger limo party bus.
Celebration in the Oaks opens Black Friday at City Park
Celebration in the Oaks is the City Park Conservancy's largest annual fundraiser and the headline holiday lights event of the season. The 2026 edition opens Friday, November 27, 2026 (Black Friday) and runs nightly through Friday, January 1, 2027. The two-mile Driving Tour through the live oak canopy, plus the Walking Tour at the Botanical Garden, Storyland and Carousel Gardens Amusement Park, runs the full season. Daily hours, the full schedule, and the Dasher Pass FAQ live on the Celebration in the Oaks service page.
A Thanksgiving weekend that opens with the Turkey Day Race on Thursday morning can run the Oaks Driving Tour on Friday night with the same fleet. The chauffeured Driving Tour drop is at 4 Friederichs Avenue; the post-tour pickup is at the same gate when the two-mile loop finishes, so the group never circles for parking in City Park.
Thanksgiving dining in New Orleans
Thanksgiving Day is one of the few days of the year when most New Orleans restaurants close, so the dining plan matters. The restaurants that do open on Thanksgiving run a holiday prix-fixe or a traditional turkey plate, and reservations book up by mid-November, per the New Orleans tourism calendar.
- Commander's Palace in the Garden District typically runs a Thanksgiving prix-fixe with the standard Creole turkey plate and a children's menu for the kids' table.
- Antoine's in the French Quarter, the oldest family-run restaurant in the country, runs a multi-course Creole Thanksgiving menu by reservation.
- Galatoire's and Mr. B's Bistro in the French Quarter typically run a holiday lunch service with classic bistro plates.
- Emeril's and NOLA Restaurant run a Thanksgiving feast family-style at the lunch and dinner services.
For families staying in the CBD or the Warehouse District, the Convention Center corridor hotels (the Windsor Court, the Ritz-Carlton, and the Loews) typically run a Thanksgiving Day brunch buffet that's family-friendly and walkable from the major CBD hotels.
Thanksgiving Eve (Wednesday, November 25)
The night before Thanksgiving is one of the biggest bar nights of the year and pulls a Bourbon Street crowd that rivals a normal Saturday night, according to the French Quarter bar associations. The Thanksgiving Eve Bar Crawl starts in the early evening and runs through last call. French Quarter bar stops include The Carousel Bar at the Monteleone, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, the Bourbon House, and the tableside patios on the 500 and 600 blocks of Bourbon Street.
For a Thanksgiving Eve bar crawl, the party bus service page lists the 24-passenger limo party bus and the 23-passenger executive bus as the two all-in options, and the chauffeur stays with the group for the whole block so nobody has to call a rideshare at last call. Thanksgiving Eve 2026 is Wednesday, November 25.
Thanksgiving Day river cruises
The Steamboat Natchez, the Creole Queen, and the paddlewheel riverboats on the New Orleans riverfront run Thanksgiving Day lunch and dinner cruises with traditional Creole menus and live jazz, per the New Orleans tourism calendar. The riverboats dock at the Toulouse Street and Canal Street wharves on the east bank of the Mississippi, and the cruises run 2-3 hours with boarding at 11:30 AM for the lunch cruise and 6:00 PM for the dinner cruise.
A chauffeured block to the riverfront at the Toulouse Street wharf runs about $91 all-in in a sedan from the French Quarter and back, with the same chauffeur handling the morning Turkey Day Race drop at City Park earlier in the day if the booking covers the whole Thanksgiving Day.
Getting around New Orleans on Thanksgiving weekend
The CBD, the French Quarter, and the Warehouse District are walkable between the major hotels, but Thanksgiving weekend brings three venues onto the same streets at the same time: the Caesars Superdome (Friday and Saturday nights), City Park (Thursday morning and Friday night), and the riverfront (Thanksgiving Day lunch and dinner). A single chauffeured car with a six-hour minimum covers the cluster better than a rideshare, and the same driver handles the morning Turkey Day Race at 7 AM, the Black Friday Oaks opening at 5 PM, and the Saturday morning Bayou Classic breakfast run on different days.
Hotel self-parking at the major CBD hotels runs $40 to $60 a night on a holiday weekend, and the Superdome lots fill by 11 AM on Bayou Classic Saturday. The city's RTA streetcar runs on a holiday schedule (no service on Thanksgiving Day, regular service on Friday through Sunday), so the streetcar is a fine Thanksgiving Eve option but does not help on Thursday or Saturday.
A four-day Thanksgiving in New Orleans itinerary
For out-of-town groups doing the full four-day weekend, the itinerary covers each day with one drop-off and one pickup:
- Wednesday, November 25 (arrival night): MSY airport transfer to a French Quarter hotel, dinner at the hotel, optional Bourbon Street bar crawl on Thanksgiving Eve.
- Thursday, November 26 (Thanksgiving Day): Turkey Day Race at Tad Gormley Stadium in City Park at 7:00 AM, Thanksgiving Day brunch at the hotel or Commander's Palace, afternoon Creole Queen lunch cruise on the Mississippi, dinner at Galatoire's, the Thanksgiving Day Lights driving loop at City Park.
- Friday, November 27 (Black Friday / Oaks opening): late breakfast, mid-mternoon shopping in the French Quarter, Celebration in the Oaks Driving Tour opening night at City Park at 5:00 PM, optional Battle of the Bands at the Caesars Superdome at 7:00 PM.
- Saturday, November 28 (Bayou Classic): tailgate brunch in the CBD, Bayou Classic game at 1:00 PM, post-game second line and dinner at the Bayou Classic fan festival.
- Sunday, November 29 (departure day): late checkout, optional Oaks Sunday Driving Tour at 5:00 PM, MSY airport transfer for the departure flight.
Thanksgiving weekend with kids and family
Thanksgiving in New Orleans is family-friendly, with three of the four headline events either designed for kids or open to all ages. The 118th NOAC Turkey Day Race on Thanksgiving morning includes the half-mile kids' run at Tad Gormley Stadium that finishes on the same track as the 5-mile, and registered kids under 12 race free with a registered adult, per the race's official site. The Thursday morning race is the family-friendly kickoff, with strollers welcome on the City Park festival grounds.
The Celebration in the Oaks Walking Tour at the Botanical Garden is the kid-friendly option for Friday and Saturday nights, with unlimited rides on the Carousel Gardens Amusement Park historic carousel and the Storyland train included in every Walking Tour ticket, per the Oaks site. Children 2 and under are free; the combined Driving Tour plus Walking Tour same-day ticket is $25 per person.
For Thanksgiving Eve bar crawls, the family-friendly block is the Steamboat Natchez boarding the family jazz brunch on Sunday morning or the National WWII Museum holiday hours on Saturday and Sunday, both walkable from the major CBD hotels and stroller-friendly.
Hotel blocks for Thanksgiving weekend
Thanksgiving weekend is one of the hotel booking peaks of the fall season and rooms in the French Quarter and the CBD run at full holiday rates by mid-November, per the New Orleans tourism calendar. For families with kids, the hotels closest to City Park (the Park View Guest House, the Canal Street hotels near the cemeteries) shorten the Thursday morning Turkey Day Race drop. For groups doing the Saturday Bayou Classic, the CBD block between the Caesars Superdome and the riverfront hotels shortens the Saturday morning walk to the dome gates.
Jazzy Limousine & Shuttle can stage a chauffeured car at any of the major French Quarter, CBD, or Warehouse District hotels for the airport pickup, the Thanksgiving Eve bar crawl, the Thursday Turkey Day Race at Tad Gormley Stadium, the Black Friday Oaks opening, the Saturday Bayou Classic, and the Sunday airport return.
From MSY
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) is about 25 minutes from the French Quarter and 30 minutes from the Caesars Superdome. The Thanksgiving weekend is one of the busiest airport weeks of the year, with the Wednesday and Sunday flights running on heavy demand, per the MSY flight schedule. All-in airport rates:
| Vehicle | All-in |
|---|---|
| Sedan (up to 2) | $126.50 |
| SUV (up to 6) | $165.50 |
| Premium SUV (up to 6) | $204.50 |
| Executive Sprinter (up to 14) | $278.00 |
| Limo Party Bus (up to 24) | by quote |
The airport pickup is flight-tracked and the curb is staged, so the chauffeur meets the arriving flight at the pickup zone instead of holding up the airport rideshare line. The same chauffeur who handles the Wednesday arrival handles the Saturday night pickup after the Bayou Classic and the Sunday morning MSY drop on departure day.
Book the Thanksgiving weekend car
Book now for a six-hour chauffeured block on Thanksgiving weekend. Jazzy Limousine & Shuttle books the Turkey Day Race, the Bayou Classic, the Black Friday Oaks opening, and the Thanksgiving Day river cruise with a six-hour minimum, all-in with gratuity and fuel surcharge. The same chauffeur handles every stop, the airport transfer is flight-tracked, and the entire four-day weekend is one block on the same fleet.
Thanksgiving weekend is one of the first weekends of the year to sell out, so booking 8 to 12 weeks ahead locks in the vehicle and the all-in rate before the Saturday Bayou Classic shares the same SUVs and Sprinters with the Wednesday airport and the Friday night Oaks opening.