Mid-City Carriages

I approached one carriage driver by Jackson Square for a 30-minute tour and she said she'd have to wait until she was full before she could go, and she was currently empty and had been waiting an hour. As I left to check with the other carriage companies, she moved her carriage across the street for a different position. Another carriage company was almost full and had 1 seat available in 2 different carriages, but there was a bunch of French-speaking passengers who kept saying "non" when the buggy man told me to get on. So I went back to the original Mid-City driver, now across the street, and asked if I could sit and wait with her and then bail if I got tired of waiting. "You can try..." said, and I replied "You don't seem that optimistic." She reiterated how long she'd been waiting and got exasperated and said there was nobody around, and I mentioned to her that there were just 2 full carriages that departed across the street. "THAT'S BECAUSE THEY MADE A RESERVATION" she told me, and I immediately apologized and told her I didn't mean to agitate her. "I'm not agitated, you're trying to tell me about my business." I told her I really wasn't and she said, "Yeah you are" so I told her I was going to move in and to have a good night and I got a snotty "Have a good night" back. I don't understand why she wouldn't have wanted my fare. I was just making conversation. She can't possibly expect me to know how it all works. Why wouldn't she want a passenger sitting in her carriage to encourage others to join, rather than sitting there with an empty carriage?Maybe she was having a bad day. I felt really bad after I left her. But I can't imagine the actual carriage tour with her being very pleasant when she was so unpleasant to me in a position where she should be trying to sell me a ride.

A horse carriage ride sounded like the perfect way to beat the heat, give our feet a rest and enjoy a narrated tour around the French Quarter.There's so many choices to book online, so we decided to inquire direct. We found some carriage operators at Jackson Square chatting up other visitors, so we parked ourselves nearby and eavesdropped on pricing. I wasn't able to catch all the details, so I piped up and indicated our interest. $25/30 min ride and $125/30 min for a private tour (credit cards accepted.) We opted for 30 min and together with the other party, we made 5 people. Adrian the operator wanted at least 2 more people on the tour and said we would leave in approximately 5 min while he tried to lure in more customers. It didn't work. Off we went with just 5 of us onboard. It turns out the "horse" is actually a "mule" and is a hybrid between a horse and a donkey. They are better suited for the Louisiana climate than horses. This particular mule was named Elvis.Elvis took us through some of the residential areas of the French Quarter, which is by far a lot more aesthetically pleasing and quieter than the touristy areas. Large plants adorned the windows and balconies of these homes.Although New Orleans was founded by France, they gave up control to Spain for approximately 40 years. Therefore, the architecture of the French Quarter is actually Spanish. We passed by a haunted property that Nicolas Cage once owned, aka the site where Delphine LaLaurie tortured her slaves and another site where "The Originals" was filmed, along with other interesting sites. Adrian pointed out spikes on the top of balcony poles, and referred to them as "Romeo spikes." They were to prevent boyfriends of young girls from climbing over and visiting late at night. There were also broken bottles in makeshift planters lined on top of fences that were similar in concept, but most likely to prevent intruders.We discovered so much more on this tour that we wouldn't have known otherwise.

I have done previous carriage rides here over the past 13 years. I was looking to have a fun ride and I found it with Claudia, (the mule), who even has her own Facebook page. Her driver, Kaliechia, was a blast. The pair have a wonderful bond. Claudia is super smart and responds to verbal commands. The $25 for 30+minutes is a bargain! Had so many laughs on this ride! At the end, we could feed her carrots and of course take pictures.Then, I did an hour long tour with another company. They had over booked and I was forced to sit with the driver!? It wasn't fun.Cudos to Mid-City! I wish my 30 minutes could have been an hour! If you are undecided which company to go with, hand down this is the best!

Love our tour guide (forgot her name) and the horse Maggie Mae. Great introduction of the various touristy spots in the French Quarter.

Memories are amazing things, the best ones are the foundations of what is yet to come ... I found myself wanting to create a hand made Christmas gift for my love with some of our most memorable moments. I came across photos of our 1998 trip to NOLA. I remember so clearly the carriage ride through the French Quarter and how relaxed and comfortable we felt as our driver guided us along, filling us in about the history and culture of the area. We had just spent a morning of shopping and sight seeing so the afternoon ride was much appreciated. We are planning a return trip for next year and I wanted to see if Mid-City was still around, I'm so happy to know that indeed it is! A 4 star better than most tours in NOLA

Has an awesome time! The ride went through the French quarter, around the cemetery, Frenchman street, and I don't even know where else. Our guide was super knowledgeable and did an awesome job. Totally worth the money! I want to go again!

CASH ONLY - $20 PER RIDER (Adult or Child) - COLLECTED AT END OF RIDE. There, you've been warned (because I know some people don't bother reading the tiny little signs posted at the bottom of the carriage). Anyway, these tour carriages can be hit or miss. You really have to gauge the personality of the driver from chatting with them a bit before committing to a ride. If the person is someone you feel you could handle a half hour (or hour for $40 per person) with, then hop on! BEWARE: if you take a seat on a carriage as the only passengers, the carriage driver will have you sit in the carriage for about a half hour while he/she tries to tempt other passersby to take a ride. So, you may want to hop on a carriage who already has two people sitting on it for faster service.Our driver was super friendly and knowledgeable about the city, its rich (and dark) history and will answer you general questions. My family really enjoyed the tour.

We had a great tour and our superb guide Willie (NOLA native) was great at improvising a tour through the French Quarter, Marigny and a bit of the Treme. He was very knowledgeable and humorous too.

Thanks to Mid City for organizing a great personalized tour! the team was so gracious to help out and make sure my parents could do this (very easy access carriages!) - And highly recommend Willy !! fantastic local guide - incredibly kind, supremely knowledgeable and tremendously witty - what an absolute pleasure - if you're looking to see history and culture in New Orleans with a local, book Mid City!!

We had some time to spare before our Ghost/Vampire/Voodoo tour, so decided to take a private carriage tour. Our guide Kevin Reed was AMAZING! we had a wonderful ride, got to see the sites and hear the "cleaner" history of NOLA and it's history. Kevin not only knew the history, but gave us the "nicer" version of it by leaving out the gory parts, and his information was almost identical to what we heard later on during our Ghost tour for some of the same buildings. We let him know ahead of time that we where doing that tour next, so Kevin made it a point to take us around the more haunted/wicked places for our tour, so we got a real good feel for the history of NOLA and information that made our tour not only enjoyable, but an educational experience in the funnest sort of way (Think History meets Home Economics meets Shop Class). Celia our mule was amazing, and worked so well with Kevin, you can tell that had a great bond. The ride was comfortable and cozy for the two of us and Kevin made sure we had an amazing evening adventure! We definitely recommend!