Louisiana Boardwalk

Shreveport and Bossier City grew up facing each other across the Red River, which for much of the nineteenth century was blocked by an enormous natural logjam known as the Great Raft. Clearing that raft in the 1830s opened the upper river to steamboats and gave rise to Shreveport as a river port, named for the man who led the clearing effort. Bossier City developed on the opposite bank, and the two have grown together as the metro center of northwest Louisiana.

This is the country of the Caddo people, whose confederacies once spread across the region where Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas meet. The Caddo lived in settled villages and traded widely, and their homeland shaped the early history of the area before removal in the nineteenth century. Their name endures across the region, including in nearby Caddo Parish on the Shreveport side of the river.

The Boardwalk was developed in the 2000s as an open-air lifestyle center along the riverbank, a mix of outlet retail, restaurants, and entertainment laid out along a promenade rather than enclosed in a mall. The design keeps the river in view throughout, so shopping and dining come with the wide, flat expanse of the Red River and the Shreveport skyline beyond.

Over the years the mix of tenants has shifted, as such districts do, but its appeal has stayed the same: a walkable riverfront where you can browse shops, catch a movie, eat with a view of the water, and let the kids run. In the evening, with lights strung along the promenade and reflected in the river, it becomes one of the pleasanter places in the metro to spend an unhurried few hours.

The Boardwalk is well placed for exploring the wider metro. Across the river, downtown Shreveport holds museums, historic districts, and the cultural life of the city, from art galleries to live music. The R.W. Norton Art Gallery and Sci-Port science center on the Shreveport side round out a visit with art and hands-on learning for families.

The surrounding Ark-La-Tex is a distinctive corner of the South, where Louisiana's French and Creole heritage meets the piney-woods culture of east Texas and south Arkansas. Barbecue and Southern cooking share the table with Louisiana flavors here, and the region's music runs deep, giving the metro a character all its own.

Because the Boardwalk is an outdoor district, timing helps. Mild-weather afternoons and evenings are the most comfortable, and a summer visit is best saved for the cooler hours near sunset, when a breeze comes off the river. Check ahead on the shops and attractions you most want, since each keeps its own schedule.

For a fuller day, cross the river to downtown Shreveport and combine the Boardwalk's shopping and dining with the area's museums and history. Together the two banks of the Red River give a good feel for northwest Louisiana, a region that often surprises travelers expecting only bayous and beignets.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.