Turtle's Levee Bar: Small Bar, Big Fun

A fan favorite for locals and tourists from abroad, Turtle's Bar is located just steps away from our Swamp Shop. Opened a few months after Atchafalaya Basin Landing Airboat Swamp Tours in 2000, the original building had a screened in porch where live bait was stored. The screen was eventually removed, and the bait was moved into a storage room between the bar and the Swamp Store to give our guests an unobstructed view of the beautiful cypress trees in the swamp. Recently, we completed construction of our new 1,200 square foot covered patio, which floats in the water on pontoons and provides a gorgeous, breezy and spacious view of the landscape and our daily airboat launches and operations.

Since the early 2000's, guests from around the globe have celebrated birthday parties, bachelor and bachelorette parties, girls'/guys' night and more in the main bar and back patio. Over the decades, we have been visited by a few local and international celebrities like Sammy Kershaw, Wayne Toups, Carlos The Baker, Norman Reedus, David Bromstad, and many others. Bloggers, photographers, YouTube creators, TikTok-ers and artists have come from around the globe to enjoy the southern hospitality and laid back vibe.

Turtle's Bar may not be big, but it packs a big punch of fun with an extensive digital jukebox that plays inside and outside, video poker, and some of the most creative shot specials anywhere. Served alone or on the 4 person "shot-ski" (an actual ski with four permanent shot glasses), our guests come to enjoy the exotic concoctions created by our bartenders.

We enjoy a weekly gathering of regulars and locals each Thursday afternoon, and our Louisiana Saturday Nights are the most fun you can have anywhere in the swamp. The residents who live or spend their weekends at the houseboats enjoy Turtle's as their "neighborhood bar" and can be spotted each week saddled up to the bar, telling stories, sharing laughter, and making memories. We are open Wednesday through Friday from 3Pm til, and Saturdays and Sundays from 11AM til.

If you are lucky, you will occasionally find owner Tucker Friedman or another guest chef in the back cooking up a delicious family style meal. Fried Catfish, boiled crawfish, sauce piquant, gumbo, spaghetti and rice and gravy are perennial crowd pleasers. While we aren't currently set up to sell food, we gladly share free plate lunches with our guests on special occasions and invite them to bring their own snacks to munch on while dinner is cooking.

It's not an uncommon sight to see 10 people gathered around our large, central table sharing a huge bag of pretzels, occasionally asking "When's that food gonna be done?" Nothing gives our large community of home cooks more pleasure than sharing our Cajun heritage through the bonds that food creates. There is something new every week to see these days, as we are growing and changing with the times. We have lots of exciting things going on just over the levee, so bring a friend and come hang out with us at Turtle's Bar Wednesday afternoons through Sunday evenings!

A frequent visitor shared an anonymous image with us once that summed up the Turtle's Bar Philosophy, and we think it suits us just fine:

Advice From A Turtle:

Come out of your shell

Be well rounded

Slow down

Know when to stick your neck out

Log time with your friends

Home is where your heart is

Snap out of it!

For more information, visit our website at basinlanding.com.