Acadiana Regional Airport (ARA) serves New Iberia, Louisiana, a city at the heart of Cajun country known for Tabasco sauce production on nearby Avery Island and its French Creole heritage, and it is worth being upfront that this is a small regional and general-aviation airport that typically has limited or no on-site rental car desks compared with a larger commercial airport. Travelers flying into ARA on smaller charter or regional flights should arrange a car in advance through a local New Iberia agency or plan to pick one up elsewhere.
The more reliable option for most visitors is Lafayette Regional Airport, roughly twenty-five to thirty minutes northwest of New Iberia, which offers a full range of rental counters from major international companies and considerably more flight options into the region. From either New Iberia or Lafayette, the drive into the heart of Cajun country is short and easy, with Avery Island and its Tabasco factory and jungle gardens reachable in around thirty minutes from New Iberia, and the swamps and bayous of the Atchafalaya Basin spreading out to the north and west across a flat, water-laced landscape typical of south Louisiana.
Driving is on the right throughout the United States, and the roads connecting New Iberia, Lafayette and the surrounding Acadiana parishes are generally well maintained, flat highways with little in the way of elevation change, though low-lying areas near the bayous and marshes can flood during heavy rain or tropical weather, particularly in hurricane season from roughly June through November. Fuel stations are frequent throughout this well-populated part of south Louisiana, and humidity and heat through the summer months are worth planning around more than any road-condition concerns. Given the honest limitations of ARA itself, routing a rental through Lafayette Regional or arranging one locally in New Iberia in advance is the most dependable way to explore this stretch of Cajun country.