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Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, LA

Photo: jillian.e, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Sports & OutdoorsOutdoor AdventureFamily Favorite

Chicot State Park

Fish a 2,000-acre lake for bass and sac-au-lait, hike a 22-mile loop trail and walk the Louisiana State Arboretum in rolling south Louisiana woods.

Louisiana Highway 3042, north of Ville Platte, LA · Ville Platte, LA

About Chicot State Park

Chicot State Park covers about 6,400 acres of rolling hills around Lake Chicot, a 2,000-acre man-made lake stocked with largemouth bass, crappie (sac-au-lait), bluegill and red-ear sunfish. It joined the state park system in 1939, and the Civilian Conservation Corps did much of the early building. A 22-mile hiking and backpacking trail circles the lake with primitive campsites along the way, and the park has cabins, lodges, campgrounds, boat rentals and three boat launches. The 600-acre Louisiana State Arboretum, founded in 1961, sits inside the park off Highway 3042.

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  • #fishing
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  • #cabins
  • #arboretum

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What's around here?

The closest stops to Chicot State Park, ordered by straight-line distance.

  • Nightlife
    Date Night

    Coushatta Casino Resort

    No admission fee

    Louisiana's largest casino, with a 100,000-square-foot gaming floor, two hotels, an 18-hole golf course and an RV park.

    36 mi awaySwitch it up: Nightlife

  • Museums

    Louisiana History Museum

    No admission fee

    A downtown Alexandria museum focused on the history of Central Louisiana, Rapides Parish, and the state as a whole.

    Transit: reachable by public transit

    36 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Museums

    Alexandria Museum of Art

    Under $25

    Downtown art museum in Alexandria, Louisiana, housed partly in a historic 1898 bank building.

    Transit: reachable by public transit

    37 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Sightseeing

    Maison Madeleine

    Check prices

    A restored 1840s Cajun cottage on the National Register of Historic Places, set among gardens on Lake Martin near Breaux Bridge.

    41 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Museums

    University of Louisiana at Lafayette Science Museum

    Under $25

    A downtown Lafayette museum with hands-on science exhibits and a planetarium, run by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

    Transit: reachable by public transit

    43 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Museums
    Local Gem

    Acadiana Center for the Arts

    No admission fee

    Downtown Lafayette arts center with museum-quality galleries and the James Devin Moncus Theater.

    Transit: reachable by public transit

    43 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

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