Guide For A Downtown Getaway

If you’re itching to take a quick road trip where you can park your car and put the keys away for a few days, make your way to Ruston, Louisiana to experience our charming, walkable downtown.

Ruston’s thriving downtown offers unique shopping, history, culture, and numerous culinary experiences to help make your getaway a memorable one.

Below you will find an itinerary that allows you to park your car, unpack your bags, and enjoy a weekend stay in beautiful Downtown Ruston.

Eat

Start your morning off with a coffee

What better way to begin your day than with a freshly brewed cup of coffee from one of the two locally-loved coffee shops located downtown. Walk over to Board and Bottle or The Depot to enjoy your morning brew.

Then make your way to breakfast

For breakfast on Saturday morning, we recommend checking out Grown and Grazed for a meal full of local flavor and ingredients. Another option is getting brunch at Park Ave Diner. Get the french toast, you’ll thank us later.

When you’ve worked up an appetite for lunch

For lunch, we suggest Ruston’s own microbrewery, Utility Brewing. The house-made beer pairs perfectly with their wood-fired craft pizzas. On a pretty day, be sure to grab a table on their charming patio.

For a post-lunch dessert

What better way to follow lunch than with a sweet treat? Uptown Downtown has a wide selection of gourmet desserts that any sweet tooth will drool over. The salted caramel brownie is something out of this world.

Finish your downtown eating adventure with dinner

After a day of walking around and enjoying all that downtown has to offer, head to Ponchatoulas, where you can get a true taste of Louisiana cuisine. Their menu features all the Cajun classics like gumbo, etouffee, poboys, and more.

Ponchatoulas Fried Pickles

See

Public Art

Downtown Ruston has built a reputation as a hub for the arts in Northeast Louisiana. Talent is around just about every corner of Downtown Ruston in the form of eye-catching murals and public art installations like “The Bulldog Project.”

Live Performances

There is always live entertainment to be found in Downtown Ruston, whether it be a local musician playing at a restaurant, a show on the Dixie Theatre stage, or a performance during an event in Railroad Park. And don’t forget to check our calendar of events to see all the upcoming performances in the area.

North Louisiana Military Museum

Take a five-minute walk from the heart of Downtown Ruston to find one of the most impressive collections of military history in the region. The North Louisiana Military Museum features an extensive collection of war relics and memorabilia and even has a few aircraft and war vehicles on site.

Photo Credit @haydens_ootd

Experience

Shopping

Whether you like to shop for your wardrobe, your home, or your hobby, Downtown shops have something for everyone. For your closet, we recommend The Fashion of Ruston, Chessy’s Boutique and Boutique Barr For your home, pay a visit to Park Haus or Chartreuse Pear If you are an artisit, professionally or just for fun, check out Creative Exchange for supplies, gifts, and local artwork.

Downtown Events

One of our favorite things about downtown is all the fun events throughout the year, from beer crawls to sidewalk sales to holiday festivities. Downtown's biggest event of the year is the Louisiana Peach Festival, which takes place on the first Saturday in June. For more downtown events, head over to our calendar.

Goldie Boutique

Stay

The Lofts

Nestled in one of our historic Downtown Ruston buildings on North Vienna Street lies the Ruston Lofts These guest-house-style accommodations offer one common area and three private rooms all designed in a sleek, modern style. And the best part of staying downtown is that you can park your car and leave it there until you (sadly) depart at the end of the weekend. For a full list of area accommodations, click here.

We hope this itinerary helps you plan your weekend getaway to Downtown Ruston. For more info on the downtown area, check out our downtown page, and be sure to follow Downtown Ruston on Facebook and Instagram. See you downtown!