South America >> Amazonia >> French Guiana

French Guiana is in the Amazonia region of South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Brazil and Suriname.

Regions

Cities

  • Cayenne, the administrative capital of French Guiana
  • Kourou, the city which hosts the space center and Arianespace
  • Saint-Laurent, located on the Maroni river, which forms the natural border between Surinam and French Guyana.
  • Saint-Georges, on the Oyapock river, which is the natural border between Brazil and French Guyana.

Other destinations

Culture and History

First settled by the French in 1604, French Guiana was the site of notorious penal settlements (collectively known as Devil's Island) until 1951. The European Space Agency launches its communication satellites from Kourou. It is the only portion of mainland South America still governed by an overseas nation.

Climate

Tropical; hot, humid; little seasonal temperature variation.

Landscape

Low-lying coastal plains rising to hills and small mountains, mostly an unsettled wilderness.

Travel to French Guiana - Visa Requirements

Since French Guiana is a territory of France, French immigration law is applicable. Generally, this means EU citizens are allowed unhindered access into French Guiana while many other Western nations can stay for 90 days without a visa. Consult the France page regarding requirements.

Flights and airtickets to French Guiana

Cayenne-Rochambeau Airport (CAY)

By car

From Brazil you must take a private barge across the Oiapoque River. Its owner can be contacted in St Georges or in Oiapoque. From Suriname, there is a ferry to cross the Maroni River.

Buses to French Guiana

From Brazil and Suriname, when you reach the border, you cross the river with a motorboat or a dugout canoe.

By boat

From Brazil and Suriname, to cross the rivers Oyapoque and Le Maroni, which takes 15 minutes, it's not very expensive, but you have to haggle.

Tours and Getting around French Guiana

3,300 km of French Guiana's waterways are navigable by native craft; 460 km navigable by small oceangoing vessels and coastal and river steamers.

There is limited public transportation throughout the country. Minibuses go between major towns but there may only be a few per day. Fares are fixed per route; if only going partial distance to Cayenne you may have to pay the full fare. Eg. St. Laurent du Maroni to Kourou you may have to pay the full fare to Cayenne. Fare for St. Laurent to Cayenne is 35Euros.

Language Spoken

French is the official language of France, although Creole is widely spoken. The majority of the population speaks French while few understand English. However, many officials, police, and gendarmes speak English.

Currency

The official currency is the euro.

French Guiana Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

  • Bar des Palmistes is a nice relaxing restaurant bar, where one can enjoy a cool drink and enjoy the view of the "Place des Palmistes" park.

French Guiana nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs

Tafia is a local hard liquor that is widely drunk and used as medical purpose. One can drink it with lime juice or with salt and it's used in a drink called Planter, excellent.

Learn

Work

For European people coming from an EU country, working in French Guiana is allowed without problem. If you're from outside the EU, you will probably need a work permit - check with the French Embassy in your country. Do not forget though that the unemployment rate is high. But if you work in the health sector (doctor, nurse), it will be much easier.

Voluntary service: Volontariat Civil à l'Aide Technique (VCAT), [7]. Conditions: you must be French or from another EU-member state or a country belonging to the European Economic Area. You must be over 18 and under 28 years old (inclusive). You must not have had your civic rights revoked by a court or have been convicted of certain offences.

Stay healthy

Vaccination against yellow fever is necessary.

Respect

Loss of passports

It is advisable to pay extreme attention not to lose your passport: there are very few consulates in French Guiana as such services are provided by consulates in Paris, so you will be required to go to Paris in case you need your passport to be reissued if you are not an EU citizen.

Contact

Destinations in French Guiana:

This page was last edited by Stefan Ertmann. Based on work by Marius Mollersen and James Yolkowski, Wikitravel user(s) DorganBot, Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel and others. - Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license

Didn't find what you were looking for?
Submit your question to the French Guiana travel forum
Subject
Question / Comment
Note: HTML tags will be removed.
Your Name (required)
Your Email (will not be published) (required)
Website (Optional)

Note: Hitting submit you grant Traveltips24 the right to edit, display and store the content you provide.