Suriname
Paramaribo
South America's only Dutch-speaking capital: a UNESCO-listed city of white timber houses where a mosque and a synagogue share one street.
Suriname's capital is the only Dutch-speaking capital in South America, a low-rise river city whose historic centre of white-painted wooden houses, churches and government buildings is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. What makes it memorable is the mix plantation history left behind: Creole, Hindustani, Javanese, Maroon, Chinese and Indigenous Surinamese share the streets, and on Keizerstraat a mosque and a synagogue stand side by side. It is hot, humid and unhurried, eats very well, and makes a natural base for the old plantations across the river and the rainforest beyond.
Suggested stay
2–4 days
Language
Dutch
Currency
SRD
Timezone
UTC-3
Why you'll love Paramaribo
The wooden city Streets of white clapboard houses with green shutters on red-brick bases, rebuilt in timber after the great fires of the 1800s, with the wooden cathedral rising above them.
Many faiths, one street A mosque and a synagogue share Keizerstraat, with Hindu temples and churches a few blocks away. Living side by side is the thing the city is proudest of.
Food Hindustani roti, Javanese bami and saoto soup from the warungs of Blauwgrond, Creole pom and fried plantain. The country's history, told one dish at a time.
The river Guiana dolphins surfacing at dusk where the Suriname meets the Commewijne, and old plantations on the far bank, a short boat ride from the centre.
Best time to visit
Sep-Oct
32-32° days
5.824° N, 55.166° W
UTC-3 · America/Paramaribo
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Weather & when to go to Paramaribo
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Sep-Oct
Watch for May-Jun monsoon flooding risk · Jun-Nov cyclones & hurricanes risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Paramaribo
May and June are the wettest months, with rain most days and flooding in low-lying streets. September and October are the driest and hottest. It is humid all year. The wet months are also when leatherback turtles nest in numbers at Galibi, so turtle watchers come anyway.
Top things to do in Paramaribo
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Historic inner city - walk the UNESCO-listed wooden streets
history culture arts 👍 PopularBlock after block of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century houses built from local hardwood on brick foundations, with galleries, shutters and steep roofs, laid out on the grid the Dutch drew behind the river. Walk it early before the heat builds, starting from the Waterkant and working inland toward the cathedral.
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Fort Zeelandia - the star fort and the Suriname Museum
history culture arts 👍 PopularThe five-pointed brick fort on the riverbank where Paramaribo began, taken from the English by a Zeeland fleet in 1667 and named for that province. It now houses the Suriname Museum, with period rooms, old cells and the story of the plantation colony, and its ramparts look straight down the river.
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Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul - the wooden cathedral
history culture arts ⭐ Highly recommendedBuilt in the 1880s almost entirely of timber and often called the largest wooden building in South America. The twin-towered exterior gives little away; inside, bare unpainted wood rises in vaults and galleries. It is a working cathedral, so dress for church and visit outside Mass.
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Keizerstraat - the mosque and synagogue side by side
culture arts history 👍 PopularThe Neveh Shalom synagogue, home of a Jewish community whose roots here go back to the 1600s, stands next door to the big white Keizerstraat mosque with its minarets. The two even share a car park, and the city holds the pair up as the picture of how its faiths live together.
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Independence Square and the Palm Garden - the ceremonial heart
history culture artsOnafhankelijkheidsplein is a wide lawn framed by the white Presidential Palace, the National Assembly and the old colonial finance building. Behind the palace, the Palmentuin is a shady grove of towering royal palms. On Sunday mornings men gather on the square with caged songbirds to hold singing contests, a Paramaribo institution.
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Waterkant and the Central Market - the working riverfront
shopping foodThe riverside road that was the colonial merchants' address, lined with timber mansions facing the water, runs into the Central Market, a big covered hall of fish, produce, spices and herbal remedies. Food stalls along the river serve fried fish and snacks into the evening, when the breeze comes up.
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Suriname River dolphins - a boat out at sunset
nature wildlife scenic ⭐ Highly recommendedGuiana dolphins, a small grey species of coastal rivers and estuaries, feed around the meeting of the Suriname and Commewijne rivers near Fort Nieuw Amsterdam. Late-afternoon boat trips go out to find them and come back upriver as the sun sets behind the city.
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Blauwgrond warungs - Javanese cooking on the north side
foodThe Javanese community's neighbourhood north of the centre is where Paramaribo goes for bami, nasi, saoto soup, satay and vegetables in peanut sauce, served in open-sided family warungs. Go hungry and go in the evening, by taxi.
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Kleine Waterstraat - drinks on the riverside strip
nightlife music foodThe short run of terraces, bars and restaurants beside the big riverside hotels is where the city's evening happens. Order a cold Parbo, the local beer, and watch the street fill up after dark, especially at weekends.
Best areas to stay in Paramaribo
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Historic centre (Binnenstad)
First-time visitors $$Wooden colonial streets by the river
Explore hotels in Historic centre (Binnenstad) →
Kleine Waterstraat
Hotels and nightlife $$$Riverside hotels, terraces and nightlife
Explore hotels in Kleine Waterstraat →
Commewijne plantations
Plantation stays $$Restored plantation lodges across the river
Explore hotels in Commewijne plantations →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Paramaribo
Getting to & around Paramaribo
Getting there
Fly into Johan Adolf Pengel International at Zanderij, about an hour south by road, or cross by river ferry from French Guiana or Guyana.
Flight
Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport (PBM)
About 45 km south of the city, roughly an hour in by taxi or pre-booked hotel transfer. Arrange the ride before you land. Direct flights come from Amsterdam, with regional links to the Caribbean and neighbouring countries.
Ferry
Albina
From Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni in French Guiana, a ferry or pirogue crosses the Marowijne to Albina, then minibuses and shared taxis take about two hours west to the city.
Ferry
South Drain, near Nieuw Nickerie
From Guyana, the Canawaima ferry crosses the Corantijn from Moleson Creek, then a long drive east along the coast road. Most of a day from Georgetown.
Getting around
Walking
The historic centre, the Waterkant and Kleine Waterstraat are all walkable, though the midday heat slows everyone down.
Free
Taxi
Taxis are unmetered, so agree the fare first or have your hotel call one. The standard way home after dark.
TBC
Minibus
Privately run minibuses on numbered routes fan out from terminals in the centre. Pay the driver in cash.
TBC
Bicycle
Flat, easy cycling, and bikes are the usual way to tour the Commewijne plantations across the river.
TBC
Car hire
Handy for Brownsberg and Jodensavanne. Suriname drives on the left, like neighbouring Guyana.
TBC
Boat
Small passenger boats cross the river to the Commewijne bank, the usual start for a plantation bike ride.
TBC
Day trips from Paramaribo
Commewijne plantations
Full dayPlantation bike loop
Across the Suriname River, old sugar, coffee and cocoa estates line the Commewijne in a flat grid of dykes and canals made for cycling. The classic loop takes in Peperpot's plantation forest for birds and monkeys, the sugar-mill ruins at Marienburg and Fort Nieuw Amsterdam where the two rivers meet.
Getting there
ferry | car | tour
A short boat ride across the river, or about 30 minutes by car over the Jules Wijdenbosch Bridge
Jodensavanne
Full dayColonial Jewish settlement
Upriver on the Suriname, the brick walls of a seventeenth-century synagogue and the gravestones of a Sephardic Jewish planter community, among the earliest Jewish settlements in the Americas. The forest has taken most of it back, and that is the atmosphere.
Getting there
car | tour
About 1.5-2 hours south by car or on an organised tour
Brownsberg Nature Park
Full dayRainforest plateau
A forested plateau high above the Brokopondo reservoir, the vast lake flooded behind the Afobaka dam in the 1960s. Trails drop to waterfalls, howler monkeys call at dawn, and the view over the drowned forest is the easiest taste of the interior from the capital.
Getting there
car | tour
About 2-3 hours south by road, by car or tour
Galibi
1-2 daysTurtle nesting beaches
Where the Marowijne meets the Atlantic, Kalina villages look out over beaches where leatherback and green turtles haul up to nest at night. It is an overnight trip with an operator, and the nesting season runs through the wetter first half of the year.
Getting there
car | ferry | tour
About 2 hours east by road to Albina, then a boat down the Marowijne
A little history of Paramaribo
Kalina and Arawak peoples lived along this coast long before Europeans arrived, and the city's name is usually traced to an Indigenous village on the river. English planters settled the Suriname River around 1650, and in 1667 a fleet from Zeeland took their fort. At the Treaty of Breda that year the Dutch kept Suriname and let the English keep New Amsterdam, the future New York. Sugar, coffee and cocoa plantations worked by enslaved Africans made the colony rich, and people who escaped into the forest founded the Maroon nations, whose treaties with the colony date from the 1760s.
Great fires in 1821 and 1832 burned much of the town, which was rebuilt in the timber that defines it today. From the 1850s, and above all after slavery ended in 1863, the colony brought in contract labourers from China, British India and Java, which is why the city looks and eats the way it does. Bauxite carried the economy through the twentieth century. Suriname became independent in 1975, a military coup followed in 1980, and in 2002 the historic inner city joined the UNESCO World Heritage List.
English planters settle along the Suriname River.
A Zeeland fleet takes the English fort, renamed Fort Zeelandia; the Treaty of Breda leaves Suriname Dutch and New Amsterdam English.
The colony makes peace with the Ndyuka, the first treaty recognising a free Maroon people in the interior.
The first of two great fires destroys much of the wooden town; a second follows in 1832.
Slavery is abolished, followed by ten years of state-supervised plantation labour.
The first indentured labourers from British India arrive; Javanese workers follow from 1890.
Suriname becomes independent from the Netherlands, with Paramaribo as its capital.
Critics of the military government that took power in 1980 are killed at Fort Zeelandia, remembered as the December murders.
The historic inner city is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Know before you go
Payment
Cash preferred
English
Limited
Wifi
Workable
Power
Type A / B
110 V, 60 Hz
Dialing
+597
Monsoon flooding risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
Cyclones & hurricanes risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
FAQs about Paramaribo
▸ When is the best time to visit Paramaribo?
September and October are the driest months and the hottest, and the easiest time for river trips. May and June are the wettest, with rain most days and some street flooding. The rest of the year sits in between: humid, often showery, and perfectly workable. If turtles are the goal, the nesting season at Galibi peaks in those wet months.
▸ How many days do I need in Paramaribo?
Two days covers the historic centre, Fort Zeelandia, the markets and a sunset dolphin trip. Add a day for a bike ride round the Commewijne plantations and another for Brownsberg or Jodensavanne. Most visitors then head into the interior for a few nights, by road to the Upper Suriname River or by light plane from the city's domestic airstrip at Zorg en Hoop.
▸ What language do people speak in Paramaribo?
Dutch is the official language and the language of signs, menus and government. On the street the common tongue is Sranan Tongo, an English-based creole, alongside Sarnami Hindustani, Javanese and Chinese. English is widely understood in hotels, tour companies and among younger people, so getting by without Dutch is easy.
▸ Is Paramaribo safe to walk around?
The historic centre is comfortable to explore on foot by day. Petty theft happens, as in any capital: keep phones and bags out of sight, avoid empty streets late at night and take a taxi back after dark. Check your own government's current advice before travelling.
▸ What should I eat in Paramaribo?
Start with roti, the Hindustani flatbread served with curried chicken, potato and long beans, then Javanese bami, nasi and saoto soup from a warung. Pom, the Creole oven dish of grated pomtajer root and chicken, is the celebration food, and it also turns up in a sandwich as broodje pom. Wash it down with Parbo, the local beer.