Cayenne (French Guiana)

Capital of a French overseas department in South America; beyond the Creole old town, watch rockets at the Kourou spaceport and visit the former penal colony on the Îles du Salut.

Cayenne is the capital of French Guiana, on a peninsula at the mouth of the Cayenne River in the northeastern corner of South America. It is administratively part of France (and an outermost region of the EU), uses the euro and French, and Chinese passport holders must apply separately for a French Guiana visa (Schengen visas are not valid). The city itself is small: the old town centres on Place des Palmistes, surrounded by colourful wooden Creole houses, the hill of Fort Cépérou, Saint-Sauveur Cathedral and two small museums, all walkable in a day; the central Cayenne Market is famous for its pho stalls and tropical spices. The real highlights are nearby: Kourou, about 60 km northwest, is the European Space Agency's launch base, where you can book a visit to the Guiana Space Centre or watch an Ariane rocket lift off from a viewing site; about an hour by boat from Kourou are the Îles du Salut, where Île Royale preserves the ruins of the penal colony, and Devil's Island of Papillon fame lies just opposite. To the southeast, the Kaw-Roura marshes offer night boat trips to spot caimans and scarlet ibises, and Cacao is a village of Hmong immigrants from Laos with a lively Sunday market. Around Rémire-Montjoly there are beaches, the Rorota rainforest trail and Jesuit ruins. The climate is equatorial, hot and humid all year; the Aug–Nov dry season is the best time to travel, with a brief dry spell, the petit été de mars, in March; Apr–Jul is leatherback turtle nesting season on the Awala-Yalimapo beaches in the west, which requires an overnight stay. Félix Eboué Airport has direct flights from Paris; public transport is scarce, so renting a car or joining a tour is recommended. Plan 4–5 days; bring proof of yellow fever vaccination and insect repellent, and take care with safety at night.

Top sights

• Îles du Salut – Three small islands off the coast of Kourou, once home to France's penal colony, and the setting for the Devil's Island in Papillon.
• Guiana Space Centre – The European Space Agency's equatorial launch site, with free tours of the launch areas and a space museum, and the chance to witness a roc…
• Kaw-Roura Marshes Nature Reserve – France's largest wetland reserve, where you can search for black caimans by boat at night and see scarlet ibises and hoatzins at dawn. A cl…
• Cayenne Market – Cayenne's most vibrant central market, brimming with tropical fruit and spices, and home to the Vietnamese pho stalls that locals swear by…
• Place des Palmistes – The central square of Cayenne, ringed by tall royal palms, with colorful Creole wooden houses and colonial-era buildings around it
• Fort Cépérou – The ruins of a fort on the small hill where Cayenne was founded, overlooking the Cayenne River mouth, the old town rooftops and the Atlantic
• Cacao – A village founded in 1977 by Hmong refugees from Laos in the rainforest; on Sunday mornings you can eat Hmong food and buy handmade embroid…
• Awala-Yalimapo – One of the world's most important leatherback turtle nesting beaches; in the rainy season, you can watch giant turtles come ashore to lay e…
• Îlets de Rémire – A group of small islands off Cayenne; Mother Island has troops of squirrel monkeys and forest trails, making it a popular half-day boat trip
• Rorota Trail – A classic rainforest trail on Mount Mayouri that passes reservoirs and lakes, with views over the Atlantic and the Rémire islands
• Montjoly Beaches – The most popular beach strip near Cayenne, with palm-fringed sand for watching the sunset, and seasonal sea turtle nesting
• Guiana Zoo – A zoo of native species set in the rainforest, with jaguars, tapirs, giant otters and scarlet ibises, plus a canopy walkway
• Museum of Guianese Cultures – An ethnographic museum covering the cultures of Amerindian, Maroon, Creole and Hmong communities
• Alexandre-Franconie Museum – A Creole-style house museum beside Place des Palmistes, displaying natural specimens, penal colony history and colonial-era artifacts
• Montagne des Singes – A small rainforest hill trail near Kourou; from the summit you can look out over the Guiana Space Centre and vast primary forest
• Trésor Nature Reserve – A primary rainforest reserve on the Kaw hills with a wooden boardwalk nature trail, a popular stop on the road to the Kaw Marshes
• Habitation Loyola – An archaeological site of a 17th–18th century Jesuit plantation, preserving the remains of a windmill, a small chapel and a sugar workshop
• Saint-Sauveur Cathedral – Cayenne's Catholic cathedral, a plain colonial-style church completed in the early 19th century, with a distinctive hardwood roof vault ins…
• Fort Diamant – The ruins of a 19th-century coastal battery guarding the mouth of the Mahury River, set among mangroves in a quiet spot

Where to eat

• Chez Sauveur – A Creole snack shop with a green facade in central Cayenne; its fried cod fritters and shrimp fritters are the top take…
• Ara Bleu Restaurant – A family-run Guianese Creole eatery that serves jungle game almost every day; stewed wild boar and agouti are its signa…
• Kaz Mimi – A popular restaurant in a Creole heritage house in central Cayenne, known for game such as stewed agouti and wild boar…
• Paris Cayenne – A French gastro brasserie open since 1981, creating inventive dishes with local fish, wild shrimp and market spices; lo…

Itineraries

• Three Guianas Overland: Georgetown to Cayenne – An overland journey from Georgetown via Paramaribo to Cayenne, connecting waterfalls, river villages, and a spaceport.
• French Guiana East-West Road Trip – Rent a car to drive from the Kaw Marshes westward, passing the spaceport and Salvation Islands to the Maroni River and…