Cayenne

Cayenne is the largest city in and capital of French Guiana. Cayenne lies on the Atlantic coast, on marshland surrounded by hills. It is an important seaport in South America.

Understand
The city was founded in 1643 by the French and was part of the Dutch, English and Portuguese colonial empire during the following century. Today a third of the department's inhabitants live in Cayenne. Downtown is small and the houses are typically Caribbean.

On Sundays, almost everything is closed. If you arrive on a Sunday, the only thing to do on your first vacation day is walking around in an almost deserted city.

In 2019, the city was home to 66,000 people.

Climate
The climate is what you would expect this close to the Equator. The temperature is constant around +25-30°C while it's raining heavily for most of the year.

By plane
French Guiana's main international airport is

There are no buses to the airport, so your alternatives are to rent a car or take a taxi (€35 to central Cayenne).

By road
From both neighboring countries, you have to cross a river by ferry into French Guiana. From Brazil, you will arrive in Saint-Georges de l'Oyapock from where you can travel by bus to Cayenne with a transfer in Régina. From Suriname you will step off the ferry in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni from where you can take a bus to Iracoubo and transfer to another going to Cayenne.

If you've brought a car, the road is paved from both borders towns to Cayenne.

Get around

 * Cayenne has a public bus network of five lines. The fare is €1,10.
 * Your other options are obviously car, taxi, foot or bike.

Do
There are sand beaches in the eastern part of Cayenne, and the sea is good for surfing.

Carnival
Guianese Carnival takes place between Epiphany in early January and Ash Wednesday in February or March. On the weekend people put on their carnival dresses and dance in the streets through the night. The most remarkable are the ladies' colorful touloulou dresses. The dancing groups show the ethnic diversity of French Guiana. In the main parade that is held on the last Sunday of the carnival dancing schools (similar to those in Rio de Janeiro) perform. The most famous of them are Chiré Band, Réno Band, Kassialata, Manaré and Piraye.

Buy

 * For souvenir shopping head for the Trois Fontaines shops and other shops in the downtown. Good souvenirs are objects carved out of wood and exotic objects of art.
 * For souvenir shopping head for the Trois Fontaines shops and other shops in the downtown. Good souvenirs are objects carved out of wood and exotic objects of art.
 * For souvenir shopping head for the Trois Fontaines shops and other shops in the downtown. Good souvenirs are objects carved out of wood and exotic objects of art.

Eat
The restaurants of Cayenne reflects the ethnic mosaic of the Guyanese society; you will find Creole, French, Chinese, Lebanese and Javanese restaurants here.

Budget
In general the Chinese restaurants are the most affordable places to have a meal with dishes for €15-20. On Place des Palmistes there are also carts selling hamburgers and Javanese dishes.



Drink
Except for the carnival weeks, the nightlife isn't as wild as in many other Latin American destinations. There are some nice bars in Cayenne downtown. Nightclubs are generally located in the periphery of the city.



Sleep
Good hotels exist, but they can be relatively expensive.

Go next
From Cayenne you can relatively easy get to other parts of the department or to the neighbouring countries overland. Kourou boasts a space centre and the Devil's Island archipelago. To get a taste of the rainforest of inner Guiana you can take a domestic flight for instance to Saül.