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The Best Tour Company to Visit the Guianas (French Guiana, Suriname, and Guyana)
How to plan to visit the Guianas? The best way is with the travel company, Travel the Guianas, to make your trip tailored and smooth.
When it comes to trying to visit the Guianas, the infrastructure for tourism in French Guiana, Suriname, and Guyana is not as built up as other countries in South America or around the world. You will have a hard time finding all the tourist activities within the countries online, making it hard to plan. The best way to know what you may want to do and organize the transportation and logistics is through a local tour and travel agency. These agencies have the ability to book tourism activities through their local knowledge and connections and help you plan your trip at a variety of budgets and adventure levels.
Travel the Guianas is the premier travel agency to help you plan your trip to the French Guiana, Suriname, and Guyana.
Why Visit the Guianas Region?
Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana are part of a region often referred to as the Guianas. During the colonial times the Spanish, British, Dutch, French, and Portuguese all claimed parts of this area. Today, Venezuela (Spanish), Guyana (British), Suriname (Dutch), and Brazil (Portuguese) are all independent countries. However, French Guiana has remained as a part of France. In each region, people speak different languages based on the ruling colony, which had great cultural impact to the different areas. In addition, each colonizing power brought labor from various nations, adding to the unique mix of cultures in each country. This means that Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana are each culturally unique.
For example, in French Guiana, the primary language spoken is French and you will find bakeries with French baked goods (think croissants and baguettes) throughout the country. There is also a community of Vietnamese people in French Guiana who sought refuge after the French-Vietnam war when the Asian nation was a French colony. Today, you can see this community at the Cayenne market selling their produce and serving the Vietnamese pho soup.
However in Suriname, people typically speak Dutch along with other Creole languages. The indentured labor that was brought to Suriname was primarily Javanese (Indonesian) and Hindustanis (Indian), greatly impacting the cuisine of the country with the merging of these cultures with Dutch flavors.
From an ecological standpoint, the region is mostly covered in rainforest that is part of the Amazon. Being lightly populated countries, the rainforest in this region is largely untouched, making it an amazing place to find unique wildlife and plants in a largely undeveloped environment.
Blueprint Travelers Tour Agency Recommendation
Travel the Guianas
Travel the Guianas is a family-owned destination specialist and management operating in the three Guiana countries. They specialize in discovering the cultural, natural and historical diversity of Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. Located in Suriname, the team can help you put together an ideal itinerary and trip to discover this lesser-explored part of the world. With their local knowledge, they help navigate language gaps, organize transportation, find the tours based on your preferences, and work with your budget to make sure that your experience in the Guianas exceeds your expectations.
An itinerary through French Guiana, Suriname, and Guyana can really range in time, adventure level, and activity type. When visiting the Guianas region, Blueprint Travelers reached out to Travel the Guianas with a starting itinerary as it became clear that a local expert would be needed to coordinate the in-country experiences. While Blueprint Travelers coordinated all aspects of the French Guiana portion of the trip, Travel the Guianas was essential for coordinating the Suriname portion of the visit. For anyone that is considering visiting multiple countries in this region, we recommend coordinating the whole trip with Travel the Guianas.
While Travel the Guianas lists sample itineraries on their website, their true value is their local knowledge that helps tailor any itinerary to get the best experience in the Guianas. This region is more rugged and will give you a unique access to the rainforest. It also has a particular history with colonization, slavery, escaped slaves, local native populations, immigration, etc. that has really shaped local culture and cuisine. Travel the Guianas can help plan your itinerary by understanding your interests and coordinate your in-country experience. Their deep understanding of the region ensures that tours are interesting to you while allowing you to get the most out of the local nature and culture.
Sample experiences Through Travel the Guianas
Maroon Culture Tour
Spend a few days in the rainforest integrated within a community of descendants of escaped slaves. Jump in the rivers, hike in the forests, and eat and dance with the locals.
Sea Turtle Spotting Tour
Take an evening tour to the beaches in Suriname or French Guiana spotting giant sea turtles who have come to lay their eggs. Or get the chance to see them hatch and make their way to the ocean.
French Guiana Multi-Day Tour
Spend a few days exploring French Guiana to discover the French department’s history as a penal colony and the current European space station location.
Paramaribo City Tour
Explore Paramaribo, the capital city of Suriname, is now a UNESCO heritage site due to the historical buildings that are from the era of Dutch colonization of the land.
Contacting Travel the Guianas
Phone
+5978834300
+5978834300 / +5978583181
info@traveltheguianas.com
Payment Options
To pay for the tours and services by Travel the Guianas, you can pay with a credit card, bank transfer, Paypal, and Zelle.
Disclaimer About Currency in Suriname
Suriname is a primarily cash-based society and many international cards are not accepted throughout the country. The added complexity of the cash-based society is that many of the ATMs do not work for international cards or visa debit cards. Within Paramaribo, the Courtyard by Marriott has an ATM that does work for international cards. People claim that the ATM within the Republic Bank Suriname NV also works for international cards, but only if it contains available cash. If you have any concerns about withdrawing cash, consider bringing sufficient cash in dollars or euros that you can then exchange in the city center for Surinamese dollars.