Crossing borders: Suriname – French Guiana

Here comes a bit of a practical piece. The Guyana’s (the three countries in the north eastern corner of South America) are an absolute off the beaten path destination. I encountered other visitors in here, but they were few. There’s little information about travelling in the area, especially on crossing borders. Even my Suriname and French Guianese Airbnb hosts couldn’t help me out entirely. 

Frustrating as that was, I hope this piece will boost your travels in case you’re planning on visiting these countries.

As Suriname used to be a Dutch colony, in here you’ll mostly find Dutch tourists. The same goes for French Guiana – nothing but French persons. Incredibly enough, this territory is even still a part of France. 

Thus you really have to brush up your French in here (at least I had to, if you want to travel with ease in here. In Suriname the people speak so many languages that I’m pretty sure you’ll get around without a problem).

I just felt my brain squeaking while opening those rusty French layers with dusty vocabulary. 

During my entire trip through the Americas, this country was the most difficult for me communication wise, as my French has slowly been replaced by Spanish and I was therefore struggling to find the proper terms. I just felt my brain squeaking while opening up those dusty French layers with vocabulary. 

Border crossings are always a bit stressful, but I have to say that if you’re prepared, the crossing between Suriname and French Guiana can be very relaxed. No need to be fearful, just keep the prices in mind and stand your ground while stepping into the boat, taxi and buses. 

The process Suriname – French Guiana in short:

• Arrange a taxi to Albina: 100 SRD more or less
• Stamp your tourist card at the immigration center of Albina
• Hop on a boat to the other side of the river: Saint Laurent du Maroni
• In case you’re planning to stay longer than one day: ask if they can drop you at the French Guianese immigration center 
• In case you’re planning to return on the same day: stay seated in the boat and step out when the other passengers are too

The process French Guiana – Suriname in short:

• Get a tourist card at the Surinamese immigration center at Saint Laurent du Maroni (€40,- per card). Note that the center is often closed: during the afternoons and in the weekend. 
• Walk passed the French Guianese immigration center (in case you did on the way in, see previous block). Otherwise walk straight to the same dock you arrived
• Hop on a boat and cross the river
• Arrange a taxi on land to Paramaribo. It’ll only can get difficult to arrange one at the end of the day, as the people know you’ll have to get out of there and will force you to pay a high price. 

And here’s how this trip looks like visually! 

If you want to reach Albina from Paramaribo there are several ways to do so. You can arrange a taxi, go by bus, or perhaps even ask a tourist company if you can join them. I know that Celestial Tours for example arranges day trips to Saint Laurent du Maroni. But expect to pay more on such a tour.

The bus would be cheapest (only a couple of dollars), but it takes forever to get there, plus you have to be at the bus station SUPER early in the morning to make sure you’ve conquered a spot on the bus. We’re talking about 4am in here.

Thus for me, the only real option was to go by shared taxi. We were with five persons in the taxi. In general you shouldn’t pay more than 100 SRD for this ride, but I only found this out afterwards (asking my fellow travellers – locals – what they’d paid). But I did join the taxi last moment. In fact, he had to return for me as he had already left Paramaribo across the bridge and I therefore, perhaps, paid double the price I should have. 

Anyway, 100 SRD it is.

The ride was super relaxed and we even stopped a couple of times to get some food and groceries.

The immigration center

Now obviously whenever you cross a border you have to get pass the immigration center. However, most of the people in Suriname don’t do this – ever. In fact, even tourists don’t do this when they are just visiting Saint Laurent du Maroni. Even the tourist organizations won’t lead there groups passed this check. I was told by a French Guianese doctor that many Surinamese women even try to give birth in Saint Laurent du Maroni, as the hospital over there (supported by France) has a much higher standard compared to the ones in Suriname. 

So basically everyone is just illegally visiting Europe. 

Within Saint Laurent du Maroni the police – most likely – won’t check your visum. But outside there are many checkpoint, so if you’re planning on visiting French Guiana longer than a few hours, you MUST get your pasport checked. 

This is an easy process. Just fill in a form and get out again. At the time of my visit there was no one around. 

The river crossing 

Next our taxi driver dropped us off at the dock. ↓

In here many boatmen try to lure you in. I’d say, just follow the rest of the people you’re travelling with and make sure you pay the same as they do. In my case it was something like €2,50 or €3,- per person.

Hop in and make sure you’re a little in the back. Those chocolate milk streams will splash in your face otherwise. 

Those boats are old by the way, or let’s say “well-used”. Many locals seem to bit fearful by the speed of it too. While looking at their reactions I wondered if it ever went wrong in here. I wasn’t too pleased about the thought of swimming in these waters either. ?

But hey, on the upside, most of the times for sure it’ll be fine! 

Adding to the story that most people visit French Guiana illegally; make sure the captain knows you have to stop at the French Guianese immigration center. Of all twenty persons in the boat, I was the only one getting off in here. 

As I hadn’t been in Europe for quite a while (and I wasn’t really aware that France is still holding on to this former colony) I was quite amazed to see this sign! So familiar, yet so strange. ↓

As a European, this border crossing was very easy. They didn’t even ask me questions. Just stamped my pasport and let me go.

This is how the border looks once you step on French Guianese territory. ↓

Time to explore Saint Laurent du Maroni! 

There are a couple of cool things to do in Saint Laurent du Maroni. Visiting the Transportation Camp for example, where all the former French inmates arrived (think of Papillon), eating a steak tartare or strolling the Wednesday and Saturday market. I’ll create another article on what to do in this little city in a while. 

But don’t stay longer than a day in Saint Laurent du Maroni though! French Guiana has more to offer. 

If you’re planning on travelling a bit further inlands, try to plan your visit during a rocket launch. “A what?!” I hear you thinking. Yes, that’s right. A rocket launch.

French Guiana happens to have the only space center in Latin America and often shoots rockets into space. I experienced one – a Ariane 5 launch – myself and it was insane. Kourou is the place to be for this space center. Again, I’ll soon write another article about this event. 

From Saint Laurent du Maroni I took a minibus for €25,- to Kourou. They are not scheduled or anything; I just waited for the next one to leave. There are many minivans over there and if you come a bit in time, let’s say before the early afternoon, you’ll easily arrange a ride.

There’s basically only one road through French Guiana and it leads along the main hubs. This minibus was eventually heading to Cayenne, the capital of Saint Laurent. So wherever you go, it’ll be pretty straightforward. 

This was the place where the buses gather, located next to the dock. ↓

That’s it!

So how about the return?

The most important thing is to get your entry visum at the Surinamese immigration center in time. Before you’re landing on Surinamese ground again by boat, you have to have a visum, at least as a European. So I’ll be writing this from that perspective, I don’t know how this will be regarding people from the States or as a British person after Brexit, for example.

This visum will get stamped at the Surinamese immigration center at Albina. If you don’t have one, this can be a problem, especially in case the immigration staff doesn’t want to help you in any way. And they seemed to care little. 

In case you’ve arrived in Suriname by plane or are coming from Guyana, you can better arrange (in advance) a multiple-entry visum. This’ll save you money for sure, as otherwise you have to pay €40,- every time you enter Suriname. 

This is the Surinamese immigration center in Saint Laurent du Maroni. ↑ It closes early in the day plus it’s closed during the weekends. So check the opening times beforehand and plan on obtaining your tourist card accordingly. In my case the entire process of receiving my tourist card took something like 30 minutes.

Afterwards, head to the French Guianese immigration center and wait for a boat to pick you up and bring you to Albina. 

That’s it!

So what about safety?

A just question. While travelling during the day, having pre-arranged an Airbnb in both Kourou and Paramaribo, I felt quite safe. Personally I think it would have felt better if I’d travelled with someone in here, just in case. So I’d advise you to find a travel buddy in either Paramaribo, Saint Laurent du Maroni or wherever you’re travelling from. 

Funny enough, people in Suriname warned me for the safety in both the other two Guyanas. But in my opinion, Suriname isn’t exactly safe at night either. So I’d say whatever you do, whatever your gender is, don’t go out alone at night in any of the Guyanas. Only travel by daylight. The nights are dark in the jungle in here.

As soon as the sun went under I stayed either at my airbnb or only got out with a taxi arranged via my Airbnb host. Apart from this I immensely enjoyed my stay in all three of these underrated Latin American destinations!

Here’s where to stop while crossing borders: