Published on and written by Cyril Jarnias
Stuck between Brazil, Guyana, and French Guiana, Suriname remains largely unknown to the general public. Yet it is one of the most wild and preserved countries on the South American continent: over 90% of its territory is covered by primary forest, a large part of which belongs to the Amazon rainforest. This untouched nature is complemented by a colonial capital listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, Maroon villages where African heritage is still alive, indigenous communities, and a unique cultural mosaic.
To explore the must-see sites of Suriname, you need to anticipate that road access is limited. Beyond the roads, travel continues mainly by dugout canoe, small plane, or on foot through the jungle. This difficulty of access has, however, preserved the country, making it a prime destination for naturalists, birdwatchers, and travelers seeking authenticity.
Paramaribo, a Creole Capital Listed by UNESCO
Impossible to discover Suriname without passing through Paramaribo. The capital is home to nearly half of the country’s population and serves as the gateway to the Amazonian interior. Its historic center, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a concentration of Dutch colonial history, cultural mixing, and street life.
White wooden facades, gabled roofs of Dutch inspiration, palm tree gardens, and temples of all religions line the Suriname River. Dutch is spoken, but also Sranan Tongo, Hindustani, Javanese… in an atmosphere that blends the Caribbean and Northern Europe.
To give an overview of what the city concentrates, here are some of its highlights summarized.
| Site / Neighborhood | Why It’s a Must-See |
|---|---|
| UNESCO Historic Center | Colonial wooden architecture, 17th-century grid layout |
| Waterkant (riverbanks) | Colonial houses, cafés, street food, river view |
| Fort Zeelandia & Suriname Museum | Colonial history, slavery, military period, art and ethnography |
| St. Peter and Paul Basilica | Largest wooden building in the Western Hemisphere |
| Independence Square | Political heart, major official buildings |
| Palmentuin (Palm Garden) | Shaded park behind the Presidential Palace, monkeys and royal palms |
| Keizerstraat (Mosque & Synagogue) | Unique symbol of religious coexistence in the world |
The Historic Center of Paramaribo
The “Wooden City” as it is sometimes called, owes much to the Dutch colonial period. From the end of the 17th century, the Dutch laid out a grid plan on the left bank of the Suriname River. The large wooden houses, of European style adapted to the tropical climate, line the tree-lined streets.
The historic center, structured around Waterkant and Independence Square, houses the buildings of power and unique architecture. It is distinguished by UNESCO for the rare alliance between European construction techniques and tropical materials, as well as for the homogeneity of its wooden houses.
Walking along Waterkant, you pass the old warehouses, the Central Bank, commercial houses, and several churches. In the evening, food stalls, bars, and vendors of roti, grilled meats, or Javanese dishes take over. The river serves as the backdrop for this constant promenade.
Fort Zeelandia, Memory of the Country
At the end of the promenade, Fort Zeelandia still dominates the river. First a British fort in the 17th century, then conquered by the Dutch who renamed it, it long served as a military bastion before falling into disuse. Later it became a place of detention, then the scene of serious human rights violations during the military dictatorship in the 1980s.
Today, the fort houses the Suriname Museum. The rooms trace the different layers of history: colonization, slavery, indigenous and Maroon cultures, Asian immigration. In the former barracks, you can discover ethnographic objects, colonial furniture, old photographs, but also a preserved prison. The contrast between the pretty wooden buildings and this heavy past is striking.
In the barracks courtyard, the former officers’ houses have been converted to house the Nola Hatterman Art Academy and a café offering local cuisine, providing a cultural and gastronomic break after visiting the site.
St. Peter and Paul Basilica, Wooden Cathedral
A few streets away stands the spectacular silhouette of the St. Peter and Paul Basilica, entirely built of Surinamese cedar wood. Considered the largest wooden church in the entire Western Hemisphere, it impresses with its two 44-meter-high towers and neo-Gothic architecture adapted to the tropics.
Inside, the atmosphere is astonishing: everything is wood, from floor to ceiling, with an almost monochrome, carved décor where the volumes of the nave and arches take precedence over color. A large organ with over 1,500 pipes, three bells, confessionals, and the tomb of the Dutch-Surinamese priest Petrus Donders complete the picture. The building regularly suffers from termites and stability problems, requiring restoration campaigns, but it remains open to visitors.
Keizerstraat: Mosque and Synagogue Side by Side
A very concrete symbol of the religious diversity of Suriname, Keizerstraat is famous worldwide for housing a large mosque and a Jewish synagogue facing each other, even sharing a parking lot.
The Keizerstraat Mosque, with its four minarets and central dome, is the main Muslim center of the country and the seat of the Ahmadiyya movement. Originally built of wood, it was rebuilt in permanent materials in the 1980s. It remains open to visitors during the day, respecting customs.
Right next door, the Neveh Shalom synagogue, built in the 19th century on Jewish land acquired as early as the early 18th century, houses a small exhibition on Jewish history in Suriname. The whole forms a striking image: that of a country where Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and animist cultures coexist in relative balance.
Gardens, Statues, and Memory of Slavery
Behind the Presidential Palace lies the Palmentuin, a public garden of royal palms, often cited by UNESCO among the outstanding elements of the historic site. You can find capuchin monkeys, tropical birds, street vendors, and sometimes cultural events.
A little further, the Kwakoe monument also attracts visitors. This monumental statue depicts a slave breaking his chains. It commemorates the abolition of slavery in 1863 and symbolizes the freedom of Afro-Surinamese people. The surrounding neighborhood remains lively, with markets, bus stops, and shops.
Paramaribo as a Base for Exploration
Beyond the monuments, Paramaribo is a practical base camp for exploring other sites: Brownsberg, Galibi, Bigi Pan, the Central Nature Reserve, the Maroon villages… Local transport, domestic airlines, and travel agencies are concentrated here. Small nature parks like Peperpot, very close to the city, already offer a quick glimpse of the country’s biodiversity.
The Central Suriname Nature Reserve, a UNESCO Gem
This is the country’s green giant: the Central Suriname Nature Reserve covers over 1.6 million hectares, nearly 10 to 12% of the national territory. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, it is considered one of the largest protected areas in the Amazon basin.
Here, everything is superlative: dense lowland and montane forests, isolated granite domes (the famous inselbergs), swamps, high waterfalls. Suriname’s highest point, Juliana Top (1,230 m), is in this reserve, as is Tafelberg, the country’s only “tepui” (table mountain).
Over 5,000 plant species are recorded in this region, many of which are endemic.
| Feature | Key Data |
|---|---|
| Status | Nature Reserve, UNESCO World Heritage |
| Area | > 1.6 million ha (≈ 10–12% of the country) |
| Landscapes | Lowland and montane forests, granite inselbergs, swamps |
| Highest point | Juliana Top (1,230 m) |
| Notable fauna | Jaguar, giant otter, sloth, 8 monkey species, harpy eagle |
| Flora | > 5,000 plant species, many endemic |
| Best time to visit | Dry season (February–April and August–November) |
Raleighvallen and Voltzberg: The Accessible Heart of the Reserve
For the visitor, one of the best-known gateways to the central reserve is the Raleighvallen–Voltzberg region, on the Coppename River. It is usually accessed by a combination of dirt road and motorized dugout canoe, or even by small plane depending on the tour.
Raleighvallen (Raleigh Falls) is a series of rapids and cascades forming natural pools perfect for swimming. Downstream, the forest stretches as far as the eye can see, barely marked by a few rustic camps.
Dominating the landscape, Voltzberg is a granite dome 240 meters high that attracts hikers. The ascent, guided, allows you to observe monkeys, toucans, macaws, and a host of small birds before offering, at the summit, a panoramic view of the Amazonian canopy.
The area is a paradise for birdwatchers, with over 480 species recorded. It is notably one of the best places to hope to see the spectacular Guianan cock-of-the-rock, with its bright orange plumage, as well as red macaws, raptors, and, for the lucky ones, the harpy eagle.
Accommodations here remain rustic: carbets, hammocks, simple sanitary facilities. But it’s the price to pay for living in the heart of one of the most intact forests on the continent.
Brownsberg Nature Park: The “Accessible” Jungle Version
Only two to three hours by road south of Paramaribo, Brownsberg is often the first real immersion into the tropical rainforest for travelers. This nature park of over 12,000 hectares was created in 1969 on a plateau culminating at about 500–560 meters, overlooking the vast Brokopondo Lake.
Managed by the STINASU conservation foundation, Brownsberg offers a rare balance between accessibility, relative comfort, and natural richness.
| Key Data | Brownsberg Nature Park |
|---|---|
| Distance from Paramaribo | ≈ 120 km (about 2–2.5 h by road, 4×4 recommended) |
| Plateau altitude | ≈ 500–560 m |
| Area | 12,000–16,000 ha depending on source |
| Landscapes | Tropical rainforest, waterfalls, views over Brokopondo Lake |
| Fauna | Howler monkeys, capuchins, sloths, armadillos, jaguars, tapirs, 350 bird species |
| Best season | Dry season (August–November) |
Marked trails lead from the plateau to several waterfalls, including the popular Irene Falls or others more secluded. At dawn, the roar of howler monkeys accompanies the sunrise. In the evening, from the viewpoints of Mazaroni, the sun sets over the waters dotted with dead trunks of Brokopondo Lake, a vestige of the forest flooded during the construction of the dam.
Discover the facilities and unique experience offered by STINASU on the Voltzberg plateau.
STINASU has set up simple lodges equipped with showers and toilets, allowing you to spend the night on site.
Contemplate the sea of forest, listen to the cries of macaws and the sound of distant waterfalls for a taste of the wild immensity.
Galibi and Matapica: On the Beaches of Sea Turtles
In the far northeast of Suriname, facing French Guiana, the Galibi reserve is one of the most internationally known sites. Not for its villages or forests, but for its beaches: they are among the main nesting sites for sea turtles in the entire Western Atlantic.
Galibi Nature Reserve, Kingdom of Leatherback Turtles
Created in the late 1960s, the Galibi reserve protects about 40 km² of coastline, mangroves, and coastal forests near the mouth of the Marowijne River. The neighboring villages have been inhabited for centuries by Kali’na (Carib) communities, who have developed solid knowledge around the sea and forest.
Each year, from February to August (peaking from April to July), thousands of sea turtles come to nest on the beaches. You can notably observe the leatherback turtle (the largest species, critically endangered), as well as green, olive ridley, and hawksbill turtles. The sites of Galibi and the neighboring Matapica beach are among the few in the world to host a significant portion of the nests of leatherback turtles whose population is still relatively healthy.
The mangroves, in turn, serve as nurseries for fish and crustaceans, while the mudflats and forests host more than a hundred species of birds: scarlet ibises, herons, kingfishers, parrots, frigatebirds.
Access to Galibi is generally as follows: road from Paramaribo to Albina, then boat (about one hour) along the Marowijne. Local cooperatives manage the small guesthouses and ecolodges, as well as the nighttime turtle-watching excursions, to ensure the economic benefits remain with the communities.
Visits are strictly regulated: you approach the turtles only with a guide, without flash, staying behind the animal, so as not to disturb it. With a bit of luck, you can also witness the emergence of baby turtles running towards the ocean.
Matapica and Braamspunt: Other Nesting Beaches
A bit further west, Matapica beach, accessible by a combination of road and dugout canoe from Paramaribo, is another major nesting site for turtles. Here too, you can bivouac on the beach and watch, at night, for the arrival of females.
Closer to the capital, Braamspunt is located on a long sandy spit at the mouth of the Suriname River. Integrated into a special management area, it offers opportunities to observe turtles, but also Guiana dolphins (often called “pink river dolphins”) in the estuary, especially at sunset.
Bigi Pan, Coppename, and Wia Wia: Paradise for Waterbirds
The other great richness of the Surinamese coast is its wetlands: marshes, mudflats, mangroves, and lagoons that serve as stopovers for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds.
Bigi Pan, the Lagoon of Scarlet Ibises
On the northwest coast, near Nieuw Nickerie, the Bigi Pan reserve covers about 679 km² of shallow waters, mangroves, and mudflats. Classified as a Ramsar site of international importance, the area is crucial for many species of waterbirds migrating or breeding.
The numbers are dizzying: over 100,000 shorebirds (sandpipers, stints, plovers) were recorded there during an aerial count. It is one of the best sites in the country.
For birdwatchers
Boat excursions allow you to glide between the mangrove trees and approach bird roosts, especially at the end of the day when the scarlet ibises return to perch, literally transforming the trees into scarlet clouds. A few rustic lodges on stilts welcome visitors.
Coppename Monding and Wia Wia, Shore Sanctuaries
Further east, at the mouth of the Coppename River, the Coppename Monding reserve stretches along about fifty kilometers of coastline. It protects mudflats and mangroves that feed hundreds of thousands of shorebirds; up to 400,000 have been counted there in a single season, including large colonies of scarlet ibises (over 7,000 pairs) and numerous sandpipers.
Over 100,000 migratory shorebirds can be observed in the Wia Wia reserve during some winters.
These reserves are more difficult to access than an urban park, but specialized tours depart from Paramaribo for observation sessions.
Peperpot Nature Park: Secondary Forest and Memory of Plantations
Just a few kilometers from Paramaribo, on the opposite bank of the river, Peperpot Nature Park offers a snapshot of Suriname’s agricultural history and nature’s reclamation. A former coffee and cocoa plantation founded in colonial times, Peperpot today covers about 700–820 hectares of secondary forests, swampy areas, and irrigation canals.
The main buildings – coffee warehouse, director’s house, workers’ village – are still standing, remnants of a system based on slavery, then on contract labor from India or Java after abolition. Around them, vegetation has reclaimed its rights.
This is the maximum number of bird species recorded in this biodiverse area.
Mammals are not to be outdone: sloths, squirrel monkeys, capuchins, caimans, agoutis, and large lizards can sometimes be observed early in the morning. The site is open during the day, easily accessible by taxi or rental car from the capital, making it an ideal stop for a first contact with Surinamese nature.
Sipaliwini Savanna and Tafelberg: Other Faces of “Green”
While Suriname is mainly imagined as a country of dense forest, it also harbors savannas, plateaus, and spectacular table mountains.
Sipaliwini Savanna, Between Tall Grasses and Tepuis
In the south, on the border with Brazil, the Sipaliwini reserve covers 1,000 km² of vast grasslands dotted with forest patches and gallery forests along rivers. This savanna landscape, quite rare in such a forested country, hosts animals difficult to see elsewhere: tapirs, giant armadillos, capybaras, giant otters, sloths, caimans.
Over 300 bird species, including the harpy eagle, have been recorded in the region.
Access is either by small plane or via long river expeditions from the north. The dry season, from February to September, is the most suitable for visits.
Tafelberg, the Table Mountain Hidden in the Amazon
In the center of the country, the Tafelberg massif stands out from the canopy at over 1,000 meters altitude. This isolated plateau, buried in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, is part of a specific nature reserve. Its flora is particularly rich in orchids, bromeliads, and other plants adapted to plateau conditions, while its slopes host numerous monkeys and birds.
Excursions to reach the summit of Mount Roraima are usually organized during the dry season, from August to November. They combine a flight in a small plane, a camping phase, and an approach hike. Although this trip is reserved for adventurers, the reward is immense: an unparalleled view over a sea of virgin roadless forest, the discovery of hidden waterfalls, and immersion in almost total silence.
Waterfalls, Lakes, and Rivers: Water as a Common Thread
In Suriname, roads are rare, but rivers are everywhere. Suriname, Coppename, Marowijne, Tapanahony, Gran Rio… all serve both as transport routes and as the backbone for ecosystems and human communities.
Brokopondo, an Artificial Lake in the Middle of the Forest
South of Paramaribo, Brokopondo Lake – created in the 1960s by the dam on the Suriname River – forms a vast expanse of water surrounded by forest. Hundreds of dead trunks still emerge from the surface, testimony to the submerged forest.
Around it, several sites are worth a detour: Ston Eiland (or Stone Island), a peninsula that becomes an island depending on the water level, serves as a starting point for boat excursions, swimming, and spectacular sunsets. Howler Monkey Island, meanwhile, is home to a colony of howler monkeys.
The lake does not have the pristine wild character of the reserves, but it illustrates how the country has tried to reconcile industrial development and the environment.
Blanche Marie Falls, Kabalebo, and Other Gems
In the west, in the Nickerie district, the Blanche Marie Falls are among the most impressive in the country, with a series of cascades reaching up to about thirty meters high. Access from Paramaribo involves several hours on dirt roads, sometimes supplemented by a river journey. Once there, swimming, jungle trails, and nighttime wildlife observation are on the program.
The Kabalebo Nature Resort, located in Suriname and accessible only by plane, is an example of an ecolodge focused on low-density but high conservation-value tourism. It offers stays oriented towards activities like hiking, sport fishing, bird watching, and boat trips on the Kabalebo River.
The Coppename River, meanwhile, is often presented as one of the last great waterways on the planet still sparsely inhabited. Its rapids, like Jaw Jaw Falls, offer spectacular natural pools; its banks, a parade of wildlife and flora.
Maroon Villages of the Upper Suriname: Africa in the Heart of the Amazon
One of the most unique aspects of Suriname is its Maroon communities – descendants of enslaved Africans who escaped plantations in the 17th and 18th centuries and founded autonomous villages in the forested interior.
Even today, six major Maroon groups occupy the banks of rivers in the center and east of the country. The Upper Suriname, in particular, offers the rare opportunity to approach an Afro-Amazonian culture that remains very close to its West African roots.
A Journey by Dugout Canoe Through Time
Most circuits to the Upper Suriname begin with a road trip of about three hours from Paramaribo to Atjoni, the end of the road on the riverbank. From there, travelers board a large motorized dugout canoe to go upriver for several hours, crossing rapids, navigating around rocks, passing boats loaded with bananas, wood, or families.
The villages line their wooden houses along the bank, often preceded by symbolic palm porticos. Here, specific Creole languages are spoken, such as Saamaka or N’Djuka, directly derived from mixtures of West African languages, Portuguese, English, and Dutch.
The way of life remains largely communal and matrilineal: lineage is passed through women, traditional chiefs (granman, kapiteins, basja) regulate village life, and the winti religion – a cult of spirits and ancestors – coexists with Christian churches.
Ecolodges and Cultural Immersion
Several villages or islands in the Upper Suriname now host ecolodges managed in partnership with the communities. Danpaati River Lodge, for example, was built to provide income for a dozen neighboring villages and funds local projects in health, early childhood, and elderly care.
Activities combine nature discovery and cultural immersion: forest walks, swimming in the rapids, nighttime dugout canoe trips to observe caimans, village visits, and craft demonstrations (wood, weaving). Introduction to cassava preparation. Longer cultural treks allow you to connect several villages, climb hills like Ananasberg, and visit community museums, such as the one in Pikin Slee dedicated to Saamaka history.
In these areas, electricity is often limited to a few hours a day via generators; accommodations, made of wood, remain simple. The presence of a guide is mandatory to enter the villages and surrounding forest, both for safety reasons and out of respect for community rules.
Palumeu and Kasikasima: Meeting Indigenous Peoples
Even further south, in the heart of the Tapanahony and Gran Rio tributaries, live indigenous communities such as the Trio and Wayana. These peoples, considered the first inhabitants of the region, played a crucial role in the history of the Maroons, notably by passing on agricultural knowledge (cassava cultivation) and medicinal knowledge.
The village of Palumeu, in Suriname, is only accessible by a flight of about 75 minutes in a small plane from Paramaribo, flying over dense forest. On site, visitors can then board a dugout canoe to explore nearby natural sites, such as Palawa Island, the Mabuka rapids, or Poti Hill. The latter, rising 70 meters above the canopy, offers a panoramic view of several surrounding massifs.
Further into the jungle, the Kasikasima massif attracts travelers seeking expedition: several days of hiking, camping, and climbing to reach this isolated rocky summit, from which you can see the Amazon unfold to the horizon. Along the way, you discover the use of medicinal plants, traditional fishing, myths, and stories of these forest peoples.
Jodensavanne: The Other UNESCO Heritage, Between Savanna and Jewish Memory
Downstream from Paramaribo, on the banks of the Suriname River, a very different site completes the trio of Surinamese UNESCO-listed properties: Jodensavanne. This former Jewish agricultural colony, founded by Sephardic Jews fleeing the Inquisition in the 17th century, was one of the first autonomous Jewish settlements on the American continent.
The ruins of the synagogue, the cemeteries, and the remains of houses bear witness to the history of a community important in the colonial economy, struck by wars, crises, and a fire in the 19th century. This archaeological site, a World Heritage site, is an essential complement to the visit of the Commewijne plantations and the Fort Zeelandia museum to grasp the complexity of Suriname’s history.
Access today is via a good road to the vicinity, then a more rustic section; a small visitor center provides information about the site and collects an entrance fee.
Why These Sites Are “Must-Sees”
What makes Suriname’s tourist sites truly remarkable is not just their beauty, but the rare combination of three dimensions: an almost entirely intact nature, exceptional cultural diversity, and a colonial history as rich as it is painful, but acknowledged.
A single trip can thus string together:
Guiana presents unique facets: Cayenne, a colonial capital with a wooden architectural heritage listed by UNESCO, where a mosque and synagogue coexist on the same street. Its immense, isolated Amazon reserve harbors species evolving without human contact. Its beaches are major nesting sites for leatherback turtles. It also has Maroon villages preserving the social structure, languages, and arts of West Africa, as well as indigenous communities perpetuating millennia-old forest knowledge.
For those who choose to venture there, Suriname is not a mass tourism destination with standardized hotels and impeccable roads. It is a country where you travel by dugout canoe, where you sometimes sleep in a hammock, where you accept a certain logistical discomfort to access what has almost disappeared elsewhere: continuous primary forests, rivers without dams for hundreds of kilometers, living traditional cultures.
In a world where tropical forests are shrinking year by year, the must-see sites of Suriname – from historic Paramaribo to the Central Nature Reserve, from Galibi to Brownsberg, from Bigi Pan to the Upper Suriname villages – offer a precious glimpse of what a country can be when it has chosen, at least in part, to let nature and local cultures take the lead.
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Cyril Jarnias is an independent expert in international wealth management with over 20 years of experience. As an expatriate himself, he is dedicated to helping individuals and business leaders build, protect, and pass on their wealth with complete peace of mind.
On his website, cyriljarnias.com, he shares his expertise on international real estate, offshore company formation, and expatriation.
Thanks to his expertise, he offers sound advice to optimize his clients' wealth management. Cyril Jarnias is also recognized for his appearances in many prestigious media outlets such as BFM Business, les Français de l’étranger, Le Figaro, Les Echos, and Mieux vivre votre argent, where he shares his knowledge and know-how in wealth management.
