French Guiana Travel Guide

The French Overseas Department of French Guiana has the benefit of an ideal geographical situation, set between the Caribbean and the Amazon. Little wonder, then, that its environment is so rich. Visitors may have the privilege of observing a great many protected species in carefully preserved areas.

French Guiana is also home to a colorful blend of different cultural backgrounds. A native land, a land of exploration and a land of enslavement, the extraordinary history of French Guiana has left its traces in every sector of today’s society and can still be sensed in a number of almost mythical places: Iles du Salut, which include the infamous Devil’s Island where political prisoners were held, Mount Favard, the Saint-Laurent du Maroni transportation camp and the Iracoubo Church.

French Guiana is also a land of social progress and a symbol of modernity as is demonstrated in Kourou, the main European Space Center.

From encounters with authentic cultures, to watching the birth of the leatherback turtles, from life as a convict in a penal colony to traveling by canoe down majestic rivers, from panning for gold to watching toucans fly or following the vapor trail of Ariane, French Guiana has a lot to offer.

Geography
French Guiana is situated on the northeast coast of South America and is bordered by Brazil to the south and the east and by Surinam to the west. The southern Serra Tumucumaque Mountains are part of the eastern frontier, whilst the rest is formed by the River Oyapock. Surinam is to the west along the rivers Maroni-Itani and to the north is the Atlantic coastline. Along the coast runs a belt of flat marshy land behind which the land rises to higher slopes and plains or savannah. The interior is comprised of equatorial jungle. Off the rugged coast lie the Iles du Salut and Devil’s Island. Cayenne, the capital and chief port, is on the island of the same name at the mouth of the Cayenne River.