How to Get From Paramaribo to Cayenne on a Budget
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Travelling through the Guianas isn’t easy, and the journey from Paramaribo to Cayenne is just one of several tricky travel days you will spend whilst navigating this challenging region.
Travelling from Paramaribo to Cayenne on a budget is even trickier. This is a part of the world where flights would put a dent in Elon’s net worth (slight exaggeration), and scammers lick their lips at the prospect of fresh travellers to steal from (like myself…).
I did this journey alone on a budget and recorded all timings and costs to share with you, which should allow you to make this trip smoothly without too much hassle.
I have at least one piece of information which doesn’t seem to be available elsewhere online at the time of writing which should save you a lot of money, regarding transport from Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni to Cayenne.
Read on to find out how to travel safely and smoothly from Suriname to French Guiana.
How do You Get From Paramaribo to Cayenne?
This journey involves three different methods of transport.
Firstly, a bus (really a minivan) from Paramaribo’s Heiligenweg (map location in link) to the border town of Albina.
Then a short boat ride across the Maroni River on a wooden pirogue.
And lastly a more comfortable bus ride from Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni to French Guiana’s capital Cayenne.
Remember when I said I have some information you won’t (at the time of writing) find elsewhere on the internet? Well this is it. Most guides suggest a shared taxi to the capital. The bus will cost you half the price.
Read the next section for exact costs.
How Much Does it Cost to Get From Paramaribo to Cayenne?
The bus from Paramaribo to Albina costs 100 Suriname dollars (£2/US$3). Although it does say 70 on the ticket, so perhaps I got “gringo taxed”. Not a surprise in shady Suriname…
The boat from Albina to Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni costs €5 or US$5. They accept 5 of either currency, so you may want to check exchange rates to save a few pennies. Although the rate difference between both currencies is minimal (US$5 = €4.81 at the time of writing). Meaning the currency you use makes little difference.
Surinamese dollars may also be accepted.
The bus from Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni to Cayenne costs €25 (£21/US$26). And in a Guianese rarity, it’s actually pretty modern and comfortable.
This means the total cost of your journey between Paramaribo and Cayenne is £27 or US$34.
That makes it much cheaper than travel in the other direction, from Suriname to Guyana, which costs over double that.
How Long Does the Journey Take?
I recorded exactly how long each leg of my Paramaribo to Cayenne trip took.
It took 3 hours and 8 minutes to get from Paramaribo to the Albina border. This included a 10-minute delay in leaving (the 8am bus actually left at 8:10am) and a 10-minute snack break.
It took 22 minutes to get from the drop-off point in Albina to the immigration office, get stamped out of Suriname, and reach the docks where boats to French Guiana awaited.
It took 34 minutes to cross the Maroni River from Albina (Suriname) to Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni (French Guiana). This included one stop to collect cheap goods to transport across the border, and a second stop on the French Guiana side for locals to get off illegally (you should insist on going to the official immigration office so you don’t risk getting in trouble).
It took 46 minutes to walk to the bus station in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni and wait for the 12:50pm bus to arrive.
It took 4.5 hours exactly to get from Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni to Cayenne. This included a 20-minute delay in the bus leaving, and a 15-minute snack break in Iracoubo.
The total journey time was 9 hours and 20 minutes.
Is it Safe to Travel Overland Between Paramaribo and Cayenne?
The overall journey was relatively safe from my experiences, but there is one section of this trip where you need to be very careful.
That’s at the Heiligenweg Bus Terminal in Paramaribo.
I experienced two incidents in around 40 minutes here.
The first wasn’t perhaps a safety issue, but still an unpleasant experience nonetheless.
I was looking around for the bus to Albina, which I had been told left at 8am and was clearly marked with “Albina” written on the front.
After doing multiple circuits of the bus station (really a chaotic road full of buses), I was approached by a man with a bag who said “Albina?” as he came towards me.
Without any better leads, I put my trust in this guy and bought a piece of paper that said “Albina” on it for 150 Surinamese dollars (£3.50/US$4.30), negotiated down from 200 as I argued (honestly) that I was told 150 was the ticket price.
It was cheap enough to take the risk, due to the fact I had no other way of knowing if the bus was around. Although I suspected this was a scam all along…
As my gut feeling told me, it was indeed a scam… And I had to pay again (100 Surinamese dollars, or £2/US$3) when the real bus arrived.
Whilst irritating, I later faced a more serious safety issue.
I’d heard horror stories of kidnappings along the Paramaribo to Albina route, where people are lured into a fake bus, have their belongings stolen, and are kicked out of the vehicle in the middle of the jungle.
A man approached me and once again said “Albina?”
I replied “yes” and he pointed me towards a minivan. But this was unlike the others.
There was no sign on this one labelling the destination, or even a series of letters and numbers which the unnecessarily complex Surinamese buses often have in lieu of an actual destination name.
It was also a battered-up van with zero passengers inside. There were far too many alarm bells ringing at this stage.
Needless to say, I got well away from this guy, and to cut a long story short, I eventually found the right bus when it turned up just before 8am.
But that could’ve been a dangerous situation had I got inside.
Be VERY wary of what’s going on at this bus station. Suriname is no place for an inexperienced traveller to be hanging around.
You want the 8am bus to Albina, which is clearly labelled with “Albina” on the front. It may arrive very shortly before 8am and several locals will be getting on the same bus.
What Documents do I Need to Enter French Guiana?
Unlike Suriname, French Guiana is very easy to enter. Most nationalities will not need a visa and be granted entry for up to 90 days.
French Guiana is not part of the Schengen Area, therefore you will still need to be stamped in, even if you are able to move freely around the EU.
A yellow fever vaccine certificate is required. Although unlike in Suriname and Guyana, French Guiana isn’t so strict on checking this. I’d recommend bringing it anyway however, as you never know how the immigration officers you meet will act on the day…
What Currency do I Need in French Guiana?
French Guiana is officially part of France. Therefore it uses the euro.
You should bring euros with you ahead of your trip to ensure things go smoothly when you arrive in French Guiana. Otherwise it’s a little more challenging to get some local currency.
One of your other options is to exchange Surinamese or US dollars for euros in Paramaribo. I know a good exchange place which turned out to be a legitimate exchange shop. It isn’t visible on Google Maps at the time of writing, but is next door to Orange Travel located here.
Make sure you do use legitimate exchange shops in Paramaribo. I didn’t on my first day, and was scammed out of US$30…
Another option is to go to where locals are dropped illegally in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, just north of the official immigration office. You will find several money exchangers there. I do not recommend this as there is a high possibility you will be scammed.
The third option is to gamble and hope you find an ATM. They aren’t particularly easy to find in French Guiana however, and the bus to Cayenne does not accept cards.
Therefore I strongly suggest bringing euros before your trip.
My Personal Experiences of This Journey
I went to the bus terminal in Paramaribo an hour early at 7am to try and find a ticket and be certain I found the correct bus, which I had been told leaves at 8am.
This was unnecessary. The bus doesn’t show up until just before 8am, and you buy tickets directly from the driver regardless.
There is an office at the station. However I was told by staff behind the counter that there was no Albina bus until 10am. This is false information. The 8am bus I’d been told about at my hostel (the popular backpacking hub Twenty4 Hostel) was the correct information.
After being scammed as mentioned earlier, and dodging the guy who tried luring me into his unmarked van, the actual bus arrived shortly before 8am.
The driver was a massive guy who looked like the type you definitely shouldn’t mess with.
I gave him the ticket I bought from the scammer, and he waved me straight on the bus. So far, so good…
Only for him to suddenly ask for money 10 minutes later.
I explained that I already bought the ticket and gave it to him, but he argued back and said I still needed to buy the ticket. At this point I knew what I suspected, the first ticket was indeed a scam.
Things were made trickier by the fact an aggressive man who I’d engaged in a heated argument with in our hostel room last night, also happened to be on this bus.
He was a short-tempered chap who had started ranting and raving because I was locking our door for security purposes. Something very necessary in this shady part of the world.
He didn’t want the door closed, I argued it was unsafe to leave it open. Long story short, I spoke with the receptionist who eventually moved me to a private room for free.
Not the most pleasant way to get a free upgrade, but this guy seemed unhinged, and I was pretty relieved not to be sharing a room with him.
Anyway, he greeted me at the bus with a wry smile and a fist bump. I made a point of quickly taking one of the back seats surrounded by locals to ensure I wasn’t sat with him.
We were the only two foreigners on the bus.
The driver turned his attention back to me, and I had no choice but to give him the US$5 note I was keeping specifically for the boat across the Maroni River later on.
We left Paramaribo’s bus station at 8:10am, and arrived in Albina just over 3 hours later, with one quick rest break along the way.
It wasn’t until the rest break that I finally received change for my US$5 note, despite the driver promising I would receive it earlier.
Upon arrival in Albina, the bus dropped everyone off a short walk from the immigration office, where things went smoother than expected.
I reached the front of the short queue and held up my phone with a message on Google Translate which asked if this counter was the correct place to exit Suriname.
The border guard chuckled and told me that English is well-spoken here, since Suriname was once under British control. A fact that surprised me, as Suriname was Dutch for over 300 years, and Dutch is the primary language spoken in the country.
Indeed, the majority of Surinamese people I spoke to knew English to some degree.
Anyway, he stamped me out without issues, and waved me through a gate to a small area with nothing but a dock and a duty free shop.
After entering the shop to change a €50 note for smaller change, a wooden pirogue appeared at the dock.
I was quickly waved on board, confirmed that the ride would cost €5 as expected, and off we went.
Within a couple of minutes, we stopped.
Suriname is by far the cheapest of the three Guianas. French Guiana on the other hand is stupidly expensive.
As a result, the boatman stopped for several minutes to allow large crates of goods to be loaded onto our small boat, ready to be sold for a hefty markup on the other side of the river.
Eventually, we left Suriname for what will probably be the last time in my life. This is NOT a country I love after two scams, the unmarked van incident and another situation in which a drugged-up woman with a half-empty vodka bottle followed me down the streets.
On the French Guiana side, we dropped off some locals who cross the porous border illegally.
Here, locals desperately tried to convince me to take one of their shared taxis to Cayenne.
However I insisted on being taken to the official border crossing to be formally stamped in.
Fortunately, the boatman did just that, and charged the promised €5 without trying to scam or rip me off. At last, it felt like I was truly out of Suriname!
Next up, I gave the official my passport at the immigration office, which is located here.
Being British, the officer had to ask his boss if I was able to get in visa free. Not everyone knows the rules in a post-EU world, especially in French Guiana where few Brits ever tread.
After a few nervy minutes, he stamped my passport and I was good to go. Time for the final leg of the journey.
I walked for over 20 minutes to the north where Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni’s bus station Gare Routiere de Saint Laurent du Maroni is located.
It’s not a very formal-looking bus station with ticket booths and staff on hand to help. The only person I found in uniform was a female security guard. I used Google Translate to ask about buses to Cayenne.
Whilst she didn’t seem to happy to answer my questions, and I wasn’t able to get a full schedule out of her, she did at least inform me that the next bus would be at 12:50 in the afternoon.
And sure enough, after a bit of waiting around, she was right as the bus turned up around that time.
The driver got out and everyone surrounded him to buy tickets. It costs €25 (£21/US$26) to reach the capital Cayenne, and €20 (£17/US$21) to get to Kourou, home of the Guiana Space Centre.
The bus was pretty comfortable, and even had seatbelts, a rarity for the Guianas.
We had a 15-minute break along the way, and finally reached Cayenne at 5:20pm.
I had wanted to visit the Transportation Camp, Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni’s prison-turned-tourist attraction. However I skipped this, because I didn’t want to arrive in Cayenne after dark.
That turned out to be the right decision. I walked for 50 minutes to my accommodation, arriving just as the sun was setting.
I stayed in the awful Chambre Retro-pop en colocation, which markets itself as luxury (and charges luxury prices), but left me stranded outside my room for over 2 hours because the door code didn’t work (and had several minor issues inside).
It’s lucky I was able to access the wifi, otherwise I would’ve been screwed with no SIM card and nowhere nearby where I could ask for help.
Cayenne turned out to be a really boring city with high heat and humidity and absolutely nothing to do (bar a sweaty jungle trek, during which I saw only two lizards and nothing else of interest).
Overall however, Paramaribo to Cayenne wasn’t as tricky as my other journeys through the Guianas, with the exception of the Surinamese capital’s dodgy bus station.
Have You Got Any More Guides on Travelling Through the Guianas?
Yes!
I wrote about getting from Georgetown to Paramaribo on a budget.
And for the reverse journey, I also wrote about the trip from Paramaribo to Georgetown.
I only write posts from personal experience. I have done all the routes listed personally here, and will not be writing a Cayenne to Paramaribo guide, as I only took that journey one-way.
I will however add a post soon on travelling from Cayenne to Belem in Brazil, the main connecting point to get in and out of the Guianas by air.
That was a fun day…
Post below in the comments if you have any questions. I respond to all comments as soon as I see them.
