Skip to content
Mixroutes
Cayenne
Capital city of French Guiana

Cayenne

Cayenne is the capital, prefecture, and largest city of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America.

Plan a trip to Cayenne→From Paramaribo

The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic coast. The city's motto is "fert aurum industria", which means "work brings wealth". Cayenne is the largest Francophone city of the South American continent.

Get in

Getting to Cayenne

French Guiana's main international airport is

  1. 01
    Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport
See

Worth seeing

  1. 01
    Place des Palmistes

    A park with high palm trees, lively in the nighttime.

  2. 02
    Fort Cépérou

    Remains of a historic fort on a hilltop right on the west side of downtown Cayenne.

  3. 03
    Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur de Cayenne

    Cayenne's cathedral is a major landmark, the seat of the Diocese of Cayenne and a National Monument of France.

  4. 04
    Salines de Montjoly
  5. 05
    Fort Diamant

    A 19th-century fort, nowadays a Monument Historique (French National Heritage Site).

Do

Things to do

There are sand beaches in the eastern part of the Cayenne area, and the sea is good for surfing. The water is rarely, if ever, clear enough for snorkeling, but is often more green/blue than in the neighboring countries of Suriname and Guyana (the whole region tends to have brownish seawater due to the large amount of mud coming down through the many rivers). Hiking. There are some nice hikes right around Cayenne.

Eat

Where to eat

The restaurants of Cayenne reflects the ethnic mosaic of the Guyanese society; you will find Creole, French, Chinese, Lebanese and Javanese restaurants here. In general the Chinese restaurants are the most affordable places to have a meal with dishes for €15-20. On Place des Palmistes there are also carts selling hamburgers and Javanese dishes. Jin Le Yuan, 33 rue Lieutenant Brasse,. Chinese restaurant.

How locals move

Getting around Cayenne the local way

  • Get inFrom Suriname you have to make a river crossing by boat, and you'll step off the ferry in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, from where you can take a bus to Iracoubo and transfer to another going to Cayenne.

From Wikivoyage: Cayenne, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see file page), Wikimedia Commons.