From the cells of Fort Zeelandia to the synagogue that shares a plot with a mosque.
Paramaribo walking tour: the wooden inner city, from Fort Zeelandia to sunset on the Waterkant
We start at 16:00, once the worst of the heat has gone, and walk three hours from the Presidential Palace to the Waterkant: over 240 listed timber buildings, a fort where fifteen men were killed in December 1982, and a synagogue that has shared its ground with a mosque for more than a century. You leave knowing why the city looks the way it does, including the parts the leaflets skip.
The white wooden houses with green shutters are neither a Dutch import nor a tropical style. They are both at once: Dutch building forms, built in Surinamese timber by African and later Asian hands, adapted to heat and rain. You can read it in the tall doors, the louvred shutters and the raised floors.
We start on Independence Square, walk to Fort Zeelandia, the oldest structure in the city, and the place where fifteen men were killed in December 1982, something Suriname has still not closed the book on, and cross the Palm Garden, laid out in the seventeenth century and still full of royal palms and occasionally howler monkeys.
Then the Keizerstraat, where the Neveh Shalom synagogue and the mosque stand literally next door to each other and have shared a car park for over a century. It gets photographed as a curiosity; we would rather tell you how it came about, because that says more about Suriname than the picture does.
We finish along the Waterkant, past the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, at 44 metres one of the largest wooden church buildings in the western hemisphere, and end at the river, usually just before sunset.
What happens on the day
Onafhankelijkheidsplein Neveh Shalom synagoge 6 stops
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16:00
Start on Independence Square. Presidential Palace and the ministries around it.
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16:20
Fort Zeelandia from the river side and, if the grounds are open, the courtyard: the oldest stone in the city and the heaviest history. The Surinaams Museum inside closes at 14:00 and is not part of this tour.
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17:00
Palm Garden. Royal palms, and with luck howler monkeys or parakeets.
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17:30
Keizerstraat: synagogue and mosque side by side.
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18:00
Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, inside if it is open.
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18:30
Waterkant at sunset. Tour ends around 19:00.
Times are indicative. Weather, traffic and how long you want to stay somewhere decide the rest.
Included
- A guide from Paramaribo, in English or Dutch
- Water along the way
Not included
- Food and drink
- Tips
- Transport to and from the meeting point
- The Surinaams Museum inside Fort Zeelandia (Tue-Fri 9:00-14:00, Sun 10:00-14:00) falls outside the tour hours
Bring
- Sun hat
- Water (we refill along the way)
- Shoes for 2.5 km of pavement and sand
This is for you if…
Anyone who wants what they are looking at explained properly once, and would rather ask questions than take photographs.
Do not book this if…
Not suitable if walking 2.5 kilometres in afternoon sun without a long break is difficult, and not if you want a light sightseeing loop: December 1982 and the slavery history are on the route, not in a footnote. Ask about the version with transport between stops instead.
What you meet along the way
Frequently asked questions
What does a city tour in Paramaribo cost?
Our walking tour costs €40 per person for three hours. Food and drink are not included: we finish at 19:00 on the Waterkant, exactly when the city sits down to eat. On Viator a Paramaribo City Tour starts from $163 and a downtown walking tour from $34. We sit between the two, but with a group capped at eight people. The Surinaams Museum inside Fort Zeelandia closes at 14:00 and is not part of the tour; to see it inside, go in the morning on your own.
Why is central Paramaribo a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
The historic inner city was listed in 2002 as an exceptionally intact example of European building styles fused with South American material and tropical craftsmanship. The protected zone holds over 240 listed buildings, almost all of them timber.
Is there really a synagogue next to a mosque in Paramaribo?
Yes. On the Keizerstraat the Neveh Shalom synagogue (congregation from 1723, present building 1842) and the Ahmadiyya mosque stand directly next to each other and share the same plot. They have done so for over a hundred years, and there are very few places in the world where that is true.
How long is a walking tour of Paramaribo?
Ours is three hours and covers about 2.5 kilometres. We start at 16:00 so you miss the worst of the afternoon heat, reach the Waterkant for sunset around 18:30 and wrap up around 19:00.
What do children pay?
Children up to and including 11 join free with a paying adult. They do count toward the group of at most 8.
Other tours
- Sunday Morning in Paramaribo
Songbirds at seven, Javanese market at eight, breakfast at nine.
€55 per person 4 hours
- Paramaribo Food Tour
The market at nine, when it is at its fullest, and a roti lunch to end on.
€55 per person 4 hours
- Blauwgrond by Night: warung hopping
Saoto, satay, petjil and dawet. Four warungs, three hours, no menus.
€55 per person 3 hours
- Cooking class: market to table
You pick out the pomtayer yourself, and five hours later you eat it.
€75 per person 5 hours
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