Sights are spread along 150 km of coast road. With your own driver you can stop freely; by minibus, concentrate on New Amsterdam and one or two places beyond.
1 New Amsterdam
The town’s three long streets parallel the river. Look for the Mission Chapel, founded for the enslaved and free Black population in the early 19th century, the timber Town Hall with its tower, the old market, and the remains of a once-magnificent wooden hospital. The Esplanade and the riverfront are pleasant at dusk.
Practical: Free to wander. 2 hours on foot.
2 The Canje River
A tributary that joins the Berbice at New Amsterdam, winding back through cane fields and swamp forest. It gave the hoatzin its local name, the Canje pheasant, and is crossed by a high bridge on the Corentyne road.
Practical: Early-morning boat trips by local arrangement.
3 Hoatzin watching
The hoatzin is a bird like no other: it digests leaves by fermentation, smells faintly of manure, and its chicks have claws on their wings for clambering through branches. Groups perch low over the water at first light, hissing and flapping.
Practical: Mahaica River trips take 2–3 hours on the water; leave Georgetown by about 4.30 am.
4 Fort Nassau
The overgrown brick foundations of the first Dutch capital of Berbice lie on the east bank of the river some 80 km upstream. The settlement was abandoned and burned during the 1763 uprising and is now a national monument in the forest.
Practical: Several hours each way by boat; for enthusiasts, with a guide.
5 The Corentyne villages
Rose Hall, Port Mourant — birthplace of President Cheddi Jagan and of several West Indies cricketers — Albion and the numbered villages run into each other along the road. Stop for a temple or mosque, a rum shop, or to watch rice being cut and dried on the tarmac.
Practical: Seen from the road; ask before entering places of worship.
6 No. 63 Beach
A broad, firm strand of grey-brown sand several kilometres long near the village of the same number. On Sundays and holidays it fills with cars, cricket games, music and food stalls. The sea is shallow and muddy rather than blue.
Practical: Free. Liveliest on holiday afternoons; almost empty otherwise.
7 Corriverton and the Corentyne River
The twin settlements of Springlands and Skeldon form Guyana’s easternmost town, a trading place facing Suriname across a very wide river. Upstream are the Amerindian villages of Orealla and Siparuta, reached by boat.
Practical: The ferry terminal is at Moleson Creek, about 20 minutes beyond the town.
Guided tours: New Amsterdam, Berbice & the Corentyne
Transfer from €59 Georgetown to Suriname: Road and Ferry Transport Service
Shared transport from Georgetown along the coast road through Berbice to the Corentyne River ferry at Moleson Creek and on into Suriname. A transport service rather than a sightseeing tour; check current entry formalities for Suriname before booking.
