Paramaribo

The river site was known to Amerindian peoples long before Europeans arrived, and the first European settlers were English planters who founded a colony here in the mid-seventeenth century and built a fort on the west bank of the Suriname River. In 1667, after the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch took the colony, renamed the fort Zeelandia and, in the Treaty of Breda, kept Suriname while the English kept New Amsterdam, which became New York.

For the next two centuries Paramaribo was the capital of a plantation colony whose sugar, coffee and cacao were worked by enslaved Africans and their descendants. Many people escaped into the rainforest and founded Maroon communities that kept African languages, religion and crafts; their descendants still live along the interior rivers. Slavery was abolished in 1863, followed by a ten-year period of state supervision, and Keti Koti, the ‘broken chains’ celebration on 1 July, remembers the emancipation.

After abolition, planters recruited contract labourers. Workers from British India arrived from 1873, Javanese labourers from 1890, and Chinese and other groups came in smaller numbers. Their descendants shape the city today, which is why a single street can hold a mosque, a Hindu temple, a synagogue, a Catholic cathedral and a Javanese warung.

Suriname became independent from the Netherlands on 25 November 1975, and many people left for the Netherlands around that date. In 1980 a military coup brought soldiers to power, and in December 1982 fifteen prominent critics were executed at Fort Zeelandia. A civil conflict in the interior followed in the late 1980s, and democracy was restored in 1991. A court convicted the former leader Desi Bouterse for the December murders in 2019.

In 2002 UNESCO listed the Historic Inner City of Paramaribo, praising its wooden architecture and its street plan. Today the city is a quiet capital on the river, where the past is visible in the buildings and in daily life, and where the fort now houses a museum.

Almost the whole historic centre is built of wood. The reason is practical: timber was plentiful, the ground is soft, and the climate is hot and wet. Houses were raised on posts, covered with pitched roofs and fitted with shutters and verandas that let air through, and their walls of hardwood and planks are painted in white, green and blue.

The Dutch colonial style is easy to recognise. Houses are built to a narrow street front with a steep roof, and the palace, ministries and courts around Independence Square mix wood and stone. The centre is laid out on a grid along the river, and many houses share a courtyard behind. The Palmentuin behind the palace was planted with tall royal palms and gives the centre its shade.

The Roman Catholic cathedral of St Peter and Paul, built in the nineteenth century, is one of the largest wooden churches in the Americas, and its tall twin towers are visible from many streets. It has been closed for restoration in recent years, so check whether the interior is open. The care of the wood is a constant task, and fire and damp are the two great threats.

Keizerstraat is the best-known street for a reason. A mosque and a synagogue stand side by side, sharing a fence and, as locals like to say, a car park, and worshippers from each community help each other on feast days. The synagogue, Neve Shalom, dates from the nineteenth century, and the mosque is of the twentieth. Together they are used to explain what Paramaribo means by tolerance.

The best way to see the wooden city is on foot in the morning, when the light is soft and the streets are quiet. Wear shoes for uneven pavements, watch for open drains, and take a taxi when it gets hot or dark. Many houses are private homes, so photograph from the street and do not enter without an invitation.

Suriname has one of the most mixed populations in the world for its size. The main groups are Hindustani (descendants of Indian contract workers), Creole (of African and mixed descent), Javanese, Maroon (descendants of escaped slaves who settled in the interior), Amerindian and Chinese, with smaller Lebanese, Dutch and other communities. In Paramaribo you meet all of them in a single afternoon.

Dutch is the official language and the language of school, government and newspapers. Sranan Tongo, a creole language of English, Dutch and West African roots, is the everyday language between groups, and visitors hear it at markets and on the street. Hindi in the form called Sarnami, Javanese, Hakka Chinese and several Maroon languages are spoken in families and in some shops. English is usual in tourism but not universal.

Religion is as mixed as language. Christians of many denominations, Hindus, Muslims, Jews and followers of Maroon and Amerindian traditions live in the same neighbourhoods, and public holidays include Christian, Hindu and Muslim festivals as well as Keti Koti and Independence Day. Phagwa, the Hindu spring festival, is a coloured-powder celebration in March, and Diwali brings lamps and sweets in autumn.

For visitors, the lesson is simple: greet people, ask before photographing, and dress modestly for places of worship. A short Sranan phrase, such as odi for hello and tangi for thank you, or a Dutch goedemorgen, is appreciated. Do not assume that everyone shares the same faith, food rules or language.

The diaspora is large. Hundreds of thousands of people of Surinamese origin live in the Netherlands, and family visits and returns shape the airline routes, the language and the money that arrives in the capital. This link explains why Dutch words and Dutch food traditions appear in Paramaribo so easily, and why many families have relatives on both sides of the Atlantic who visit for Keti Koti and the New Year.

The food follows the population. From the Hindustani community come roti, a flat bread served with curry and vegetables, and the many small roti shops that serve lunch. From the Javanese community come bami and nasi, fried noodles and rice, saoto, a chicken soup, and satay in peanut sauce, all sold at warungs, small eating places and stalls.

Creole cooking gives the city pom, a baked casserole of grated pomtajer root with chicken, which is served at holidays and in restaurants. Other Creole dishes include pindasoep, a thick peanut soup, moksi alesi, a mixed rice, and heri heri, boiled roots and plantain with salted fish. Chinese cooks contribute bami, foe yong hai and sweet-and-sour dishes, and many families eat them weekly.

A snack you will see everywhere is the broodje bakkeljauw, a soft roll filled with salted cod and a spicy sauce. Bakeries sell pastries influenced by Dutch baking, and cafés serve coffee and fresh juice. Drinks include Parbo, the local lager, and Borgoe, the local rum, and Javanese dawet, a sweet coconut drink, is a good cooler.

The chilli is serious. The peppers used are a variety called madame jeanette, very hot and fragrant, and some sauces are mild until they are not. Ask for the pepper on the side and taste before adding. Tap water is treated in the city, but most visitors drink bottled water, and ice in established cafés is generally fine.

The best way to eat is to move through the day. A broodje or a pastry for breakfast, a roti or a pom for lunch at a small shop, and warung plates by the river at dusk. Bring cash, carry small notes and take a taxi home after dark. Between meals, drink bottled water, keep out of the midday sun and use the hours from 11:00 to 15:00 for a museum, a café or a rest.

Paramaribo faces the Suriname River and sits on a flat coastal plain. Most of the country behind it is rainforest, one of the largest continuous areas of intact tropical forest in the world, and about ninety percent of Suriname is covered by it. The city is the gateway to that forest, and many visitors come mainly for it.

Close to the city are plantation landscapes across the river in Commewijne, where old estates, canals and wooden houses can be visited by boat and by road. Peperpot, a former plantation, is now a nature park for birds and monkeys, and Jodensavanne, further south, preserves the ruins of a seventeenth-century Jewish settlement beside the river. These are day trips.

Farther away are the interior lodges, which reach the rainforest by small plane and river boat. Brownsberg, a plateau park about three hours from the city, has trails and views over the reservoir, and multi-day trips reach Maroon villages and forest reserves. Sea turtles nest on the Galibi beach on the east coast in a season that runs roughly from February to August, and tours there need careful planning.

The climate has four seasons: a long rainy season from about late April to July, a long dry season from August to November, and two shorter alternations at the turn of the year. Rivers run high after the rains and low in the dry season, and lodge access changes with the water. Ask operators about the conditions before you book.

Practical care matters. Malaria is not a risk in the city but is in parts of the interior, so ask a travel clinic; dengue occurs across the country, and the sun is strong. Pack repellent, a rain layer and sturdy shoes, book licensed operators and confirm transport in writing. Leave a margin of a day before an international flight if you are returning from the interior, because small-plane schedules and river levels change.