--- title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Georgetown, Guyana | Wimup" description: "The 10 best things to do in Georgetown, Guyana, mapped and ranked. The wooden cathedral, Stabroek Market and the day flight to Kaieteur Falls." url: https://wimup.com/city/georgetown-guyana type: City guide updated: 2026-09-14 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # Top 10 Things To Do in Georgetown Georgetown, Guyana · South America · By Wimup Editorial, 14 min read Georgetown is a timber city on a coast the Atlantic sits above at high tide, and the only English-speaking capital in South America. Below are the ten things worth your time, each mapped, plus the wards, the markets and the one flight inland most visitors come for. ## Quick answer The best things to do in Georgetown are St George's Cathedral, Stabroek Market, the seawall at dusk, the Botanical Gardens and a day flight to Kaieteur Falls. Two to three days covers the city itself. Come in February and March or September and October for the drier weather, and leave a spare day behind the Kaieteur flight, because cloud cancels it often. ## Quick facts - **Best months:** Feb · Mar · Oct - **Ideal length:** 2–3 days - **Budget per day:** $85–170 - **Language:** English - **Getting around:** Minibuses, taxis and on foot - **Tourism board:** [Official site](https://guyanatourism.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## The 10 best things to do in Georgetown ### 1. St George's Cathedral Cathedral · Church Street, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown Gothic Revival built entirely in Guyanese greenheart, 43.5 m to the tip of the tower, and the tallest wooden church on earth until a Romanian monastery passed it in 2003. The white timber arches inside are the reason to come. It is not reliably open outside services, so aim for a Sunday morning. - **Time:** 30–45 min - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Sunday morning - **Tip:** Services are the dependable way in Links: [Website](https://ntg.gov.gy/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 2. Stabroek Market Market · Water Street, Stabroek, Georgetown A cast-iron market frame cast in Delaware, shipped across the Atlantic in pieces and bolted together on the Demerara bank in 1880. The four-faced clock tower stands 18 m over Water Street and is the shorthand for the whole city. Go early for produce and the ferry stelling, and keep your bag in front of you. - **Time:** 45 min - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Morning - **Tip:** Cash only, and small notes Links: [Website](https://mccgt.com/markets/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 3. Fly to Kaieteur Falls Day trip · Eugene F. Correia International Airport, Ogle, East Coast Demerara A single 226 m drop, over four times the height of Niagara, reached by an hour in a small aircraft from Ogle and a guided walk to three viewpoints. Around six hours door to door. Operators need nine to twelve seats filled to fly, and cloud cancels often, so never book it for the day before an international departure. - **Time:** 6 hrs - **Cost:** From US$275 - **Best at:** Sept to Nov - **Tip:** Keep a spare day behind it ### 4. Walk the seawall at dusk Waterfront · Kingston to Kitty, Georgetown The city sits below the Atlantic at high tide and this wall is what holds it out. At dusk the whole coast walks it, past the iron bandstand of 1903 at the Kingston end. Sunday evening is when it turns into a street party with music and food carts. Check the tide: spring highs throw water over the top. - **Time:** 1 hr - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Dusk - **Tip:** Sunday evening is the loud one Links: [Website](https://ntg.gov.gy/monument/seawall-bandstand/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 5. Botanical Gardens and Zoo Gardens · Vlissengen Road, Thomas Lands, Georgetown Laid out from 1879 on old sugar-estate land, with manatees in the canals, Victoria amazonica lilies and the best birding inside the city. The zoo next door is state-run and strongest on the animals of the interior. Come early, before the heat, and walk the canal paths rather than the road. - **Time:** 1–2 hrs - **Cost:** Gardens free - **Best at:** Early morning - **Tip:** Bring binoculars for the canal birds Links: [Website](https://www.pac.gov.gy/botanical-gardens/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 6. Guyana National Museum Museum · Company Path, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown The clearest single account of the country in one hour: Amerindian material, colonial Georgetown, the natural history of the interior. Free, with donations accepted. Open Monday to Friday until 16:00 and Saturday until 14:00, so it does not fit a Sunday itinerary. - **Time:** 1 hr - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Weekday morning - **Tip:** Closed Sundays ### 7. Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology Museum · 61 Main Street, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown South America's first anthropology museum, in a Main Street house, and the best place to understand the Indigenous nations whose land most of Guyana still is. Basketry, cassava presses and archaeology from the shell mounds. Free, small, and weekdays only. - **Time:** 45 min - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Weekday morning - **Tip:** Mon to Thu until 16:30, Fri until 15:30 ### 8. Georgetown City Hall Landmark · Regent Street and Avenue of the Republic, Georgetown Reverend Ignatius Scoles designed it in 1887 and it was finished in 1889: spire, turrets and columns, all of it in wood. A long restoration has run since 2021, so the interior is not a dependable visit. Treat it as the best facade in the city and photograph it from the Avenue of the Republic. - **Time:** 15 min - **Cost:** Free from the street - **Best at:** Morning light - **Tip:** Shoot it from the Avenue Links: [Website](https://mccgt.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 9. Castellani House Gallery · Vlissengen Road and Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown The national art gallery, in a timber house Cesar Castellani built between 1879 and 1882. The collection is the country's own painters, Aubrey Williams among them, hung in rooms that were designed as a residence. Free, and open office hours on weekdays. - **Time:** 45 min - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Weekday afternoon - **Tip:** Weekdays, office hours only ### 10. Umana Yana Landmark · High Street, Kingston, Georgetown A conical Wai-Wai benab, thatched over a hardwood frame, raised in 1972 in eighty days for the first Non-Aligned conference held in this hemisphere. Fire destroyed it in 2014 and it was rebuilt by 2016. The one piece of Amerindian architecture standing in the middle of the capital. - **Time:** 20 min - **Cost:** Free from outside - **Best at:** Late afternoon - **Tip:** Walk on to the seawall from here Links: [Website](https://ntg.gov.gy/monument/umana-yana/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## Best colonial architecture in Georgetown The timber city, and what is still standing of it. 1. **St George's Cathedral** (National monument · Free · Cummingsburg): Greenheart Gothic, 43.5 m, and the tallest wooden church in the world until 2003. [Website](https://ntg.gov.gy/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 2. **Georgetown City Hall** (National monument · Exterior · Stabroek): Scoles's Gothic Revival of 1889, built in wood and under restoration since 2021. [Website](https://mccgt.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 3. **Stabroek Market** (National monument · Mon to Sat · Water Street): Cast iron from Delaware, assembled in 1880 under an 18 m four-faced clock. [Website](https://mccgt.com/markets/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 4. **Parliament Building** (National monument · Brickdam · Stabroek): Joseph Hadfield's domed Public Buildings, finished in 1834 and still the National Assembly. [Website](https://ntg.gov.gy/monument/parliament-building/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 5. **St Andrew's Kirk** (National monument · Brickdam · Stabroek): Begun in 1811 by the Dutch Reformed church, opened Presbyterian in 1818, in use ever since. [Website](https://ntg.gov.gy/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 6. **Georgetown Lighthouse** (National monument · 138 steps · Kingston): An octagonal tower in red and white stripes, 30 m, rebuilt in 1830 over a Dutch original. [Website](https://ntg.gov.gy/monument/lighthouse/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## Best museums & galleries in Georgetown Small, free and weekday-shaped. Plan them around the heat. 1. **Guyana National Museum** (Free · Mon to Sat · Cummingsburg): The country in an hour: Amerindian material, colonial Georgetown, the interior. 2. **Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology** (Free · Weekdays · Main Street): South America's first anthropology museum, on the Indigenous nations of the interior. 3. **Castellani House** (Free · Weekdays · Vlissengen Road): The national art gallery, in an 1882 timber house. Guyana's own painters. 4. **Cheddi Jagan Research Centre** (By arrangement · Weekdays · Kingston): Red House, the timber mansion where Guyana’s first premier lived, kept as his archive. ## Best markets & shopping in Georgetown Where the city actually shops, and what it costs. 1. **Stabroek Market** (Mon to Sat · Cash · Water Street): The iron hall under the clock. Produce, fish, gold and the Vreed-en-Hoop stelling. [Website](https://mccgt.com/markets/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 2. **Bourda Market** (Mon to Sat · Closed Sun · Bourda): The city's second market and a national monument, open roughly 07:00 to 17:00. [Website](https://ntg.gov.gy/monument/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 3. **Regent Street** (Daytime · Busy · Lacytown): The shopping street: fabric, gold, electronics, and the crowd that comes with them. 4. **Mon Repos Market** (Weekends · East Coast · Mon Repos): Fifteen minutes east on the coast road, busiest on a Sunday, and cheaper than town. ## Best restaurants in Georgetown Creole, Indo-Guyanese and Chinese, which is the country in one line. 1. **Backyard Cafe** (Creole · Reservation only · West Ruimveldt): Delven Adams cooks whatever the market had that morning, for one table at a time. 2. **Bottle Restaurant, Cara Lodge** (Caribbean · Dinner · Quamina Street): Caribbean and Amerindian cooking in an 1840s house, with a verandah worth the wait. [Website](https://www.caralodge.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 3. **German's Restaurant** (Creole · Since 1960 · New Market Street): Guyanese creole since 1960, and the cow heel soup people actually queue for. 4. **Shanta's The Puri Shop** (Indo-Guyanese · From 07:30 · Camp Street): Dhal puri and curry from 07:30, eaten standing. Trading on Camp Street since 1955. 5. **New Thriving** (Chinese · All day · Main Street): Guyanese-Chinese at scale, which is a cuisine of its own here. Counters below, tables above. [Website](https://newthrivingonline.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 6. **Oasis Cafe** (Cafe · All day · Carmichael Street): Georgetown's original coffee shop, all-day brunch, and the wifi that makes it a working room. 7. **Maggie's Snackette** (Bakery · Daytime · New Market Street): Pastries, cheese rolls and a daily lunch special. The snackette in its purest form. ## Best parks & gardens in Georgetown The Garden City of the Caribbean, and still mostly true. 1. **Botanical Gardens** (Free · Daylight · Thomas Lands): Manatees in the canals, giant lilies, and the best birding inside the city limits. [Website](https://www.pac.gov.gy/botanical-gardens/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 2. **Guyana Zoological Park** (Ticketed · Daily · Thomas Lands): Small, state-run, and strongest on the animals of the interior. Next door to the gardens. [Website](https://www.pac.gov.gy/guyana-zoological-park-wildlife-rescue-center/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 3. **Promenade Gardens** (Free · Daylight · Cummingsburg): A walled Victorian garden with a bandstand, and the quietest acre downtown. 4. **National Park** (Free · Dawn to dusk · Thomas Lands): The city's running and cycling loop, laid out in 1965 over a former golf course. 5. **The seawall** (Free · Dusk · Kingston to Kitty): Not a park, but it is where the city goes when the sun drops. [Website](https://ntg.gov.gy/monument/seawall-bandstand/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## Best neighbourhoods in Georgetown Georgetown is read ward by ward, and the names are Dutch, Scottish and colonial. 1. **Kingston** (North · Waterfront · Kingston): The seawall end: hotels, the lighthouse, Umana Yana, and streets named for the old garrison. 2. **Cummingsburg** (Central north · Cummingsburg): Main Street and its avenue, the two museums, and the widest planting in the city. 3. **Stabroek** (Riverfront · Stabroek): The market, the stelling, Parliament and the noise. The oldest part of the grid. 4. **Lacytown** (Central · Lacytown): Regent Street shopping and the dense blocks behind it. Busy from mid-morning. 5. **Bourda** (Central east · Bourda): The market, and the cricket ground that is the only Test venue below sea level. 6. **Werk-en-Rust** (South · Riverfront · Werk-en-Rust): Work and Rest in Dutch, running south of Stabroek along the river. ## Best day trips in Georgetown One flight inland, and five things on the rivers. 1. **Kaieteur Falls** (Air · From US$275 · Potaro): A 226 m single drop, an hour from Ogle by light aircraft, back the same afternoon. 2. **Fort Island** (Boat · Half day · Essequibo River): Dutch Fort Zeelandia and the 1750s Court of Policy building, out in the Essequibo. [Website](https://ntg.gov.gy/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 3. **Demerara Distillers** (Tour · Book ahead · Diamond): The El Dorado distillery at Diamond, and the wooden stills no one else still runs. [Website](https://www.theeldoradorum.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 4. **Bartica** (Full day · Essequibo River): The mining town where the Essequibo, Mazaruni and Cuyuni meet. Boat or road. 5. **Santa Mission** (Boat · Half day · Kamuni Creek): An Arawak village on the Kamuni Creek, reached through black water by boat. 6. **Mahaica River** (Boat · Early start · Mahaica): A dawn boat for the hoatzin, the shaggy river bird that is Guyana’s national emblem. ## Festivals & annual events in Georgetown (2026) - **Mashramani** (Feb 23): Republic Day. Costume bands, steel pan and soca move through the city all day. - **Phagwah** (March): Holi, marked with abeer and coloured powder in the street. Everyone joins in. - **Easter kite flying** (Easter Monday): The seawall and the National Park fill with homemade kites. A national habit, not a metaphor. - **Indian Arrival Day** (May 5): Marks the first indentured ships of 1838, with music and food along the coast. - **Independence Day** (May 26): Independence from Britain in 1966, marked with a flag raising and a night of music. - **Guyana Carnival** (May): A road march in the Trinidad style, timed to independence week and growing fast. - **Emancipation Day** (Aug 1): Abolition in 1838, marked in African dress with drumming and a village at the National Park. - **Diwali** (Oct or Nov): Diyas along the seawall and a motorcade of lit floats through the wards after dark. ## Must-try dishes in Georgetown, Guyana - **Pepperpot**: The national dish. Meat stewed dark in cassareep, an Amerindian cassava reduction. - **Cook-up rice**: Rice, peas and meat simmered down in coconut milk. Saturday food, and leftovers made good. - **Metemgee**: Ground provisions and dumplings in seasoned coconut milk. Guyanese comfort cooking. - **Dhal puri**: Flatbread stuffed with ground split peas, wrapped around curry. Breakfast at the puri shops. - **Pholourie**: Split-pea fritters with mango sour or tamarind sauce. Street food, sold by the bag. - **Egg ball**: A boiled egg packed in seasoned cassava and fried. The best thing sold at a bus park. - **Cheese roll**: Cheddar and pepper sauce in flaky pastry. The bakery snack Guyanese abroad miss most. - **Garlic pork**: Pork cured for days in vinegar, garlic and wiri wiri, then fried. Christmas morning. ## Georgetown transport & airports - **Cheddi Jagan International** (GEO): The main airport, at Timehri on the Demerara 41 km south of the city. Reckon on 45 minutes to an hour and a half by road. Taxi fares are posted at arrivals, so read the board before you negotiate. [Website](https://cjairport-gy.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - **Eugene F. Correia International** (OGL): Ogle, about 8 km east on the coast road. Every interior flight leaves from here, Kaieteur included, alongside regional Caribbean services. It is the one you want for a day trip. [Website](https://transguyana.net/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - **Minibuses** (Route): Numbered routes run from the Stabroek bus park to everywhere on the coast, cheaply and without a timetable. They leave when full, the music is loud, and the fare is cash in small notes. - **Taxis and river crossings** (Car): Call a taxi company rather than flagging one down, and agree the fare before you get in. This is how to move after dark. Speedboats cross to Vreed-en-Hoop from the Stabroek stelling through the day. ## Georgetown at a glance - **Country:** Guyana - **Region:** Demerara-Mahaica - **Population:** 118,363 (2012 census) - **Founded:** 1781, renamed Georgetown in 1812 - **Nickname:** Garden City of the Caribbean - **Language:** English, with Guyanese Creole spoken day to day - **Currency:** Guyanese dollar (G$) - **Time zone:** GYT · UTC-4, no daylight saving - **Calling code:** +592 - **Airports:** GEO · Cheddi Jagan, OGL · Ogle - **Power:** 240V · Type A/B/D/G - **Emergency:** 911 police · 912 fire · 913 ambulance ## Interesting facts - Much of the city sits below sea level at high tide. A sea wall and a chain of Dutch kokers hold the Atlantic out. - St George's Cathedral was the tallest wooden church on earth until a Romanian monastery passed it in 2003. - Stabroek Market's iron frame was cast in Delaware, shipped across the Atlantic and bolted together in 1880. - Bourda is the only Test cricket ground in the world below sea level, and it floods when the Atlantic rain arrives. - The French laid the city out as Longchamps in 1782. The British renamed it for George III in April 1812. ## Georgetown travel FAQ ### How many days do you need in Georgetown? Two to three. One day covers the cathedral, the market, City Hall and the seawall on foot. The second takes the museums, Castellani House and the Botanical Gardens. Add a third for Kaieteur and leave it loose, because the flight is cancelled for cloud often enough to matter. ### When is the best time to visit Georgetown? February to April is the long dry season and the strongest window. September to November is the shorter one: hotter, but with the least rain of the year and the most dependable Kaieteur flights. The long rains run from about mid-May to mid-August. ### Is Georgetown safe for visitors? It has street crime, and most Western foreign ministries name particular wards and particular hours in their advice. Read yours before booking. In practice: walk the centre in daylight, keep phones and bags out of sight around the markets, and take a taxi after dark rather than walking. ### How do you get to Kaieteur Falls from Georgetown? By light aircraft from Ogle, eight kilometres east of the city, not from the international airport at Timehri. Operators fly out in the morning, walk the group to three viewpoints and return the same afternoon, about six hours in all. Most need nine to twelve passengers to go. ### Do you need a car in Georgetown? No. The centre is flat, gridded and walkable, and the wards worth seeing sit within a couple of kilometres of each other. Minibuses run the coast for small change and taxis are cheap, which covers the airports and anything east along the seawall. ## Nearby guides - [Paramaribo](https://wimup.com/city/paramaribo.md): Suriname · 10 picks - [Port of Spain](https://wimup.com/city/port-of-spain.md): Trinidad and Tobago · 10 picks - [St. George's](https://wimup.com/city/st-georges-grenada.md): Grenada · 10 picks - [All of South America →](https://wimup.com/south-america): 39 cities Part of the [Guyana guide](https://wimup.com/country/guyana.md) · [South America](https://wimup.com/south-america.md) ## Sources - [Georgetown tourism board](https://guyanatourism.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [St George's Cathedral (official site)](https://ntg.gov.gy/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Stabroek Market (official site)](https://mccgt.com/markets/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Walk the seawall at dusk (official site)](https://ntg.gov.gy/monument/seawall-bandstand/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Botanical Gardens and Zoo (official site)](https://www.pac.gov.gy/botanical-gardens/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Georgetown City Hall (official site)](https://mccgt.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Umana Yana (official site)](https://ntg.gov.gy/monument/umana-yana/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Parliament Building (official site)](https://ntg.gov.gy/monument/parliament-building/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Georgetown Lighthouse (official site)](https://ntg.gov.gy/monument/lighthouse/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Bourda Market (official site)](https://ntg.gov.gy/monument/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Bottle Restaurant, Cara Lodge (official site)](https://www.caralodge.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [New Thriving (official site)](https://newthrivingonline.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Guyana Zoological Park (official site)](https://www.pac.gov.gy/guyana-zoological-park-wildlife-rescue-center/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Demerara Distillers (official site)](https://www.theeldoradorum.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Cheddi Jagan International (official site)](https://cjairport-gy.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Eugene F. Correia International (official site)](https://transguyana.net/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.