A Complete Guide to crossing the Guyanas overland

THE GUYANAS

Often overlooked by so many other countries in South America, most tourists don’t even know this little region of the world exists. If you made it to this page, chances are you’re looking for an off-the-beaten-path or unusual adventure.

How Do you decide whether to fly or go overland?

Overland journeys are often the best way to see a country; you’re usually taking public transport, navigating roads that tourists hardly tread, crossing borders that take hours on end and enduring obstacles that you wouldn’t have even imagined when you started planning the trip — but that’s what makes overland journeys so rewarding.

A lot of factors go into whether or not I’m going to fly or go overland:

How big are the distances between the countries?

How much is there to do in each country?

What kind of adventure am I chasing?

The Guyanas are so small that it’s fairly easy to take public transport or taxis over the borders, and there’s not a whole lot to see in each country (don’t get me wrong, they’re amazing, but just putting it into perspective and comparing it to, say, Brazil). Since I was also doing the Amazon ferry, I thought it would be perfect to continue overland and combine the two journeys. If you haven’t read my journey traveling by cargo ship from Manaus to Macapa, check it out here!

The Route

I’m starting the map at Macapá since technically that’s where we started overland, but I’ll begin this guide crossing the border from Brazil to French Guiana.

Saint Georges, French Guiana

The water taxi to Saint Georges is R$50 or €10 per person. It’s a beautiful boat ride across the water, but when you get to French Guiana you must ask the shuttle service to take you to Cayenne. The immigration office is close to the bridge (I’m not sure why they insist on the water taxi when it’s probably easier to walk across) so make sure you get stamped in. The shuttle will take you from the boat to immigration to Cayenne for €50 per person.

Cayenne, French Guiana

You can see nearly everything in a few hours in Cayenne and it’s pretty expensive (welcome to France), so I didn’t spend too much time there. Rather than going into the sights, I’ll continue with the logistics of the journey. If you want to read more about what to do in French Guiana, you can check it out here!

You can find a shared taxi to Kourou for €10, and you can ask if they can come back to take you all the way to the border as well since many drive the same route. The taxi to the border was €50, and the water taxi was €5. Immigration closes at 5:30 PM so make sure you arrive by then to get stamped out.

Suriname

To enter Suriname, you need to fill out a tourist card online beforehand and print out the QR code to be stamped. This is a new system instead of getting an e-visa. You also need to fill out an entry form upon arrival. After immigration, the shared taxi was €25 to Paramaribo.

Something to note, if someplace accepts credit card they usually only take Mastercard. Visa is apparently too expensive for the, otherwise cash is the best way to pay. There’s a good money exchange right before crossing the Jules W Bridge into Paramaribo; exchange rates are higher in the city.

From Paramaribo, I took a shared taxi towards the border for €50. It’s a four hour drive and there’s only one ferry that leaves at 11 AM each day so I stayed at the Residence Inn in Nieuw Nickerie (there’s not a whole lot of options). The next morning I went to the port at 7 AM to line up; they open the gates by 8 AM and check your passport, yellow fever card, and covid vaccination so it’s important to be there early. Ferry tickets are $15 USD.

I would’ve loved to go into the interior of Suriname, but unfortunately there was not enough time. If you’re looking for things to do in Paramaribo, Suriname check out my blog post here!

Guyana

Getting shared taxi drivers was like passing on the torch; it started in French Guiana and we would ask the driver, “do you have a friend that could take us from Point A to B?” and sure enough, there would be someone waiting at our next border crossing. We had one more taxi driver take us from the Guyana border to Georgetown, where I would fly out of to end the overland journey. Hotels were quite expensive if you look online; a friend of mine who lived in Georgetown recommended Rima Guesthouse. I couldn’t seem to get a hold of them over email or phone, so I just showed up and they had a room available. I paid $40 (cash only) for a private room with AC and bathroom, whereas everything else online was at least $100. Honestly it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing place I’ve stayed, but it was clean, the wifi was fast, and it was the cheapest option available.

As for things to do, I’ve created another blog post on the best things to do in Guyana including an in-depth guide on how to secure a spot on the famously sought-after Kaieteur Falls tour.

Everything you need to know about the Amazon Ferry from Manaus to Macapá

The Amazon River

Years ago, I don’t know exactly how I stumbled upon it, but I heard about a ferry that goes all the way down the Amazon River across Brazil. It’s a cargo ship that delivers goods and mail to little villages along the Amazon River that is otherwise inaccessible for the people living there. Locals will string up their hammock and pack in tightly on the cargo ship, and is used as transport all across the region. This ferry has been a bucket list adventure of mine for a long time, so I finally decided to go for it, combining it with an overland trip through the Guyanas.

Where to Start?

There are so many places you can start from! You can start from all the way in Peru, or even on the border of Tabatinga, Brazil — funny enough one of my good friends, Peter, decided to do this trip after seeing mine but started in Tabatinga and ended in Manaus. I’m linking his page here because it compliments my trip since I started in Manaus and ended in Macapá.

I included both Peter’s journey (blue) and mine (from the green marker to the red marker) in the map above, starting in Manaus all the way to Macapá. You have to change ferries in Santarém as there are no boats that go all the way to Macapá, but people most commonly take the boat to Belém. I went to Macapá since I was continuing north towards the Guyanas.

One thing to note is going downstream is much faster. So if you go upstream (Macapá to Santarém, for example) the same boat ride takes double the time — something to consider when choosing your route. Anyways, let’s get to the nitty gritty!

Manaus

I flew into Manaus, Brazil and spent the night in a hostel near the port (Local Hostel Manaus was a great spot close-by). At about 8 AM the next morning, I walked over to the port to find someone near the entrance selling tickets to Santarém for about $25 USD (they accept US dollars). Nearby I found a hammock in the local market with the cords for about $10. Make sure you stock up on snacks, water, and any other food just in case.

The boat leaves at noon, but come early to get a good hammock spot. The bottom floor seems to have the most air flow, and most people seemed to flock to the sides with AC. I picked a spot towards the middle and had an outlet next to me. It wasn’t too hot and there weren’t really any bugs so I honestly felt like I had a great spot.

The boat was called “Regional,” and the amenities vary per boat — there are bathrooms with showers, a bar on the second floor, and a cafeteria that serves food at certain hours of the day, and overall wasn’t too crowded so I felt like I lucked out.

They said it would take 36 hours but actually took 31 hours to arrive to Santarém. Upon arrival I immediately went to the ticket counter to find out when the next boat to Macapá would leave and they said there wouldn’t be another boat until Saturday evening at 6 PM (2 days later). I bought a ticket for R$220 ($40 USD) and stayed in a hotel nearby.

How much does it cost?

I explained a bit on the pricing above, but to be clear, I bought my tickets spontaneously and haggled a bit. There are “tours” and tickets you can buy online in advance, but they’re so much more expensive than buying them when you arrive. It made me a bit nervous to have a flight booked and fly all the way to Manaus not knowing if I’d get on this ferry or not, but just go early and take a leap of faith.

Santarém

I had a full extra day in Santarém so I took a taxi to Alter do Chão (R$150 or $30 USD). It’s really a lovely town if you have the time! You can take a canoe all the way across to Ihla de Amor for R$10 / $2 USD and hang out at the beach.

On the way back to Santarém I discovered there was a bus, so I took that back to make it to my 6 PM boat to Macapá. They said the bus leaves every hour, but it didn’t end up departing until an hour and a half later. I got off as close as I could to the DER port of Santarém; the boat to Macapá isn’t in the main terminal — you have to go around the side to board.

The Amazonas boat is smaller and much more crowded; this one I definitely recommend arriving a couple hours early to get your hammock spot. Extension cords with a power strip are also extremely helpful. The boat left at about 6 PM and was told we’d arrive the next night, but I think the total was actually about 36 hours. I really liked the scenery on this boat since it drops off goods to small villages on the Amazon.

Macapá

At about 3 AM we docked at Santana, the last stop before Macapá. I happened to be awake with all the commotion of people getting off the boat, and a local man approached me and asked, “Oiapoque?” which is the border town I was trying to get across to French Guiana. I replied in my hybrid Spanish / Portuguese, “yes, I was planning on going to Oiapoque from Macapá. Are you going right now?” He replied, “yes, right now. R$300 ($60 USD),” which was the price I had read was the same from Macapá. In a matter of a few minutes I threw everything into my bag and packed my hammock and we were off. It was perfect because I also read that transport from Macapá doesn’t leave til 8 AM. If you want to arrange transport, Souza’s whatsapp is: +559684180778 [updated October 2024].

The roads were great until around the town Carnot. I had read that the road was one of the worst, but honestly we were in a small Chevy Onix and made it fine. Bumpy with potholes, but I think overlanding from Djibouti to Somaliland or South Sudan still takes the cake for me in terms of bad roads. I still would probably not recommend taking the bus; my driver was highly skilled and I definitely recommend him if you need transport in this region!

When you arrive to Oiapoque, don’t forget to go to the immigration building to get stamped out, which is open from 8 AM - 8 PM. The drove to Oiapoque takes about 10 hours, so even if you arrive before they close you should stay the night to get stamped out the next morning since transport options dwindle later in the day and there’s not much on the Saint George side. Also, another item to note is that the immigration building is not located anywhere near the water taxi launch to Saint George, French Guiana.

Anyways, I hope this helps anyone trying to find info on the Brazilian Amazon ferry from Manaus to Macapá! If you’re interested in reading more about my overland journey all the way through the Guyanas to Georgetown, Guyana, check out the post here.

How to Travel from Haiti to Dominican Republic

HAITI

During my stay in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, I decided to take a bus over the border to the Dominican Republic. I see a lot of posts about traveling from the DR to Haiti, but not a lot vice-versa.

Where to stay in cap-haitien

First of all, if you’re traveling to Haiti, I recommend staying at Habitation des Lauriers. It’s clean, has great security, the owners take great care of you, and has an incredible view overlooking the city and ocean. Not to mention sunrises are spectacular! I told them I wanted to take the bus over to the DR and they arranged a driver to drop me off at the bus station the next morning at 7 AM. The bus leaves at 8 AM but it’s important to get there early to ensure you get a spot.

The journey to the Dominican Republic

I arrived at the El Caribe bus station and told them I wanted to be dropped off at Santiago since I was going to take a guagua (little bus) to Las Terrenas. Important thing to note: bring US dollars! It’s funny they don’t take Haitian gourdes or Dominican pesos… There were two European guys that had euros, gourdes, and pesos but they wouldn’t accept any of them. Another thing to note, they take your passport once you pay and they give it back to you on the bus. I got anxious because I hate not having my passport with me but I got it back!

Anyways, the border crossing takes about 1 – 2 hours. If you flew into Haiti, make sure you have your exit ticket with you so that you don’t have to pay an extra fee. After being stamped out, we went to the DR side which was a little crazier. You don’t need a PCR test to enter, but they do a bag check and you have to wait for a long time. Everything else was fairly quick but the majority of the 2 hours was spent waiting on that.

I arrived at the bus station in Santiago and needed to find the guagua station to Las Terrenas. Luckily I found a trustworthy taxi driver, Miguel (Whatsapp +18094912013), who took me over to the station and agreed to pick me up when I returned to get a PCR test and take me to the airport. When I got to Las Terrenas, I had a little mishap with a motoconcho driver. Long story short, try to avoid them if you can — I didn’t know this beforehand. They’re motorcycle taxis but are notorious for stealing. So when I pulled money out and didn’t have change, he swiped it from my hand and sped off with it. I was pretty sad.

Honestly, I didn’t have a great time in the DR. Most people go to the touristy areas and stay in an all-inclusive resort but I wanted to try something different and off-the-beaten-path. I think it was tough trying to figure out all the logistics while everything was going wrong, but I know that’s all part of the adventure. On the other hand, I loved figuring out how to cross the border from Haiti to the DR, so I hope my experience can one day help someone have a better time than I did. I also hope to return to the DR one day to gain a different perspective, but for now, I’ll always remember it as a true adventure