Museums and Historic Sites near Paramaribo
The attractions around Paramaribo are a fortress museum in the old town, two sites across the river in the Commewijne district and a UNESCO-listed ruin about 50 km south. Plan around opening hours, which differ from site to site, and check them before you go. Fees are quoted in Surinamese dollars (SRD), but tour operators often price in euros or US dollars.
Fort Zeelandia and the Surinaams Museum
Fort Zeelandia stands on the riverbank at Abraham Crijnssenweg 1. The English built a timber post here in 1651, called Fort Willoughby. The Dutch commander Abraham Crijnssen took it in 1667, and the fort was rebuilt in stone. The Surinaams Museum occupies the brick officers’ houses inside the walls. Its displays cover Amerindian pottery, Maroon woodcarving, colonial furniture and records from the era of slavery.
Bastion Veere is part of the fort and is a national monument. Fifteen men were killed here in December 1982, and the bastion was consecrated as a monument on 9 December 2009. A plaque lists their names, and a national commemoration is held here every 8 December. Visit quietly and with respect.
Listed opening hours are Tuesday to Friday 09:00 to 14:00 and Sunday 10:00 to 14:00. The fort is closed on Monday and Saturday. Check hours and the entry fee before visiting.
Peperpot Nature Park
Peperpot is in Meerzorg, in the Commewijne district across the Jules Wijdenbosch Bridge, about 10 km from the city centre. It was a coffee and cocoa plantation from the late 17th century and was worked by enslaved people until emancipation in 1863. Today it is a protected forest of about 700 hectares. Visitors find a flat 3.2 km trail, a canopy tower for birds, a wooden boardwalk over wetland, the old coffee factory and the former Javanese workers’ camp.
Wildlife includes squirrel monkeys, brown capuchins, three-toed sloths, giant anteaters and more than 270 bird species. The park is listed as open daily from 08:00 to 17:00. Bicycles can be rented at reception for about EUR 5, or SRD 100, for two hours.
Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam
This earthen fort stands where the Suriname and Commewijne rivers meet, about 15 km from Paramaribo. It was built between 1734 and 1747 to protect plantations upriver. The open-air museum has cannons, powder houses, the old prison building with its solitary cells and the lightship Suriname-Rivier. There are also exhibits on indentured labour. Entry is about SRD 75 to 100 per adult. Listed hours are Monday to Friday 09:00 to 17:00 and Saturday and Sunday 10:00 to 18:00.
Jodensavanne
Jodensavanne became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in September 2023. Sephardic Jewish refugees from Brazil founded the settlement in 1652. The red-brick ruins of the Berache ve Shalom synagogue date from 1685, and the Beth Haim cemetery has carved gravestones in Portuguese, Spanish and Hebrew. A separate Creole cemetery holds enslaved people who converted to Judaism. The site is looked after together with the nearby Amerindian village of Redi Doti. It lies in the Para District, about 50 km south of the capital. This is a place of burial, so keep voices low and stay on the paths. Information on the Jewish heritage of Suriname is at surinamejewishcommunity.com .
Getting there
A taxi to Peperpot or Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam is simple to arrange, but agree the fare first. Tours that combine several sites are the easy way to reach Jodensavanne. The old town itself is part of the UNESCO listing, described on the UNESCO page for the Historic Inner City .
Read more: Day Trips from Paramaribo shows how these sites fit into full-day excursions.
Booking help
Plantation and river tours that stop at Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam can be compared on Viator .