The only part of the European Union on the South American mainland, and 96 per cent of it is Amazon rainforest — an area the size of Portugal with fewer than 300,000 people in it. Kourou launches Ariane rockets for the European Space Agency, and a launch is genuinely worth timing a trip around. Offshore, the Îles du Salut include Devil's Island, the penal colony Henri Charrière wrote about in Papillon. Inland, the Amazonian Park of Guiana is one of the largest protected rainforests on the planet, reached by pirogue up the Maroni or the Oyapock. Leatherback turtles nest on the beaches at Awala-Yalimapo between March and July.
- The Guiana Space Centre at Kourou
- The Îles du Salut and Devil's Island
- Leatherback turtle nesting at Awala-Yalimapo
- The Amazonian Park of Guiana
- Cayenne's market and old town
- Pirogue journeys up the Maroni
- Best time to go
- July–November is the dry season and the easiest time to travel. Turtle nesting peaks April–June. Rain is heaviest between January and June, and the interior can become hard to reach.
- Getting there
- Direct flights Paris–Cayenne (about 9h). Yellow fever vaccination is required for entry. Travel beyond the coastal road is by boat or light aircraft.
Headline places
What france.fr leads with in French Guiana.
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Guiana Space Centre Europe's spaceport — free tours, and launches you can watch -
Îles du Salut The penal colony of Papillon, including Devil's Island -
Awala-Yalimapo One of the world's biggest leatherback turtle nesting beaches -
Amazonian Park of Guiana 34,000 km² of protected rainforest, reached by pirogue or light aircraft
Cities & bases
Where to sleep, and what each place is good for.
French Guiana by experience
The themes this region delivers on.
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Culture & heritage 53 UNESCO World Heritage sites, and the cathedrals that invented Gothic -
Nature & outdoors Glaciers, gorges, volcanoes and 180,000 km of waymarked footpath -
Coast & beaches Three seas and an ocean — around 5,800 km of mainland coast, and far more overseas -
Cities Paris, and eleven more cities that would headline any other country -
National & regional parks Eleven national parks and 58 regional ones — about a fifth of the country -
Remembrance The Somme, Verdun and the Normandy beaches — two wars written into the landscape
More of Overseas France
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Guadeloupe A butterfly-shaped Caribbean archipelago — rainforest on one wing, dry coast on the other -
Martinique The flower island — Mount Pelée, black-sand north, white-sand south and agricole rum -
Réunion An Indian Ocean volcano with three collapsed craters, and 1,000 km of walking trails -
Mayotte One of the world's largest lagoons, humpback whales, and a double coral barrier