Here you have another quick post concerning this time the seldom trodden land border crossing between French Guyana and Suriname, specifically between Saint Laurent du Maroni and Albina, actually the only available legal transfer at present (October 2022).
If you are coming from Cayenne, I would recommend you to have a look at this covoiturage (car pooling) website, called Blada. Buses indeed are hard to find, expensive and quite intermittent. No clear info detected online to be honest. There should be a bus company called BEST from the Gare routière (central bus station) serving the stretch Cayenne – Saint Laurent du Maroni, with probably one bus in the morning and one in the afternoon. Cannot confirm though, sorry. Just found this page (in French) about the topic.
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IN SAINT LAURENT DU MARONI
Head for the Débarcadère de la Glacière (700 meters from the main harbour towards the city centre), where small canoes are leaving all day long at short notice. Don’t worry, sailors will really hunt you down the moment they spot you from afar. They will propose you a 5 € ride, which can be lowered to 4 € or even 3 € according to your luck and skills. In the end I was charged 4 €. The ride across the Maroni river (majestic) is quite fast and takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes. You are eventually dropped at the Albina (Suriname) jetty, where you will be literally rushed at by dozens of money changers, taxi drivers and other middle men. Stand your ground.
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IN ALBINA
As mentioned above, you will be immediately attacked by a crowd of “wheeler-dealers”, telling you that everything is far away or not available (such as buses). My piece of advice is rejecting them all together and walking alone towards the Suriname immigration office, only a few blocks away (use GPS or ask around to regular people).
Just politely turn intruders down by saying you need some time to figure certain stuff out. At the police station the process should be quite rapid and straightforward (given the lack of regular tourists and the abundance of illegal immigrants), provided that you have already applied for and printed out the online Visa sheet from here. The entry fee is 25 USD + 8 USD service fee, for a maximum of 30 days I believe. In truth, I am not sure if you may request it on the spot and save the 8 USD. Other than that, I was not asked Covid or yellow fever certificates though (technically compulsory, be careful). You only need to fill out a migration form issued by them. Be aware that the migration office is not always open. Check out more info by contacting them at:
mail : cg-sme-cay@gov.sr
tel : +597594 28 21 60
After completing the process, again you will be troubled by a few more taxi drivers outside. Stand your ground and, if needed, head for the Exchange office placed in Wilhelmina Straat, close to everything. Please bear in mind there are no ATMs in town. Hence remember to bring enough Euros from French Guyana to exchange in Albina.
The third step is finding further transportation to Paramaribo. Although everybody (cops included) will tell you the opposite, in fact there are minivans leaving from the bus stop close to the jetty (in Martinstraat, near the Commissariaat Marowijne on Google). I am not sure about the timetable though, given the fact that nobody knew anything. The acceptable minivan (air conditioned) I managed to catch myself left at 12.50 h and took about 2 hours (with a couple of quick stops) to reach the capital, as far as the main bus station (near the central market and close to all amenities). It cost 150 SRD (about 5.50 €) whereas shared taxis might even extort you 300 or 400 SRD (roughly 15 €).
All in all it is quite an easy border crossing apart from the pushy sellers and the lack of information. Any further detail to complete this article is highly appreciated, of course.
We have travelled from Cayenne to St. Laurent du Maroni by bus a couple of days ago. The bus company is Transport Best leaving from the busstation in Cayenne to St. Laurent at 6 AM and 1 PM every day except Sunday. On Sunday there is only one bus, check with the company for the departure time. The bus costs €25 per person and is comfortable to travel. You can leave your luggage at the bus two hours before departure.
When crossing the border in St. Laurent bij boat you can ask the guys to bring you to the immigration office. They will drop you in front of it so you don’t need to walk a lot with luggage. From there you can arrange a taxi or a minivan to Paramaribo. The taxi costed us €20 per person and brought us to our destination place in Paramaribo.
Thank you a lot Veronika for your contribution
Your description of the pushiness undersells it, as of Nov. 2024. I’m harvesting the following from my WhatsApp history:
The article’s description of the drivers in Albina was under emphasized. One leapt on my boat as it was landing to haul my bag off. I had to ask repeatedly to get it back. There was a ring of four to seven other men yelling about their taxi services instantly. The loudest wanted €20. The rest shall remain a mystery.
They followed me into a shop, three grabbing my bag at one point or another and not letting go when I asked please, until I was actually shouting. The shopkeeper confirmed the direction of the border control post but no one offered any other help. This is normal here. I escaped out the back of the shop and then only three were following me.
They followed me several blocks to the border patrol, and one got his car and his girlfriend and drove ahead of me there. He apologized and offered to take me to border patrol, but I said I didn’t want to owe him anything. His girlfriend tried talking to me to. When I got there, he was waiting inside. I’d marked the location of the Adouane and bus station on Google Maps before leaving, but French signal continues for now, so I would have made it anyway.
The border patrol people weren’t even there and we had to wait ten minutes for them to show. The man finally left when I told him I was taking the bus. His sudden disappearance was striking.
The first câmbio I went to was open, but the dude manning it was gone. The guy cleaning pointed me at a second. I missed it, but a fireman pointed me at it (really, past it: be didn’t mention a turn down a narrow, sandy alley was involved) and then a bank security guard left his post to walk me there.
I traded €35 at 32 Surinamese dollars per euro. Google says official is SRD37. 42/€1.
Other people tried to catch my eye or followed me offering free advice and hoping for monetary favors along the way. A guy smoking weed offered to show me the bus stop I was nearly at, then asked me to buy him ramen. He walked behind me along the way, stopping to harass some women. He caught up with me and asked me for euros for the advice, asking if we weren’t friends. I admitted I was a bad friend. Then he said he didn’t want my money and asked me to buy him water.
At the bus station, I didn’t find a minivan ready to take me. Taxi guys across the street also tried to harvest me, expressing confusion that I’d opt for a cheaper option.
The public bus to Paramaribo, about two hours away, is SRD100. I’ve claimed my number and am waiting. This will probably save me €17 and cost me an hour and a half. On the whole, I’m not sure the cost is worth it, but I didn’t trust the crowd of grabbing, screaming men, and something within me, something stubborn, something probably stupid, refuses to reward this behavior.
Wow, it was murky and shady two years ago, but that scary to me…noted thanks a lot
not that scary I meant, sorry