Experience the best of Paramaribo

Paramaribo lies on the Suriname River in the north of South America's smallest independent country, and its historic inner city, a World Heritage site, is a grid of white wooden buildings with shutters and high roofs from the Dutch colonial period. Fort Zeelandia dates from the 1600s, and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, a wooden building of the nineteenth century, is among the largest wooden churches in the Americas.

On Keizerstraat a mosque and a synagogue stand side by side, a sign of the city's mix of Creole, Hindustani, Javanese, Maroon, Chinese and Indigenous people. The Palmentuin, a palm garden, the Waterkant riverfront and the Central Market are all in the middle of town, and across the river lies Commewijne, with former plantations and Fort Nieuw Amsterdam.

Javanese warung serve nasi, bami and saoto soup, Hindustani cooks make roti with curried chicken, and pom, baked root vegetables with chicken, is the traditional party dish of the Creole kitchen, with Parbo as the local beer. Two wet and two dry seasons run through the year.