{"id":119,"date":"2026-04-22T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/surinametravels.com\/blog\/paramaribo-old-town-history\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T16:30:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:30:33","slug":"paramaribo-old-town-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/surinametravels.com\/en\/blog\/paramaribo-old-town-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramaribo&#8217;s old town: a walk through 350 years of history"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Paramaribo&#8217;s old town has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2002: one of the last surviving 17th-century Dutch colonial town centres in the world where the wooden character is still largely intact.<\/p>\n<h2>Starting point: Fort Zeelandia<\/h2>\n<p>Start at <strong>Fort Zeelandia<\/strong> on the Suriname River. The fort dates from 1640, built by the English and then taken over by the Dutch under the Treaty of Breda in 1667. Walk to the riverside and look out over the <strong>Waterkant<\/strong>: row after row of wooden fa\u00e7ades (1700\u20131900), mostly greenheart.<\/p>\n<div class=\"st-callout\" style=\"border-left:4px solid #E8B85C;background:#fdf6e7;padding:16px 20px;border-radius:12px;margin:24px 0;\"><strong>Good to know<\/strong><br \/>On Saturday mornings there is often a ceremony or event on Independence Square. Stop by.<\/div>\n<h2>Along the Gravenstraat<\/h2>\n<p>Heading down the <strong>Gravenstraat<\/strong> towards the Central Market you&#8217;ll pass:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral<\/strong>: the largest wooden cathedral in Latin America (1883\u20131885).<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Neveh Shalom Synagogue<\/strong> and the <strong>Keizerstraat Mosque<\/strong> \u2014 literally side by side.<\/li>\n<li>Wooden mansions, largely restored after the city fires of 1821 and 1832.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The Central Market<\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>Central Market<\/strong> on the Waterkant is the finale. Not a tourist market.<\/p>\n<h3>What to taste<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bara<\/strong>: fried, spiced dough from Hindustani cuisine<\/li>\n<li><strong>Telo<\/strong>: fried cassava with bakkeljauw (salt cod)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pom<\/strong>: a baked dish of grated tayer root, chicken and sour orange<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Practical tips<\/h2>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Item<\/th>\n<th>Detail<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Length<\/td>\n<td>3 km, 2\u20133 hours at an easy pace<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Best day<\/td>\n<td>Saturday (market at its busiest)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Entry<\/td>\n<td>All buildings free except museums (SRD 25\u201350)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Footwear<\/td>\n<td>Comfortable shoes, streets partly unpaved<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Also read: <a href=\"https:\/\/surinametravels.com\/en\/blog\/brownsberg-3-days\/\">Brownsberg in 3 days<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A self-guided walk through Paramaribo&#8217;s UNESCO old town, past wooden mansions, the fort and the aromas of the Central Market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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