What country is Paramaribo in?

Paramaribo is the capital of Suriname, a small country on the northeast coast of South America.

About the city:

• Location: on the west bank of the Suriname River, about an hour's drive north of Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport.
• Population: roughly 300,000 in the metro area, close to half the country's population.
• Heritage: its historic inner city, with colonial wooden architecture along the Waterkant and around Fort Zeelandia, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• For visitors: it is the starting point for the rest of the country, since almost every route into the interior begins in the capital.

About the country:

• Borders: French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the north.
• Size: the smallest country in South America by both area and population.
• Language: the only one where Dutch is the official language, a legacy of nearly 300 years of Dutch colonial rule that ended with independence in 1975.

See our Paramaribo travel guide for what to see and do, or the About Suriname page for the country-level overview.