A wide street in central New Amsterdam with parked cars, cyclists, low shops and a church spire in the distance

Guyana

New Amsterdam

A street in central New Amsterdam on a sunny day. (Ian Mackenzie / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0)

A small river port on the east bank of the Berbice River, just south of the Canje and 6 km from the Atlantic, and the capital of the East Berbice-Corentyne region. Founded by the Dutch as the capital of Berbice after the rising of 1763, it keeps colonial buildings and a busy market, surrounded by sugar estates and linked to Georgetown by the Berbice Bridge.

Neighbourhoods

  • Town centre and Main Street
    • First-time visitors
    • Markets
    • Historic buildings

    The compact core of three main roads and about a dozen cross streets, with the market, shops, churches and many old colonial buildings, some dating from the Dutch period. The Esplanade, a ground west of Esplanade Road, was once a picnic site.

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  • Vryman's Erven
    • Quiet and residential

    A part of town that is home to Vryman's Erven Secondary School and to Little Rock Television, the first TV station in Berbice.

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Things to do

In town

  • Mission Chapellandmark

    A historic chapel in the town, designated a National Heritage Site.

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  • Berbice Bridgelandmark

    A tolled pontoon bridge across the Berbice River, opened on 23 December 2008, which gave the town a direct road connection to Georgetown; it has no pedestrian crossing.

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  • Canje Riverattraction

    The main tributary of the Berbice, meeting it at the northern edge of town; it is where the 1763 rising began, and the river is still an important route for the villages upstream.

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Short trips along the coast

  • Rose Hallattraction

    A community 23 km east of town, long tied to its sugar estates.

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  • Albionattraction

    A village whose sugar estate, run by the Guyana Sugar Corporation, is a major local employer.

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  • Port Mourantattraction

    A coastal town that began as a sugar estate, the birthplace of a president and of many of Guyana's best-known cricketers, with districts such as Bound Yard and Free Yard named after the indentured labourers who lived there.

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  • Moleson Creektransit hub

    The farming community on the Corentyne River, about 90 km from New Amsterdam, with the ferry stelling for the crossing to Suriname.

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Eat and drink

Long-standing places and food districts in New Amsterdam. Hours, ratings and directions come from your maps app, always current.

New Amsterdam classics

  • New Amsterdam marketmarket

    The town's busy market, the centre of local shopping for food and goods.

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  • Chinese restaurantsrestaurant

    Cantonese-style Chinese cooking is a local favourite, and fried rice is the most popular dish.

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  • Main Street eateriesneighborhood

    Small diners and eateries along Main Street serving home-style Caribbean and Creole food.

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Experience New Amsterdam

History

The Dutch colony of Berbice was governed for more than a century from Fort Nassau, about 88 km up the Berbice River, and the village that grew around that fort was named New Amsterdam in 1733. Plantations lined the Berbice and its tributary, the Canje, worked by enslaved Africans.

In February 1763 the enslaved people of Plantation Magdalenenberg on the Canje River rose against harsh and inhumane treatment. The Berbice Rebellion, led by a Coromantin man named Cuffy, grew to more than 2,500 people and lasted until April 1764. It was the first major slave revolt in South America, and when Guyana became a republic in 1970 the anniversary, 23 February, was chosen as Republic Day. In the aftermath, the Dutch moved the seat of government downriver to Fort Sint Andries, at the confluence of the Berbice and the Canje, and in the 1780s and 1790s the old fort was abandoned and the town that grew around the new site took over the name New Amsterdam.

The town still has many old colonial buildings, some dating from the Dutch period. The opening of the Berbice Bridge in December 2008 gave New Amsterdam a direct road link to Georgetown. In 2018 the government took over the bridge after a sharp rise in its toll.

Culture & Customs

The sugar estates around New Amsterdam were worked after emancipation by indentured labourers, many of them from India — at Port Mourant, districts called Bound Yard and Free Yard recall the move from indenture to freedom. Afro-Guyanese communities, descended from the enslaved, form the other great strand of Berbice life, and the memory of the 1763 rising is a national symbol.

Cricket is central to local pride. Port Mourant, east of the town, is the birthplace of many of Guyana's most famous cricketers and of the former president Cheddi Jagan. The town has also produced a striking number of writers and public figures, among them the novelists Edgar Mittelholzer and David Dabydeen, the soprano Jill Gomez and Shridath Ramphal, Commonwealth Secretary-General.

Local media have deep roots: Little Rock Television in Vryman's Erven was the first television station in Berbice, and in 2014 it launched the first radio station to broadcast from New Amsterdam. Mission Chapel, a designated National Heritage Site, is among the buildings that keep the town's past visible.

Daily Life

New Amsterdam had 14,762 people in 2022, making it one of the largest towns in Guyana, and it is the administrative capital of East Berbice-Corentyne. It is a port with a government-run hospital and several secondary schools, including Berbice High School and New Amsterdam Secondary.

The town is small — three main roads with about a dozen cross streets — and its market is the centre of daily life. The economy of the surrounding region rests on sugar: the Albion Sugar Estate, run by the Guyana Sugar Corporation, employed some 3,400 people in 2011, and at Port Mourant the sugar industry remains a source of work alongside self-employment. Fishing and other farming add to the local economy.

Roads lead east along the coast to Crabwood Creek and south up the Berbice to Mara, and the Berbice Bridge carries commuters and goods west towards Georgetown. For travellers heading to Suriname, the ferry leaves from Moleson Creek further east.

Food

New Amsterdam's food reflects the mix of Berbice. From the Indian indentured tradition come curry, dhal and roti, and seven curry — seven vegetarian curries eaten with dhalpuri or paratha roti — is the meal of Hindu weddings and festivals, and its individual curries are also everyday main dishes. Cook-up rice, the local version of rice and peas, is a staple, alongside metemgee, ground provisions and dumplings in coconut milk, and bake and saltfish.

Chinese cooking has a long history in Guyana, and in New Amsterdam Cantonese-style restaurants are popular, with fried rice the favourite order; chow mein is eaten across the country. Small diners on Main Street serve home-style Caribbean and Creole food, and the market supplies the town's kitchens. Pepperpot, the dark meat stew of Amerindian origin flavoured with cassareep, is eaten above all at Christmas.

Demerara rum is the national spirit, and the non-alcoholic favourites are mauby, sorrel, ginger beer and fresh fruit juices.

Planning tools

Budget

New Amsterdam is cheaper than Georgetown, with simple hotels, local food and minibuses keeping costs down. The main extras are taxis or a hire car for the sugar villages and the road east, the Berbice Bridge toll for drivers, and the ferry crossing for those continuing to Suriname.

Daily Budget Midrange
USD 150–300 (better hotel, restaurant meals, taxis or a hire car)
Daily Budget Shoestring
USD 55–90 (guesthouse room, market and local food, minibuses)

Carry Guyanese dollars for minibuses, the market and the bridge toll.

Best Time to Visit

September and October are the driest months; heavy rain falls through much of the rest of the year. The drier spell is the most comfortable time for exploring the coast and the rivers.

Suggested Number of Days

The town itself takes a day at most. Adding the coastal sugar villages and the rivers makes two or three, and a journey on to Suriname needs an extra day for the road and the ferry.

First Visit
1 day
With Surroundings
2–3 days

Transportation

The centre is small and easily covered on foot. Minibuses and taxis link the town with the villages along the coast, and roads run east to Crabwood Creek, about 72 km away, and south along the Berbice River to Mara, about 40 km away. The Berbice Bridge carries road traffic west towards Georgetown and has no pedestrian crossing.

Use taxis for trips along the coast after dark, and agree fares before setting off.

Airport & Station Connections

Georgetown is 100 km to the west, about two hours by road over the Berbice Bridge; minibuses and taxis run the route. The nearest passenger airport is Cheddi Jagan International, south of Georgetown. From Suriname, the ferry across the Corentyne River lands at Moleson Creek, about 90 km east of the town, where minibuses continue west.

Walkability

Flat and compact — three main roads and about a dozen cross streets — so the market, the churches and the colonial streets are all within a short walk. Shade is limited and the midday heat is strong, and drainage ditches line many roads.

Safety

Georgetown has significant crime, including armed robbery and burglary, and visitors are advised to be cautious downtown and after dark and to avoid certain districts. New Amsterdam is a much smaller regional town, where ordinary care with valuables and taxis at night are sensible.

Don't display valuables, use arranged taxis at night, and take care on busy roads, where cyclists and minibuses share the carriageway. Check current official travel advice before travelling.

Climate

A tropical monsoon climate bordering on a rainforest climate, hot and humid, with heavy rainfall for most of the year and a drier period in September and October. Across Guyana's coast, temperatures run between about 25°C and 31°C.

Summer
there is no real summer — across the coast temperatures stay around 25–31°C all year, and the wettest months come in the middle of the year
Winter
no real winter either — temperatures change little, at around 25–31°C across the coast, and the drier spell falls in September and October

Local Customs

Indo-Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese communities live side by side, and Hindu, Muslim and Christian festivals are all part of the year. Sugar and cricket are central to local identity. Politics and ethnicity are sensitive subjects, best approached with tact.

Dress modestly in temples, mosques and churches, and ask before photographing people, particularly at the market.

Common Payment Methods

The currency is the Guyanese dollar (GYD). Cash is used for most everyday purchases — the market, minibuses, taxis and small eateries. ATMs are available in the coastal towns, but it is sensible to carry enough cash for trips into the villages and the ferry to Suriname.