Kourou sells two things: the space centre, which books through the CNES directly, and the crossing to the Îles du Salut. Four companies run boats out to the islands and they are not interchangeable — the scheduled ferry goes every day and costs twenty-four euros, the catamarans sail and take longer, and the fast charters are priced for a group.
Behind the town there is the Kourou river, the Bois Diable lake and the Petit-Saut reservoir inland, all of them paddled, and beaches that get enough trade wind between December and April for kitesurfing.