The Guiana Space Centre (Centre Spatial Guyanais, or CSG) is Europe's primary spaceport, used by the European Space Agency and Arianespace to launch commercial and scientific satellites. It sits about 12 km northwest of Kourou in dense coastal jungle, and has been operational since 1968. Over a thousand launches have taken place from here, and the facility remains one of the most active launch sites in the world.
Free guided tours of the complex are available on weekdays, running roughly three and a half hours — you'll be taken to launch pad areas, control rooms, and assembly buildings, depending on the current operational schedule. Tours require advance booking (at least 48 hours) and a passport or national ID: the site is technically French military territory. Photography restrictions apply near the active infrastructure.
The on-site visitor experience, now called Guyaspace Experience (reopened 2024), covers the history of the CSG, the physics of rocket launches, and the role French Guiana plays in the European space programme. There are interactive exhibits, a planetarium, and scale models of the Ariane, Soyuz, and Vega rockets that have launched from the pads outside. If you happen to be in Kourou during a launch window, local tour operators offer packages combining the Guyaspace Experience with a position at the public viewing area, which gives a safe but genuinely dramatic vantage point on ignition.