Kaieteur Falls
The single greatest reason most people visit Guyana. Kaieteur Falls drops 226 metres in a single unbroken plunge — five times the height of Niagara — into a gorge surrounded by intact rainforest. There are no crowds, no cable cars, and no fences between you and the edge. Guided day tours by small plane from Georgetown operate on weekends and cost around US$280 per person.
The Rupununi Savanna
The Rupununi is a vast grassland in southern Guyana, one of South America's great wilderness areas. It holds giant anteaters, giant river otters, jaguars, capybaras, and an extraordinary range of birds. Ranches and eco-lodges offer stays where you travel by horseback or boat. The Amerindian communities here — particularly the Makushi and Wapishana peoples — have been managing this landscape for centuries.
Georgetown
The capital is chaotic, colourful, and unlike anywhere else in South America. The historic wooden architecture — Victorian Gothic churches, colonial houses raised on stilts above the flood line — is genuinely distinctive, even if much of it needs repair. The Stabroek Market, the Botanic Gardens, and the Sea Wall at dusk are the highlights. See Georgetown.
Essequibo River and Bartica
The Essequibo is one of the world's great rivers, wider than you expect and lined with forest-covered islands. Bartica, the main town at the confluence of the Essequibo, Mazaruni, and Cuyuni rivers, is a gateway to gold-mining territory and the forested interior. The island of Baganara sits in the river nearby and has a resort.
Shell Beach
A remote stretch of Atlantic coastline in northwestern Guyana, Shell Beach is one of the most important sea turtle nesting sites in the western Atlantic. Leatherback, hawksbill, green, and olive ridley turtles all nest here. Getting there requires a boat and some planning, but the experience — watching enormous leatherbacks haul themselves out of the surf at night — is unforgettable. The season runs roughly March to August.
Orinduik Falls
Often combined with a trip to Kaieteur on a day tour, Orinduik Falls tumbles over red jasper rock on the Ireng River at the border with Brazil. It is shallower and more accessible than Kaieteur — you can swim in the pools — and the surrounding savannah scenery contrasts with Kaieteur's forested gorge.