New Amsterdam
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New Amsterdam

New Amsterdam

Berbice River town with Dutch colonial origins, wooden waterfront buildings, and a quieter Guyanese pace

New Amsterdam is Guyana's second-largest town, sitting on the east bank of the Berbice River near where it meets the Atlantic coast. Founded by the Dutch in the 18th century as the capital of the Colony of Berbice, its colonial origins still show in the layout of the streets and in surviving wooden buildings along the waterfront.

The town is quieter and more relaxed than Georgetown. A walk along the colonial waterfront takes in some well-preserved Berbice-style wooden houses. The Mission Chapel, built around 1814, is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Guyana and reflects the missionary history of the pre-emancipation era. The Berbice Bridge, a few kilometres north, is an unusual and photogenic piece of engineering — a floating pontoon bridge across one of Guyana's major rivers, opened in 2008.

New Amsterdam serves mainly as a stopover on the route east towards the Suriname border at Corriverton/Springlands. Getting there from Georgetown involves crossing the Berbice River by ferry — the crossing takes about 20 minutes — or using the Berbice Bridge, after a road journey east along the coast. The total trip from Georgetown takes 2–3 hours by minibus.

Guide

Activities

Berbice is barely on the tourist map, which is exactly the argument for the one licensed operator working here. Trips run on the Berbice River and Canje Creek — caiman after dark, fishing, tubing, birding — and out to the ruins of Fort Nassau, the Dutch seat of the colony now largely taken back by forest.

Guide

Getting Around

New Amsterdam's centre is small and walkable. Cycle-rickshaws (called "cycles") are common and cheap for short distances. Minibuses and shared taxis connect the town to nearby villages and to the ferry terminal at Rosignol. For the Berbice Bridge, take any minibus heading west on the main coastal road — they all use the bridge.

Guide

Getting There

From Georgetown, the journey to New Amsterdam takes 2–3 hours. Minibuses run frequently along the coastal highway and cross the Berbice River by ferry at Rosignol — the ferry crossing takes about 20 minutes. Since the Berbice Bridge opened in 2008, faster minibuses also use the road crossing about 5km north of town.

New Amsterdam has a small airport (ICAO: SYNA) but scheduled commercial service is intermittent. Minibus is the standard and reliable option from Georgetown. From the east, shared taxis and minibuses run from Corriverton (the Suriname border) through Berbice district.

Guide

Things to Do in New Amsterdam

New Amsterdam is primarily a transit stop and regional centre rather than a tourist destination, but it has some colonial-era wooden architecture worth a look. The Mission Chapel on Main Street is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Guyana. The Berbice River is the defining feature of the town, and the ferry crossing from Rosignol is an experience in itself. The Berbice Bridge a few kilometres north is the only fixed crossing of the river for those travelling by road.