Short answer: Suriname has two UNESCO World Heritage sites, not one. Jodensavanne — the ruins of a seventeenth-century Jewish settlement on the Suriname River — was inscribed on 19 September 2023, joining the historic inner city of Paramaribo. It is about an hour out of town, and it is the day trip to do first. After that: Commewijne for plantations and forts, Colakreek for swimming, Overbridge for a river beach.
Jodensavanne: the second World Heritage site
Most travel writing about Suriname still says the country has one World Heritage site. It has had two since September 2023, when UNESCO inscribed the Jodensavanne Archaeological Site: Jodensavanne Settlement and Cassipora Creek Cemetery.
The site is two linked places on the forested bank of the Suriname River. The settlement, founded in the 1680s, includes the ruins of what is believed to be the earliest architecturally significant synagogue in the Americas. The Cassipora Creek cemetery is older. UNESCO's citation presents the whole as an illustration of early Jewish settlement in the New World, and the Jodensavanne Foundation maintains and presents it, publishing a cemetery database and research on the tombstones.
The practical caveat: the foundation does not publish visiting hours or an admission fee, and we are not going to invent either. In practice visitors come on a day tour from Paramaribo — Orange Travel sells it as a river cruise — and those tours commonly stop at Overbridge for lunch, which is why the two entries below belong together.
Jodensavanne Archaeological Site
UNESCO-listed remains of a 17th-century Jewish settlement on the Suriname River, including the ruins of what is believed to be the earliest architecturally significant synagogue in the Americas and the older Cassipora Creek cemetery.
Overbridge River Resort
River resort on the Suriname River south of Paramaribo with a river beach and no flight involved — popular for weekend stays and as the lunch stop on Jodensavanne day tours.
Overbridge: the river beach
Overbridge River Resort is on the Suriname River in the Para district, reachable by road, with a beach on the river and a natural pool. It is sold both as a stay and as a day out: Orange Travel's day trip runs ten hours from €75 a head, including transport, entrance, lunch, use of a hammock camp and soft drinks, with boat trips and fishing available on site.
If you want one day out of Paramaribo that involves swimming rather than reading interpretive panels, this is it — and it pairs with Jodensavanne on the same day without either feeling rushed.
Commewijne: plantations, a fort and flat cycling
Across the river from Paramaribo, Commewijne is the district where the plantation economy actually happened, and it is unusually easy to visit because it is completely flat.
The three anchors are Fort Nieuw Amsterdam, the open-air museum in the fortress at the confluence of the Suriname and Commewijne rivers; Peperpot Nature Park, a former coffee and cocoa plantation now grown over and good for birds and monkeys; and Frederiksdorp, a restored plantation on the Commewijne river that also takes guests overnight. Cardy Adventures runs a plantation bike tour that strings several of them together.
We have a full guide to this one: a day in Commewijne covers the crossing, the route and what is actually open.
Openluchtmuseum Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam
An open-air museum inside the walls of Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam in Commewijne, at the confluence of the Suriname and Commewijne rivers opposite Paramaribo, with former prison cells and wartime artillery on the grounds.
Peperpot Nature Park
A nature park of about 820 hectares on a former coffee and cocoa plantation in Commewijne, a short drive from Paramaribo, with walking trails through regrown forest and old plantation planting still visible.
Commewijne Plantation Bike Tour (Cardy Adventures)
Guided cycling day trip across the Suriname River into Commewijne, riding between former coffee, cocoa and sugar plantations and along the polder dams. Sold as a one-day version and a two-day version with an overnight in the plantation area.
Plantage Resort Frederiksdorp
A restored 18th-century coffee and later cocoa plantation on the Commewijne River, designated a monument in 2004 and now operating as a resort with a small district story museum and a heritage walking trail.
Colakreek: swimming, and the airport problem
Colakreek is a recreation park built around a blackwater creek near Zanderij, in the same corner of the Para district as Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport. The water is dark as strong tea from tannins in the savannah soil, and swimming in it is the whole idea. The listing we verified adds holiday cabins, a conference room and a Savannah Education Centre explaining the local ecosystem.
Its real use to a traveller is the airport. Most flights out of Suriname leave at night, hotel check-out is at midday, and Colakreek is close to the terminal. Spending the gap in a creek beats spending it in a departure hall.
We could not verify an entrance fee or opening hours from any source, so this page does not print either. Versions of both circulate; treat them with suspicion and ask when you arrange transport.
Colakreek Recreatiepark
Recreation park around a tannin-dark blackwater creek near Zanderij in the Para district — a longtime favourite swimming and picnic spot, with holiday cabins at the forest edge and a savannah education centre.
Brownsberg: possible, but not really a day trip
Brownsberg Nature Park — rainforest, waterfalls and a viewpoint over the Brokopondo reservoir — is often sold as a day trip and is better as an overnight. The drive is long, the interesting hours are early, and the park's managing foundation has been in caretaker status since 2020, with the government's own guidance pointing visitors at licensed operators rather than at the foundation. Book it as a tour, and give it more than a day if you can.
Brownsberg Nature Park
A nature park of roughly 12,000 hectares on a plateau in Brokopondo district south of Paramaribo, with rainforest trails, waterfalls and views over the Brokopondo reservoir.
Fredberg: the one that is not a day trip at all
Fredberg turns up in the same conversations and belongs in a different category. It is a forested mountain near the Upper Saramacca, known for the Guianan cock-of-the-rock, and it is sold as two-, three- and four-day trips from €285 in which you sleep in a hammock at a camp on the summit. There is no independent access and no way to do it between breakfast and dinner.
We mention it here because travellers keep finding it while looking for day trips. If you have the nights, it is the more interesting trip; if you have one day, take Jodensavanne.
Fredberg
Rainforest mountain near the Upper Saramacca River known for extraordinary biodiversity — including the Guianan cock-of-the-rock — with multi-day tours that let you sleep on the summit.
Getting out of town
None of these are walkable and Suriname has no functioning international ride-hailing app. In practice you either book a tour that includes transport, or arrange a car and driver through your accommodation. Our guide to getting around Paramaribo covers the options and what they cost.
Sources for every claim above are on the linked entity pages, and all of them were read on 21 August 2026.
Common questions
- How many UNESCO World Heritage sites does Suriname have?
Two. The historic inner city of Paramaribo, and the Jodensavanne Archaeological Site — the Jodensavanne settlement and the Cassipora Creek cemetery — which was inscribed on 19 September 2023.
- What is the best day trip from Paramaribo?
Jodensavanne, both for the seventeenth-century synagogue ruins and because tours usually combine it with a lunch stop at Overbridge River Resort on the Suriname River. Commewijne is the alternative if you would rather have plantations and flat cycling than ruins.