Cheap flights to Georgetown

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Georgetown Airport

Guyana's gateway

Into the city

Cheddi Jagan International (GEO), near Timehri, lies about 41 km south of Georgetown (Wikipedia, Wikivoyage). A taxi takes roughly 45 to 60 minutes depending on traffic. Wikivoyage quotes a fixed licensed-taxi fare of about G$5,000, around US$25, plus any toll; a shared minibus is far cheaper but ends at a bus park, so you still need a short taxi hop. Check the fare on arrival, as the figure comes from Wikivoyage only.

Ogle airport

Domestic and charter flights leave from Ogle (OGL), about 10 km (6 miles) east of the centre. It is the usual departure point for Kaieteur flights.

On arrival

US dollars are accepted in many places, but Wikivoyage notes there is no ATM in the arrivals hall, so carry a little cash.

Colonial architecture

Victorian timber and Dutch engineering

Georgetown stands out for its 19th-century Victorian wooden buildings, unlike anywhere else in the Caribbean or South America — wide verandas, jalousie windows and the city's signature "Demerara shutters," all set along wide, tree-lined avenues. St. George's Cathedral, an Anglican church built entirely of local greenheart timber, is considered one of the tallest wooden structures in the world and embodies this craftsmanship on its own.

Canals, seawalls and polders

A direct legacy of Dutch colonial engineering, the city sits largely below sea level and is protected by a network of seawalls, canals and sluice gates (kokers) still in use today — an urban layout comparable to the Netherlands, transplanted to the tropics.

Stabroek Market

A clock tower and stalls as far as the eye can see

Recognizable by its red-and-white cast-iron clock tower, shipped from England in 1881, Stabroek Market is Georgetown's commercial heart: hundreds of vendors sell fresh produce, gold jewelry, Indigenous handicrafts, hammocks and traditional remedies, spilling out into the surrounding streets.

The seawall

Georgetown's seawall, a long waterfront promenade, comes especially alive at sunset — an essential local ritual for taking the city's pulse away from the usual tourist trail.

Museums and gardens

National museum, anthropology, art and rum

Georgetown is not a city of grand museums, but it has several small ones, free or cheap, that pair well with a walk past the wooden streets. Opening hours and prices change, so check locally.

Landmarks on foot

City Hall, built of timber, the Parliament Building, St. George's Cathedral (tower about 45 m, tropical hardwood, built 1892-99 per Wikivoyage DE), the Independence Arch, the 1763 monument to the slave uprising, and Umana Yana, the large conical Amerindian thatched building rebuilt in 2016.

Food and drink

Pepperpot, cook-up and roti: a Creole and Indian table

Guyanese cooking blends Amerindian, African, Indian, Chinese and British influences. The easiest places to try it are the cookshops around Stabroek Market (daytime only) and the roti shops across town.

Typical dishes

Pepperpot, a meat stew of Amerindian origin flavoured with cassareep, a bitter cassava extract; cook-up rice, a one-pot dish of rice, beans and meat; metemgee, a thick soup of root vegetables and coconut milk with dumplings; roti and curries of chicken, goat, duck or fish. Black cake, made with fruit soaked in rum, is the Christmas cake.

Drinks

Demerara rum (El Dorado) is the national spirit and Banks is the local beer. Soft drinks include mauby (made from tree bark), sorrel and homemade ginger beer. Wikivoyage advises drinking bottled water.

Gateways to the interior

Kaieteur and the Rupununi savannah

Most visitors reach Kaieteur Falls — the world's tallest single-drop waterfall, at 741 feet, more than five times the height of Niagara Falls — via a small charter plane (about a dozen seats) from Ogle Airport, since there are no scheduled commercial flights to this remote site. Expect to pay roughly USD $270-450 per person for a day tour. The falls are sacred to the Indigenous Patamona people and home to rare species like the golden rocket frog and the harpy eagle.

The Rupununi savannah

Further south, the Rupununi region offers a completely different side of Guyana: open savannah and abundant wildlife, often combined with Kaieteur and the Iwokrama rainforest in multi-day community ecotourism itineraries with local Indigenous communities.

Getting around & city life

Taxis, minibuses and charter flights

Georgetown and the coast are covered by taxi or private minibus, the most common and affordable shared transport in the country. Licensed taxis carry plates starting with H and have been yellow since 2010; Wikivoyage suggests picking them up outside a hotel rather than hailing them in the street. Minibuses run numbered routes and mostly meet near the market. A ferry crosses the Demerara River behind Stabroek Market to Vreed en Hoop. The city is flat and walkable by day, but take a taxi at night.

To the interior

With no usable road to Kaieteur, a charter flight from Ogle remains the main way to reach the falls, the Rupununi or airstrips like Lethem. Some connections are by motorised river boat. The road to Lethem is often impassable in the rainy season.

Staying alert

Wikivoyage describes a city where petty crime is common: avoid flashy jewellery, never leave luggage unattended, keep original documents in the hotel and read your government's travel advice before you go.

Budget

A pricier destination than it looks

Guyana is not a rock-bottom destination: Wikivoyage describes a high cost of living (as of January 2024) and widely varying accommodation. Older rates quoted there put small guesthouses at roughly US$30-35 for a double, with hotels costing more; these figures are dated and need rechecking. Some hotels quote prices before a 16% tax.

Where the money goes

Charter flights to Kaieteur weigh most: roughly US$270-450 per person for a day trip, according to offers we have seen (a range we could not cross-check, so confirm with operators). The city itself is inexpensive for museums, markets and meals at cookshops.

By length of stay

What to do in Georgetown depending on your trip length

When to go

When to visit Georgetown

Georgetown has a hot tropical climate all year: about 27 C on average, highs around 30 C, and temperatures that rarely exceed 31 C thanks to the trade winds. There is no true dry season: more than 60 mm of rain falls every month, about 2,260 mm a year (Wikipedia). May and June are the wettest months; September to November are drier. For the city any month works; for Kaieteur and the interior aim for the drier periods.

In pictures

Georgetown in pictures

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FAQ

Frequently asked questions about flights to Georgetown