Georgetown, Guyana

Author: jamesdalphonse
Date of Trip: December 2007

During December of 2007, we went to Georgetown, Guyana. I wanted to make this an interesting trip, so I even booked it point to point. This is how we got there. We flew US Air from Syracuse, NY to San Juan, PR. We overnighted in San Juan at the Best Western Airport Inn. The following day we flew Liat Airlines from San Juan, PR to Port of Spain, Trinidad, overnighted again at the Holiday Inn Express near the Piarco airport. Then the next day we flew Liat Airlines again from Port of Spain to Georgetown, Guyana. We arrived in Guyana, and everything went fairly smoothly, except for the fact that Liat forgot to give us disembarkation forms, so we had to wait for them to go get more when we were on the ground. The airport is located about 25 miles from the actual city of Georgetown, so the hotel had a taxi waiting for us.

Overall, we spent seven nights/eight days in Guyana. The hotel that we stayed at was by far and large the best one in the city of Georgetown, maybe even the entire country; it was the Le Meridien Pegasus hotel, an international hotel chain. The hotel was built in 1969, and rooms are consistently being refurbished. Check-in at the hotel went rather swiftly. Our reservation was right there, no problems with international credit card authorization, etc.

We were up in our room within ten minutes of arriving at the hotel. The rooms are quite spacious with large bathrooms, shower and bathtub. Each room also has a small balcony. Our balcony was over looking the poolside and garden area of the hotel. It should also be noted that this hotel is located right in the city of Georgetown, actually right across the street from the US and Canadian Embassies. However, it is a good twenty minute walk to downtown, where the marketplace area is.

There are a few restaurants not too far from the hotel, which are very good and also quite reasonably priced. We ate and drank at the Palm Court Restaurant several times during our stay in Georgetown. This restaurant is about five blocks from the hotel, and stays open until 3:00 am. The food is very good, they have a full-bar, and is very clean.

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The city of Georgetown is very interesting and as we found rather safe to walk around. There was not one time that we ever encountered a problem and felt as though we may be in an area where we shouldn’t be. We even went to the area of Georgetown that is know as Tiger Bay, which is supposed to be a very rough area. Maybe we were just lucky, but no problems ever arose.

There are some great Chinese restaurants all over Georgetown. It was very honestly some of the best Chinese food that I have ever had, along with some of the most inexpensively priced food that we have had. Two people could eat dinner along with a beverage each for less than US$10. This was a large full-dinner each and soda. Several of these restaurants could be found on Robb Street.

There are some nice crafts to purchase in Guyana. There is the purple heart wood and some mahogany wears. Note: if you purchase wood and it is not sealed (varnished), do so very shortly after you get home with it. The reason for this is that they often crack, due to the lack of moisture in the climate. The best market to shop in for crafts in Guyana is the Hibiscus Craft Market, which is located right in downtown Georgetown, near the main post office.

Another hotel in Georgetown that also has a restaurant and lounge, very relaxing cocktail lounge in the Hotel Tower, right on Main Street. Not my first choice of places to stay, but decent restaurant/lounge. We found Georgetown, Guyana a great place to go on vacation. The people in the city were very friendly and welcoming to tourists. I would recommend Guyana as a tourist destination.