Things to Do in Georgetown: St. George's Cathedral, Stabroek Market and Botanical Gardens

From nineteenth-century carpenter-Gothic cathedrals carved out of rot-resistant tropical hardwood to iron-framed Victorian markets, manatee ponds, and bush planes departing for the world's largest single-drop waterfall, Georgetown rewards travellers who slow down to explore its coastal heritage before heading into the interior. Link all five experiences below using our 3-day Georgetown itinerary.

1. Walk the Victorian Wooden Heritage Mile Around St. George's Cathedral

Begin at St. George's Cathedral (opened in 1892), whose 43.5-metre white greenheart spire makes it one of the tallest freestanding wooden churches on earth. Continue south down Avenue of the Republic past the 1858 State House, the 1889 French Gothic Revival wooden City Hall designed by Father Ignatius Scoles, the 1887 Victoria Law Courts, and Joseph Hadfield's 1834 Parliament Building.

2. Experience Stabroek Market, the Demerara Stelling, and Bourda Market

Step under the cavernous 1881 wrought-iron and steel roof of Stabroek Market on Water Street, built by the Edgemoor Iron Company of Delaware, and watch passenger speedboats zip across the Demerara River estuary from the adjacent ferry stelling. Afterward, walk east to open-air Bourda Market to see stalls piled with tropical soursop, sapodilla, wiri-wiri chillies, and bottles of dark cassava cassareep.

3. Feed West Indian Manatees and Spot 200 Bird Species in the Botanical Gardens

Dedicate an early morning to the 49-hectare Georgetown Botanical Gardens (laid out in 1879), where you can cross historic cast-iron Kissing Bridges over ponds of giant Victoria amazonica water lilies, offer bundles of grass to resident West Indian manatees introduced in 1885, and spot blood-coloured woodpeckers, festive parrots, snail kites, and toco toucans.

4. Tour the Walter Roth Museum, Castellani House, and the 1763 Monument

Explore the material heritage of Guyana's nine Indigenous Amerindian nations at the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology on Main Street and see the giant sloth replica at the 1868 National Museum. At the eastern end of Brickdam, visit the 1879 Castellani House (National Gallery of Art) and Philip Moore's 10-metre bronze 1763 Cuffy Monument, then catch the Atlantic trade winds at the 1972 Wai-Wai thatched Umana Yana and Georgetown Seawall.

5. Fly to Kaieteur Falls or Cruise the Essequibo River to Fort Island

Board a 50-minute bush flight from Eugene F. Correia Airport at Ogle to stand beside Kaieteur Falls, where the Potaro River plunges 226 metres in a single uninterrupted drop, or cross the Demerara Harbour Bridge to Parika and Fort Island to explore the 1743 Dutch brick ruins of Fort Zeelandia.