🛍️ Guyana: souvenirs
Guyana's shopping runs from El Dorado rum to Amerindian craft - with gold sold by the pennyweight in Georgetown's arcades. Here is what travellers bring home from Guyana, where the good versions live, and the export questions worth a look - alongside our 48 written places.
🛒 The classic buys
El Dorado rum
Demerara Distillers' aged range wins world titles - the 12- and 15-year bottles cost far less here; the distillery shop and city stores both work.
Amerindian craft
Balata figures, woven sifters, bows and beadwork from the interior nations - Hibiscus and other Georgetown craft shops buy fairly from communities.
Gold jewellery
Guyana prices by weight in pennyweights - buy from licensed Georgetown jewellers with receipts.
Cassava products and pepper sauce
Casareep (the black cassava syrup behind pepperpot) and wiri-wiri pepper sauces - market staples.
Demerara sugar and coffee
The sugar that named a style - buy it where the name comes from.
⚠️ Check before you buy
- Gold needs receipts for export - licensed dealers provide them.
- Wildlife trade rules are strict - no feathers, skins or live animals; balata (natural latex) figures are the legal craft.
- Casareep and food items - check what your home country lets in.
✗ Better left behind
- Macaw feathers and caiman products - protected.
- Raw gold or 'nuggets' offered informally - illegal without licences.
Markets shift, workshops close and open, and the best souvenir is still the one with a story you were there for. Buy from makers where you can, keep receipts for anything substantial, and when a deal feels too good, it usually is.