GUYANA SPACE CENTRE (CSG)

This CNES space launch facility, based in Kourou, covers an area of 69,000 hectares. You can visit the site for guided tours, or to watch a launch.

Visit the Guiana Space Center. The CSG authorities organize guided tours, which are free and open all year round. After completing check-in formalities, the tour begins with the Jupiter room, the control center. Then it's off by bus for a 2-hour trip through the launch areas and Ariane center. Visits are suspended the day before, the day of and the day after a launch. Access to the facilities remains subject to operations: tours may therefore be modified to ensure visitor safety.

Visit the savannahs. The CSG site is also a protected nature reserve, a veritable concentrate of Guiana's biodiversity, home to over 700 different species. Tours of the savannahs are organized every month with an ONF guide to discover the richness of this area.

Attend a launch. The pace of launches has slowed in recent years, but should pick up again in 2025 with Ariane 6. If your stay coincides with a launch, try to catch the show. Requests for invitations to a launch are free, but are limited to the number of places available and the sites activated according to personal protection constraints. Book in advance and reserve online: cnes-csg.fr - ✆ 05 94 33 44 53 - Mail: [email protected]. To be admitted to the Agami site (7.5 km from the launcher), you must be over 16. For Ibis, Venus and the Jupiter VIP room, the age limit is 14. However, the Carapa site (12.5 km from the launch zone) remains open to the public without invitation or age restriction. It is located on the mountain of the same name, just outside Kourou. The site can accommodate around 1,450 people. Although access is free, once this number has been reached, it will no longer be possible to enter. We therefore advise you to arrive well in advance, bearing in mind that the site opens 2 hours before the launch. Bring a pair of binoculars and a camera. Other popular sites in Kourou on launch days are the beach and the summit of Monkey Mountain. In Cayenne, head for Place des Amandiers, where you'll find plenty of entertainment (and sometimes a giant screen)!