First day’s tour

A languid Caribbean vibe and old wooden houses makes Georgetown ripe for exploring on foot. Start with a Creole breakfast – perhaps some bakes and saltfish – at Oasis Café on Carmichael Street, before migrating downtown, where you will find the daddy of Georgetown’s 19th-century

heritage: the colossal 43m-high St George’s Cathedral, one of the world’s tallest wooden structures.

There are a couple of old-style museums nearby, such as the Walter Roth Museum (free) and its fascinating collection of Amerindian paraphernalia, while at the National Museum (free) you will blink twice at a full-scale model of an extinct giant – and we mean giant – sloth.

Nearby lies Georgetown’s stellar architectural achievement, its 1889 whitewashed City Hall. It’s not far from there to walk to the capital’s liveliest market: Stabroek (pictured). Set by the Demerara River, with an impressive four-faced clock, it is still a local market and is a great place to snack on a panoply of exotic fruits, from soursops to guavas.

Next, grab a cheap cab and head to the capital’s Atlantic shore, where the quirkiest city experience is to be found in National Park, handfeeding manatees with clumps of grass. The Sea Wall, meanwhile, is a place to promenade alongside the locals. An old bandstand, built in 1903 to remember Queen Victoria, is found at its western end.

As the sun goes down, bag a taxi to the revered Bourda Cricket Ground for a pre-dinner snifter of a Banks beer or a G&T in their pavilion bar, packed with cricketing memorabilia. Then drive to chef Delvern Adams’ garden for dinner at Backyard Café (+592 663 5104) and a storm of Caribbean cooking, plus a rather divine passionfruit cheesecake.