Things to do in Curaçao
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Curaçao
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months overall: dry, breezy, reefs clear, with Carnival in February to March and value prices in May to June.
Peak season mid December to mid April: best weather, highest prices and cruise crowds.
Hottest and stillest: trade winds drop, visibility and calm seas peak, coral spawning night dives run.
Wettest period October to early December: short heavy showers, lowest prices and the greenest the island gets.
Dutch summer holidays fill beaches and Jan Thiel with families: book beach club beds and lunches earlier.
What's on
- Carnival Early January to Carnival Tuesday; in 2027 the Gran Marcha is 7 February and the farewell parade 9 February
Weeks of tumba contests, jump ups and parades building to the Grand Parade and closing farewell parade.
- Fuikdag First Sunday of January
Flotilla boat party in Fuik Bay with hundreds of boats, floats and DJs, reachable only by water.
- Pietermaai Pagara 31 December
New Year's Eve street party in Pietermaai with fireworks, live music and food stalls until early morning.
- Seu harvest parade Easter Monday period, spring
Traditional harvest procession in national dress through Otrobanda, rooted in the era of slavery.
- Curacao Culinair April
Restaurant festival with dozens of restaurants serving tasting plates in one venue.
- Koningsdag / King's Day 27 April
Orange street parties, flea markets and DJs in Punda for the Dutch King's birthday.
- Curacao North Sea Jazz Festival Late August / early September, when it runs
Major international lineup, but it has had hiatus years recently: verify it is on before booking.
- Curacao Pride October, about 5 days
Pride Walk through Willemstad plus parties, the island's flagship LGBTQ+ event.
- KLM Curacao Marathon November
Scenic course crossing both the Queen Emma pontoon bridge and the Juliana Bridge.
Best things to do in Curaçao
Willemstad
UNESCO listed Dutch colonial capital to walk for free across Punda, Otrobanda, Pietermaai and Scharloo.
Grote Knip
Wide white cove between limestone cliffs with layered blue water and reef snorkelling off the left side.
Cas Abao Beach
Best all round west coast beach with soft sand, a beach bar, dive shop and a genuine house reef.
Playa Porto Mari
Managed double reef beach with white sand, a good restaurant, nature trail and resident pigs on the sand.
Playa Grandi
Small working fishermen's beach where green turtles gather around the pier in shallow morning water.
Kura Hulanda Museum
Serious, confronting museum on the transatlantic slave trade and African cultures in a former slave yard.
Shete Boka National Park
Seven wild inlets where the north coast hammers into limestone, with a wave cave and a natural bridge.
Hato Caves
Compact limestone caves with stalactites, an underground pool, fruit bats and guided 45 minute tours.
Where to stay in Curaçao
Pietermaai / central Willemstad
best overall base for most travellers
UNESCO quarter of boutique hotels, restaurants and bars on the sea, walkable to Punda and the Queen Emma Bridge.
Jan Thiel
beach club social trips and groups
Polished east side resort strip with a managed beach, clubs and restaurants, furthest from the west coast beaches.
Mambo Beach / Sea Aquarium area
families wanting resort and city access
Beach clubs, shops and family resorts on a calm protected beach, ten minutes from Pietermaai.
Bandabou / Westpunt and Lagun
divers, nature travellers and repeat visitors
Rural west near Grote Knip, reefs, Christoffel and Shete Boka, with quiet evenings and few restaurants.
Blue Bay / Piscadera
golf and beach resort families
Gated resort community with its own beach, golf course and dive centre, 15 minutes from Pietermaai.
Think twice about
- Far east beyond Santa Barbara / Fuik, and isolated rural rentals without a car
A logistics problem, not safety: 45 plus minutes from restaurants, supermarkets and west coast highlights on dark rural roads.
- Deep residential Willemstad (Suffisant, Santa Maria, Brievengat) as a cheap local base
Ordinary neighbourhoods with no walkable restaurants or visitor infrastructure, saving little over a Pietermaai apartment.
- Unlit roads outside Pietermaai, Punda, Otrobanda, Mambo and Jan Thiel at night
The night risk is dark roads, no pavements and drink driving. Stay in the lit clusters and taxi back.
Best restaurants in Curaçao
Baoase Culinary Beach Restaurant
Toes in sand fine dining with tasting menus, torches and the sea, the island's consensus romantic splurge.
Brass Boer Curaçao
Dutch fine dining in palapas at Blue Bay, small plates and chef's menus in a slow 3 to 4 hour format.
Kome
Pietermaai's main for wood fired Caribbean international cooking, an in house pastry programme and weekend brunch.
BijBlauw
Oceanfront tables on the rocks for breakfast through dinner, modern Caribbean plates and sunset cocktails.
Sol Food
Terrace above Westpunt famous for pizza, lionfish, fresh fish and desserts, the best fed stop on a west beach day.
Mundo Bizarro
Eclectic Pietermaai living room with live Cuban music nights, part of the district's evening restaurant crawl.
Ginger
Asian Caribbean cooking and a long running local favourite in the Pietermaai dining cluster.
De Buurvrouw
Dutch Caribbean stalwart serving hearty plates, grouped by locals with the Pietermaai evening favourites.
Outdoor things to do in Curaçao
Klein Curaçao
Uninhabited island day trip with a long white beach, pink lighthouse, shipwrecks and turtles in the shallows.
Tugboat Beach
Small tug wreck in about five metres off a coral covered pier wall, visible to snorkellers from the surface.
Superior Producer
Upright 50 metre cargo wreck at about 30 metres, among the Caribbean's best wreck dives for advanced divers.
Mushroom Forest
Star coral heads grown into giant mushroom shapes, paired with the Blue Room cavern that glows electric blue.
Alice in Wonderland
House reef at Playa Kalki and the hub for unlimited shore diving packages with a rental truck and tanks.
Christoffel National Park
The island's largest park and highest point, a 2 to 4 hour summit hike with views over both coasts.
San Pedro Plains
Half day off road ATV and buggy tours across the San Pedro plains to blowholes, Watamula Hole and west beaches.
Shete Boka National Park
Guided jeep safaris bundling Christoffel driving routes, Shete Boka and west beaches into one narrated day.
Best hotels in Curaçao
Baoase Luxury Resort
Bali inspired luxury hideaway with 23 suites and villas, a private beach and islet and freeform pools.
Sandals Royal Curaçao
Big couples only luxury all inclusive with the Old Quarry golf course and Spanish Water marina on site.
Avila Beach Hotel
Curacao's oldest hotel, with two private cove beaches, good house snorkelling and Pietermaai dining on foot.
LionsDive Beach Resort
Four star eco leaning resort on its own beach, home to Ocean Encounters dive boats and a 50 metre pool.
Renaissance Wind Creek Curaçao Resort
Full service resort in Rif Fort with a man made infinity beach and casino, with Willemstad at the door.
BijBlauw
Eleven rooms and two apartments across three monumental buildings, with an oceanfront restaurant below.
Boutique Hotel 't Klooster
Converted monastery hotel with a garden pool on the quieter edge of Pietermaai, walkable to everything.
Is Curaçao expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | Cg. 250 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | Cg. 490 a person |
| Splurge | Cg. 1,070 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Klein Curaçao: a few days ahead
- Superior Producer: a few days ahead
- Mushroom Forest: a few days ahead
- Alice in Wonderland: a few days ahead
- San Pedro Plains: a few days ahead
- Shete Boka National Park: a few days ahead
- Blue Bay Golf: a few days ahead
- Old Quarry Golf Course: weeks ahead
- Klein Curacao boats 3 to 5 days ahead in season, longer for private charters and Carnival weeks.
- Baoase and Brass Boer dinners, Kome brunch and Hofi Cas Cora weekends: reserve days ahead.
- Rental cars and Pietermaai boutique rooms for Carnival, King's Day and Christmas to New Year: 2 to 3 months ahead for Carnival.
- Christoffel summit has a hard morning cutoff: arrive at opening and start by 9am at the latest.
Is Curaçao safe?
- Violent crime against visitors is rare.
- Leave nothing visible, ideally nothing at all, in a parked rental at dive sites and remote beaches.
- Use a hotel safe for passports, normal city awareness in busy Willemstad, Mambo and Jan Thiel areas.
- Never swim on the north coast: the undertow is lethal. Watch for man o' war seasonally on the windward side.
Curaçao travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Mambo Beach on a multi ship cruise day: fees, crowds and music on a man made strip. Drive west instead.
- Sea Aquarium as a headline attraction: small and ageing, fine for small children, beaten by the free reef offshore.
- Ostrich Farm and Aloe Vera plantation as adult half days: thin and uninteresting for adults.
- Beach entry stacking: managed west beaches each charge entry, parking and loungers, which adds up across coves.
- Operators encouraging touching or feeding turtles at Playa Grandi: walk away, it breaks island conservation norms.
Getting around Curaçao: public transport and more
- Rent a car: the best beaches, parks and lunches are a 30 to 50 minute drive west and buses do not serve the coves.
- Driving is right hand traffic on good main roads; Willemstad to Westpunt is one main road.
- Taxis have no meters: agree the fare first, use licensed TX plate taxis, or use the Click Curacao taxi app.
- Photograph the rental car at pickup and return with the agent present to end damage claim disputes.
Who Curaçao suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Great |
Make Curaçao your trip
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