Curaçao is the largest and most populated of the ABC islands which are located just offshore of Venezuela and are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Curaçao is one of the four constituent countries and was historically the principal island of the chain.

The island is covered in greenery and is renowned for its huge number of hidden coves. Willemstad, the capital is painted in bright pastel colours and there is a huge amount of street art to find along its narrow streets.

Basic Travel Information

  • Location: ABC Islands near Venezuela
  • Country: Constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
  • Languages: Papiamento, Dutch, English
  • Currency: Netherlands Antillean Guilder, US dollar universally accepted
  • Route there: A very expensive flight or a cruise ship
  • Recommended: Not personally

My Story

I didn’t like Curaçao! Its probably not a fair assessment really, how could it be based on about half a day spent on the island? But it’s the impression that I got and with so many islands around the Caribbean that I loved, I’d be very surprised if I ever go back for a second opinion.

Part of the problem was the sheer number of tourists on the island that day. I know that its hypocritical as I was coming off a cruise ship as well, but three giant cruise ships and at least 12000 tourists is way too many for a small town like Willemstad, especially when one of the ships was docked right in the centre. I’m jealous of the view people onboard would have got, everyone else got pictures containing that ship towering over the entire centre.

The second problem admittedly was my fault, I was badly hungover! Unlimited alcohol onboard the ship and early starts for hiking around the islands didn’t mix particularly well. Not the fault of the island at all but hey I never claimed these descriptions were free of personal bias.

The next problem was the trash. Once you were away from the touristy centre of town it was absolutely everywhere. There’s very little more frustrating and disappointing than travelling to a beautiful area of the world and seeing it spoilt by human carelessness. I had intended to hike around as much of the city, surroundings and coastline as I could but the further I went the worse it got.

There were good sides of course. Willemstad is beautifully decorated with some amazing street art and beautifully painted buildings throughout the city. It made for a wonderful wander if I could just have avoided looking down or between them.

I won’t go back to Curaçao but would love to hear from anyone else who has been and had a different experience of the island to me.

Brief History

I was completely unaware of any of the history of the Caribbean Islands when I visited. While travelling around and writing these articles I became curious and decided to include a brief history of each. I hope you find it interesting.

The Arawak and Caquieto Amerindians were the first recorded people to live on Curaçao, having migrated across from nearby South America. The island was discovered by the Spanish who enslaved a large part of its population but never settled Curaçao itself. The Dutch took control in 1634 and deported most of the remaining natives so that Dutch settlers could occupy it. The island has been part of the Netherlands ever since.

Now Curaçao is the largest most economically diverse of the ABC islands. Unlike the neighbouring islands of Aruba and Bonaire (and most of the Caribbean), Curaçao is not fully dependent on tourism despite growing this industry rapidly in recent years, particularly cruise tourism. It has extensive trade, financial and oil industries which make both the economy and the society on the island much more diverse and not solely focussed on extracting money from the tourists on the cruise ships and in the hotels.

There are still a huge number of tourists here of course, its still the Caribbean. It is generally considered to be a top ranked cruise destination, has huge numbers of bays, coves and beaches to explore and superbly rated diving opportunities.

Places Nearby & Trip Planning

Limited transport and high flight costs mean that you are only likely to visit this island on a holiday here. But if you have the time and money you should definitely try to go to the other ABC islands as well:

Also see my main article: Travelling in the Caribbean

When to Visit

Curaçao has excellent weather all year and it is rare for it to be affected by hurricane season.

High season is December – March and Curaçao tends to be busier and even more expensive in this period.

The island is extremely hot all year, bring sunscreen!

Further Information

These websites were my favourite sources of general information for this location:

Wikitravel

Last Updated: May 2020

Alistair Roweth
Alistair RowethTraveller & Tutor
I've spent more than 2 years travelling around the world. I hope you enjoy my attempt to write down and pass on some of the information that I have learned along the way.

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