Itinerary · 7 days · 33 places
7 Days in Curaçao
A week in Curaçao with a single base in Willemstad: two days for the pastel façades, forts and synagogue of the old town, plus day trips to the reef coves in the west, the rugged north shore and the swimming bays in the east.
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Photo: thiago japyassu · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arrival in Willemstad
Arrival in Willemstad
Hotel check-in
A base in Pietermaai, the restored old-town quarter east of Punda, where boutique hotels in colourful colonial houses line the waterfront road.
Pietermaai Boulevard
Pietermaai's waterfront road runs past restored mansions in ochre, turquoise and pink, while below the surf pounds the old sea wall.
Day 2Punda & Otrobanda — the colourful old town
Queen Emma Bridge
The floating pontoon bridge across Sint Annabaai swings aside several times a day when a ship comes in, and you wait on the shore with the commuters.
Floating Market
On the Waaigat, Venezuelan traders sell papaya, yams and fish from their boats under blue tarpaulins.
Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue
The oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Americas, from 1732, its floor strewn with fine white sand; the small Jewish museum is in the courtyard.
Fort Amsterdam
The ochre fortress from 1635 is now the seat of government; a British cannonball from 1804 is still lodged in the outer wall of the fort church.
Museum Kura Hulanda
On the site of a former slave yard in Otrobanda, the museum tells the story of the transatlantic slave trade through ship models, shackles and West African art.
Rif Fort
The coastal fort from 1828 at the harbour entrance has become a courtyard with shops and terraces; from the wall you can watch the cruise ships come in.
Evening: Punda by night
When the Handelskade is floodlit, the pastel façades reflect in the water and musicians play on Wilhelminaplein.
Day 3South-east coast — bays and wrecks
Curaçao Sea Aquarium
The tanks are fed with open seawater, and behind them is a lagoon area where you can see nurse sharks and rays up close.
Jan Thiel Beach
White sandy bay with calm water and beach clubs; left of the jetty the reef begins just past the buoy.
Fort Beekenburg
The round defensive tower from 1703 above Caracasbaai is freely accessible, and from the top you look over the whole bay to the refinery.
Tugboat Beach
Off the pebble beach a sunken tugboat lies five metres down, densely overgrown and swarming with sergeant major fish — bring your snorkelling gear.
Directors Bay
Small cliff-framed cove below the old governor's villa, in shade in the afternoon and rarely crowded.
Evening: Mambo Beach Boulevard
Two-storey promenade above the beach with bars, ice-cream shops and views of the illuminated water — where the island goes out in the evening.
Day 4The west — flamingos and reef coves
Sint Willibrordus salt pans
Flamingos stand in the shallow salt pans on the edge of the village in the morning; you can watch them from the path without a fence, but no closer than about 50 metres.
Landhuis Jan Kok
The island's oldest country house above the salt pans, with the vivid, colourful paintings of artist Nena Sanchez inside.
Playa Porto Mari
Double reef right off the beach — you snorkel over the first coral bank and beyond it the seabed drops away; semi-tame pot-bellied pigs wander the sand.
Cas Abou Beach
The island's finest-sand bay, with turquoise, gently shelving water and a reef along the rocks on the right.
Evening: cliffs at Coral Estate
The sun has already dropped into the open sea during dinner; afterwards you stay on the cliffs near Rif Sint Marie while below the reef glows in the restaurant lights.
Day 5North-west — rugged coast and Kenepa
Shete Boka National Park
At Boka Tabla the Atlantic surges up from below into a rock grotto you enter by a staircase; the coastal path continues to the blowholes of Boka Pistol.
Christoffelpark Landhuis Savonet
The museum in the old plantation house explains slavery and agriculture in the north-west; the driving tracks through the national park's cactus forest start here.
Playa Grandi
Tiny fishing beach where fishermen gut their catch — which is why green turtles constantly glide past just below the surface.
Grote Knip
The island's best-known bay: pale sand in a bowl of rock, the water shifting from light green near the shore to deep blue in the middle, and on the right you can jump from the cliffs.
Playa Forti
Dark pebble beach below a twelve-metre cliff from which locals jump into the water; the terrace above looks out over the bay.
Evening: Playa Kalki
The bay at the north-western tip lies perfectly still after sunset, with a starry sky free of city lights above the cliffs.
Day 6Caves, liqueur and Scharloo
Hato Caves
Guided tour through an uplifted coral limestone cave with stalactites, a waterfall formation and Arawak drawings on the wall.
Landhuis Chobolobo
Genuine Blue Curaçao has been distilled from the peel of the laraha orange in this country house since 1947 by Senior & Co., founded in 1896; the tour ends at the tasting bar in the courtyard.
Scharloo Abou
Former merchants' quarter whose crumbling villas have been painted with large-scale murals by international street artists.
Fort Nassau
Remains of a fortress from 1797 on the hill above Sint Annabaai — from the terrace you can take in Punda, Otrobanda and the Juliana Bridge at a glance.
Waterfort Arches
The vaulted arches of the old sea fortifications below Fort Amsterdam, right by the surf, now with terraces beneath them.
Evening: Wilhelminaplein
The square between Punda and Scharloo is lit up in the evening, stalls sell Caribbean food and on Thursdays bands play in the open air.
Day 7Last swim and departure
Blue Bay Beach
Wide sandy bay west of the city with an easy entry and a reef drop-off at the left-hand end — close enough to the airport for the last morning.
Riffort Village
Row of shops at the harbour mouth in Otrobanda with Chichi dolls, liqueur and sunglasses, plus a last look at the Emma Bridge.
Departure from Willemstad
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