Willemstad - Curaçaos city

Willemstad: Punda

When I was not at the beach, snorkeling or doing anything else related to the beach I was in Curaçaos capital city Willemstad. The city center is not very big. You don't need much time to see everything. This old part of the town is diveded by the Sint Annabai the huge bay that give Willemstad a natural harbour. On one side of the Sint Annabai there is Punda and on the other side is Otrabanda. These two parts build the heart of the city. They are connected by the Queen Emma Bridge and if that swinging brigde is open there are ferries cruising. Just expoler the city. There is a daily market that sells mainly food imported from Venezuela. Willemstad is also good for shopping. Firstly you don't pay taxes and secondly there are a lot of shops. I am sure you will find what you need.
I would like to point out some restaurants and bars.

Queen Emma Bridge

I want to recomend you the Iguana Cafe just next to the Queen Emma Brigde (Punda). Why don't you go there for a drink just before sunset. No worries the prices are very low and I heard the food is quite good. I just had some beers....

Just in the center where you have the Curaçao sign there are two restaurants. I tried the one on the right. Do not ask for the name but the food was quite good and not to expensive.

Before I leave the topic food I have to tell you about this burgers on the street on Plaza Jo-Jo Correa. There is this small stand which sells burgers. They are good and very che
ap like $2.00. Go and try one...

live music @ Rock Beach

On Petermaai Road there are two realy cool places. Unfortunately I do not have any address but you can not miss these places. One of my favourite places I have ever been to is called Rock Beach! It is a place next to the ocean with live music, food and drink. We sat in the back and ordered some food and beers to start. The food was amazing very very tasty.... Uhhh gosh I have to go back there. After having had dinner we went to the stage for the blues concert of the night. It was Ralph de Jongh a durch blues man. Crazy guy but wonderful music. This guy I can tell you feels the blues! Please dear reader just go there I can not describe this place. It is just perfect for dinner and some good live music. They are open on weekends only. It is free entry and mostly blues and rock sessions.
Just across there is the blue bird cafe. A nice small bar. The barkeeper looks a bit like Herbie Hankock and mixes cool drinks. I suggest you to go there for you Blue Curaçao the typical Curaçaon drink. 

the reason why you go to Curaçao

One of the main reasons for me to visit this island was the beach. I wanted to stay at the beach for a couple of days. I can tell you I spent so many hours at the beach but still it was not enough... ;-)

Mambo Beach - the clean part

The nice beaches are on the southcoast of the island. On Curaçao you have to pay to get to many of the beaches. For sure you do not have to pay for the beach if you stay in the hotel at the beach... But for other beaches they charge you a couple of dollars for the access and even for the chairs.
One of the most popular beaches is Mambo Beach because on fridays and saturdays there are beach parties all over. The wet 'n' wild is like a huge bar with a stage. I recomed this one for people who like to go crazy and do party like @ Ballermann in Palma de Mallorca. Next to it there is a really big restaurant/bar with live music. (They had a very good salsa band on that night...) It is all openair and at the beach!

Behind all these are some shops, snackbars, restaurants and more bars. It is a two floor building which reminds me a lot of the promenade in Playa del Ingles in Gran Canaria. Upstairs is this salsabar with good DJs and brilliant dancers. We have been watching this dancers for hours. A lot of local people were in this bar.

During the day this long beach is just heaven on earth. It is quite, the water is warm and crsistal clear.

Caracas Bay with tower and ferry in tha back

On my first day some guests of the hostel took me to Caracas Bay. It is a huge bay with a long sandy beach. This beach is uses by locals and very few tourist. It is free and there are two bars. The water is clear and you can see lots of fishes!!! Very close by there is an old dutch tower on hill. Behind this hill there is a harbour with an old ferry which is out of service. Behind this ferry are some buoyes. After you crossed the last one you are able to see a ship wreck. It is amazing how many different fishes are living in there. Explore also the riff just a little bit further on. But be carefull with the current and the waves.

sunset in the harbour

On of the most beautiful places should be Kenepa Beach. I heard it is a peaceful but a bit crowed beach. I had to relax that is why I did not went there. Sorry...

One of my favorit places is located next to the Sunscape Curaçao Resort. There is just the end of the Mambo Beach. There is a very small beach on the left and a harbour with a some fishing boats. This beaches are free and the resaturants serve very good food. I recomend you to have a drink during the sunset and after a bite in the Surf and Turf just next to the harbour.

Besindes the beaches and the snorkeling diving is a big thing in Curaçao. There are diving centers everywhere. I did not have enough time to take the course. I will do that the next time.

Little Curaçao is a small sandy island in the southeast of Curaçao. It is popular for day trips by boat. It is one of these Robinson Crusoe islands with nothing on it than sand and some small vegetation. You can hire boat or go on some organised trips by boat or sailing ships.

sleeping day and night

I was quite surprised about the prices they charge for the hotels on Curaçao. Well, as on any other beautiful place the beachfront hotels are quite expensive. But I can tell you that they provide a perfect service. I spent five nights in the Lions Dive & Beach hotel @ Mambo Beach. A white, sandy beach with palmtrees, a cool beach bar and so on.... The kitchen is very tasty and the drinks are awesome! But it has its price. In my opinion this is the best hotel at the beach for a reasonable price. And it is just an hour walk from town. By Taxi it is about ten minutes.

for good nap during the day

If you do n ot have a lot of money no worries there are a few backpackers on the island. I stayed in the Moonz. It is quite close to Willemstad and has a couple of rooms and serves a delicious breakfast. The owner is a very nice dutch lady and it is runned by this jamaican lady. As the neigbourhood is not the best I recomend you not to walk there during night. During the night dogs are barking and in the morning you here the roosters crying. I slept were bad there but it was really worth to stay there because I got a unvarnished picture of the people and the standard of living on the island as you have a close look at the neigbourhood.

getting around safely

Curaçao is a small island but not as small as one of these maldivian islands... That means you can not explore the island by foot. Well you could but nobody would. There are different ways to get around the island. The roads in the city are not too bad but they get worse if you leave the city. 

Rental cars are about 30.-$ per day if you get any special deal. 

Curaçao has public transport. The buses are very cheap and run theoretically by a timetable. The main lines run as far as I understood once an hour and serve all the cities and villages. The thing is that in the evening the service is reduced. So if you want to go back to Willemstad where the central bus station is you should go early unless you won't go buy taxi back. 

A good alternative are the minibuses. They are a little more expensive than the normal buses. As the big buses the have their route. What I  really liked about them was that they would take you to your place. Just tell the driver your address and he will drop you there as long it is on his route. The minibus service is reduced from 21.00.

Taxis are quite expensive. Arrange a price before getting into the car. Normally you pay around 30-35$ from the airport to the town. 

Starting from 20.00 I think the fares for minibuses and taxis is around 25% higher. If you need a friendly and professional taxi driver do not hesitate to contact me. I met a cool and reliable taxi driver. He also does up to 8 hours island tours for a good price. 

Talking about security I can say that I never had problems. Well you should not go through the nasty parts of the city when it get's dark. People in general are very helpful and nice. Of course there are poor people but I did not see any beggars. The police is always around by bike or cars. At Mambo Beach and near the hotels are lots of securities with dogs. I felt safe during my trip. 

My first trip to the caribbean

Talking about the caribbeans most people think about Cuba, Dominican Republic and Jamaica so basically the Greater Antilles. But there are lots of other nice islands were the sun is shining too and even the weather is better. (From end of august until mid october there is the hurricane season in the caribbean islands. Well the sun is still shining but there is a change of having one of these huge hurricanes). The Netherlands Antilles are hardly ever affected by these hurricanes. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao are protected by the trade winds which means that the wind is always blowing but it is also blowing away the bad weather.
As I was looking for a place to go for holidays I decided to go to Curaçao which is about 70 km north of Venezuela. It was a Dutch colony so Dutch is still spoken on the island.
Other languages are english and papiamento. A lot of people speak spanish as well.

You can reach this island very easy by plane from europe with KLM or Airberlin to name a few. Although the airport is tiny it has got good connections to Venezuela, the USA and other Caribbean Islands. Flights from europe are quite reasonable exept in october because there are holidays in the Netherlands. So KLM charges a lot more. KLM serves also Aruba and Sint Marten.

This time I decided to go for relaxing beach holidays so I did not see a lot of Curaçao. But what I saw was very nice. You never know but I think I will go back also to see Aruba and maybe Bonaire which are very close by. Nevertheless I would like to share my experiences with you.