The top 3 sites to see in Willemstad, Curacao
I got to spend Christmas in Curacao and it was truly magical! The plan was to be awake and be on deck for our arrival in Curacao but I overslept so I missed seeing all of the colorful houses on the way to port but luckily there are plenty to see in Willemstad. Curacao was the ones destination that we didn’t venture to the beach and it was mostly because of the order in which we decided to explore. More on that in a bit. With a population of 160K+, Curacao was the largest island that we visited. Curacao was also the most European feeling island of the ones that we visited due in large part to the Dutch architecture and street names. When most people think of Curacao they think of the liqueur that makes your cocktails blue and Landhuis Chobolobo produces five colors of the liqueur from the peels of Valencia oranges on the island. What many people don’t know is that half of the slaves destined for the Caribbean passed through the markets of Curacao, so like most of the Caribbean islands there is a cultural mix of European and African. Visit the Savonet Museum, set in an old landhuis (plantation house) to learn more about the history of the enslaved at the Savonet Plantation.
Top sites to see:
1. There are two cruise ship ports in Willemstad and we ended up at the one for larger ships that is about a 10 minute walk into town. The benefit of being at the newer port is that there’s a series of 7 plaques that leads you on a self guided historical walking tour. From the plaques I learned that the inhabitants of Curacao are multilingual, speaking Dutch, English, Spanish, and Papiamento.
2. We got into town by crossing the Queen Emma Bridge, a pontoon bridge that swings open to make way for oceangoing ships and we were lucky enough to see the bridge in action. Once we were in town we explored Fort Amsterdam, the Curacao Maritime Museum, saw where the Floating Market would be although there was no market on the day we were there and ventured further into Scharloo to see more murals.
3. Although we didn’t venture to Grote Knip (Kenepa) during our trip it’s a beach so beautiful that it’s featured on the Curacao tourism brochure. Our plan was to explore the city and then head to the beach but taxi prices were a bit more pricey than we expected and because we didn’t plan to go to the beach until about 1pm all of the tour operators that would’ve taken us to the beach in the morning and come back to pick us up were already gone. Plan on spending $70-$100 round trip for a taxi if you want a private transport to any beaches north of Cas Abao.
Make sure you try some of the Dutch specialities that are intertwined on menus with Caribbean dishes. I also had to sample a drink with Blue Curacao and it was worth having my tongue turn blue. Other cruisers who we debriefed with after we were back on board said they enjoyed the beaches and easy snorkeling off shore so if we return to Curacao we’ll definitely add a beach trip to our itinerary. Carnival is especially big in Curacao and it begins right after New Year’s Day so that could be a great time for a return visit. I’d also like to see the Flamingo Sanctuary in the salt flats in the West End village of Sint Willibrordus and perhaps venture to see how Curacao is made firsthand.