Travel blog: Conclusion and tips for Curacao

Conclusion:

The Caribbean is (of course) a dream!!!

Curaçao:

We were particularly enchanted by Curacao . We have never seen such turquoise blue and crystal clear water. The underwater world is great! You don't have to dive to see everything from "colorful" fish, turtles to colorful corals and even shipwrecks.

The colorful underwater world was more beautiful than in the Maldives, as unfortunately there was hardly any living coral left.

Just because of the color and clarity of the sea, I would fly to Curacao again in a heartbeat!

Money:

You can't do anything with euros here. The Antillean guilder, also known as the florin (NAF for short), applies. The abbreviation in many supermarkets is a dollar sign, but this is NOT the US dollar, which made the prices significantly cheaper in the end. Converting the Antillean guilder is quite easy, because 1 Antillean guilder corresponds to around €0.50 - so simply "halve" it.

But you have to be careful, for example in finer shops or at the airport - the prices are usually marked as "US$". So don't confuse and always pay attention to "which" $ it is (ANG $ or US$).

The most common means of payment, even in the smallest shops, is the credit card.

Beaches:

Our favorite beaches were:

For swimming and splashing (bathing platform): Porto Marie , Playa Kalki and Kokomo Beach .

Snorkeling: Kokomo Beach , Tugboat Beach , Directeurs Baai andPlaya Piscado (turtles!)

Fantastic bays: Small & Large Knip , Cas Abao Beach

There are plenty of beaches – there is something for every taste. Whether it's a lonely bay (small Knip) or Halli Galli Beach ( Mambo Beach ) - everyone has their own way.

There are lounger operators on almost all beaches who rent out loungers (usually in a set with an umbrella). Prices vary between €5-20 per set / day.

Some beaches charge an entrance fee. This is usually low - if you arrive by car 2-3 € / car, at Mambo Beach upwards per person depending on the beach club.

“No Beach” highlights:

Curacao also has a lot to offer outside of the water, such as the Shete Boca NP and the Christoffel NP , as well as the capital Willemstad with the Landhuis Chobolobo distillery (you can also see and try cocktails without a tour!)

Holiday homes and villas:

At the beginning I searched on the usual sites such as airbnb or fewo-direkt. But as it turns out, the Dutch and Belgians who rent out their homes in the Antilles are more likely to use the micazu site. We found both villas for our vacation here and renting them, including contacting the landlord directly, went smoothly for us. Here we found some of the same houses much cheaper than on Airbnb, for example

Our Villa Clé (found via micazu) was very nice, great pool and relaxation area in the Grote Berg district.

Therefore: https://www.micazu.de/

Flights:

Villas and holiday homes are actually very cheap during the summer holiday season, because summer holidays are “off season” on Curacao. Unfortunately, this does not apply to the direct flights with KLM - they are incredibly expensive (and unfortunately there are few alternatives to get to Curacao cheaper - e.g. Air Canada via Montreal/Toronto...).

The KLM flights ended up making up over half of the total price ☹

(But it was also because we had to book new flights at very short notice, but even a year in advance the flight price was well over €1000 per person - during the summer holidays!)

If you want to get to the Netherlands Antilles without major detours, you can't avoid taking the KLM with a stopover in Amsterdam. We recommend booking very early!!!

Rental car:

A rental car You shouldn’t book with the “big” providers. They are absolutely overpriced! We were lucky enough to be able to book our own SUV with the villa for little money, but we would have also used a local provider otherwise. You can find enough information and reviews online 😊

Shopping:

The “large and well-known” chains such as Carrefour and Centrum are recommended. But these are quite expensive. We chose the local supermarket Esperamos , which is also very large and has a very good selection - and is also significantly cheaper than the two well-known chains.

Eat Drink:

In Grote Berg (location of our villa) there is the BALI restaurant. Very tasty and recommended.

Great views and delicious food are available in the Playa Forti Restaurant (recommendation: pesto pasta and fish of the day)

Playa Lagun: The Discover Lagun Restaurant is delicious and cheap a little away from the beach.

(As self-caterers, we didn't eat out often, so we can't list a large selection here).

Now comes the big BUT:

It was incredibly hot !!!

We knew that it is “warm & humid” in the Caribbean, but we have rarely had such extreme heat as on Curacao. Most of the time we were already at +30 degrees by 8 a.m. and by midday the temperatures were close to 40 degrees. That was too much for me. You should therefore be aware of whether you can tolerate and enjoy the heat. The rest of the family coped quite well, but it was unbearable without air conditioning.

We have been to the Caribbean many times, but we have never experienced this intense heat on any other island in the summer months...

If you're looking for peace and quiet and want to get to know the underwater world, Curacao is the right place for you.

American flair a la Miami Beach can be found in Aruba.