4 Days in Curaçao: What We’d Do Again
4 Days in Curacao
Curaçao had been on my radar, but this trip really came together because of the Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival. My wife and I traveled from Cúcuta, Colombia, through Bogotá and spent four nights on the island.
Four nights doesn’t sound like much, but we packed a lot into those few days without really trying to turn the trip into a checklist. We explored Willemstad, spent a full day on Klein Curaçao, attended the jazz festival, stayed in two very different parts of the island, rented a car for a day and drove through parts of Curaçao that we probably never would have seen on an organized tour.
And, as usually happens when you actually travel instead of just reading about a place, some of the most useful things we learned weren’t things we planned at all.
Getting to Curaçao From Colombia
We flew Avianca from Cúcuta to Bogotá and then Bogotá to Curaçao.
The first surprise came before we even left Colombia.
At the airport in Cúcuta, we were asked about a yellow fever vaccination certificate. I had not encountered that issue during my trip planning and don’t have a yellow fever vaccination, so that created a few uncomfortable moments at the beginning of the trip.
Ultimately, I was allowed to travel and we continued through Bogotá to Curaçao without a problem.
It was a good reminder that international travel requirements deserve another check immediately before departure, even when you’ve already done your homework.
Our airfare for two was approximately $1,093 round trip.
My First Curaçao Surprise: The ATM Ate My Debit Card
We hadn’t been in Curaçao very long before getting another surprise.
I went to an MCB Bankomatiko ATM at the airport to withdraw local currency. On my first attempt I checked the balance and then on the next process, the machine displayed a message about too many attempts and kept my Charles Schwab debit card.
Welcome to Curaçao.
I called the bank, but there wasn’t much that could be done immediately. Fortunately, I travel with backup cards. I used another debit card to get cash and continued with the trip.
That backup wasn’t free. One 250 Caribbean guilder withdrawal converted to about $140, and my backup bank added ATM and foreign-transaction fees.
After returning home, I contacted Charles Schwab. Their representative, Kia, arranged a replacement card and even offered me a choice of FedEx or DHL for delivery to me in Colombia.
The lesson wasn’t that Curaçao ATMs are bad. Other people were using that same machine successfully. The lesson was much simpler:
Never travel internationally with only one way to access your money. (See my Argentina lost wallet experience post)
Our First Night in Willemstad
After checking into Quint’s Travelers Inn, we headed into Willemstad for our first look at the city.
Dinner was one of our more expensive meals of the trip—about $115 for the two of us—but we had a good red snapper dinner with fries and Caesar salad and happened to be in a great position for the evening fireworks.
Afterward, we walked around and took photographs along the waterfront.
The famous Queen Emma Bridge was closed for maintenance during our visit, so instead of walking across it, we used the free passenger ferry to cross over to Punda.
That turned out to be part of the experience rather than an inconvenience.
Willemstad is particularly photogenic at night. The illuminated Dutch Caribbean architecture along the waterfront looks almost unreal, and after taking more pictures in Punda we grabbed a taxi back to the hotel.
Taxi transportation was one expense that accumulated quickly. Most of our rides were roughly $35–$40, sometimes a little more with a tip.
Klein Curaçao Was Worth the Money
The following morning started early.
Our transportation picked us up while the sun was coming up and took us toward the Santa Barbara area, where we boarded with Miss Ann Boat Trips for a full-day excursion to Klein Curaçao.
The trip cost us about $300 for two people, plus transportation and a few extras.
The boat ride was a little rough. A couple of passengers needed the plastic bags that were available onboard, but we made it across without any problems.
Once we arrived, I understood why this particular excursion cost more than some of the alternatives I had researched.
We had a beach house, shade, loungers, facilities, breakfast and later a substantial lunch with a good variety of food. There was plenty of time to swim, relax or explore.
I walked across the island to see the lighthouse and some of the shipwreck remains while my wife enjoyed the beach.
One of my favorite parts of the day wasn’t an attraction at all. It was talking with members of the crew.
I met two guys named Elvis and Francis. Of course, I couldn’t leave the name Elvis alone, and when Francis challenged me to come up with something for his name, I gave him Francis Ford Coppola. He had no idea who I was talking about.
Fair enough. These guys were in their twenties.
What impressed me much more was their ability to move between languages. Curaçao is a multilingual island where Papiamentu, Dutch, English and Spanish are commonly heard. Throughout the trip, my wife could communicate in Spanish and I could communicate in English, and between the two of us we rarely had difficulty communicating with anyone.
Another useful discovery: I had expected that we would need cash for extras on Klein Curaçao. Instead, purchases were recorded during the day and charged afterward. Our additional Miss Ann charge was about $25.
Klein Curaçao ended up being one of the best days of the trip.
From Quint’s to Plantation Jan Thiel
For the second half of the trip, we changed hotels.
Quint’s had done its job well, but Plantation Jan Thiel Lodge was much more of an experience.
The property has the character of an old plantation house, with colorful individually decorated rooms and an open-air feeling throughout the property. Our host was extremely accommodating, and our stay also gave us access to Jan Thiel Beach.
After settling in, we went down to the beach, found something to eat, got into the water and relaxed before returning to the hotel to prepare for the main reason this trip had originally landed on our calendar.
Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival
That evening we attended the Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival.
Our tickets for two were about $440, and we spent another $102 on festival food and drink tokens.
It wasn’t a cheap night, but it was a good one.
We saw Jon Batiste, J Balvin, Al Di Meola and Branford Marsalis. For Batiste and J Balvin we were able to get particularly close to the action.
The festival itself was well organized, food was good, and transportation worked perfectly for us. We arranged with the taxi driver who had transported us earlier to take us to the festival and return later that night.
That eliminated one thing I definitely didn’t want to deal with after a long night of music and a few drinks: driving.
My only real failure that night was technology.
My phone battery ran low, and the charger I had wasn’t working properly with my phone. That limited the number of photographs I could take, so I ended up borrowing some of my wife’s pictures.
Sometimes you put the camera away and just enjoy where you are.
And we did.
Renting a Car Changed the Trip
For our final full day, we rented a small Toyota for about $139.
That was one of the better decisions we made.
After the car was delivered to us that morning, our first stop was Mambo Beach, where we had breakfast overlooking the water and spent a little time enjoying the beach.
From there we drove into Willemstad during daylight.
I wanted more photographs, particularly of the city’s street art and murals. We wandered through some of the art areas and got a completely different view of Willemstad than we’d had at night.
I also had to spend about $45 on another phone charger, which wasn’t exactly part of my Curaçao sightseeing budget. At least I brought the charger home.
Then we started driving.
And this is where having our own car really paid off.
Seeing the Other Curaçao
We drove west through areas that looked very different from the resort portions of the island.
Cactus, dry landscapes, small communities and stretches of road where we weren’t really doing anything except looking around.
We stopped around Jan Kok/Sint Willibrordus area because we wanted to see flamingos.
No flamingos. But we did find Williwood.
We tried another area.
Still no flamingos.
We continued toward Westpunt, stopped in a few places, encountered one attraction that was already closed, and eventually reached the WestPunt Beach area where parking wasn’t particularly obvious. Instead of forcing the issue, we turned around and headed back to our hotel in Jan Thiel, where we had a beach pass to spend the rest of the day and evening.
And I’m glad we made that drive.
It wasn’t wasted time because we didn’t accomplish everything on a sightseeing list. That drive was when we saw more of the everyday Curaçao beyond Willemstad, the beaches and the organized excursions.
That’s one of the reasons I like renting a car when I travel.
Sometimes the road itself is the attraction.
We Finally Found the Flamingos
There’s an amusing ending to the flamingo story.
On our final morning, I was talking with the woman running Plantation Jan Thiel Lodge. She asked how our drive had gone, and I mentioned that we’d driven around looking for flamingos but hadn’t found any.
She basically told me there were flamingos right near us.
After driving around Curaçao searching for them the previous day, we discovered that we could walk about seven or eight minutes from our hotel and see some.
So before leaving Curaçao, we walked over.
There they were.
They were fairly far away, but we finally saw our flamingos.
There’s another travel lesson:
Research is useful. Local knowledge can be better. Ask the people who live there.
What Curaçao Actually Cost Us
I’m still reconciling every cash expense, but the major costs for two people looked roughly like this:
| Expense | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| Round-trip airfare from Colombia | $1,093 |
| Quint’s Travelers Inn | $180 |
| Plantation Jan Thiel Lodge | $282 |
| North Sea Jazz Festival tickets | $440 |
| Festival food/drink tokens | $102 |
| Klein Curaçao excursion | $300 |
| One-day rental car | $139 |
| Taxis | roughly $225–$250 |
| First-night dinner | $115 |
| Other meals, drinks & miscellaneous purchases | Additional |
We also withdrew several hundred dollars in cash during the trip, much of which went toward taxis, tips and beach spending.
So my original idea of keeping the entire trip around $2,500 turned out to be optimistic once food, taxis, drinks and miscellaneous expenses were included.
I’ll eventually do a more detailed final accounting, because Curaçao is one of those destinations where a $35 taxi here, a $40 taxi there and a few beach drinks can quietly move the total.
What Surprised Me About Curaçao
The biggest surprise wasn’t a beach.
It was how easy Curaçao was for the two of us linguistically.
My wife is Colombian and speaks Spanish. I’m American and speak English. Curaçao’s multilingual culture meant that one or both of us could communicate almost everywhere.
We also encountered several people who knew Colombia or had spent time there, and the comments we heard about the country were overwhelmingly positive.
The island itself was another surprise. Curaçao isn’t simply Willemstad plus turquoise beaches. Once we had a car and started driving west, the landscape and communities gave us a much broader picture of the island.
And despite its relatively small size, four days wasn’t enough for me to feel that we’d exhausted it.
Would I Go Back to Curaçao?
Yes! And rent a car. Taxis are expensive but good.
Not because we missed something that ruined the trip. Almost the opposite.
We did enough to have a terrific experience while leaving plenty undone.
I’d explore more of the western side of the island. I’d spend more time photographing Willemstad during daylight. I’d probably rent a car for longer. And now I know that before driving across the island looking for flamingos, I should ask whoever is running the hotel.
Curaçao gave us beaches, street art, Dutch Caribbean architecture, a great music festival, a memorable day on Klein Curaçao, an unplanned island road trip and some excellent people along the way.
Four days gave us a taste.
That’s enough to know I’d go back.
