Embrace Paradise: Your Passport to Blissful Exploration and Relaxation on a Beautiful Caribbean Island of Dreams
by Stefanie Michaels
Perfectly situated between the Americas and Europe, the Dutch Caribbean Curacao Island is truly one of those places you can get away from it all. And, from exploring the arts and culture within the Pietermaai district, hiking Mount Christoffel, or enjoying the refreshing Caribbean breezes of Sint Joris Bay, it won’t take long before you exhale, drop your shoulders back where they belong, and you soak up every luxurious drop Curaçao has to offer.
Here’s a Curacao Island check list:
Eat
MosaCaña is a trendy bar and restaurant in the heart of the island’s colorful city – Willemstad. Sip on a G&T or specialty cocktails like the Jawa Jawa – a concoction of rum, cucumber, lychee wasabi, sesame, orgeat and pandan. The food offerings are just as creative and meant to share. Make sure to order the bao buns crab and Korean corn fed chicken.
But, if dinner on the beach is more your style, MOOD Beach is where you’ll find culinary ecstasy, luxury, and relaxation like you’ve never experienced before. This Seaquarium Beach favorite is a chic, boho beach club featuring elevated dining options, waterfront views, and electric nightlife scene. From caviar service to Dom Pérignon, this definitely isn’t just another day at the beach.
Play
8, The Experience Spa – Created in collaboration with therapists to ground, refresh, or purify the senses, 8, The Experience’s open-air treatment rooms are amplified by the glow from the island’s ever-changing skies and signature trade winds. The treatment menu features a variety of services, ranging from Thai, Chakra-balancing, and stress-fixing massages to rosemary mint awakening wraps, elemental nature facials, salon services, and more.
The spa also offers lavish amenities such as a meditation pool and cliffside whirlpools, as well as Rainforest, Igloo, and Sahara steam rooms that pair perfectly with more traditional spa offerings.
Klein Curacao Island sits about eight miles off the southeast coast of the main island on an uninhabited island boasting one of the longest and most pristine beaches. Affectionately known as “Little Curacao,” the island can be reached by boat or helicopter in less than two hours, and is one of the island’s most beautiful scuba diving and snorkeling spots with its vibrant coral, abandoned shipwrecks, and underwater caves
SeaBob Tours is a unique underwater activity at Playa Piskado which takes participants on a wild adventure as they hang onto a personal underwater propellor, swimming alongside the island’s sea turtles and schools of fish.
Stay
Baoase Luxury Resort is tucked away on the island’s southern shoreline, is Curacao’s only five-star Caribbean resort, and features Balinese-inspired villa-like suites, private infinity pools and impeccable attention to detail. While the newly renovated Zoetry Curaçao Resort and Spa is a wellness-focused, luxurious, all-suite boutique resort.
Surrounded by a natural, calming motif and lush foliage just 10 minutes from the airport and 5 minutes to the colorful city center of Willemstad. Planned leisure amenities include three restaurants, three bars including a pool bar, a casual cafe, two sparkling pools, fitness center, tennis court and full-service spa.
Did you know?
Curacao is home to one of the largest nesting populations of hawksbill turtles in the Caribbean.
A little history:
Originally inhabited by indigenous Arawak and Caquetio tribes, the island was claimed by Spain in the 15th century but later fell under Dutch control in the 17th century. It became a major hub for the Dutch West India Company’s Atlantic slave trade, with the establishment of plantations worked by enslaved Africans. In the 19th century,
Curacao’s economy shifted towards oil refining, leading to significant industrial development. The island played a strategic role during World War II as an Allied naval base.
In 1954, Curacao became part of the Netherlands Antilles, gaining autonomy within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 2010, it obtained separate constituent country status within the Kingdom.
