📍 Curaçao tourist map

140 POIs verified against OpenStreetMap · local guides, Carmabi and UNESCO · no Eater coverage

🌍All maps
Get eSIM →

Search

Layers

Plans

Routes by area

Tap a route and it gets drawn on the map, stop by stop.

Map style

Tools

Tap a pin to see photos, rating and how to get there by car, Konvoi bus or on foot. Turn on a route to follow the numbered path.

Traveling to Curaçao?Unlimited from USD 1.70 · the first eSIM that never expires
See Curaçao eSIM →
See the list of places ↓List ↓

Things to do in Curaçao: the full list behind the map

This interactive map of Curaçao brings together 140 hand-picked places: 55 attractions, 33 restaurants, 26 cafés and 26 shops. It also includes 5 walking routes with their stops in order. For every place you get what it is, a practical tip and how to get there by public transport. It is free, works on your phone and needs no sign-up.

· Curated by the HOLASIM team · How we make the maps

Walking routes in Curaçao

Tap a route to see it drawn on the map, stop by stop.

Willemstad UNESCO on foot

3.2 km · ~half a day · Punda and Otrobanda · 7 stops

  1. Handelskade
  2. Snoa (1732)
  3. Krioyo lunch
  4. Floating bridge
  5. Rif Fort ramparts
  6. Kurá Hulanda
  7. Sunset from the fort
Show route on map

Bandabou beaches

48 km · full day · West by car · 7 stops

  1. Daaibooi
  2. Porto Mari
  3. Cas Abao
  4. Lagun and its turtles
  5. Kenepa Chikí
  6. Kenepa Grandi
  7. Sunset at Forti
Show route on map

Christoffel and the wild coast

36 km · full day · Start at 6:00 · 6 stops

  1. Ticket desk 6:00
  2. Summit (start ≤10:00)
  3. Shete Boka (separate ticket)
  4. Boka Tabla cavern
  5. The waves' gunshot
  6. Turtles at Piskado
Show route on map

Hard history and kunuku

41 km · ~6 h · Bandabou by car · 6 stops

  1. Desenkadená
  2. Knip plantation
  3. Museo Tula (1795)
  4. Maize-stalk house
  5. Artisans' workshop
  6. Krioyo lunch
Show route on map

Southeast: sea, liqueur and Chichi

29 km · ~6 h · Banda Ariba by car · 7 stops

  1. Chobolobo (Mon–Fri)
  2. Chichi Garden
  3. Ostriches
  4. Sea Aquarium
  5. Snorkel to the Tugboat
  6. Director's Bay
  7. Santa Barbara
Show route on map

Things to do in Curaçao: top attractions

Icon #1 · UNESCO since 1997

Handelskade

Handelskade · Punda

The Curaçao postcard: the row of Dutch houses in yellow, pink and sky blue facing Santa Anna Bay.

Tip: The good light is in the afternoon, when the sun hits the façades head-on. In the morning they sit backlit and the photo comes out grey. The 1997 inscription covers the four historic districts — Punda, Otrobanda, Pietermaai and Scharloo — plus the Waterfort and the Rif Fort.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: UNESCO 819 · Curaçao Tourist Board

Show on map
Free · reopened after 2026 works

Puente Reina Emma

Koningin Emmabrug / Pontjesbrug · Punda–Otrobanda

A floating bridge from 1888 riding on 16 pontoons that swings aside every time a ship enters the bay.

Tip: Crossing has always been free, but between 1901 and 1934 there was a toll and anyone barefoot walked over for nothing: the rich took off their shoes and the poor borrowed a pair. If it is swung open for a ship, don't stand around waiting — the CPA ferry crosses free of charge and takes two minutes.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: Curaçao Ports Authority · nu.cw 22-09-2026

Show on map
The city's free lookout

Puente Reina Juliana

Koningin Julianabrug · Otrobanda

The high bridge, 56 m above the bay: from the walkway you get the whole of Willemstad at your feet.

Tip: You can walk across on the pavement, and the view of the Handelskade from up there is the best on the island. Bring a cap: there is no shade on the whole span.

🚇 Scharloo — on foot

Featured in: Curaçao Ports Authority

Show on map
Courtyard open · offices inside

Fort Amsterdam

Fòrti Amsterdam · Punda

A 1635 fort that today houses the government; an English cannonball from 1804 is still lodged in its wall.

Tip: The courtyard and the Fort Church are open to visitors; the governor's offices are not. Look for the cannonball on the southwest wall of the church: it has been there since Captain Bligh's attack.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: UNESCO 819 · Monumentenzorg Curaçao

Show on map
Ramparts free · shops charge

Rif Fort

Riffort · Otrobanda

An 1828 fortress turned into a strip of shops and bars, with ramparts looking out over the channel and the cruise ships.

Tip: Climb up to the ramparts: they are free and give you the best view of the Queen Emma Bridge without crossing anything. Whatever you order inside is a separate matter.

🚇 Otrobanda — on foot

Featured in: UNESCO 819 · Curaçao Tourist Board

Show on map
Part of the UNESCO inscription

Waterfort

Waterfòrt · Punda

The arches of the 1634 fort on the open sea, where the waves break against the wall an arm's length from your table.

Tip: It is explicitly included in the UNESCO inscription alongside the Rif Fort. Come at sunset: the spray off the waves catches the arches and it is the finest corner of Punda.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: UNESCO 819

Show on map
Consecrated 1732 · sand floor

Sinagoga Mikvé Israel-Emanuel

Snoa · Punda

The oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Americas, consecrated in 1732, with white sand covering the whole sanctuary floor.

Tip: Tickets are sold NEXT DOOR, at the Jewish Museum at Hanchi Snoa 27: US$18 / XCG 32 with audio guide, and they ask for ID. Open Monday to Friday 9:00–16:30, last entry 15:30, closed to visitors on Saturday and Sunday.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: snoa.com (official site)

Show on map
Joint ticket with the synagogue

Museo Judío Cultural Histórico

Jewish Cultural Historical Museum · Punda

The museum attached to the Snoa, in two 18th-century houses, holding the ritual silver and the island's Sephardic story.

Tip: This is where the synagogue tickets are sold and where the visit begins: US$18 / XCG 32, audio guide included. One ticket desk for both.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: snoa.com (official site)

Show on map
Galleries under renovation in 2026

Museo Kurá Hulanda

Museum Kurá Hulanda · Otrobanda

The museum of the Atlantic slave trade, set in the old yard where enslaved people were held before being sold.

Tip: Set aside two hours and take the guided tour: guides work in Papiamentu, Dutch, English and Spanish. Galleries are being renovated through 2026, so check which sections are open before you go.

🚇 Otrobanda — on foot

Featured in: kurahulandavillage.com · Curaçao Tourist Board 2026

Show on map
Includes a harbour ferry ride

Museo Marítimo de Curazao

Maritime Museum Curaçao · Scharloo

500 years of harbour told through models, maps and navigation charts, right on the Waaigat.

Tip: The museum sells a combined ticket with the ferry ride around the Schottegat, the inner harbour you never see from the street. That ride runs on fixed days and times: ask when you buy.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: Maritime Museum Curaçao

Show on map
Open just 6 hours a week

Museo Octagon

Octagon Museum · Penstraat

The little octagonal house where Simón Bolívar's sisters lived during their exile in 1819.

Tip: 🚨 Open only Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 10:00 to 12:00. Miss that window and you don't get in: it is the shortest opening on the island.

🚇 Pietermaai — on foot

Featured in: Avila Beach Hotel (operator) · OSM

Show on map
Willemstad's wildest houses

Mirador de Scharloo

Vista riba Scharloo · Scharloo

The district of the 19th-century Jewish merchants' mansions, painted in impossible colours above the Waaigat.

Tip: Look for the 'Wedding Cake House' (Scharlooweg 77), pink and white with plaster mouldings. Scharloo is one of the four districts UNESCO inscribed, and the least walked of the four.

🚇 Scharloo — on foot

Featured in: UNESCO 819 · Monumentenzorg Curaçao

Show on map
The heart of Otrobanda

Plaza Brión

Plasa di Brión · Otrobanda

Otrobanda's square facing the bridge, with the statue of Pedro Luis Brión and live music at weekends.

Tip: This is the Otrobanda end of the Queen Emma Bridge. If the bridge swings open for a ship, wait here instead of queuing for the ferry: an opening rarely runs past ten minutes.

🚇 Otrobanda — on foot

Featured in: Monumentenzorg Curaçao

Show on map
The balcony over the port · free

Mirador de Fort Nassau

Vista riba Schottegat · Willemstad

The esplanade of the 1797 fort leaning over the Schottegat, the inner harbour you cannot see from any street.

Tip: Go up even if you are not eating: the esplanade and the lookout are free, and from there you watch the cruise ships come in through the channel and the whole inner harbour. Dinner at the fort does need a booking.

🚇 Scharloo — on foot

Featured in: Monumentenzorg Curaçao

Show on map
Free · you can climb the tower

Fort Beekenburg

Fòrti Beekenburg · Caracasbaai

A 1703 coral-stone tower over Caracas Bay, free to enter, with cannon still pointing out to sea.

Tip: You go up a narrow, dark inner staircase: use your phone torch. From the top you see the Tugboat and the whole Caracasbaai peninsula.

🚇 Caracasbaai — bus 6A

Featured in: Monumentenzorg Curaçao

Show on map
17 August, Day of the Uprising

Monumento Tula (Desenkadená)

Desenkadená · Otrobanda

The monument to Tula, who led the 1795 uprising of enslaved people; the broken chains give the work its name.

Tip: Desenkadená means 'unchained' in Papiamentu. On 17 August the island marks the 1795 uprising here; the rest of the year it is a quiet place to stop for a moment.

🚇 Otrobanda — on foot

Featured in: Gobiernu di Kòrsou

Show on map
Where the uprising began

Museo Tula

Museo Tula · Bandabou

The museum of the 1795 uprising, housed on the Knip plantation where the revolt began.

Tip: Visit it together with Landhuis Kenepa next door: the plantation house and the museum tell the two sides of the same story. Sober in tone, about an hour.

🚇 Landhuis Knip — bus stop

Featured in: museotula.com

Show on map
Plantation from 1693

Landhuis Kenepa (Knip)

Landhuis Kenepa · Bandabou

The plantation house where the 1795 uprising started, white and restored on top of the rise.

Tip: From the front gallery you look out over the fields and, beyond them, the sea at Knip. Pair it with Museo Tula, a hundred paces away.

🚇 Landhuis Knip — bus stop

Featured in: Monumentenzorg Curaçao

Show on map
Weekdays only

Landhuis Chobolobo

Landhuis Chobolobo · Salinja

The 1888 mansion where Senior & Co has distilled since 1896 the island's only Curaçao made with laraha peel.

Tip: 🚨 Open Monday to Friday only, 8:00 to 17:00. It is shut at weekends, and plenty of people turn up on Saturday and go home again.

🚇 Moreno Boulevard — bus 1B

Featured in: chobolobo.com (official site)

Show on map
Tour US$20 · book by WhatsApp

Destilería de Licor de Curazao

Curaçao Liqueur Distillery · Salinja

The guided walk through the copper stills, with a tasting and a cocktail included.

Tip: 📱 Standard tour US$20 (60 min, one drink included) and deluxe US$30 (two drinks and an ice cream). Book by email or WhatsApp on +5999 511 3526; free cancellation up to 24 h ahead.

🚇 Mechaniciensweg — bus stop

Featured in: chobolobo.com (official site)

Show on map
Local contemporary art

Landhuis Bloemhof

Landhuis Bloemhof · Mahaai

An 18th-century country house turned contemporary art centre, with May Henriquez's sculpture garden.

Tip: The sculpture garden is free to walk through. The shows indoors change every few weeks: check what's on before you go.

🚇 Zuikertuinjeweg — bus 2A2B

Featured in: Landhuis Bloemhof

Show on map
Nena Sanchez gallery next door

Landhuis Jan Kok

Landhuis Jan Kok · Sint Willibrordus

The salt-pan house, built in 1650, one of the oldest on the island, looking down over the flamingo lagoon.

Tip: You get there on a dirt track. The lagoon below it is where the flamingos feed: go at sunset and watch them from the track, without walking down onto the salt.

🚇 Landhuis Jan Kok — bus stop

Featured in: Monumentenzorg Curaçao

Show on map
Wild flamingos, not captive

Torre de los flamencos de Jan Kok

Toren di flamingo · Sint Willibrordus

The wooden platform over the salt pan where you watch pink flamingos feeding in the brackish water.

Tip: Best at dawn or just before the sun goes down: by midday they move to the far end of the lagoon. Don't step into the mud or edge closer — if you put them up, they are gone for the rest of the day.

🚇 Boka Sint Marie — bus stop

Featured in: Carmabi

Show on map
US$15 · ticket desk shuts 13:30

Centro de visitantes del Parque Christoffel

Christoffelpark · Savonet

The gateway to the island's largest national park: 1,860 hectares of kunuku, white-tailed deer and orchids.

Tip: 🚨 The park is open 6:00–15:00 but the TICKET DESK closes at 13:30. Adults US$15 (includes the Savonet Museum), children 6–12 US$2, under 6 free, groups of 15+ US$9.

🚇 Christoffelpark — bus 9A

Featured in: christoffelpark.org (official site)

Show on map
🚨 Last start: 10:00 sharp

Christoffelberg

Seru Christoffel · Bandabou

The highest point in Curaçao, 372 m above sea level, with the whole island and even Bonaire from the summit.

Tip: 🚨 You CANNOT start the climb after 10:00 in the morning, because of the heat on the rock. From the visitor centre it is about 3 h; if you drive to the foot of the hill, about 2 h. Carry 2 litres of water per person (sold at the ticket desk), closed shoes and a hat.

🚇 Savonet — by car

Featured in: christoffelpark.org (official site)

Show on map
🚨 SEPARATE ticket from Christoffel

Entrada del Parque Shete Boka

Shete Boka · Westpunt

The wild north coast: seven inlets where the Atlantic explodes against the limestone.

Tip: 🚨 It is not covered by the Christoffel ticket: these are two different tickets at US$15 each. Open 8:00–16:00, and no one is let in after 15:00.

🚇 Shete Boka National Park — bus 9A

Featured in: shetebokapark.org (official site)

Show on map
The best of the seven bokas

Boka Tabla

Boka Tabla · Shete Boka

The cavern you reach down carved steps, where you sit at the edge and watch the waves roll in underneath you.

Tip: Careful: there is another 'Boka Tabla' on the east coast of the island, 35 km away. The one in the park is this one. Inside the cave the floor is wet and slippery: wear shoes with grip.

🚇 Shete Boka — bus 9A

Featured in: shetebokapark.org (official site)

Show on map
You hear it before you see it

Boka Pistol

Boka Pistol · Shete Boka

The inlet that cracks like a gunshot every time a wave drives into the fissure.

Tip: The 'shot' is loudest with a running swell, which is to say when the trade winds blow steady. Stand still for two minutes and you'll catch three or four.

🚇 Shete Boka — bus 9A

Featured in: shetebokapark.org (official site)

Show on map
Open · US$10 · 49 steps

Cuevas de Hato

Kueba di Hato · Hato

Limestone caves with stalactites, a bat colony and Caquetío petroglyphs.

Tip: 📱 Open 7 days, guided tours on the hour from 9:00 to 15:00. US$10 adults, US$8 children aged 4 to 12, CASH ONLY. Tours run in English by default: for Dutch, Spanish or Papiamentu you have to ask ahead by WhatsApp on 5999-5233353.

🚇 Caiquetio — bus 4B

Featured in: curacaohatocaves.com (official site)

Show on map
Circulating seawater

Acuario Marino de Curazao

Sea Aquarium · Bapor Kibrá

An open-seawater aquarium: sharks, turtles and flamingos a few steps from Mambo Beach.

Tip: It backs straight onto Mambo Beach, so you can do both in one day. The animal encounters are booked separately and sell out: grab them the moment you arrive.

🚇 Curaçao Sea Aquarium — bus 6A

Featured in: Curaçao Sea Aquarium

Show on map
Grown here, not an imported souvenir

Plantación de Aloe de Curazao

Curaçao Aloe · Groot Sint Joris

The aloe vera fields of the east and the factory that turns them into gel and creams, with a guided tour.

Tip: The tour shows you the leaf being cut and filtered: short and cheap. Buy here rather than at the cruise terminal shop, where the same jar costs twice as much.

🚇 Juan Luis G. — bus stop

Featured in: Curaçao Aloe Plantation

Show on map
On the way to Serena's Art Factory

Granja de avestruces

Ostrich Farm · Groot Sint Joris

An open-truck safari around one of the biggest ostrich farms outside Africa.

Tip: It sits on the same road as Serena's Art Factory and its Chichi Garden: do both on one run east and you save half a morning.

🚇 Groot Sint Joris — by car or bus

Featured in: Curaçao Ostrich Farm

Show on map
Local art few people find

Catedral de Espinas

Cathedral of Thorns · Mahaai

Herman van Bergen's installation: an entire cathedral woven out of thorny branches from the kunuku.

Tip: It stands on the Landhuis Bloemhof grounds and plenty of people walk past without spotting it. Go in through the back garden; you can walk right inside it.

🚇 Zuikertuinjeweg — bus 2A2B

Featured in: Herman van Bergen · Landhuis Bloemhof

Show on map
You swim in under the rock

Blue Room

Blue Room · Santa Cruz

The sea cave you can only enter by diving under the rock, and which lights up electric blue around midday.

Tip: The entrance sits just below the waterline: you have to duck under and swim through. With a rough sea don't try it on your own — go out by kayak or boat from Playa Santa Cruz.

🚇 Santa Cruz — by car

Featured in: Carmabi · local operators

Show on map
⚠️ A shadow of what it was

Mercado Flotante

Floating Market · Sha Caprileskade

The Venezuelan boats from Falcón that tie up before dawn with mango, papaya and plantain: far less of it survives than the brochures promise.

Tip: ⚠️ Straight talk: after the maritime border closed in 2019 the market emptied out and never went back to what it had been. Today a handful of small boats come in and much of the produce is sold from fixed stalls on the quay rather than from the boats. If you go, go before 9 and don't expect the postcard.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: Curaçao Chronicle 13-11-2025 · 2026 reviews

Show on map
Opens with the cruise ships

Mercado de Artesanías

Craft Market · Sha Caprileskade

The hall built next door to replace the floating market: local craftspeople, open when there are cruise ships in port.

Tip: Its whole reason for existing is to stand in for the floating market. It works when ships are berthed: with no cruise ship that day, you'll find half the stalls shut.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: OSM (KG Ground Survey) · Curaçao Ports Authority

Show on map
No naming rights: its own name

Estadio Ergilio Hato (SDK)

Sentro Deportivo Korsou Ergilio Hato · Rooi Catootje

The national stadium, 15,000 seats, home of the Curaçao national team.

Tip: It carries no sponsor's name: officially it is the Sentro Deportivo Korsou Ergilio Hato, after the Antillean goalkeeper of the '50s. Locals just call it SDK.

🚇 Kaya Doy Sille — bus stop

Featured in: Wikipedia · CONCACAF

Show on map
A wreck you swim to from the beach

Playa Tugboat

Tugboat · Caracasbaai

The sunken tugboat sitting 5 m down, thirty strokes from shore: the best free snorkel in the Caribbean.

Tip: It lies so close in that you reach it with a snorkel and fins, no boat needed. The entry is all rounded pebbles: water shoes, no argument.

🚇 Caracasbaai — bus 6A

Featured in: Carmabi · dive guides Curaçao

Show on map
Free · current at the point

Director's Bay

Directeursbaai · Caracasbaai

The cove where the Shell director used to swim, open to everyone now, with a coral wall a few strokes out.

Tip: Free and calm, but near the point the current picks up: stay on the cove side. Pair it with the Tugboat, five minutes away.

🚇 Caracasbaai — bus 6A

Featured in: Carmabi

Show on map
Traditional knowledge, written down

Den Paradera

Den Paradera · Banda Ariba

Dinah Veeris's medicinal herb garden, where she rescued the healing knowledge of the kunuku before it was lost.

Tip: The guided visit is the one worth taking: they walk you plant by plant through what each was used for. At the end there are soaps and oils made on site.

🚇 Kaya Stripan — bus stop

Featured in: Den Paradera

Show on map
New for 2026

Parque Nacional Seru Largu

Parke Nashonal Seru Largu · Sint Willibrordus

Curaçao's newest national park, covering the Rif Sint Marie, Jan Kok and Hermanus estates, with mangroves and salt pans.

Tip: It is this year's novelty: they run kayak trips through the mangroves and planting days with Carmabi. It has barely made it into the printed guidebooks yet.

🚇 Rabu di Guy — bus stop

Featured in: Curaçao Tourist Board 2026 · Carmabi

Show on map
Traditional dwelling, rebuilt

Kas di Pal'i Maishi

Kas di Pal'i Maishi · Bandabou

The maize-stalk house: the traditional kunuku dwelling rebuilt exactly as it was made, thatched roof and all.

Tip: It is tiny and you'll see it in twenty minutes, but it is the only way to grasp how people lived outside the plantation houses. The guides are from here.

🚇 Kaya Damascus Royer — bus 9A

Featured in: Monumentenzorg Curaçao

Show on map
Free · the most photographed

Grote Knip (Playa Kenepa Grandi)

Playa Kenepa Grandi · Bandabou

The Curaçao postcard beach: a half-moon of white sand and turquoise water wedged between cliffs.

Tip: Free, but there is almost no shade: get there before 10 or bring an umbrella. The clifftop viewpoint above is the shot everyone is after, and it's two minutes away by car.

🚇 Knip — by car or bus

Featured in: Carmabi · local guides

Show on map
Free · more shade than the big one

Kleine Knip (Playa Kenepa Chikí)

Playa Kenepa Chikí · Bandabou

Grote Knip's little sister, with more natural shade from the sea grapes and snorkelling among the rocks.

Tip: It has the shade Grote Knip lacks. At weekends it fills with Curaçaoan families; midweek you get it almost to yourself.

🚇 Knip — by car or bus

Featured in: Carmabi · local guides

Show on map
Charged per car · worth it

Playa Cas Abao

Playa Cas Abao · Bandabou

Fine sand, calm water over healthy reef and full service: loungers, a bar and massages under a palapa.

Tip: It is the paid beach in the west that gives you the most back. They charge per car, not per person, so fill the car. In the morning the water is like glass.

🚇 Sint Willibrordus — by car

Featured in: Carmabi · local guides

Show on map
Double reef · pigs on the loose

Playa Porto Mari

Playa PortoMari · Sint Willibrordus

A double reef for snorkelling, a long pier and a very gentle entry into the water; the wild pigs wander across the sand.

Tip: The pigs come on their own and are not fed. The double reef starts to the left of the pier: follow the buoy and you go straight to it.

🚇 Sint Willibrordus — by car

Featured in: Carmabi · local guides

Show on map
Free · turtles, no fishermen

Playa Lagun

Playa Lagun · Lagun

A small cove between rock walls where turtles graze on the bottom a short swim from shore.

Tip: Here the turtles come because there is sea grass, not because anyone throws fish scraps in: it is the honest version of Piskado. The entry is rounded pebble, so bring water shoes.

🚇 Playa Lagun — bus stop

Featured in: Carmabi · local guides

Show on map
⚠️ Depends on the fishermen

Playa Piskado (Playa Grandi)

Playa Piskadó · Westpunt

The fishermen's beach where you swim with green turtles, drawn in by the fish scraps off the pier.

Tip: ⚠️ The truth: the turtles come because the fishermen clean their catch on the pier. If there was no catch that day, there may be no turtles. Go before 10, keep 3 m away, and don't touch or feed them.

🚇 Misa Katoliko Westpunt — bus 9A

Featured in: Carmabi · snorkel guides 2026

Show on map
The classic cliff jump

Playa Forti

Playa Forti · Westpunt

Dark sand at the foot of the cliff the locals jump from, 12 m down into the water.

Tip: The bottom drops away a few steps from the shoreline: not a beach for small children. The restaurant above has the best sunset view in the west.

🚇 Misa Katoliko Westpunt — bus 9A

Featured in: Carmabi · local guides

Show on map
Free · palapas included

Playa Daaibooi

Playa Daaibooi · Sint Willibrordus

A quiet cove with free palapas and a snack bar, the weekend beach of the Curaçaoans.

Tip: The palapas are free and first-come, first-served. Midweek it is empty; on Sunday it belongs to the local families and has a completely different, very good feel.

🚇 Coral Estate — by car

Featured in: Carmabi · local guides

Show on map
Base for the Blue Room

Playa Santa Cruz

Playa Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz

A wide, calm bay and the launching point for the kayaks to the Blue Room and the bat cave.

Tip: This is where the kayaks to the Blue Room set off. Even if you're not paddling, it is still one of the calmest bays for a swim in the west.

🚇 Santa Cruz — by car or bus

Featured in: Carmabi · local operators

Show on map
Free entry · lounger extra

Playa Jan Thiel

Jan Thiel · Jan Thiel

A sheltered lagoon of glassy water with beach clubs, watersports and restaurants right on the sand.

Tip: Getting in is free; what you pay for is the lounger and the umbrella. The water is the calmest on the island, ideal with small children.

🚇 Jan Thielbaai — bus 6A

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
The easiest on the island

Mambo Beach

Mambo Beach · Bapor Kibrá

Curaçao's city beach: a breakwater that flattens the water and a boulevard of shops and bars behind the sand.

Tip: The breakwater leaves the water like a swimming pool. The managed sections charge for loungers; walk in along the side and you get in without paying.

🚇 Mambo Beach Boulevard — bus 6A

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Departure point for Klein Curaçao

Playa Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara · Spaanse Water

A broad, pale-sand beach at the mouth of the Spaanse Water, with the Tafelberg behind it.

Tip: The boats to Klein Curaçao leave from the marina next door. Even if you skip the island, the beach alone justifies the run southeast.

🚇 Santa Barbara — by car

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
⚠️ The island is OFF this map

Embarcadero a Klein Curaçao

Miss Ann Boat Trips · Santa Barbara

The jetty the boats leave from before dawn for the uninhabited islet of Klein Curaçao.

Tip: ⚠️ Klein Curaçao lies about 20 km to the southeast and falls outside this map: what is pinned here is the JETTY. Boats leave around 7 and come back mid-afternoon; the crossing takes an hour and a half head-on into the sea and plenty of people get queasy.

🚇 Santa Barbara — by car

Featured in: local operators

Show on map

Where to eat in Curaçao: restaurants

Unmissable · lunch only

Plasa Bieu

Marshe Bieu · Punda

The old market: six open-fire kitchens where Willemstad has lunch — stoba, funchi and keshi yena at shared tables.

Tip: 🚨 Monday to Friday only, 11 to 15 or until it runs out. Get there before midday or the good dishes are already gone. CASH only (XCG or dollars). Walk past all six stalls before choosing and ask what is dushi — delicious — today.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026 · reviews

Show on map
A real market, not a tourist one

Marshe Rondo

Marshe Rondo · Punda

The round market next door: fruit, vegetables and juices of the day under the yellow dome.

Tip: This is where the Plasa Bieu cooks buy. The tropical fruit shakes from the stalls at the back are the best value in Punda.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: Monumentenzorg Curaçao

Show on map
Pietermaai's benchmark

Kome

Kome · Pietermaai

Chef-driven cooking with island produce: wood grill, smoker and its own bakery.

Tip: The house-made sausages and the fried chicken are what made its name. Book: it is small and fills up every night.

🚇 Pietermaai — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
The island's wine list

The Wine Cellar

The Wine Cellar · Pietermaai

A fine-dining classic of French-Caribbean cooking with one of the longest wine lists in the Dutch Caribbean.

Tip: Let the sommelier pick by the glass: they carry labels you won't find anywhere else on the island. Booking essential.

🚇 Pietermaai — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Pietermaai icon

Mundo Bizarro

Mundo Bizarro · Pietermaai

A Cuban-flavoured bar-restaurant with murals, ceiling fans and the best beef stoba in the neighbourhood.

Tip: It is as much bar as restaurant: after 22 the place comes alive. The stoba di karni is the dish people come back for.

🚇 Pietermaai — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Benchmark keshi yena

Rozendaels

Rozendaels · Pietermaai

A leafy courtyard where keshi yena is served the way it should be: pulled chicken inside a whole wheel of Gouda.

Tip: It is one of the few places that makes keshi yena in a real cheese rind rather than a mould. There is a vegetarian version too.

🚇 Pietermaai — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Menu rewritten every day

Serafina

Serafina · Pietermaai

An Italian with a daily menu, fresh pasta and imported cheeses, in a restored townhouse in the district.

Tip: The menu is written each morning around whatever came in. Book ahead: there are very few tables.

🚇 Pietermaai — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Made for sharing

Restaurant Mosa

Mosa · Pietermaai

Modern cooking built around sharing plates, the place that put Pietermaai on the island's food map.

Tip: Everything is designed to go in the middle of the table: order four or five dishes between two. There is a tasting menu if you'd rather they chose.

🚇 Pietermaai — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
The island's top end

Baoase Culinary Beach Restaurant

Baoase · Baoase

A tasting menu with your feet almost in the sand, on the private beach of the most expensive resort on the island.

Tip: You can dine without staying there, but book well in advance and take the dress code seriously. Ask for a table out on the sand, not on the veranda.

🚇 Winterwijkstraat — bus 1B

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
The highest dinner view

Fort Nassau Restaurant

Fòrti Nassau · Willemstad

Semi-open-air dining inside the 1797 fort, with Willemstad and the bay 60 m below you.

Tip: Book a table on the lookout side and arrive 40 minutes before sunset. The Dutch apple tart is the dessert everyone orders.

🚇 Scharloo — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
The balcony facing the coloured houses

De Gouverneur de Rouville

De Gouverneur · Otrobanda

An 18th-century townhouse in Otrobanda with a long balcony looking straight across at the Handelskade.

Tip: Ask specifically for a table on the first-floor balcony: it is the only way to have the whole Handelskade in front of you without crossing the bridge.

🚇 Otrobanda — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Catch of the day, no fuss

Cas de Peskado Purunchi

Purunchi · Piscadera

A fishermen's house turned open-air dining room: catch of the day with funchi and tutu, packed with locals.

Tip: There is no fixed menu: you eat whatever came in that morning. Call to book even though it looks casual — it fills up with Curaçaoans.

🚇 Piscadera — by car or bus

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Snapper and kabritu stoba

Brisa Do Mar

Brisa do Mar · Caracasbaai

Fish and seafood with the water of Caracasbaai behind you, right beside the fishermen's pier.

Tip: Whole snapper and goat stoba are the two classics. It sits right by the Tugboat: eat after the snorkel, not before.

🚇 Caracasbaai — bus 6A

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Over the water, literally

Pop's Place

Pops Place · Caracasbaai

A shack on stilts out over the water, one of the oldest in the bay, with cold beer and fried fish.

Tip: It is built out over the water: you eat with the sea under your feet. Casual, cheap and with the sunset thrown in.

🚇 Caracasbaai — bus 6A

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Sunset from the cliff

Karakter

Karakter · Coral Estate

A beach restaurant on the Coral Estate cliffs, with open sea to the west and long sunsets.

Tip: It gives you one of the best sunsets on the island because it faces west from a clifftop. Book for the 18 to 19 slot.

🚇 Coral Estate — by car

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Clifftop terrace

Koraal Rooftop Terrace

Koraal · Coral Estate

A terrace at the top of the Coral Estate cliff, with an infinity pool and Mediterranean cooking.

Tip: There is a minimum spend in the lounger area. The upper terrace is free to walk into if you're eating, and the view is exactly the same.

🚇 Coral Estate — by car

Featured in: koraalcuracao.com

Show on map
Beach club by day, kitchen by night

Zest

Zest · Jan Thiel

Mediterranean cooking with your feet in the sand at Jan Thiel: beach club by day, restaurant by night.

Tip: In the late afternoon it changes skin: at 18 they clear the loungers and set the tables out on the sand. Book for that slot.

🚇 Jan Thielbaai — bus 6A

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Feet in the sand at Mambo

Hemingway

Hemingway · Bapor Kibrá

A Mambo Beach classic with tables out on the sand and a long fish menu.

Tip: It is one of the few at Mambo with tables genuinely on the sand rather than up on the boulevard. Lunch is the better bet; at night the whole boulevard is equally packed.

🚇 Curaçao Sea Aquarium — bus 6A

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Where the island eats

Omundo

Omundo · Salinja

International cooking and a wine bar in the middle of Salinja, well away from the cruise circuit.

Tip: Salinja is where Curaçaoans go out to eat, not tourists. Lower prices than Pietermaai for the same quality.

🚇 Zuikertuinjeweg — bus 2A2B

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Dutch-Indonesian rijsttafel

Sambal

Sambal · Salinja

Indonesian-Dutch: the rijsttafel the Dutch colonial legacy brought over, eaten here as something of their own.

Tip: Order the rijsttafel to share: fifteen little dishes, and that is the right way to eat it. It is as much part of the Dutch legacy as pan dushi.

🚇 Zuikertuinjeweg — bus 2A2B

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Tables on the pavement

Bistro Pietermaai

Bistro Pietermaai · Pietermaai

A neighbourhood bistro on Pietermaai's main street, with tables out on the pavement under the balconies.

Tip: The outside tables, under the restored balconies, are the best seat in the house for watching Pietermaai go by at sunset.

🚇 Pietermaai — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Watch the bridge open from your table

Scampi's

Scampi's · Punda

A terrace over the channel right beside the Queen Emma Bridge, with shellfish and the best seats for every opening.

Tip: From the terrace you watch the floating bridge swing open and the ships pass close by. Ask for a table on the railing.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Aged cuts

Fuoco Italian Chophouse

Fuoco · Bapor Kibrá

An Italian chophouse on the Mambo boulevard, with aged cuts and house-made pasta.

Tip: It is the steak address on the Mambo boulevard. Book at weekends or you'll be waiting an hour.

🚇 Mambo Beach Boulevard — bus 6A

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
A proper Italian oven

Pizza Mare

Pizza Mare · Bapor Kibrá

Neapolitan pizza from an oven shipped in from Italy, on the Mambo Beach boulevard.

Tip: It is the serious pizza on the island. A practical, cheap option after a day on the sand at Mambo.

🚇 Mambo Beach Boulevard — bus 6A

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
View of the Christoffelberg

Shelterrock Paradise

Shelterrock · Santa Cruz

A lookout-restaurant out in the kunuku with a 360° view of the Christoffelberg and criollo cooking.

Tip: The view of the hill from the terrace is the best you'll get without climbing it. Fridays there is karaoke and the place fills with locals.

🚇 Gogorobi — bus stop

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
The west-coast beach stop

Sol Food

Sol Food · Westpunt

A beach canteen in Westpunt, the obligatory stop after Grote Knip or Playa Forti.

Tip: It is the logical halt between the western beaches: it sits halfway to all of them. Catch of the day and fresh juices.

🚇 Misa Katoliko Westpunt — bus 9A

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
The last one before Watamula

Watamula Restaurant

Watamula · Westpunt

A family dining room out at the northwest tip, one of the last before the island runs out.

Tip: If you are heading to Watamula or Playa Kalki, it is the only decent place to eat anywhere around. Fill the tank too: there are no petrol stations nearby.

🚇 Westpunt — bus 9A

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Krioyo in a landhuis

Komedor Krioyo (Landhuis Dokterstuin)

Komedor Krioyo · Bandabou

Creole food served on the gallery of a western plantation house.

Tip: Order the kadushi, the cactus soup: it is the most Curaçaoan dish there is and here they make it properly. Weekends are when the place is at full tilt.

🚇 Kaya Beatrix J. " Bea" Muzo-Fransisco — bus 9A

Featured in: Monumentenzorg Curaçao · local guides

Show on map
A table facing the coloured houses

Perla Del Mar

Perla del Mar · Punda

A terrace facing the Handelskade with fresh fish and the whole row of colours in front of you.

Tip: It is on the Punda side, which means you look straight at the Handelskade from your table. Best at sunset, when the light hits the façades.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Thursdays, live music

Landhuis Brakkeput Mei Mei

Brakkeput Mei Mei · Brakkeput

An open-air grill in a southeastern plantation house, a Thursday-night institution with live music.

Tip: Thursday is its night: the grill, long tables outside and a live band. You'll be surrounded by Curaçaoans, not tourists.

🚇 Jan Thiel — bus 6A

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
A local night-time institution

Carla Truk'i Pan

Truk'i pan Carla · Brievengat

A late-night food truck: the giant stuffed bread roll the island eats on the way out of the clubs.

Tip: The truk'i pan are THE night food of Curaçao and they start up when the kitchens close. Ask for a roll with steak and cheese, and pay cash.

🚇 Kirindongo Abou — bus stop

Featured in: Frommer's · local guides

Show on map
Neighbourhood johnny cake

Ninie's Johnny Cake

Ninie's · Groot Kwartier

The johnny cake — fried dough with a filling — that Curaçaoans eat on the go at any hour.

Tip: Order it with salt beef or with cheese. It is the local street-food answer and it costs small change. Cash.

🚇 Kaya Akoerio — bus 2A2B

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Mouth of the Spaanse Water

Boka 19

Boka 19 · Santa Barbara

A restaurant on the mouth of the Spaanse Water, with the sailing boats coming and going in full view.

Tip: You watch the sailing boats thread the narrow channel while you eat. A good plan after Santa Barbara Beach.

🚇 Santa Barbara — by car

Featured in: local guides

Show on map

Specialty coffee in Curaçao

The true Curaçaoan breakfast

Panaderia ISA

Panaderia ISA · Piscadera

A neighbourhood bakery where the island's real breakfast starts at 6: pastechi straight out of the fryer and Dutch coffee.

Tip: The pastechi — fried pastry filled with cheese or meat — is THE Curaçao breakfast, not avocado toast. Buy two and a coffee: it costs you less than an espresso in Pietermaai.

🚇 Kaukasusweg — bus 1B

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Authentic pan dushi

Panadería Delen

Panadería Delen · Santa Maria

A village bakery with pan dushi, the sweet Curaçaoan bread eaten with salty cheese.

Tip: Ask for pan dushi: it is sweet and you eat it with salty cheese on top, which sounds odd and works. Opens extremely early.

🚇 Paraguayweg — bus 4B

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Holland without leaving the Caribbean

Bakkerij de Zon

Bakkerij de Zon · Saliña

A classic Dutch bakery with tompouce, stroopwafel and rye bread just like in Rotterdam.

Tip: The tompouce — puff pastry with cream and pink icing — is the Dutch national pastry and here it is made exactly the same. Order it with a koffie verkeerd.

🚇 Kaya Mobilofoon — bus stop

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Benchmark appeltaart

Sa Bon

Sa Bon · Pietermaai

A Dutch bakery-café with sourdough sandwiches and enormous apple tarts.

Tip: The appeltaart — Dutch apple tart — with whipped cream is what everyone orders. A good place for a sit-down breakfast in Pietermaai.

🚇 Pietermaai — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Same kitchen, no queue

SA Bon Saliña

SA Bon · Saliña

The Saliña branch of the Dutch bakery, with a terrace and a shorter queue than the Pietermaai one.

Tip: Same bread as Pietermaai but without the morning line. This is where people who work in the area have breakfast.

🚇 Plasa Winkel — bus 1B

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
A real neighbourhood bakery

Heaven's Bakery

Heaven's Bakery · Groot Kwartier

A neighbourhood bakery with johnny cakes, pastechi and tamarind juice pressed that day.

Tip: It is off the tourist circuit, which is why the prices are island prices rather than cruise prices. Tamarind juice made fresh.

🚇 Dommelstraat — bus stop

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Breakfast before the beaches

Bread and More

Bread and More · Coral Estate

A bakery and café in the west, the breakfast stop before heading out to the Bandabou beaches.

Tip: If you set off early for the western beaches, it is the last decent breakfast before Sint Willibrordus. Opens at 7.

🚇 Coral Estate — by car

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Specialty + shop

La Reina

La Reina · Pietermaai

A specialty coffee shop in a red house in Pietermaai, half café and half design store.

Tip: Open 7:30 to 17:00 Monday to Saturday, closed Sundays. It has air conditioning, which by mid-morning in Pietermaai you will be grateful for.

🚇 Pietermaai — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Punda's secret courtyard

La Bohème

La Bohème · Punda

A hidden courtyard down a Punda alley with tropical fruit shakes and unhurried breakfasts.

Tip: It is tucked into an alley off Columbusstraat and invisible from the street. Thursdays they do ceviche. Open 8 to 22, closed Sunday.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Cool refuge two steps from the Snoa

Café Bonchi

Bonchi · Punda

An air-conditioned café next to the synagogue, with fruit bowls and vegetarian breakfasts.

Tip: It is on Hanchi Snoa, right beside the synagogue ticket desk: the logical stop before or after the visit. Closes at 14 on weekdays.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Neighbourhood specialty

Pakaya Society

Pakaya Society · Salinja

A roastery and specialty coffee bar on the side where the island actually lives, not where the cruise ships land.

Tip: This is the specialty coffee Curaçaoans drink. Cheaper and calmer than anything in Punda.

🚇 Dr. W.P. Maalweg — bus 1B

Featured in: local guides 2026

Show on map
Where to wait for the bridge to close

Pasa Kontrami

Pasa Kontrami · Otrobanda

A covered snack bar on Plasa Brión, right at the head of the floating bridge.

Tip: It is the exact place to wait if the Queen Emma Bridge is swung open: covered, with tables, twenty paces from the ramp. Better than queuing for the ferry.

🚇 Otrobanda — on foot

Featured in: Curaçao Ports Authority · local guides

Show on map
Holland in Punda

Old Dutch Curaçao

Old Dutch · Punda

A long-standing Dutch café in Punda, with bitterballen, croquettes and beer on tap.

Tip: Bitterballen with mustard are the compulsory partner to a beer here, exactly as in Amsterdam. Terrace on the pedestrian street.

🚇 Pietermaai — on foot

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Terrace on the pedestrian street

Café de Tijd

Café de Tijd · Punda

A corner café in Punda with a terrace, a good breakfast and wifi that actually works.

Tip: A good base for starting the walk around Punda. The terrace gives onto the pedestrian street and you see everything go past.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Shade in the middle of Punda

Café Wilhelmina

Cafe Wilhelmina · Punda

A café on Wilhelmina Square, between the market and the bridge, with tables in the shade.

Tip: One of the few terraces in Punda with real shade at midday. Coffee, juices and sandwiches, no fuss.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Next door to Plasa Bieu

De Ruyter Café

De Ruyter Cafe · Punda

A café on the De Ruyterkade, next to the old market, where the dock crowd has breakfast.

Tip: It is a few steps from Plasa Bieu: coffee here, lunch there. That is the circuit people who work in the area do.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Oven in full view

Zeven Oven & Cups

Zeven · Punda

An oven and coffee bar in the middle of Punda, with the day's baking and filter coffee.

Tip: You can see the oven from the counter. A good mid-morning stop between the Handelskade and the synagogue.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Residential area, serious coffee

Café Barista Mahaai

Barista Mahaai · Mahaai

A neighbourhood coffee shop in Mahaai, well away from the tourists, with the best flat white around.

Tip: Mahaai is houses, not hotels: breakfast here costs island prices. It has its own car park.

🚇 Warawaraweg — bus 2A2B

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
The local sweet fix

Kuki Monster

Kuki Monster · Salinja

A cookie and home-baked cake shop that has become Willemstad's mid-afternoon sweet habit.

Tip: The cookies come out of the oven in mid-afternoon. It is small and sells out: go between 15 and 17.

🚇 Jupiterstraat — bus 1B

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Local fruit ice cream

Fria

Fria · Punda

An artisan ice cream shop in Punda with island fruit flavours: tamarind, guava, soursop.

Tip: Order soursop or tamarind: those are the flavours you won't find back home. There's a queue in the afternoon.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Proper gelato

Il Gelato Italian Ice Cream

Il Gelato · Mahaai

Italian gelato made on the island, the best texture in Curaçao.

Tip: It is Italian gelato made here, not industrial. It sits in Mahaai, so you pass it on the way back from the eastern beaches.

🚇 Corriweg — bus 2A2B

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Shakes at local prices

Delicious Pan & Batidos

Pan i Batidos · Santa Maria

A stand for fresh fruit shakes and stuffed bread, the island's cheap afternoon snack.

Tip: Fruit shakes are the national afternoon drink. Ask for a lechosa — papaya — one with milk. Cash.

🚇 Seru di Orashon — bus 2A2B

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Dutch breakfast at the beach

Lekker & Zo

Lekker & Zo · Bapor Kibrá

A Dutch café on the Mambo boulevard with breakfasts and toast made from real bread.

Tip: 'Lekker' is Dutch for tasty and you'll hear it all day long. Breakfast before heading down onto the sand at Mambo.

🚇 Mambo Beach Boulevard — bus 6A

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Juices and bowls

Boosty Curaçao

Boosty · Salinja

A juice bar and fruit bowls, the light breakfast of the people who work in Salinja.

Tip: Fast, cheap and no queue. The fruit bowls with granola are genuinely big portions.

🚇 Korporaal — bus 6A

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Weekend brunch

Number Ten

Number Ten · Salinja

A café and brunch spot in Salinja with an inner courtyard, one of the first to bring brunch to the island.

Tip: Saturday and Sunday brunch is its moment: get into the courtyard early, because they don't take bookings.

🚇 Zuikertuinjeweg — bus 2A2B

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
The Otrobanda stop

La Guaricana

La Guaricana · Otrobanda

A café with Caribbean food in Otrobanda, steps from Plasa Brión and the Kurá Hulanda museum.

Tip: It is the natural stop between Kurá Hulanda and Plasa Brión. Coffee, juices and simple creole food.

🚇 Otrobanda — on foot

Featured in: local guides

Show on map

Shopping in Curaçao: where to shop

Building from 1708

Penha

Penha · Punda

The yellow building from 1708 at the tip of the Handelskade, the most photographed shop on the island.

Tip: Worth stepping inside even if you buy nothing: it is the corner that opens the Handelskade and the interior keeps its original structure. Duty-free perfume and cosmetics.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: Monumentenzorg Curaçao

Show on map
Registered trademark since 2008

Serena's Art Factory (Chichi Garden)

Chichi® Garden · Santa Catharina

The workshop where the Chichi are born, the curvy women sculptures that are the island's signature souvenir.

Tip: 🚨 The paint-your-own-Chichi workshop runs ONLY on Tuesday and Saturday, with entry between 9:00 and 9:15, and NO booking possible: first come, first served. XCG 35.60 (US$20) plus the sculpture. Open Tuesday to Saturday 9–17, closed Monday and Sunday.

🚇 Groot Sint Joris — by car or bus

Featured in: chichi-curacao.com (official site)

Show on map
Open Thursdays until 20

Chichi Shop Punda (Windstraat)

Windstraat · Punda

The Chichi shop in the middle of Punda, for anyone not making it out to the workshop in the east.

Tip: Every genuine Chichi carries a trademarked coin whose colour changes each year: no coin, no Chichi. Open Monday to Saturday 10–17, and Thursdays until 20 for Punda Vibes.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: chichi-curacao.com (official site)

Show on map
The palette of Curaçao

Galería Nena Sanchez

Nena Sanchez · Jan Kok

The gallery of the Curaçaoan painter of saturated colour, in the salt-pan house at Jan Kok.

Tip: It sits inside Landhuis Jan Kok, so you can combine it with the flamingos on the salt pan. They sell everything from cheap prints to originals.

🚇 Landhuis Jan Kok — bus stop

Featured in: nenasanchez.com

Show on map
The island's big gallery

Gallery Alma Blou

Alma Blou · Habaai

The island's largest contemporary art gallery, in a restored landhuis.

Tip: It represents most of the living Curaçaoan artists. If you want to buy real local art rather than a souvenir, this is the place.

🚇 Orinocoweg — bus 1B

Featured in: Gallery Alma Blou

Show on map
🔑 How to spot the real one

Tienda del Licor de Curazao

Curaçao Liqueur Gift Store · Salinja

The distillery shop: the only bottle made on the island with laraha peel.

Tip: 🔑 There is NO protected designation of origin and no official seal for Blue Curaçao: anyone, anywhere, can make a blue liqueur. The sensible move is to read the label and look for 'Senior & Co.' and 'The Genuine Curaçao Liqueur'. And don't let anyone sell you a story: the liqueur is colourless to start with, and the blue is a dye in EVERY brand, this one included.

🚇 Moreno Boulevard — bus 1B

Featured in: chobolobo.com · Wikipedia (laraha)

Show on map
Duty-free pedestrian street

Heerenstraat

Heerenstraat · Punda

Punda's main pedestrian street: duty-free jewellers, perfumeries and watch shops.

Tip: This is the island's duty-free street. Compare prices in two or three shops before you commit: they vary quite a bit between neighbours.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: Curaçao Tourist Board

Show on map
Everyday shopping

Breedestraat

Breedestraat · Punda

Punda's other shopping artery, more down-to-earth and with island prices.

Tip: This is where Curaçaoans shop, not cruise passengers. Fabric, household goods and electronics at real prices.

🚇 Otrobanda — on foot

Featured in: Curaçao Tourist Board

Show on map
Punda's murals

Madurostraat

Madurostraat · Punda

A small pedestrian lane in Punda with little shops and the murals that became everybody's photo backdrop.

Tip: This is where the hanging umbrellas and the murals that go round social media are. At midday the awnings give you shade.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: Curaçao Tourist Board

Show on map
The Snoa's street

Columbusstraat

Columbusstraat · Punda

The synagogue street, with galleries, design shops and the hidden courtyard of La Bohème.

Tip: It is the street of the synagogue and the Jewish museum. Look down the side alleys: that is where the good courtyards are.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: Curaçao Tourist Board

Show on map
Shopping inside a fort

Renaissance Wind Creek / Rif Fort

Riffort Village · Otrobanda

The Rif Fort complex: shops and restaurants inside the walls of the 1828 fort, plus a casino.

Tip: The ramparts above are free and have the best view of the channel. The shops stay open late when there are cruise ships in port.

🚇 Otrobanda — on foot

Featured in: Curaçao Tourist Board

Show on map
The air-conditioned refuge

Sambil Curaçao

Sambil · Veeris

The island's big indoor mall, with air conditioning, a cinema and a food court.

Tip: It is the plan for rain or for unbearable heat: air conditioning, cinema and local prices. Parking is free.

🚇 Sambil Shopping Mall Curaçao — bus 9A

Featured in: Sambil Curaçao

Show on map
Shopping in a landhuis

Zuikertuin Mall

Zuikertuin · Zuikertuintje

A shopping centre inside a converted 18th-century plantation house, with the original mill still standing.

Tip: It is the only mall in the Caribbean built into an 18th-century plantation house. The windmill out front is still there.

🚇 Zuikertuinjeweg — bus 2A2B

Featured in: Monumentenzorg Curaçao

Show on map
Island prices

Promenade Shopping Center

Promenade · Salinja

A neighbourhood shopping centre where Curaçaoans do their shopping, with no cruise-ship prices.

Tip: Supermarket, pharmacy and shops at local prices. If you need something practical, come here rather than Punda.

🚇 Neptunusweg — bus 1B

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Big supermarket

Bloempot Shopping Centre

Bloempot · Mahaai

A neighbourhood mall in Mahaai with a big supermarket and everyday shops.

Tip: A good place to load up on water, sunscreen and snacks before heading to the beaches, at half what the hotel charges.

🚇 Zuikertuinjeweg — bus 2A2B

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Shopping and beach together

Mambo Beach Boulevard

Mambo Beach Boulevard · Bapor Kibrá

The strip of shops, bars and ice cream parlours behind the sand at Mambo, open late.

Tip: It is the one place where you can shop in a swimsuit and nobody looks twice. Open late every night.

🚇 Mambo Beach Boulevard — bus 6A

Featured in: Curaçao Tourist Board

Show on map
Books in Papiamentu

Mensing's Caminada

Mensing's Caminada · Otrobanda

A bookshop and café in a restored warehouse, with the best selection of books on Curaçao and Papiamentu.

Tip: If you want to take home something other than a fridge magnet, there is Curaçaoan literature and Papiamentu dictionaries here. There's a café inside.

🚇 Rooi Katochi — bus 1B

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Second-hand Antillean finds

Hirsch & Reich Secondhand Books

Hirsch & Reich · Otrobanda

A labyrinthine second-hand bookshop in Otrobanda, full of old Netherlands Antilles material.

Tip: There are old maps and books on the Antilles that appear in no catalogue anywhere. Go through the boxes at the back.

🚇 Otrobanda — on foot

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Real local craft

Driftwood & More

Driftwood & More · Mahaai

A workshop-shop of objects made from wood the sea brings in, all produced on the island.

Tip: Everything is made here from driftwood off the northern beaches. It is one of the few shops where 'made in Curaçao' is literal.

🚇 Girouette — bus stop

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Handmade, made to order

Crafted by Angel

Crafted by Angel · Salinja

A jewellery and homeware atelier, handmade to order by a local artisan.

Tip: 📱 She works largely to commission and by appointment: message her first on WhatsApp or Instagram if you want something made for you.

🚇 Kaya Cristobal Colon — bus 1B

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Caribbean design

Joy Gallery

Joy Gallery · Zeelandia

A gallery and shop of contemporary Caribbean art and design objects.

Tip: It mixes art with design objects. A good place for a gift that isn't generic handicraft.

🚇 Shimarucuweg — bus stop

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
What you buy goes somewhere

Giftshop Santa Martha

Giftshop Santa Martha · Santa Martha

The shop of the sheltered workshop at Landhuis Groot Santa Martha: ceramics, candles and textiles made on site.

Tip: Everything on sale is made by the artisans in the workshop next door. Low prices and a clear destination for the money.

🚇 Landhuis Groot Santa Martha — bus stop

Featured in: Monumentenzorg Curaçao

Show on map
Own designs in silver

Copperstone

Copperstone · Punda

A Punda jeweller working in silver and stones, one of the few that actually designs on the island.

Tip: They design and assemble here, not just resell. Ask to see the pieces with coral and with sea glass.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Dushi: the key word

Dushi Store

Dushi Store · Bapor Kibrá

A beachwear and homeware shop built around the one word that sums up the island: dushi.

Tip: 'Dushi' in Papiamentu is sweet, tasty, lovely and dear, all at once, and it is used for anything. If you learn one word, make it this one.

🚇 Mambo Beach Boulevard — bus 6A

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Caribbean labels

Out of the Blue

Out of the Blue · Bapor Kibrá

A design shop on the Mambo boulevard with clothing and objects from Caribbean labels.

Tip: Caribbean brands that never make it to South America. Open late along with the rest of the boulevard.

🚇 Mambo Beach Boulevard — bus 6A

Featured in: local guides

Show on map
Open studio in Punda

Renata Rolefes Art

Renata Rolefes · Punda

A local artist's studio-gallery in the middle of Punda, with work about the island and its colours.

Tip: She is often working in the shop: if she is, she'll talk you through every piece. On Punda Vibes Thursdays it stays open into the evening.

🚇 Punda — on foot

Featured in: local guides

Show on map

Other destinations

All maps →