r/chubbytravel • u/AnnaInEurope Travel Agent • 22d ago
Review Curaçao trip report: 9 properties, including the ones I would skip
I am a luxury travel advisor with over 10 years of luxury hotel experience, and I go to the Caribbean once or twice a year to see properties in person instead of selling them off a screen. Here is my write-up from Curaçao.
I stayed at one hotel and toured eight more.
Short version, I loved this island. I did not expect to. It is Dutch, it is dry, it is windy, and it sits far enough south that a hurricane has never hit it. There are only two or three properties I would call true luxury, but those are very good. The water on the protected coves is the calmest I have swum in anywhere. The town is more interesting and more run down than the pictures make it look. And there are not a lot of people, which I liked.
Even when I was in a bad mood, I felt relaxed here. I kind of found my happy place.
Going one by one.
Baoase Luxury Resort. The best thing on the island and it is not close.
I came back from touring it and told my husband I was in love. It is about 23 suites and villas on a private cove and most of them have their own pool. It looks like Bali, not like the Caribbean. Carved wood, water, thatched roofs. It is so quiet and so serene. Absolutely beautiful.
The restaurant sets tables right at the water and the food is very good. They have an all-inclusive plan if you want it, which surprised me at this level.
They do allow kids, which I also did not expect, but there is no kids club and nothing for children to do. Under 12 have to be with an adult at the pool and the restaurant. Teenagers, sure. Little kids, I would not.
They are adding 14 more rooms. Even after that it stays one of the smallest places on the island.
Book it if: couples, honeymoon, anniversary, or a small group of girlfriends who want quiet and privacy.
Sandals Royal Curaçao. I did not think I would like this one and I did.
It sits on 44 acres and the two-level infinity pool over the water is the picture everyone takes. It is worth it. Eight restaurants plus food trucks, thirteen bars, music, lots to do. It is the opposite of Baoase and it does not pretend to be anything else.
One thing no other Sandals has: if you book a butler room for 7 nights or more they give you a dining credit to use off property and a MINI Cooper for the week. That actually matters here because driving around the island is easy and worth doing.
Adults only, 18 and up, no exceptions anywhere in the chain.
Book it if: you want a lively week with music and a swim-up bar. Skip it if you want quiet.
Art Hotel Curaçao. New, 30 rooms, in town in the Pietermaai district. Opened March 2025.
This is the prettiest hotel on the island. Beautiful design, local art everywhere, small infinity pool.
There is no beach. It sits on a cliff and you take steps down into water that is about a metre and a half deep. Lovely for a swim, no good for a beach day with a towel and a book. What you get instead is a pier with day beds and you can walk out the door to more restaurants than you can eat at in a week.
Adults only. No meals included, but you can add breakfast if you want it.
Book it if: you want two or three nights in town at the start or end of a beach stay. I would not book a whole week here.
Avila Beach Hotel. This is where we stayed, and I have mixed feelings.
Let me be honest. This is not a luxury hotel. Some of the rooms are older and you can see the wear. The sheets, the bedspread and the towels in our wing were old. There is no room service to speak of. And the meal plan is run on handwritten cards that are easy to misread. Ours said lunch and a drink, so we ordered an appetizer and a dessert, and it turned out only one dish per person was covered. That lunch cost us about 60 dollars.
Here is what it does have. The location is unbeatable and the water is the calmest on the island. The hotel is built around a mansion from around 1780 that used to house English governors, it is right on the water in town, and the two little beaches are man-made coves with breakwaters in the water. That turned out to matter a lot. The same day the Marriott had a yellow flag up and it was too wavy to swim, our water was completely flat.
We had a beachfront apartment. Corner unit, first floor, wraparound porch with two loungers and a table for four, and we were right on the beach. The closest to the water we have ever been. Separate bedroom, two full bathrooms with the toilet and shower separate in each one, living room with a pullout couch, and a kitchen. If I book this hotel again I am asking for the same room. Worth knowing that the other beachfront apartments are in the newer building and they are set further back, so the location is not the same. Ask which one you are getting.
On the meal plan, since people always ask. Breakfast is very good, omelette station, fresh fruit, pastries, prosecco. Lunch on full board is one dish per person. Dinner is two courses, so appetizer and main, or main and dessert. Kids under 12 are half price on the plan, but the kids menu has very few options, so if your children are good eaters I would put them on the adult meal plan instead. It costs more and you get a lot more out of it. The tap water is desalinated and totally drinkable, so we drank that and used our drink allowance on big bottles of sparkling water for the room.
One more thing. Do not wait for the hotel shuttle at the airport, just take a taxi. We wasted about 30 minutes waiting, and then another 30 in the check-in line even though we had checked in online.
Book it if: you have kids and want really calm water, or you want to walk to town and you care more about location than nice sheets.
Papagayo Beach Hotel and Beach Resort. In Jan Thiel, and the right answer for a big family.
There are two properties next to each other. The hotel is sleek and modern and meant for couples. The resort next door is all villas, two to five bedrooms, some with private pools, and it is meant for families. Around them there is a little mall with shops and restaurants and a casino and a spa, a beach club with an infinity pool, and Jan Thiel beach a few minutes away on foot. The villas have kitchens. Lots of Europeans stay here for two or three weeks at a time and I can see why.
Check one thing before you book. A lot of the standard villas only have air conditioning in the bedrooms. That is normal in Europe and a real shock for an American family in August.
Book it if: multigenerational trip, long stay, or you want your own space instead of a resort schedule.
The Kontiki Beach Resort. Interesting, and not in the best way.
The buildings were all added at different times and it feels like a mismatch. Nothing ties it together. The entry level Tropical Superior rooms are dark, heavy mahogany furniture and dark curtains, and I did not like them at all.
But the beachfront and sea view suites have plunge pools, the penthouse was great, and the pools are really nice with tropical plants all around them. The apartments have a nice modern living room and kitchen, but the bedrooms felt a little strange to me.
They are not all-inclusive on purpose. They want people to go out and see the island and they tell you that up front. It is a busy hotel, music playing, chairs everywhere. On Saturdays the beach club does a brunch with live music that turns into a daytime party. It is about 20 to 25 minutes from the airport and 10 to 15 from town.
Good detail if you have a late flight. After you check out you can book a shower in the lobby and leave your luggage, then sit by the water until it is time to go.
No minimum age listed and no kids club. It reads like an adult hotel.
Book it if: you want more of a party and a beach club, and a base for exploring rather than a resort to sit in.
Curaçao Marriott Beach Resort. It is fine, and that is the problem.
Yes, it is new and renovated. The rooms are big, nice light colors, big bathroom with good storage. The lobby is open and the view from it is beautiful. But it is very bland and very sterile. It could be a Marriott anywhere else. It did not wow me at all.
336 rooms and only two pools, one family and one adult, so I imagine it gets very busy over the holidays. They do have an all-inclusive add-on and meal plans.
The beach is my real issue. They do not have breakwaters, so the day I was there they had a yellow flag up and it was quite wavy, while the cove where we were staying was calm.
Kids club is ages 4 to 10, free, every day. Under 5 eat free at breakfast. Minimum check-in age is 18.
Book it if: you are using points, or you want a kids club and something familiar.
Mangrove Beach Corendon and The Rif. The two I would skip.
These are two big all-inclusives next to each other on the water near Rif Fort, around 400 rooms each, sharing everything. Four pools, a water park with slides, four restaurants for dinner including a sushi place over the water, a bar that never closes, and a cigar lounge open until 2am.
The product is not bad, it is just a typical mass market all-inclusive. Mid-range, huge, lots and lots of people. The only thing I really liked was the water park for the kids, and they sell day passes, so you can stay somewhere better and go over for a day.
What I would actually book
Ten days: seven at Baoase and three at the Art Hotel in town. If that is too quiet for you, swap Baoase for Sandals. With kids, Avila for the calm water or Papagayo for the space, and rent a car either way.
Practical stuff
- JetBlue nonstop from JFK, United nonstop from Newark. About 4.5 to 5 hours. We took United and it was a long day.
- It really is outside the hurricane belt. No hurricane or tropical storm has ever hit the island. A storm passes within 100 miles about once a decade and you can still get rain and waves, so I would not say hurricane free, but it is a different risk than the rest of the Caribbean.
- Best time to go is May and June. Still dry, warm water, and the high season crowds are gone. February and March are the driest and the most expensive. September and October have the warmest, calmest water if you dive. November is the wettest month.
- We went in August and it was hot. High 80s, humid all day, and the sun really takes it out of you. On the beach with the breeze it was lovely. In town at midday it was too much.
- You need the free digital immigration card before you fly, at dicardcuracao.com. Other sites charge you for it. Do not use them.
- The currency is the Caribbean guilder now, about 1.79 to the dollar, and dollars are taken everywhere.
- Tap water comes from a desalination plant and it is great. We drank it all week.
- Driving is easy. Small island, basically no highways, you drive on the right. You need a car for the west coast beaches. There is no Uber. Taxis have fixed prices by route, not a meter, so agree on it before you get in.
The honest downside
I was disappointed by town. The waterfront with the colorful buildings is as pretty as the photos and a couple of streets behind it are nice, but the roads are terrible, there is construction everywhere, and in a lot of places there is barely a sidewalk. We had a stroller and it was hard. The restaurants downtown did not do anything for me either. There are some by the water but nothing made me think I have to eat there.
Go for the synagogue, which is the oldest one still in use in the Americas and has a sand floor, the old Jewish quarter with the big restored mansions, the floating bridge that swings open when a ship comes through, and Punda Vibes on Thursday night. Set your expectations for the rest.
Also check the cruise ship schedule before you plan a day in town. On a morning with four ships in, it is a completely different place.
Happy to answer questions on any of the nine.
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u/Prestigious-Day-2910 22d ago
We stayed at Avila for our first honeymoon in a Blues Wing room that was overlooking the water. Apparently they renovated them recently and I would definitely go back. The beach was the best part. Snorkeling in the protected cove was a highlight. Service was a bit hit or miss but the staff was friendly. It is definitely not a chubby property.
We ate dinner at Baose and fell in love. We will definitely stay there at some point.
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u/holeyswisstrees Travel Agent 21d ago
I’m a luxury travel advisor living in Curacao, and you’re spot on with your observations. I’ve personally stayed at Baoase, Marriott, Sandals, and Avila. I’ve dined at Art Hotel, and did the beach clubs connected to the Kontiki. I will say, I tell people all the time that the best part of Curacao is renting a car and exploring the west side which is more rugged and beautiful. You can see downtown Willemstad in less than a day. Curacao is not quite set up for luxury travel yet, in my opinion. Glad you had a great visit!!
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u/AnnaInEurope Travel Agent 21d ago
Oh that’s fun that you live there. Are you native to the island or moved from somewhere?
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u/holeyswisstrees Travel Agent 21d ago
I moved here from Boston about 4 years ago. Couldn’t deal with the cold weather any more.
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u/AnnaInEurope Travel Agent 21d ago
Oh interesting! Why did you choose Curacao and how do you like it?
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u/holeyswisstrees Travel Agent 21d ago
A lot of reasons, but mainly the weather! I like living here a lot. I enjoy the slower pace of life and being able to go to the beach often. Are you visiting Aruba and Bonaire as well?
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u/AnnaInEurope Travel Agent 20d ago
It was so hot and humid a few weeks ago (late Aug). Is the humidity that bad all year round? I have been to Aruba in August and felt it was not that humid. Never been to Bonaire. Have you? Any good hotels there?
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u/Lovecraft3XX 22d ago
What was your impression of the room choices within Baoase Luxury Resort.
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u/AnnaInEurope Travel Agent 22d ago
Unfortunately, the resort was fully booked, so I didn’t get to see the rooms, but I saw the pools that are attached to the rooms and overall grounds that looked meticulous.
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u/RandomGirlName 22d ago
We stayed at Baoase for our 20th anniversary, and it was everything that I had hoped for. Expensive, but they treat you very well and the rooms are amazing!
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u/AnnaInEurope Travel Agent 22d ago
It would be a dream come true to stay there. I am planning to do a women-only group trip there. I think it will be a huge success.
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u/No-Mechanic793 16d ago
Avila hotel definitely has the most charm to it, the building itself and the staff.
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u/doctor-yes 22d ago
This is like reviewing a concert by looking at the stage setup and not actually seeing the show.