I think I should get a little round of applause for how quickly I put together this recap. At this point anything under six weeks is a new personal record.
Let’s get into the fabulous Easter Long Weekend I spent on the island of Curacao!
If you are wondering how much this all cost – click here.
Thursday, April 2nd
It was a straightforward flight from Toronto to Bogota to Curacao, landing in the morning.
I will note here to make sure to fill out the immigration form online prior to visiting Curacao (found here) to speed up your arrival process. Also, there are e-gates for Canadians to use, but for some reason only our friend was allowed through them while my boyfriend and I had to do the regular customs line? That was odd. Seemed like they didn’t have enough people at the airport to guide visitors. Not sure.
From the airport we took a taxi to the AirBnB.
We LOVED the stay here. The host was amazing, having a pool to ourselves was even better. The location is quieter, but we liked that about it. Also, bonus points, there is literally a ladder on the side of the home to climb up to the roof and pick your own mangoes. HELL YEAH.
If you need an affordable AirBnB for Curacao one day, I highly suggest this one – click here.
Okay so, we landed, went to AirBnB, got changed and immediately left for our reserved cabana at Lemon Beach Club. This was literally a 90-minute race from landing to beach club. LOVED IT.
Because we were tired from the overnight flight, this place was a perfect chill day. This isn’t a loud or boisterous beach club, it is super chill. You come here to swim, eat, drink, and apparently take multiple naps.
Definitely try the lobster pasta, loved that.
Our taxi took us back to the AirBnB after a day at Lemon Beach and I just wanted to show here how nice the pool looks at night. Perfect.
Friday, April 3rd
Today was Good Friday and our lovely AirBnB host drove us nice and early to the catamaran excursion we had booked.
This tour was called the ‘Klein Curacao Adventure Day Trip‘ and we booked that on Viator.
If you don’t do well with sea sickness, don’t even consider doing this trip to Klein. What an absolute shit show. I had been smart enough to pack ginger chews and some of the motion sickness pills from my Antarctica trip in December, YEAH WE USED THOSE.
The journey from Curacao to Klein via boat was about 90 minutes, and for most of that you pretty much feel like hell, whether you are sitting or standing. Also, you will not be served alcohol during this part of the journey, for obvious reasons. Rough.
The only thing that made the rough seas worth it was seeing the island of Klein. Wowzers. It is absolutely gorgeous.
My only issue here was the tour set up? I have been on MANY a catamaran trips around the world, and this one had a very different situation for food and drink. On land, they brought soft drinks.
However, lunch was at noon BACK on the boat, that you had to take a small canoe to and from, leaving your items on the beach unattended AND you could only get the liquor on the boat during lunch as well. Maybe I am a spoiled alcoholic or something, but this was kind of a pain. Typically everything is where you are situated, the whole leaving the beach to go back to boat process was unnecessary. I will say, the food and the cocktails were very good, at least that.
At the end of the day thankfully, the waves were no longer an issue and it was smooth sailing back to Curacao.
When we made our way back to the AirBnB in the evening, we realized we were hungry again. When am I NOT hungry though?
Where our AirBnB was located wasn’t exactly popping for choice, but we were lucky enough to find Caribbean Turn Up Restaurant on Google Maps, only a 20-minute walk.
Worth the walk. The curry goat and oxtail were to die for. If you are in Curacao and want a hearty meal, come here. So good.
Saturday, April 4th
Today we had a slow morning waking up and took a taxi over to a restaurant named Bijblauw.
I’ve seen a lot of TikTok’s like ‘meow meow meow this place is too popular and overrated‘ and I want you to know those people can go kick rocks, promptly.
The service was wonderful, the view was beautiful and the food was great. Perfect brunch.
The highlight and YOU MUST GET THIS – the banana bread. Life changing. Order that.
We walked off our food by heading into the center of Willemstad. Bought some souvenirs, and naturally, whilst in the Caribbean we purchased some KFC.
We went back to the AirBnB and took a quick nap, ate some of that KFC and head out to enjoy our final night in Curacao.
All three of us were super hype for this outing – a Sunset Cruise Party All-Inclusive Boat Trip with All Boat Charters.
If you do absolutely no other fun evening things in Curacao, you HAVE TO GO TO THIS PARTY. On Thursdays it is reggaeton, but on Fridays and Saturdays it is afro beats, hip hop and R&B. We had theeee best time on this.
This event was actually all-you-can-drink and there were some small canapes. The DJ was great, everyone on that boat was dancing and there was even a violinist playing along to some of the songs. Too much freaking fun.
Because we had such a good time on the cruise, we spoke to some people with plans later in the evening. Everyone said they were heading to a placed named Club LIV. Naturally, we said we’d roll to that as well.
Yeah that sucked. Do not recommend.
If a DJ in Toronto played the way this DJ played, they would have a Tim Horton’s iced capp thrown at their head. Promptly. Why are you playing ‘PUSH ME TO THE EDGE, ALL MY FRIENDS ARE DEAD’ ??? This is not what the baddies dance to bro.
The vibes sucked, it was empty and a $400USD minimum spend for a booth with only 23 people in the club? No thanks.
Now, I cannot end this post without discussing the taxi situation in Curacao. It’s expensive as fuck. If someone in your group is down to rent a car and stay sober to drive, definitely choose that option.
We got lucky with two taxi drivers who happen to be brother and sister. They treated us really well and gave us fair prices, unlike a couple other people who were just making up all kinds of wild numbers.
Their names are Sonja (+599 9 663 5252) and Delbert (+ 599 9 523 4488).
I got their permission to post their phone numbers, they are good people and will give you a fair price.
One night after the club we did use the ride hailing app in Curacao named 24/7 Taxi. That was the one time it actually worked the entire weekend, so, don’t depend on that too much.
I’d go back to Curacao, out of the A-B-C’s this was my favourite island.
See you next trip.
- Mirna