7 Curacao Hotels Around the Floating Bridge

Willemstad is painted in pastel because of a headache. The story is that in 1817 the governor, Albert Kikkert, complained that the glare off whitewashed walls in the Caribbean sun gave him migraines and issued a decree that buildings be painted in colour. He is also said to have owned the island's only paint company, which may be why the story has survived so well.

Whether or not it is true, the result is a Dutch colonial waterfront of gabled seventeenth and eighteenth century merchant houses in ochre, coral, mint and blue, listed by UNESCO in 1997. It looks like Amsterdam repainted for the tropics, which is essentially what it is.

The bridge that floats

The Queen Emma Bridge connects the two halves of Willemstad across the harbour entrance, and it is a pontoon — sixteen floating sections with a motor at one end. When a ship needs to pass, the whole bridge swings open against the far bank like a gate, with anyone standing on it going along for the ride. It happens dozens of times a day and it is free.

The locals call it the Swinging Old Lady. There is no charge to walk it in either direction; when it was built in 1888 there was a toll, waived for anyone barefoot, and the wealthy reportedly took their shoes off to avoid paying while the poor borrowed shoes to look respectable.

Outside the hurricane belt

Curaçao sits about seventy kilometres off Venezuela, south of the main hurricane track. Direct strikes are rare, the island is arid rather than lush — cactus and divi-divi trees rather than rainforest — and the diving is exceptional because the reef drops away close to shore almost all the way round.

Willemstad divides into Punda and Otrobanda on either side of the harbour, with Pietermaai, a restored nineteenth-century quarter, holding the restaurants.

Jan Thiel and the southeast have the resort beaches.

Westpunt and the northwest have the small coves at the base of cliffs — Playa Kenepa, Playa Lagun, Playa Porto Mari — and the best snorkelling.

The seven below are grouped that way.

Willemstad

The painted city.

Kurá Hulanda Village & Spa occupies a village of restored eighteenth-century buildings in Otrobanda, once the site of a slave-trading yard, with a museum on the site that addresses that history directly. It is the most significant conversion on the island.

Avila Beach Hotel sits on the Pietermaai waterfront in a nineteenth-century mansion with two beaches, a pier, live jazz and rooms over the water.

Jan Thiel and the southeast

The resort beaches.

Baoase Luxury Resort occupies a beachfront estate with an infinity pool, private plunge pools and a design that leans Balinese rather than Caribbean. It is the best hotel on the island.

Papagayo Beach Resort sits at Jan Thiel with villas, several pools and a beach club, and it works for families and groups.

Dreams Curaçao Resort, Spa & Casino occupies a position on Piscadera Bay with an all-inclusive operation, a private beach and full facilities.

Morena Resort sits near Jan Thiel in a low property with a courtyard pool and rates below the beachfront resorts.

The northwest

The coves and the diving.

Sandals Royal Curaçao occupies a position toward the western end with a pool, a dive operation and the small cliff-backed beaches nearby.

What we have left off

The apartment and villa rentals around Jan Thiel and Willemstad are excluded, and the island has a large Dutch long-stay market served by them. They are apartments rather than hotels.

What to do

Walk Punda and Otrobanda and cross the pontoon bridge, ideally while it is swinging.

Dive or snorkel. The house reefs drop off within fifty metres of shore at many beaches, and the Mushroom Forest and the Tugboat wreck are the known sites.

Go to the small western beaches — Kenepa Grandi, Lagun, Porto Mari — which are coves at the bottom of cliffs and are the best swimming on the island.

See the Kura Hulanda museum, which covers the transatlantic slave trade in unusual depth and sits on a site that was part of it.

Drink the liqueur where it is made. The orange used is the laraha, a bitter descendant of Valencia oranges that adapted to the arid soil and is inedible, and the distillery in Willemstad is open.

Practical notes

Curaçao's airport has connections from the Netherlands, North America and the region, fifteen minutes from Willemstad.

The island is dry and warm year round with little seasonal variation. It sits south of the main hurricane belt, though not entirely outside it. May, June and November are the best value.

Dutch, Papiamento, English and Spanish are all widely spoken.

Why is Willemstad coloured?

An 1817 decree by a governor who claimed the white glare gave him migraines, and who reportedly owned the paint company.

Does the bridge really float?

Sixteen pontoons with a motor at one end. It swings open against the bank and pedestrians ride it across.

Is it outside the hurricane belt?

Largely. Direct strikes are rare, which is why the island is drier and greener-adjacent than most of the Caribbean.

How many nights?

Five. Two in the city and three on a beach.

If you only book one

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