Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Bon Bini, Willemstad! Meet Curaçao’s Most Colorful City

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If you’re on Instagram, you’re sure to have seen Willemstad. It’s the type of city that was born to be a star with its candy-colored buildings lining the waterfront. It’s as if the Lucky Charms leprechaun blessed it with his magical leprechaun ways and sent a sea full of Skittles raining down onto the town below.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

It’s basically what I would call The Most Instagrammable City on the Planet™.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

And it’s also a fascinating blend of Dutch and Portuguese architecture, its roots dating back to 1499 when it was first discovered by the Spanish.

Our first morning on Curaçao for AFAR, we got a crash course to the island and its capital of Willemstad thanks to our guide Maya. We started from the Curaçao Tourism office downtown and, from there, moseyed through the central square with its bright, welcoming signs and into Fort Amsterdam.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao
Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

It’s hard for an American to conceptualize how old buildings in other nations are, even in the Caribbean, given that our country is still relatively young. This former military fort in Willemstad, for example, was constructed by the Dutch West India Company in 1634 and currently houses the Curaçao government.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao
Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

The city itself is relatively compact, and you can walk through it in 15 minutes or so, though you’ll likely want to stop frequently to photograph its architectural marvels as you meander.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao
Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Once you reach the waterfront, you’ll find another fascinating structure: a floating bridge, which separates Otrabanda from Punda via a narrow harbor that cruise ships dock along.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao
Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

The Punda side reminded me a lot of Copenhagen’s waterfront dining district, Nyhavn, and was peppered with cafes and restaurants.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Otrabanda,  or “the other side,” is a bit different. As soon as you cross the bridge and veer left, you’ll reach a row of artisans who have set up shop before arriving at the entrance to Rif Fort and the Renaissance Mall, a bustling area of activity that’s popular with tourists.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao
Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

I totally get why everyone is so cheerful and friendly on Curaçao. It would be pretty impossible to stay sad with buildings like these greeting you daily, wouldn’t you agree?

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

One fun fact we learned while on the island is that the homeowners paint their houses a different color every one to two years, so they may look totally different from one visit to the next. As someone who recently painted her own house, I cannot possibly fathom doing that so frequently!

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

The area of Pietermaai, in particular, is a great place to go and get your Instagram shoot on with its hill full of colorful homes, all lined up in a row.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao
Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Being a former house painter, SVV couldn’t leave Curaçao without a trip to the paint store to pick up some samples. Luckily, our noble driver and guide Cecil Ringeling was up to the task!

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Even the food in Willemstad matches the rest of the island. As we made our way to lunch, we passed the Floating Market, where merchants from Venezuela sell their goods, freshly plucked from the ocean.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

After we passed through the market, stopping to check out some of the art, our next destination was Plasa Bieu. This open-air food hall is packed full of locals ready to eat whatever is sizzling on the stovetop that day. I can’t even remember what we had, but it was delicious—as was the goat stew, a typical island dish.
Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Downtown Willemstad was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 and is definitely worthy of an afternoon of exploration.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao
Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

To continue a very colorful afternoon in town, we dropped in at Landhuis Chobolobo, home to the original Blue Curaçao Liqueur.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao
Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

There have been other companies who have made knock-off versions, but the real deal hails from here, using a type of orange, the Valencia, native to the island that was too bitter for the Indians to eat. Even the island’s goat population wouldn’t touch them.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Centuries later, it was discovered that if dried, the peels emitted an extraordinary fragrance, and they came to be the base ingredient for Blue Curaçao. The distillery now makes eight different colored liqueurs, each of which we tried because research, obviously.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao
Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao
Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

There’s also a bar on site that mixes up some pretty darn good cocktails, too.

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao

But the day wasn’t over yet: We still had to stop by Serena’s Art Factory to check out her digs….

Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao


 

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Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao
Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao
Everything You Need to Know About Willemstad, Curacao
COMMENTS
  • January 14, 2017

    What a gem!
    I love all the colours, so bright and uplifting. I wonder if anyone can be in a bad mood when they walk through the streets of this place 🙂

    • January 20, 2017

      I don’t think it’s possible, Neni! It’s such a happy place!

  • January 14, 2017

    Willemstad is such a cheerful place! Did you get a chance to explore Otrabanda other than Riffort? There’s this area which is filled with colourful houses, even more than on the other side of the bridge. Serena’s Art Factory is amazing, I couldn’t contain myself there and bought so many statues for friends and family… 🙂

    • January 20, 2017

      I didn’t, unfortunately! Five days was not nearly enough, particularly as we were there for work and they had us on a tight schedule!

  • January 14, 2017

    This post exemplifies what a good travel blog can do. I discovered a place I hadn’t heard of, and the feeling of the place is evident through the photos and writing. I love that photo of your husband and the driver. What a fun time you must have had there!
    One other quick note: the love of color reminds me of Brazil. And my sister-in-law has a purple and white house that she paints a different color every few years. She says that the sun makes the colors fade.

    • January 20, 2017

      Aww, Jenna, that’s so nice of you to say! And I’m dying to see more of Brazil beyond Rio as I’ve seen photos of other towns like Paratay and they look every bit as colorful as Curacao =)

  • January 14, 2017

    This looks like the cutest place! I would love to visit! It just looks like a really inviting little place.

  • January 14, 2017

    So vibrant!! Love all the colors!

    • January 20, 2017

      It’s a photographer’s dream! And I’m pretty sure there are direct flights from Scandinavia 😉

  • January 15, 2017

    Oh my!! I love the splash of colors all over! I fell in love with the colorful buildings in Innsbruck, Austria but this one, coupled with the bright sunshine is so much more beautiful!

    I wish the Caribbean isn’t so far away from me!

    • January 20, 2017

      I know! It’s a shame as there are SO many cool islands there!!

  • January 24, 2017

    What a charming looking place…. I wonder it the place that One Direction shoot their “You and I” Music video?
    Very amazing photos. Loved them:)

  • July 4, 2017

    Did you know there is a really cool story about the reason for the colorful houses on Curaçao? The governor of the island decreed that all houses should be painted in colorful pastels early 19th century. The reason for it was that the white houses with the sun’s reflection gave him a migraine. Legend has is, that this was not the real reason as he was rumored to have stock in a paint factory.
    Whether this is true is debatable, however, it’s a fun story.

    I’ve lived on Curaçao for 3,5 years and it truly is an amazing place to stay. The weather is (pretty much) always good and the people are mostly very welcoming.

    If you want to visit Curaçao I highly recommend staying at least 10 days, renting a car and exploring the island. There are so many beaches/bays (different styles), natural wonders and great restaurants across the island any trips shorter than that will ensure you miss out on way too much.

    • July 4, 2017

      That’s an amazing story, Linda! I don’t think our guide told us that part, but I love it. We actually took the paint samples home from Curacao and wound up painting our garden planters in the same colors =)

      https://www.camelsandchocolate.com/2017/04/diy-garden-planters/

      And I agree, you need a solid week to 10 days to really see the island. Five days was FAR too little, but we were there on assignment so had no choice! We’ll be back for sure…

  • July 8, 2019
    Lindsay LaPaglia

    Hello! I am wondering if you can specify where the teal house at the very top of this page is located in Willemstad? I will be traveling there for my honeymoon, and have certainly fallen in love with this house!!

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