Family vacation in Curacao 2022

If you find Holland too flat and colorless, then this travelogue is for you. We report from colorful Holland, the land of Poffertjes and flamingos. We start our family vacation in Curaçao in beautiful Barbados and head to the southwestern Caribbean.

In the middle of the night from Barbados to Trinidad

For us, it's not a holiday in the classic sense. But at least we've taken the weekend off. We're starting for it in the middle of the night in Holetown, Westcoast, Barbados.

20 USD saved! STRIKE!

Do you know that feeling when you find two flights to the same destination and just book the cheaper one? I do that most of the time for short-haul flights. This time, there was $20 to save, in total, for everyone. Basically $5 per person. But the principle is what matters.

The SMS from Caribbean Airlines jolted me awake after booking. Our flight is at 5 AM. Oh dear! That means we have to leave for the airport around 2:30 AM.

It's not so bad then, we'll also arrive in Trinidad & Tobago earlier and can do some work there. However, we'll have to wait 8 hours there for the afternoon flight from Barbados. 🙂 Okay, next time I'll pay attention to the times too. Our taxi cost a $50 night surcharge. Otherwise, our flight would have been a bargain.

Trinidad & Tobago

Trinidad, on the other hand, was very beautiful to fly over. For our $20-$50 savings, we got to experience a beautiful sunrise from the airplane.

That was the perfect start to the day. Afterwards, we walked around outside a bit and admired the beautiful green mountains. However, Trinidad is not really recommended for tourists. An acquaintance from Trinidad advised us not to just drive around the country. So, we continued working on our projects at Starbucks and after 8 hours, we boarded our flight to Curaçao. It's the plane that just arrived from Barbados, with the completely overpriced ticket prices. 😀

Family vacation in Curaçao

Our kids are thrilled. This is what they look like after almost 2 years of „vacation“ in Barbados Finally, a different Caribbean island. And for us too, as Curacao is thus only the second Caribbean island we've truly gotten to know. The flight over Curacao initially reveals: there's a lot of green steppe here, a lot of nature, and outside the capital, the island is rather sparsely populated. Well, we're coming from paradise, from beautiful Barbados. It's hard for almost any place to keep up with that.

Dull, more colorful, Curaçao

Curacao is not only blue. The drive from the car rental to our Airbnb is exciting. Each house is painted a different, vibrant color. It looks wonderful and brings joy at first glance.

The Dutch speak three languages here. In addition to Dutch and English, they speak Papiamento, a mix of Spanish, Dutch, and English. Papiamento is certainly due to its proximity to Venezuela, but also to immigrants from Spain and Portugal at the time. The best-known expression is „Dushi,“ which means something like joy of life and is the motto of the locals. You see this expression everywhere on Curaçao.

Overall, Curacao is not very large, but it is just as densely populated as Germany, with approximately 350 inhabitants per km.². A total of 150,000 people live here. It belongs to the ABC Islands, A for Aruba, B for Bonaire, and we buy a C for Curaçao, and thus also to the Lesser Antilles, just like Barbados. However, Curaçao lies on the South American continent, while Barbados still belongs to North America. Details!

The perfect playground for the whole family

On the very first evening, we drive to Sambil Mall, a huge shopping mall that we haven't visited in two years. Sambil Mall is „The place to be in Curacao.“ We are amazed by the vast selection of „everything.“ It's just like back in Europe, practically. There's a large Carrefour that carries the most common groceries from Holland, especially Gouda cheese and Amstel beer.

The many giant playgrounds make family vacations in Curacao perfect. Three large ones are located in the shopping mall alone. They are amazing playgrounds with zip lines, trampolines, and countless slides, swings, and bouncy castles. Every child's heart beats faster there. Unfortunately, there were always about 100 children there, whose parents had the same idea and whose hearts were also beating faster.

Nevertheless, we go shopping here every day, and the kids can let off steam here.

From West to East

In Curaçao, the North Point is called „Westpunt“ and is naturally located in the west. There are national parks and cliffs here, if you Northern Ireland If you like it, you'll like it here in the West too. The water is turquoise blue, though, and it feels like it's 50 degrees warmer than in Northern Ireland. But you'll find beaches here too. We visit Watamula, a hole in the ground through which you can jump into the sea. I mean, of course, through which you can see the sea.

Curaçao is a coral island, so these holes in the ground are quite typical. We'll visit one more lighthouse and enjoy the exciting „off-road“ drive through the steppe. We'll pass giant cacti, stop repeatedly for cool selfies, and swerve to avoid iguanas and lizards on the road. At the roadside, a Warawara, a large bird of prey, is drinking from a puddle.

The best Mexican restaurant on the island

We're driving to the Sandals Royal Curaçao, a resort with a golf course, idyllically situated on the coast. Boca 19 is located there, a Mexican restaurant right on the water. From here, we watch all the tourists sailing by in their yachts and stuff ourselves through the menu. My favorite was the tacos, really delicious!

But what do you always find everywhere in Holland? Exactly, Dutch mini-pancakes. I love them and they are available in Willemstad at „The Pancake Sensation„, in all its variations. Hearty or sweet, fruity or with nothing at all.

Family Activities in Curacao

Contrary to what was stated above, we have no plans whatsoever for Curaçao. We have only rented a car. As almost always, we do everything spontaneously. It's a small island, after all.

But what would a family vacation in Curacao be without a visit to the zoo? A quick Google search and we found a zoo and botanical garden. We set off, and 20 minutes later we were standing in front of locked doors. We Googled again and then found a review noting that the zoo wasn't just closed today, but had been closed since 2017. WHAT?

The website itself looks very up-to-date. See for yourself:

Wouldn't you have gone there too? 😀 But we know this from Barbados. So it's on to the next.

Curaçao Ostrich Farm

We have a Ostrich farm discovered, and this time the doors are actually open to us. We're going on a guided tour and will learn many facts about ostriches (or ostriches?) as well as a bit of Dutch. For the first 10 minutes, we don't understand a word until our guide repeats everything in English.

Did you know that an ostrich egg can withstand a weight of 450 to 500 kg? At the end of the tour, you can try it out for yourself and stand on a real egg. It held us.

Another highlight for the kids was the guinea pigs and pigs that you can visit there. You can even plan your lunch or snack there since there's a restaurant where you can also eat ostrich meat, of course. We didn't do that and drove on right after. But if you're on Curacao, definitely plan a visit here. It's worth it!

Curaçao Sea Aquarium

The next day, we went to the Sea Aquarium and checked out the island's underwater world. Besides the stingray feeding, we also got to watch the shark feeding, who swim in a tank out in the harbor. It's a huge tank, though, and you can either look in from above or descend into a ship. From there, you practically look out into the shark tank like you're in a submarine. Fish and rays swim all around you, which is fun. Overall, everything here gives a very natural impression.

Even the dolphin show isn't like the dolphin shows we know. We can practically watch the trainers work with the dolphins.

Afterwards, we'll drive around the island a bit more and pass by Salina Di Jan Kok. This is a lake where you can observe flamingos. You see flamingos everywhere in Curaçao, almost like the national animal. We only saw flamingos in the distance, but it was already worth it. The nature here is also worth a trip.

And off to Holland

We had only planned a stopover in Curaçao for our family vacation, mainly for relaxation and for the kids. We were setting off for the airport in the morning, but not at 5 AM this time! However, shortly before we were about to leave, we received an email from TUI Airlines. Our flight was rescheduled to the evening. Oh, fantastic. We've just been given an extra day in Curaçao. Thanks for that!

Hato Caves Curacao – Extra Day

Since our car rental told us we could keep the car for the whole day, we are driving to a Cave. This cave or caves are more than 300,000 years old. After we buy a ticket, a guide picks us up and we, along with a group, tour the caves. This way, we can add a touch of culture and geography to our Caribbean vacation.

The tour takes approximately 40 minutes, and afterwards, we'll find a beautifully landscaped trail that leads us through a cactus landscape. Thank goodness we're used to the temperatures. Generally, there are no trees in Curacao. While in Barbados you're always walking in the jungle and everything is shaded, here it's open.

In the afternoon, we just strolled and shopped a bit. However, we couldn't buy much because our suitcases were already packed full.

In the evening, we'll finish our Caribbean vacation and head to Europe. Before that, however, there will be a good Dutch beer to prepare for Amsterdam, as well as a rum to conclude the Caribbean part of our trip. Our plane to Amsterdam will take off promptly at 7 PM.

Conclusion - Curacao Vacation Reviews

Curacao is a beautiful island. In contrast to Barbados, however, it is purely a vacation island. Therefore, it is perfect for a Caribbean holiday. I can't really judge the beaches, we skipped them. But scenically and culturally, Curacao is really exciting. You can easily spend a few weeks here and get to know the country and its people. We were only on the island for five days, but if you add a few more, you can plan great snorkeling trips and an excursion to Klein Curacao.

Here are some more impressions for you. Pictures say more than 1700 words. 😉