Willemstad travel guide

Top 10 sights in Willemstad

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

1. 

   1© Dolly442 · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Curaçao synagogue

   The oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Americas, built in 1732 at Hanchi di Snoa in Punda by Sephardi Jews who came from Amsterdam and Brazil. Sand covers the floor, as in several Caribbean synagogues, recalling the desert or the muffled worship of the Inquisition years.

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2. 

   2© Niels Karsdorp, Dh3201 · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Fort Amsterdam

   A fort built in 1634 by the Dutch West India Company at the harbour entrance, serving as its headquarters as well as a garrison. It now holds the government of Curaçao and the governor's residence, and is part of the Willemstad World Heritage site.

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3. 

   3© Gerd Fahrenhorst · CC BY 4.0

   Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral, Willemstad

   The Catholic cathedral of Willemstad, built in 1870 in the Pietermaai district, ochre and white outside and plain white within, and the seat of a diocese covering the Dutch Caribbean islands.

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4. 

   4© Charles Hoffman from New York, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0

   Basilica of St. Anne, Willemstad

   A church built in Otrabanda between 1734 and 1752, and among the smallest basilicas in the world. It served as pro-cathedral from 1843, Paul VI raised it to minor basilica in 1975, and it falls within the UNESCO listing of Willemstad.

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5. 

   5© Namlong618 · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Omar bin Al-Khattab Mosque

   A mosque in Willemstad, also called the Curaçao Islamic Centre, serving the island's small Muslim community — mainly people of Lebanese, Surinamese and Indonesian descent.

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6. 

   6© The original uploader was Ghettocash at English Wikipedia. · CC BY 2.0

   Otrobanda

   The historic quarter on the southwest side of the harbour, linked to Punda by the floating Queen Emma pontoon bridge, which swings open for ships. Its lanes of eighteenth and nineteenth-century Dutch Caribbean houses are part of the World Heritage listing.

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7. 

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   Fort Nassau

   A fort of 1797 on a hill sixty-eight metres above Willemstad, built to cover both the harbour and the town below it — including against the town's own population. It now holds a restaurant with the best view of St Anna Bay.

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8. 

   8© -JvL- from Netherlands · CC BY 2.0

   Kura Hulanda Museum

   An anthropological museum in Willemstad devoted mainly to the Atlantic slave trade, in restored warehouses around a courtyard where enslaved people were held. Curaçao was one of the largest slave depots in the Caribbean.

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9. 

   9© -JvL- from Netherlands · CC BY 2.0

   Waterfort

   A fort on the eastern side of St Anna Bay, rebuilt in 1827 to cover the harbour mouth. Its vaults now hold shops and restaurants along the waterfront.

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10. 

    10© Lswarte · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Curaçao Museum

    The oldest surviving museum on Curaçao, opened on 7 March 1948 in a nineteenth-century military hospital. It covers Amerindian material, colonial furniture and the island's natural history, with a Curaçao-built aircraft in the grounds.

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1. 

   1© Frank Jania · CC BY-SA 2.0

   Blue Bay, Curaçao

   A beach northwest of Willemstad near the fishing village of Sint Michiel, in a sheltered bay with reef starting close inshore. It is one of the island's main snorkelling entries from the sand.

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2. 

   2© Mingo Hagen · CC BY 2.0

   Daaibooi

   A beach in a secluded cliff-ringed bay near Sint Willibrordus, about half an hour northwest of Willemstad. The cliffs give shade in the afternoon and the water is clear enough for shore diving.

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3. 

   3© dronepicr · CC BY 2.0

   Santa Barbara Beach, Curaçao

   A private beach at the southeast end of Curaçao, on a bay beside the old phosphate workings — Tafelberg, the flat-topped hill behind it, is what the mining left. It faces the Spanish Water inlet.

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4. 

   4© Roger W from Sarasota, Florida, U.S.A. · CC BY-SA 2.0

   Scharloo

   A district of Willemstad, formerly a suburb, whose streets of nineteenth-century mansions were built by Jewish merchant families. It forms part of the World Heritage area and several houses have been restored as offices.

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5. 

   5© Hardscarf · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Pietermaai

   A district of Willemstad founded in 1675 outside the walls, of merchant houses along the sea, and part of the World Heritage site. Long semi-derelict, it has been redeveloped since the 2010s into the island's main restaurant and hotel quarter.

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6. 

   6© Dronepicr · CC BY 3.0

   Baya Beach

   A beach on a peninsula in the southeast of Caracas Bay beside Fort Beekenburg, one of thirty-eight official beaches on Curaçao. The water is calm and reef begins at the shore.

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   Seaquarium Beach

   A beach south of Willemstad next to the Curaçao Sea Aquarium, also called Mambo Beach, whose boardwalk of beach clubs and bars makes it the island's main social beach — swimming by day and drinking at night.

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8. 

   8© dronepicr · CC BY 2.0

   Punda

   The historic quarter on the east side of St Anna Bay, whose row of gabled Dutch merchant houses painted in colours along the Handelskade is the standard image of Curaçao. A floating pontoon bridge connects it to Otrobanda.

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9. 

   9© Charles Hoffman from New York, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0

   Fortkerk

   A church of 1769 inside the courtyard of Fort Amsterdam, used by the United Protestant Community and still in service. A British cannonball from an 1804 attack is lodged in its wall.

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10. 

    10© Ellen Spijkstra · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Blue Bay Sculpture Garden

    A sculpture park of about two thousand square metres at the Blue Bay resort in Boca Samí, arranged in front of and beside the Landhuis Blauw plantation house. It shows work by Caribbean artists outdoors.

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