Recommend a place to stay on Curacao?

[GSJskibum]

Thanks to everyone for posting such great info here about their trips to Curacao, it's been a huge help! We are planning our first trip to Curacao this spring and we have been looking for our ideal place to stay. I'm hoping that some of you with experience on the island can provide some recommendations. We are looking for:
1) Location with a quiet (i.e. very few people) beach either on property or very close walking (i.e. right next door or just down stairs from accommodations on a hill/cliff).
2) Must have a kitchen
3) Toward Westpunt from Willemstad

We will be driving to most dive sites, so it isn't as critical to us to have a great on-site reef.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you might have!

 

[tkaelin]

Allwest Apartments is in Westpunt on a cliff above a very small beach with diving right there. Very good house reef and tanks on site. Kitchen, grills, patios. The beach though is not a big sand long walk type of beach. Gowest dive op at Kura hurlanda is a 5 min right, great house reef and more of a resort type beach. Other beaches not far away. We have stayed twice at Allwest and it is a nice set up.

Lagun Blou at Lagun is a place right next to a small sand beach (bigger and sandier than the one at Allwest). We are staying here for the first time later in the month. Kitchens and diving on site. The second half of the week we are staying as Nos Krusero. Right across the street from Gowest/Kura hurlanda.

You would have to check them all out on line etc to see if any fit what you are looking for.

 

[tkaelin]

I should have added for these three places kitchens, quiet, private and tanks and good shore diving right on site is our criteria. A beach on site is not. There are beautiful beaches that we will visit, dive and spend a good part of the day (such as Cas Abou) but not important to us to have a good beach on site.

 

[dmaziuk]

Allwest beach can have more than "very few" people on weekends. Plus, I wouldn't call it "toward Westpunt", more like "in". It does have a great on-site reef that you didn't ask for though.

 

[GTA_Diving_Wonder]

Nos Krusero in Westpunt worked well for us our first two trips. It's very near the dive shop there, across the road. (and their house beach). Comfy and clean, with a small pool to relax in after a day of diving. A decent sized kitchen and not overpriced. Recommended!

 

[tkaelin]

We have seen Nos and we agree. The location will be perfect for us as we will spend our days there just diving the house reef, which is spectacular and maybe a boat. Not waterfront but it looks like it will have a great view, especially from the third floor. Can't beat the price.

 

[GTA_Diving_Wonder]

You won't regret Nos Krusero. As a flip side, AirBnB also have a few hosts in the area. We are giving that a try for our trip out there this year at the end of the month. No full kitchen like Nos, but the place we are staying has an ocean view, in trade for the kitchen. Hopefully it's a worthwhile trade! Have fun, can't wait to be back!

 

[GSJskibum]

tkaelin, dmaziuk and GTA_Diving_Wonder thanks for your suggestions! I am checking them all out and hope to finalize my trip in the next day or so!

 

[diversteve]

Lagoon Blou is a lot nicer than AllWest - newer and more upscale. Lagun is a good dive, the fishermen clean their catch outside the cove so it attracts turtles. Nice beach, down a couple flights of stairs from the condos.

Discover Dive is at the entrance, handy for tank rentals as they have a truck height loading dock. Bahia on the other side of the cove also has a dive operation.

DD has a restaurant and Bahia has a cliffside bar/grille. Seemed pretty popular. We stayed 2 mins. drive away in Lagun but properties in that area are about 60' above the water and there's no way down.
No beach either.

Playa Jeremi is another good dive just north of Lagun. No on-site facilities. Lagun is also reasonably close to Westpunt for those dives/restaurants.

Our apt mgr. recommended we stop at Centrum Market for food b4 the drive out. It's about 30mins. to town - the last part of the road is twisty so it takes longer than it looks.

You might also look for something in north Piscadera Bay. It's about 5mins north of downtown so far enough that the cruisers don't have an impact - they go the other way anyway towards the old downtown and quiet at night. The only specific property I know is Piscadera Bay Resort and it's across the street from the beach and behind some other resorts. Older property, full kitchens, secluded yards, ours had a grille and big table but ocean views rather than ocaen front. No pool.

Most of the properties in that area are not beachfront PBR shares a small private beach with another resort - I have not seen it. Close to Centrum Market and from there about 5mins. drive to the main road that bisects Curacao. We based there for access to downtown but found we were driving back west to most of the mid-island sites that week. Pirates Bay is a fun beach bar you can walk to. The Hilton there is old and has a small casino. IDK what's happened to the Marriott since it closed for renovations a few years ago. There's a dive there but the reef is a healthy surface swim out. Carib Sea Sports is onsite at the Hilton.

 

[diversteve]

If "towards Westpunt" is in Westpunt and there's enough of you to justify it, there's several large villa rentals cliff side at Lodge Kura Hulanda with gourmet kitchens. Playa Kalki there is arguably one of the best shore dives, the beach is rocky and the main GoWest dive shop is onsite at the south end of the property. There's both stairs and ramps down. The Lodge is nice, has a water view restaurant and a snack bar on the rocky beach off GoWest's dock.If you are going to boat dive, do GoWest's Watamula trip mid-week. They also rent kayaks - most use them under the cliffs off the resort. Actually good snorkeling also - chase flounder among the coral heads in the shallows.