Whether you’re looking for the best beaches in Curacao for beach hopping or looking for the beaches of Curacao offering exactly what you’re looking for, we’ve got you covered!

Visiting for a day by a ship? We will cover the best beaches in Curacao near the cruise port in Willemstad for any day visitors as well as some of the most beautiful beaches of Curacao for those looking to sunbathe, snorkel, swim, and relax in some of the clearest blue water you’ll find in the world!

It can be overwhelming researching and deciding which Curacao beaches to hit up since there are so many. So we did the research for you! We also break down what each of these Curacao beaches are known for, their facilities, any fees involved, and any other personal beach tips we discovered during our vacation!

And if you decide you don’t want to explore each of these beaches on your own, we recommend a few great beach hopping tours you can try out at the end of this guide that take care of all the transportation and anything else you may need for the day.

So sit back and relax, because our guide to the best Curacao beaches will help you pick which ones to visit and perhaps which ones to skip while planning your vacation and picking out all the best things to do in Curacao for your trip!

Disclaimer: This post contains commissionable links.

Tips for Visiting Curacao Beaches

You’ll want to rent a car to get around to the best beaches in Curacao! There are really not any great options for public transportation, unfortunately. Are you a cruise ship visitor? Don’t sweat it, there are a few great beaches in Curacao near the cruise port in Willemstad you can take a short taxi ride too included in this guide too. Just arrange for them to pick you up at a certain time too as there aren’t taxis at the individual beaches.

But if you’re visiting on a multi-day trip, taking a taxi isn’t ideal as renting a car gives you the most freedom to explore the beaches of Curacao and is definitely more budget-friendly.

Most Curacao beaches have a fee associated with them, for some it’s an entry fee for others it’s a fee to use their beach chairs, and sometimes an additional charge for sitting under an umbrella.

The fees really aren’t bad at all, typically ranging from $3 to $7 per person, I think the most we spent was at Grote Knip for two chairs and an umbrella for both of us it was $15, but honestly it was worth it since we got shade from the sun and a comfortable chair to sit in. I will break down fees associated with each of the best Curacao beaches below to help you prepare for your visit.

Some even charge you a very small fee to use the toilet or shower too.

It’s wise to carry some cash on you, whether you’re paying with the local currency (Antillean guilder/ANG) or in US Dollars. Almost every beach had a card reader that accept tap payment, although I did see that someone couldn’t use their AMEX, but our VISA credit card worked everywhere.

You’ll want to pack sun protection when visiting Curacao beaches! That goes for exploring anywhere in Curacao actually as the sun is extra strong here.

Get reef-safe sunscreen to protect the local environment too, during our week-long trip we went through a few bottles and were able to easily find more at grocery stores. But, you’ll definitely want to pack a bottle and be ready to apply it every 60-70 minutes. We were being cautious and still got a little sunburn on days when we spent more time at the beach.

A few of our favorite reef-safe sunscreen products include:

• Kokua Sunscreen – water-resistant zinc sunscreen that applies smoothly without white residue
• Sun Bum Mineral Sunscreen – the Mineral line (white bottle with brown text that says ‘mineral’) is a clear, fast absorbing zinc based sunscreen that’s great for sensitive skin and is sweat and water-resistant.
• Thinksport Mineral Sunscreen – We have been using this brand for years and love how easily it applies and is water resistant. They are also a bit more affordable.
• Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen – this sunscreen is not only reef-safe but it’s also super hydrating, this one is a little pricier so we recommend using this on the face and neck area since it falls under more of a skincare product as well.

B.Y.O.S – Bring Your Own Snorkel! Trust us, you’re going to want to snorkel while you’re visiting the best Curacao beaches as you won’t want to pass up seeing all the vibrant coral reef life like swimming with sea turtles and all the colorful tropical fish there here. 

While some places do have rentals, it will add up and it’s so easy to buy a snorkel set for everyone in your family. We both bought this snorkel set which included a mask, snorkel, ear plugs, flippers, and carrying bags which were perfect for hopping beaches in Curacao! (we both pack carry on only and were able to easily fit it in our bag too!)

It’s also nice to have a pair of water shoes too to wear under your flippers! We also visited Bonaire on this trip and between both destinations, we did a lot of snorkeling! Some beaches have fossilized coral, a rock shelf, or other things that are a bit harder to step on to get in and out of the water. Plus your feet have a little more protection from any sea creatures you might encounter. And they fit in the snorkel set bag we bought!

Don’t forget something to take underwater photos! For those who are looking for something on a budget, you can get a waterproof pouch for your smartphone to take underwater photos. Just be careful to keep this sealed correctly so no water gets in. This does do the trick but can be a bit tricky to play with to get focus.

Or bring a waterproof camera like the classic waterproof GoPro action camera or the waterproof Insta360 camera which are both great for snorkeling and don’t require the waterproof housing if you’re not diving into deeper water!

Bring your own towel! We also pack our own beach towel on trips with us too, not the bulky traditional beach towel you’re thinking of though.

We both always use a sarong or Turkish towel because they are lightweight, dry quickly, easy to pack, and do the job! There was a breeze at most beaches too so we purchased beach towel clips to secure them plus my beach hat to the chair while we were swimming.

Best Curacao Beaches To Visit

Cas Abao Beach / Playa Cas Abao

We are going to start off this list of the best beaches in Curacao to visit with one of National Geographic’s picks for the best beaches in the world!

Playa Cas Abao or Cas Abao Beach is located northwest of Willemstad, this picturesque, soft, white sandy beach is the perfect place to lounge, swim, snorkel, and play for hours. You’ll want to pay the few dollars for a chair here, especially if you can snag a spot under one of the palapa umbrellas to post up for a relaxing day at this gorgeous beach.

There’s a restaurant and snack bar that sells basic food and meals like hot dogs, salads, french fries, and a few other fried Dutch-inspired snacks as well as drinks.

If you’re looking to pamper yourself you can even book a massage here right on the beach! They also have kayaks and paddle boards for rent if you want to get on the water as well as a dive shop if you wanted to go scuba diving at the three dive sites here.

The snorkeling here is fantastic too, once you enter the crystal clear turquoise water you’ll find all kinds of tropical colorful fish and marine life. While we didn’t see sea turtles or eagle rays, they are spotted here.

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• white sand, snorkeling, scuba diving
• $6 USD/10 ANG per car weekdays ($7 USD/12.50 ANG on weekends) *max 4 people per car, a small fee for extra people
• $3 USD/5 ANG per person for a beach chair which comes with a complimentary shower token
• Snack Bar & Bar
• Toilets & Showers
• Beach Massages
• Dive Shop and Watersport rentals including SUP and kayaks
• Open daily 8 AM to 6 PM

Playa Porto Mari

When it comes to the best Curacao beaches, one of our favorites was Playa Porto Mari, which we have our pals Shanna and Gabi of 27 Travels to thank for inspiring us to go here! This incredible beach is located at Porto Marie Bay on the west coast near the village of Sint Willibrordus, which was also around the corner from our resort, Coral Estate Resort.

This beach had it all! There was a cute boutique, full restaurant and bar, palm trees, beach chairs, a floating dock out in the water, a pier, great snorkeling, lookout observation tower for more views, three hiking trails, painting your own souvenir, and apparently two resident pigs (which we sadly didn’t get to see).

Enjoy this white sandy bay with calm, turquoise water. The snorkeling here was especially fun, we liked snorkeling around the cliffs where we spotted tons of colorful fish. There were interesting reef ball clusters we passed which are artificial reefs planted here to help the underwater environment recover from damage in the 1999 Hurricane Lenny.

In fact, this is also a popular scuba diving site because of their unique double reef. They have a dive school here too accommodating all levels of scuba divers.

There is a proper restaurant with a full menu and bar here too, with tons of frozen cocktails and cold beer to enjoy when you need to cool off. This is also one of the prettiest beaches in Curacao to watch the sunset!

If you’re up for a land adventure, you can set off on one of the three hiking trails from the parking area or climb up to the observation tower to check out 360 views.

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• white sandy bay, snorkeling, scuba diving, hiking trails
• $3 USD/5 ANG per person (children under 4 are free)
• $3.5 USD/6 ANG per person for a beach chair 
• Full Restaurant & Cocktail Bar
• Toilets, showers, and lockers are available
• Beach massages available
• Dive School and Dive Shop for gear rentals
• One of the prettiest beaches in Curacao for sunsets
• Open daily 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM (Closed on New Years Eve and Carnival Sunday)

Playa Kalki

Located in Westpunt, this was one of Scott’s favorite Curacao beaches! Playa Kalki’s name refers to the limestone cliffs that surround the beach and is one of the best diving and snorkeling spots in Curacao because of the Alice in Wonderland coral reef below the surface, which relates to the unique mushroom-shaped coral formations you’ll find here.

Not to mention there’s an underwater sculpture of a Chichi doll placed in the reef too!

This beach is a little more rocky, so it’s nice to have those water shoes for getting in and out of the water here! Here you can rent beach chairs for a few bucks, we recommend picking a spot under the palapa umbrellas, or upgrading your experience and rent out padded beach beds under the shade for a little more comfortable day at the beach, especially if you’re going to stick around for awhile.

Unlike other beaches in Curacao, there is no fee to visit the beach, just to use their chairs and beach beds. So you are able to visit this beach for free if you want to sit on the sand, but it is a little more pebbly and crushed up coral on the ground here.

There are two floating docks out in the water equipped with chairs you can swim out to and enjoy the sun, a snack bar, and toilets for a small fee.

This is also a great dive and snorkel spot as mentioned before, they also have a dive shop on site for all your scuba diving needs! Don’t be surprised to see sea turtles here either!

Also, if you’re interested in seeing the Blue Room, they offer snorkel trips on Wednesdays and Sundays. I am not sure how to book these in advance, so we recommend booking the Blue Room snorkel tour in advance if this is something you really want to do.

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• pretty turquoise bay with good snorkeling and scuba diving with unique coral reef formations at Alice in Wonderland
• $5 USD/1o ANG per person for a beach chair, the padded beds were a little more
• Beach snack bar 
• Toilets for 1 ANG (they took my $1 USD with no change, so you may want to have a few local coins for toilets here)
• Dive Shop for gear rentals
• lockers available to rent at the dive shop

Klein Curacao

One of the absolute best beaches in Curacao can be found on Klein Curacao, or “Little Curacao.” Unfortunately, this isn’t a Curacao beach that’s easy to get to as you have to take the 2-hour journey on a boat to visit this island offshore of the main island, but it’s definitely worth it!

This means you’ll have to join a Klein Curacao tour. We opted for Miss Ann’s Boat Trips which depart from Sandals Resort (with a few hotel shuttles to the meeting point). This is a more luxurious way of going on a high-speed yacht (that cuts the commute in half only taking 60 minutes) and they also are the only company with private facilities during your day trip to Klein Curacao where you can relax in comfort with beach chairs, palapa huts, and bathrooms. They also provide meals and a guided snorkel safari tour as well as add-ons like scuba diving, massages, and an open bar.

If you want to spend the night on Klein Curacao, they can also arrange overnight camping trips too!

Their facilities are awesome, but they are not located on the main stretch of white sandy beach, although you can easily visit that portion of the island. Their facilities are located on a smaller stretch of white sandy beach with an area that’s easy to enter and exit with awesome snorkeling.

The other tour options include BlueFinn Charters tour and Breeze Boat Trips tour which also include meals and drop you off on the long, beautiful white sandy stretch of beach on Klein Curacao. They have less facilities but still have palapa huts on the beach you can pop your beach towel under to relax in the shade.

This is without a doubt the most beautiful beach in Curacao with crystal clear shades of turquoise water and the softest white sand, supreme snorkeling (we saw sea turtles here, eels, and colorful fish we didn’t see at other Curacao beaches!) and other fun spots to check out on the island like the abandoned lighthouse and shipwrecks found on the windy and more rough side of the island.

Your day trip here goes by really fast and it’s well worth spending an entire day to make the trip to Klein Curacao!

Tip: the boat ride there is rougher than the way back, consider packing non-drowsy Dramamine and ginger chews!

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• The most beautiful beach in Curacao located on a remote island with white sand
• You’ll have to book one of the tours in advance to visit from Miss Ann’s Boat Trips, BlueFinn Charters tour, or Breeze Boat Trips tour which include meals and drinks
• Excellent snorkeling and diving is an option via your tour as an add-on
• toilets are available
• other fun things to explore like shipwrecks and a lighthouse

Grote Knip Beach / Playa Kenepa Grandi

If I had to pick one, this was my favorite for best beaches in Curacao! Grote Knip or Kenepa Grandi is one of the most popular and top Curacao beaches for a reason. Not only do you have pristine turquoise water here but also beautiful white sand and it’s free to visit!

While there are no entry fees to visit this Curacao beach, they do charge to use their chairs. We paid $5 USD per chair and an extra $5 USD for the umbrella rental, which was worth it. Visitors are welcome to snag a spot on the sand though too.

After arriving to the large parking area, there’s a lookout point and a friendly man with his pet iguana offering visitors to take a photo with it. Go down the stairs and you’ll witness one of the most iconic beaches in Curacao. Once you decide if you’re going to snag a chair or spot on the sand you can either head to the snack bar for a drink or hop in the water for incredible swimming, snorkeling, and diving.

My favorite part was that there were random pigs that kept making their rounds to all the beach-goers. Even a mama pig and her piglets made their way to the edge of the water to cool off. Just be sure to keep your food and snacks in a spot they can’t reach as they were scrounging around people’s belongings for food!

Also, the road here also leads to another one of the best beaches in Curacao, Kleine Knip/Playa Kenepa Chiki so you can visit both while you’re here!

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• one of the most famous Curacao beaches known for its beautiful sand and water
• Free admission
• $5 USD/1o ANG per person for a beach chair and $5 USD/1o ANG for an umbrella rental
• Beach snack bars 
• Toilets for a small fee
• excellent reef for snorkeling and diving (can’t get gear here, so bring your own)

Kleine Knip / Playa Kenepa Chiki

Located off the same road as Grote Knip or Playa Kenepa Grandi is Kleine Knip or Playa Kenepa Chiki. The beach here is very similar to Grote Knip, but smaller and without facilities except for the beach chair and umbrella rentals. There’s excellent snorkeling here and scuba divers were also present here as well.

This Curacao beach is also free! And while Grote Knip attracts a larger crowd, Kleine Knip stays much quieter and is a true gem of a beach to check out.

Since there are no facilities or snack bars, make sure to pack your own water and snacks if you plan on sticking around.

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• More quiet, beautiful beach next to Grote Knip
• Free admission
• $5 USD/1o ANG per person for a beach chair and $5 USD/1o ANG for an umbrella rental
• no facilities
• great for snorkeling and diving (can’t get gear here, so bring your own)

Playa Piskado / Playa Grandi

Is swimming with sea turtles in Curacao on the top of your trip wish list? This is one of the best beaches in Curacao for this very reason as it’s the only Curacao beach you’re pretty much guaranteed to swim with sea turtles located in Westpunt. (Although there are no absolute guarantees, your chances are high).

Playa Piskado also known as Playa Grandi is a working fisherman’s beach is a completely free Curacao beach to visit and there’s even a fun children’s playground you’ll pass as you drive towards the beach. There is a pier and small fishing vessels where the fishermen dump the remains of their catches that attracts many colorful fish you’ll see here including the sea turtles who are always here!

There are chairs at the beach for a small fee if you do want to sit and relax here awhile, or you can easily find a spot on the beach. There’s also a restroom you can use for a small fee, but it’s not open every day (mostly open around the latter half of the week) and a snack bar.

The beach here is pretty small and pebbly, so you will want your water shoes for getting in and out of the water. This isn’t your typical Curacao beach you’ll want to relax at all day, it’s more of a beach you’ll want to visit for the main star, the sea turtles! So don’t forget your snorkel gear!

Just remember, it’s prohibited to touch sea turtles, plus they can bite if your fingers are close to their mouth but are extremely docile and used to seeing swimmers. Please just follow the rules as these are endangered and protected species, please be a responsible visitor.

This is also a popular Curacao beach for divers as well who not only are here to see the vibrant marine life but also the underwater King Neptune sculpture that was here by a Dutch artist and serves as an artificial reef encrusted in sponges. What’s really cool is that there are a few underwater sculptures in Curacao you can hunt down during your trip too, especially if you’re scuba diving.

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• A popular beach for swimming with sea turtles in Curacao and a working fisherman’s beach
• pebbly shoreline so water shoes are recommended
• Free admission
• $3 USD/5 ANG per person for a beach chair and $2 USD/4 ANG for an umbrella 
• toilets available for a small fee and a snack bar
• colorful children’s playground near entrance
• popular snorkeling and diving to the King Neptune sculpture

Playa Lagun

As far as the beaches of Curacao for snorkeling, you’ll probably notice most are great, but if I had to pick my favorite snorkeling beach it was Playa Lagun!

This beach is located in a small bay surrounded by tall cliffs on either side, with a great Bahia Beach Bar perched up on the cliff that offers stellar views accessible to the beach by a steep staircase, drinks, and a full restaurant if you’re hungry open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We highly recommend stopping by for the views and at least a drink after you snorkel or dive here!

This beach is popular among snorkelers and divers and let me tell you, there was alot of action going on underwater here! This is where we swam with a sea turtle, we overheard someone else saying they saw an octopus, and we saw tons of vibrant colorful fish swimming around the cliffs and corals here.

This is a public beach, so it’s completely free to visit! There are umbrellas and beach chairs available for rent and a dive shop here if you need to rent gear. And since this is also a fisherman’s beach, there are small boats pulled up on the sand here too.

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• A popular beach for snorkeling and diving
• Free admission
• $4 USD/7 ANG per person for a beach chair
• Bahia Beach Bar is located on the cliffs above for food and drinks (plus amazing views)

Daaibooi Beach

Located near the village of Sint Willibrordus, Daaibooi Beach is another one of the best beaches in Curacao to enjoy a laid-back day by the cerulean waters of Curacao. This is another great free beach to visit with the option to rent a chair and post up under one of the palapa pergolas available on the beach.

This was one of the more quiet beaches of Curacao (although it gets more popular on the weekends as it’s not so much of a ‘hidden gem’ anymore) that we visited with gorgeous white sand, shallow clear water, and a great spot for both snorkeling and diving. There’s a dive shop here and a snack bar on site and toilets too.

Check out the snorkeling along the rocky ledge to spot all kinds of colorful fish and underwater critters.

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• A quiet, more secluded beach with beautiful white sand (gets busier on the weekends though)
• Free admission
• $3 USD/5 ANG per person for a beach chair (pay $6 USD/10 ANG upfront and get half back upon returning the chair)
• has a dive shop for gear
• snack bar, palapa pergolas, and toilets available

Mambo Beach

If you’re looking for the best beaches in Curacao from cruise ships in Willemstad, you’ll want to visit Mambo Beach! While none of the Curacao beaches near the cruise port are within walking distance, you’ll want to take a taxi if you’re a cruise ship visitor, which is only a 15-minute ride. 

Mambo Beach, sometimes referred to as Seaquarium Beach, is the most commercial beach of Curacao offering several beachfront restaurants with their own spot on the white powdery sand and tons of shops along their boulevard. It’s the perfect spot if you’re wanting to not only enjoy the beach, but eat and drink, and do a little souvenir shopping as well. Plus, Mambo Beach is not only a great sunset spot but a popular spot for nightlife.

While this is a manmade beach, it’s still beautiful nonetheless and a gorgeous spot at sunset. 

There is a fee to enter the beach here during regular beach hours and then you can rent beach chairs from the individual beach clubs/restaurants along the beach. We recommend picking which restaurant/beach club you want to post up at and then pay the rental fee so you can order right on the beach and sit back and relax the rest of the day.

There are several spots like Madero Ocean Club which also has a pool, Bonita Beach Club, and Lion’s Dive Beach Resort has a few waterfront restaurants and beach bars to hang out at.

Ocean Encounters at Lion’s Dive Beach Resort offers gear rentals as well as scuba trip options.

For those looking for nightlife at Mambo Beach, a few of the beach bars that turn into clubs after dark include Wet & Wild Beach Club (on Fridays and Sundays only), and Bonita Beach Bar and Chill Beach Bar & Grill stay open until 10 PM on some nights.

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• calm, beautiful manmade beach with multiple beach clubs and restaurants
• good beach in Curacao near the cruise port (15 min taxi away from Willemstad)
• $3.5 USD/6 ANG per person to enter during regular beach hours 8:30 AM – 5 PM
• Beach chair and umbrella rentals available at individual beach clubs and restaurants
• popular nightlife spot
• gear rental available and dive shop for scuba diving excursions

Jan Thiel Beach

Like Mambo Beach, Jan Thiel Beach is one of the best beaches in Curacao near the cruise ship in Willemstad. Jan Thiel Beach is around a 25-minute taxi ride from Willemstad and also has several restaurants and beach bars to relax at all day.

Jan Thiel Beach is also one of the very family-friendly beaches of Curacao and tends to be on the more crowded side. And like Mambo Beach, this is also a popular nightlife spot after dark.

When we went, we ended up just going to the beach club/bar that had available seating which was Zanzibar Beach & Restaurant, which was on our favorite stretch of sand they served food and drinks to the chairs, which were available to rent for about $3 USD per person.

Jan Thiel Beach had a pretty pink hue in the sand, which was unexpected as we didn’t realize Curacao had pink sand beaches like in Bermuda!

Before deciding which beach club to check out, you do have to pay a fee at the parking area to enter Jan Thiel Beach. Keep in mind there are only two areas you can get into the water, from Papagayo Beach Club and Zanzibar Beach & Restaurant.

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• Beautiful beach (some pink in the sand too!) with multiple beach clubs and restaurants
• good beach in Curacao near the cruise port (25 min taxi away from Willemstad)
• $3.5 USD/6 ANG per person to enter 
• Beach chair and umbrella rentals were available at individual beach clubs and restaurants, most were around $4 USD/ 7 ANG
• family-friendly
• popular nightlife spot

Playa Santa Cruz 

Another one of the best beaches in Curacao with a large stretch of white sand was Playa Santa Cruz located on the south end of the village of Lagun. This is a great beach for swimming and there are a few picnic tables with palapa umbrellas to relax under if you need a break from the sun set a little further back from the water on the beach.

This is a free Curacao beach to visit that has a watersports shop on one side of the beach where you can grab a bite to eat or drink, rent a kayak, use their water taxi to get to places only accessible by boat, although they do not take reservations their boat tours leave Tuesdays through Sundays at 1 PM & 3 PM.

Unlike most Curacao beaches, this is actually not great for snorkeling because it’s surrounded by mangrove forests which make the water have less visibility, although it’s still very pretty and great for swimming and kayaking. Because of the mangroves, this is a great spot for bird watching.

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• A more quiet, larger white sand beach
• Free admission
• toilets and a few picnic tables with palapa umbrellas and shade structures set further back on the sand
• small bar and restaurant
• Watersport Shop offers kayak rentals and water taxi tour to secluded areas (Tuesdays through Sundays)
• great for birdwatching 

Blauwbaai Beach / Blue Bay Beach

One of the most popular beaches in Curacao to mention is Blauwbaai Beach or Blue Bay Beach located at the Blue Bay Curacao Golf & Beach Resort. This is a private beach, so there is a fee to enter. The fee is a bit higher here but it does include use of the beach chairs and umbrellas, so it evens out to be on par with the cost of some of the other beaches with fees as well. Unless you’re a guest at Blue Bay Curacao Golf & Beach Resort, then your admission is included in your stay.

This is a popular beach because of its soft white sand, although there are some broken coral and rocks in the water so you may want to wear water shoes! Families with children enjoy this spot because of the gentle slope in the beach making it easy for beginner swimmers. Plus there’s a pool.

Enjoy relaxing on the white sand in a lounge chair surrounded by palm trees or under an umbrella. There’s a bar and restaurant here as well as a water sports facility that offers rentals, kayaks, and scuba diving options along with a gift shop.

Other facilities include showers and restrooms and an option to book a massage. Also, this is another great option for day visitors a cruise as this is one of the few beaches in Curacao near cruise port in Willemstad only a 15-minute taxi ride away.

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• Beautiful beach popular with families
• good beach in Curacao near the cruise port (15 min taxi away from Willemstad)
• $12 USD/20 ANG for adults and $6 USD/10 ANG to enter which includes use of beach chairs (guests of the resort don’t pay any additional fees) 
• watersport rentals for snorkel gear and kayaks plus the option for scuba diving
• open daily 8 AM to 8 PM
• restrooms, showers, changing rooms available as well as booking massages 
• bar and restaurant on site

Tugboat Beach

Tugboat Beach is not only one of the best beaches in Curacao for snorkeling and diving but it’s also a chill hang out spot to post up for an afternoon enjoying this shabby more industrial area of the island with a boho beach bar and lounge where you can paint your own souvenir by the beach, have a ice cold beer overlooking the water, or enjoy one of their sunbeds by the beach.

Located near the ruins of Fort Beekenburg, Tugboat Beach is one of the most popular snorkeling and diving spots on Curacao because of the tugboat shipwreck located near the shore. There’s also an abundance of marine life here from seahorses to all kinds of colorful reef fish.

The beach here is more rocky, so you’re going to want to have your water shoes here! There are beach chairs along the shore you can rent for a small fee, a bare-bones bar that offers only hot dogs for food, and plenty of places to sit back and relax with a view.

There is no fee to enter the bay or beach here, only if you want to rent a chair. This is also only a 25-minute taxi ride from the cruise port in Willemstad if you are a day visitor looking for a great snorkel spot, Tugboat Beach also arranges transfers from the cruise port to their beach if you want to organize this ahead of time.

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• popular snorkel and diving site at a sunken tugboat, more of a rocky beach bring water shoes!
• Free admission
• $3 USD/ 5 ANG to rent a beach chair
• small bar with cool lounging areas with hot dogs and chips
• possible to visit for cruise ship passengers
• paint art on the beach here

Playa Forti

Another one of the best beaches in Curacao in Westpunt is Playa Forti. This is a popular beach among thrill-seekers who want to cliff jump 40 feet down into the water from Restaurant Playa Forti on the cliff above. (at your own risk of course)

This beach has more coarse sand and is more pebbly, so water shoes are recommended. This is one of the best Curacao beaches to visit around lunch time as there are several restaurants nearby including the restaurant you can jump from the cliff and another restaurant on the other side of the beach, both offering stunning views of the blue and turquoise water below!

We ate at Restaurant Playa Forti and highly recommend getting their whole fried red snapper! Also, this restaurant was the site of a historic fortification too! And if you find yourself here in the evening, this is an excellent Curacao beach for sunsets!

Beyond the restaurants, there are no facilities at this beach and there is no fee to visit. 

Curacao Beach Recap: 

• popular beach for cliff jumping
• Free admission
• no facilities
• two restaurants located on the cliffs on either side of the beach with incredible views!
• pebbly and broken coral beach, you’ll want water shoes
• great sunset spot

Curacao Beach Tours

Not feeling like you want to hit up the best beaches in Curacao on your own? Or maybe you don’t want to rent a car. Don’t worry, you can join one of these tours.

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Best Beaches of Curacao Summary:

• Cas Abao Beach / Playa Cas Abao
• Playa Porto Mari
• Playa Kalki
• Klein Curacao
• Grote Knip Beach / Playa Kenepa Grandi
• Kleine Knip / Playa Kenepa Chiki
• Playa Piskado / Playa Grandi
• Playa Lagun
• Daaibooi Beach
• Mambo Beach
• Jan Thiel Beach
• Playa Santa Cruz
• Blauwbaai Beach / Blue Bay Beach
• Tugboat Beach
• Playa Forti 

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