I’ve been to Curacao 4 times in the past 2 years, all for work. I was lucky enough to be ensconced in a relatively nice all-inclusive resort. I booked extra time on the front and back end of each trip, and spent quite a bit of time exploring the island.

The Good:
The people are quite nice – it’s mix of EuroCarib, as you might expect. Everyone is quite pleasant, and most people speak some amount of English. The food can be a little strange at times, but I suppose that’s some of the ol’ Dutch influence :) My favorite part of Curacao? The beaches, diving and snorkeling. If you can, dive the Mushroom Forest or Watamula. Very nice. For good snorkeling, there’s Tugboat and Porto Marie. The Tugboat is a decent-size tug in about 15 feet of water – it’s fantastic!

The Not-So-Bad: From what I could tell, people there are either wealthy or poor – there’s not much of a middle class. It seems like most people in and around Willemstad are pretty well-off. Move further up the island to the northwest, off the beaten paths, and it can be pretty deserted. But I never feared for my safety – although on the last night of my first trip some one stole the two left tires off of my rental car. As I mentioned in the title, Curacao is NOT a lush tropical island. It is desert, so it’s pretty arid, and you will find the usual complement of desert-style foliage (cacti and scrub brush). Up on the northeast side of the island, it is almost moonscape.

The Ugly: Curacao is well-known for it’s oil refinery operations, so some of the areas around Willemstad are pretty nasty what with the smokestacks and refining operations. But, you can always look off of the other side of the bridge when crossing over :)