Curaçao has more to offer than just some resorts with beautiful sandy beaches, waving palm trees, and delicious cocktails. There are a few national parks and many great hikes and spots for you to explore. We’ve made a list of our 5 favorite walks on the island.
Loop trail to the Blue Room and back
The San Nicolas area is private property and not accessible by car without permission. The only other way to get to the beautiful and mysterious cave, the blue room, in this area is by foot. The starting point is playa Santa Cruz, from where you start the hike through the dense natural vegetation with its many cacti and prickly bushes. Therefore, our first tip is to wear shoes instead of flipflops.
In around 10 till 15 minutes, you’ll arrive at playa Santu Pretu, the only beach on the westside of Curacao which isn’t that typical bounty white beach but has volcanic black sand. From here you can follow the trail which brings you to the blue room in 30 minutes. Don’t forget to bring snorkeling gear if you want to see the inside of the cave. We were a little bit nervous about going inside because you have to swim underwater for a few meters to reach the cave. Be careful and make sure you are not alone and that you are a confident swimmer. Entering the blue room can be dangerous, especially when the sea is rough. Nevertheless, it is definitely worth it! If you make sure that you arrive in the afternoon, the sun shines into the cave so it creates a beautiful blue light.
Have you been lingering a bit and is it almost getting dark? Don’t panic, we found a shorter route back to playa Santa Cruz. You can just follow the ‘main’ road until playa Santa Pretu which only takes 5-10 minutes. From there you only have to hike back the 10 minutes to playa Santa Cruz. One more tip: Bring enough water and sunscreen!
Costs: Free!
Hike up the highest mountain of Caracas, the christoffelberg
The most famous national park on the island is the Christoffel park, which also includes the Christoffel mountain. This 372-meter-high mountain is definitely worth it to hike to the top. We got the perfect tip to do this hike before sunrise, so we were able to watch the sunrise from the top of the Christoffel mountain. I can definitely recommend this to anyone.
However, the park opens at 6, so find out at what time the sun rises because you’ll need at least 45 minutes to climb to the top. This can be a pretty tough hike and includes a little bit of climbing on the rocks. Although, the view from the top definitely makes up for this!
After the easier descent, you can drive with the car through the park where you can find a few beautiful spots, or for the real sporty types, there are 7 more walking trails available in the park. And again, bring enough water!
Costs: 25 guilders or 15 dollars
Hike through Shete Boka National park, a beautiful park with much to see
Definitely in our top 5 hikes on curacao, the Shete Boka national park, where 7 inlets create beautiful and mysterious natural phenomena. When you enter the park, you can park your car and do the rest by foot. You can also choose to drive to the different sights, but we recommend walking because you will walk by the rough northern coast where you will see the waves come crashing in on the rocks.
The first stop is the mysterious Boka Tabla cave, which you can enter and where you can sit and watch the waves thundering in. Be careful because it can be pretty slippery inside of this cave.
With a 10-minute walk by this northern coast, you’ll find boka Wandomi, the natural bridge, where you can see the amazing aggressive action of the waves rushing into the inlet from an observation platform.
The other two must-sees you find by walking back to the starting point and then a 15-25 minutes’ walk to the other side. Sometimes you can see the sea turtles laying their eggs at boka kalki, but I think the most impressive one is boka pistol, an inlet that is so narrow that incoming water shoots up in the air, with gunfire like explosions.
Bring enough water and don’t forget to bring enough sunscreen!
Costs: 17,50 guilders or 10 dollars
Look out for sea turtles while hiking the amazing Tortuga trail
This is the less-known but amazingly beautiful trail, the Tortuga trail. You can find the start of this trail at a small side road, a little bit before the village ‘Barber’. It is a relatively short hike along the rough northern coast, through the untouched nature of Curacao.
If you follow the yellow stones on the ground, they will bring you to the border of the north coast where you have a great chance of spotting sea turtles. There is a wooden bench from where you can watch the rough northern coast and probably see plenty of sea turtles. Another tip for geocaching fans: Here you’ll find a great multicache and also some traditional caches.
Costs: Free!
Combine the scenic indian Trail with a visit to the Hato Caves
Close to the Hato Caves you can find this short but interesting trail. Start by taking a picture of the wall where they placed all the information for this walk. You can learn everything about the different cacti that grow on Curacao and even more about the natural vegetation, and you can spot the petroglyphs left behind by the Indians which used to live here.
The Indian trail itself is free, but you should definitely also book a guided tour through the Hato Caves.
Costs: Free!
Check out our video X-plore Curacao
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