Boston in the winter is brutal. It means short days, frigid temperatures, and a perpetually late MBTA. This year, the Hilton Curacao saved me with a mid-winter getaway. I traded frost bite for small bites at cocktail hour and jetted off to the Caribbean.
The Hilton Curacao has no walls. Okay, there are walls around the rooms, but all the public spaces are open-air. The weather is just that predictably good. JetBlue offers nonstop flights from JFK that clock in at only 4.5 hours. That’s only half a work day away from a dream vacation!
Curacao is a small island. Downtown Willemstad, home of the famous Queen Emma foot bridge and colorful waterfront, is the most touristy part of the island. The Hilton Curacao is located a 10-15 minute drive from downtown. That means you have both easy access to the island’s urban center, and the peaceful calm of being removed from it. I felt that being outside of the city gave us a more authentic viewpoint of life in Curacao.
The Hilton Curacao has a private beach which was one of my favorite perks of our stay. You don’t have to worry about parking, paying, and renting towels at a local beach, and it’s only a few steps from the bar to your lounge chair. The newly installed cabanas offer shade from the midday sun, which was huge for a sun-burn prone vacationer like myself.
Despite the substantial size of the hotel, we never had trouble getting a cabana seat on the beach. There’s enough to do on the island that there was a good rotation between lounging and touring.
If the beach isn’t your scene, the property also has a beautiful infinity pool overlooking the ocean. If you get to the pool area early you can snag the seats by the private extension, which is essentially a smaller infinity pool surrounded by foliage with two lounge chairs, your own private oasis.
The dining options are plentiful at the resort. With a breakfast package you receive complimentary breakfast in the open-air dining room, and I’m not talking half stale scones and dry scrambled eggs. The Hilton breakfast was extensive and customizable, they offered an omelet bar and eggs any way you wanted on the grill as well as fresh fruit, vegetables, and baked goods.
For dinner they have an Italian restaurant, Cielo, serving up seafood favorites on the patio, and a beachside bar and restaurant that does specials most nights of the week. For example, they do a grill night where you get access to a salad and desert bar plus a meat or fish of your choice grilled right in front of you on the beach. And of course, there’s room service if you’d rather dine on your own outdoor terrace. It’s nice to have these impressively high quality options in-house, especially when you first arrive on the island after a long day of travel.
Captain Bligh’s Bar serves up an amazing happy hour, 50% off drinks from 6-7pm. Given the favorable conversion rate, that’s cocktails and wine for just a few dollars apiece. We found ourselves coming back to the hotel for happy hour and beach lounging every day. Pictured above is a cocktail made with the island’s famous Blue Curacao, a liqueur made on the island from the dried peel of the Laraha citrus fruit.
If you’re looking for a Caribbean vacation, I can’t recommend Hilton Curacao enough. It mixes all the perks of a resort getaway with the authenticity of an island still untarnished by commercialism.
Stay tuned for my full guide to the island next week!
Please note: I was provided with a complimentary stay by the Hilton Curacao, however, all opinions expressed are my own.