I went with my daughter to Curacao for her spring break in late March 2025. I picked Curacao because my daughter loves beaches and the flight times were short enough to get there and back within the duration of an 8 or 9 day spring break and the trip would be long enough to feel worthwhile. I had also never been to the Caribbean and wanted to give it a try, and Curacao had a reputation as a safe Caribbean destination that was less touristy than Aruba.

Getting around Curacao pretty much requires you to have a car, as public transportation is scant, and from what I understand taxis are very expensive here. I did not care for dealing with the rental car company, and the car was in fairly beat up condition, but it ran for the whole week without issues and I managed to avoid putting any additional marks or damage on it. There are very few (maybe no) stoplights in Jan Thiel where we stayed, so I advise a high degree of caution at intersections. As you get to Willemstad there are more, and traffic generally wasn’t too thick.

Curacao is hot. Not hellishly hot, but there are few trees to use for shade. That bridge is the only drawbridge in the world that opens horizontally to let ships through, according to our food tour guide.

My daughter is an emerging foodie. As a foodie destination, Curacao is a mixed bag. There is plenty of good food. However, most of the best food does not originate in Curacao, and is very expensive. The local creole food can be an acquired taste.

For one of our first meals in Curacao, my daughter was feeling more adventurous than me, and ordered conch meat. I tried it, and found it very good. Conch meat is a little crunchy, which was paradigm-shifting for me in how I view animal protein, but nevertheless tasty.

The water around Curacao is a beautiful blue color. We did some snorkeling and swam with sea turtles (okay, really just one). One of our guides said that on a clear day you can see Venezuela, but I could not…very disappointing. We saw some beautiful fish and we think an octopus hiding in a bit of coral, but I unfortunately was not properly equipped for underwater photography.

The real reason I came to Curacao…fishing for barracuda. My daughter hooked another one and I finished reeling it in for her to have it jump off the hook as we were pulling it out of the water. I still count it in our catch. Anyway, .before…

And after. Curacao is one of the few places in the world where it is usually safe to eat barracuda, as from what I understand the coral reefs there don’t generate the toxins that collect in the flesh of the fish as in most other places.

The Hata Caves were one of our last stops. They were okay, but we have better cave systems within a 15 minute drive of our home in Virginia. I would guess if you have ever been to another cave system, you will be underwhelmed. Some of the staff were rude, as well.

In the one week we were in Curacao I think we saw most of the sights we were excited about. There were many beaches we left untouched that we could visit on a return trip. I would go back, but I tend to prefer going to new places over visiting familiar places with a few exceptions, and with my daughter being most excited about food, I think there are better destinations for future daddy/daughter trips. I did acquire a new interest in snorkeling I hope to expand on future trips.