Beaches
Though Curacao's beaches don't spread over miles of uninterrupted shore, the 38 or so beach areas offer more seclusion than those on neighboring Aruba. There are a number of beaches with smooth sand while some are composed mainly of black sand or coral stones. The best swimming beaches dot the southwest coast. Closest to Willemstad is the Seaquarium Beach with palm trees and tranquil waters. This is one of the better family beaches on the island. Cas Abao, or Turtle Beach, ranks as one of the best snorkeling beaches, with rock walls on both sides of the cove. Two of the beaches most popular with the locals are Groot Knip and Klein Knip at Knipbaai. Weekends at these can get packed and noisy.

Christoffel National Park
Located on the western side of Curacao, the park harbors the island's highest point, the 1,237-foot Mt. Christoffel. Visitors can spy divi divi trees, rare species of orchids, and prickly pear cacti, which can reach heights of up to 10 feet. Donkeys, iguanas, whitetail Curacao deer, and many species of birds are all protected wildlife. The Savonet plantation house at the entrance to the park is one of the oldest on the island and now home to the Museum of Natural and Cultural history. The park allows for horseback riding, mountain biking, and hiking on eight marked trails.

Curacao Museum
Located in a building dating to 1853, this museum features antique furniture, Indian crafts, and old maps of Curacao and the Caribbean. The grounds surrounding the museum, in the western part of Otrobanda, make for a peaceful walk.

Curacao Seaquarium
Here's your chance to come face to face with a 20-foot shark, moray eel, or giant turtle. The Seaquarium sports an Animal Encounters area that lets snorkelers and divers swim with stingrays, grouper, and angelfish. In a second pool, called Shark Encounter, the braver of heart can feed nurse sharks and reef sharks by hand behind a mesh fence. The Marine Awareness Center here offers one-day courses to educate visitors about marine life and the fragile ecosystem.

Diving and Snorkeling
Diving is one of Curacao's greatest attractions. The 12.5-mile stretch from the Princess Beach Hotel to the eastern tip of the island was preserved as the Curacao Underwater Park in 1983. There are 16 buoys in the park that mark dive sites, and many of the top areas are on the southeast coast. There is also a self-guided underwater trail for snorkelers within the park with signs that elaborate on the marine life. While boats are necessary to reach dive sites on the eastern coast, the western portion of the island, where the waters are calmer, offers easily accessible dives. Playa Kalki, at the top of the island's western tip, is popular as a snorkeling spot. It is coated with star coral and fire coral, and the waters around the cove are notably calm. Other popular areas include Playa Lagun, one of the island's premier snorkeling locales, and Porto Marie (The Valley), which features two parallel reefs with varieties of marine life such as nurse sharks or cornet fish that are not prevalent in other parts of the island.

Hato Caves
These limestone caves are actually old coral reefs that pushed up from the water to form the island. This is considered a living cave because the stalactites and stalagmites are constantly being formed. Guided tours through the caves are available.

Landhuisen (Plantations)
Curacao is one of the plantation capitals of the Caribbean. The oldest is the Savonet Plantation House on Landhuis Savonet at the entrance to Christoffel Park, built in 1662 by Matthias Beck, the deputy director of the west India Company. The stables now serve as the Savonet Museum. The Landhuis Ascension dates to 1672 and now serves as a training center for Dutch marines. At one time the Spanish grew beans, maize, cotton, and indigo here. One of the largest plantations in Curacao was the Hato House, which spanned 3,460 acres and harbored about 100 slaves. The 1,200-acre Brievengat plantation, built in the 18th century, is now a museum and culture center. Salsa, calypso, and meringue bands play here on Friday and Saturday nights. Landhuis Knip was the site of a 50-person slave uprising in August 17, 1795, a revolt that spread to plantations across the island and eventually led to the abolition of slavery on Curacao. The Chobolobo plantation became the home to the Senior liqueur distillery, which is another major attraction on Curacao. Most plantations on the island offer tours.

Maritime Museum
Willemstad
Recently opened in a mansion built in 1729 on the Waaigat inlet, the Maritime Museum follows the growth of Willemstad as a naval base. The exhibits include models of ships, maps dating from the 17th century, and video and multimedia presentations. The museum also runs its own ferry for harbor tours.

Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue and the Jewish Cultural Historical Museum
Willemstad
Built in 1732, Mikve Israel-Emanuel holds the distinction of being the oldest continually operating synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. Curacao's Jewish population, which dates to 1651 when the first 12 Jewish families arrived on the island, largely is comprised of those who had fled the Spanish Inquisition. Inside, there is an original pipe organ and brass chandeliers. But the temple's biggest distinction is the floor, which is covered with sand to remind visitors and congregants of the past, when Marranos--Jews in Spain and Portugal who worshipped underground and outwardly accepted Christianity--layered the grounds of their secret synagogues to stifle the sound of their feet. Next door to the synagogue is the Jewish Cultural Historical Museum, located in the 18th-century house of the congregation's first rabbi. The museum exhibits artifacts from the early Jewish community, including a 100-year-old seder table setting, Torah scrolls, and Hanukkah lamps.

Museum Kura Hulanda
Kura Hulanda, Papiamentu for Dutch Courtyard, is one of the largest museums in the Caribbean. Located on the site of the former Kura Hulanda Wharf, which was at one time used as a slave yard, the museum focuses on the history of slavery in that area as well as African culture and history. Some of the exhibits include a full-size reconstruction of the hold of a slave ship as well as artifacts of the trans-Atlantic slave trade from 1441 to 1863, artifacts from ancient Ghana, Songhai, and Mali. There is also a display entitled "Black by White," which features more than 200 prints from France and Germany from 1880 to 1950 that show bigotry against Africans.

Senior Curacao Liqueur Factory
Curacao liqueur is famed worldwide for its spicy kick. The story goes that when the Spanish landed on the island in the early 1500s, they brought with them Naranja orange trees to plant. Because of the dry climate, the trees did not produce a citrus crop, but did generate bitter fruits. The peels of these lahara oranges were dried and the oil they produced was used to make liqueur. The Senior family in the late 1800s started to sell the liqueur, which they had created with extra spices using a converted 17th-century plantation house outside Willemstad in Landhuis Chobolobo as a home base. Visitors can tour the factory.

Shete Boka
This relatively new national park, whose name means Seven Inlets in the local language, offers hiking trails along cliffs overlooking the sea. One of the most dramatic sites is at Boka Tabla, where waves have pounded out a cavern underneath a limestone terrace. Park rangers lead turtle monitoring tours every morning.

Willemstad
One of the most captivating sights in Curacao's capital city runs along the sea for a quarter mile. The Waterfort Arches are 30 feet high and built of 17th-century stone. They were first built as storage chambers for food, munitions, and medical supplies for use during the many European wars fought in the region. They also were used by servicemen as a lookout for Nazi submarines during World War II. Today cruise ships dock at the harbor and the waterfront is lined with cafes, restaurants, and shops. Punda, filled with 17th- and 18th-century Dutch-style buildings, is the oldest part of the city. The 17th Century Governors' Palace is one of the oldest buildings on Curacao and is now used as the seat of government for the Netherlands Antilles. The gabled Penh & Sons Building, built in 1708, now operates as a shop. Shoppers can check out the old market, or Old Marshe, in the town center, and there are also two pedestrian malls closed to traffic.