Our Cities
The lively capital, Willemstad is a UNESCO World Heritage. St. Anna Bay divides the city in two parts with Punda in the East and Otrobanda to the West. The two are linked together by the Queen Emma Bridge, known to locals as “The Swinging Old Lady”. In the past, Willemstad was known as a trading port for products from the surrounding Spanish, French and British colonies.
Derived from “punta” in Spanish, Punda was established by the Dutch when they first occupied the Spanish-controlled island in 1634. The city soon began to grow and today Fort Amsterdam serves as the center of government. The basic layout of the area, with its grid of narrow streets, retains its original character. Handelskade, the familiar face of Willemstad, with its Dutch colonial architecture from the 17th and 18th century sports a uniquely Caribbean color scheme unlike anywhere else in the world.
Otrobanda means “the other side” and was first settled in 1707. In the 20th century, Otrobanda became an important cultural center for the emerging Afro-Caribbean middle class on the island. In contrast to Punda’s orderly grid, a maze of winding streets and alleyways give Otrobanda a more intimate feel.
Pietermaai was built at the beginning of the 18th century. Originally a residential neighborhood, the area was named after the Dutch captain Pieter de Meij who settled in Curaçao in 1674. Today’s Pietermaai is a trendy, bohemian neighborhood on the rise. Its lively art scene makes it popular with students, visitors and local alike. Most of the monumental buildings have been restored into their original state and transformed into boutique hotels, and bars.
The Scharloo area was originally used for farming, then partly for shipbuilding. After a strong hurricane destroyed many of the villas in Pietermaai, inhabitants looked for a safer location and moved to Scharloo. Most of these buildings have been beautifully restored and are being used as museums, hotels, offices. Scharloo is slowly but steadily becoming the creative district of Curaçao.
Bandabou or Band’abou is popularly a region designation for the western part of the island of Curaçao, stretching from Grote Berg to Westpunt. The name literally means the bottom (below the wind). Bandabou consists of a vast hilly area with a rugged and characteristic landscape. The north coast, where the sea constantly crashes against the rocks, is steep, rough and inaccessible. On the south coast are the coral reefs and a number of bays and beaches carved into the limestone coral. Sint-Christoffelberg , the highest point of Curaçao, is centrally located in Bandabou.
