Curacao

  

An island in the southern Caribbean, more precisely (formerly) the Dutch Antilles, West Indies, even more precisely the C of the so-called "ABC Islands" (the other two being Aruba and Bonaire), just a bit off the coast of north-western mainland Venezuela.

 
Curacao is "partly part" of the Netherlands – that is to say it's a former colony that now has a kind of semi-independent status, politically speaking, but remains strongly Dutch influenced (and dependent).

  

The island's exact status is scheduled to change to a somewhat more self-governed form of independence, to put it simply (it's actually a much more complicated matter the details of which are beyond the scope of this website). In any case, the island's very separate location grants it a separate country entry here (cf. Montserrat).

 
The name of the island is probably more familiar to most people as that of a blue cocktail liqueur which indeed originates from the island. But its main source of income these days is tourism – mostly of the traditional Caribbean sun, sea and sand holidays variety (for which Curacao is regarded as a well-kept "secret" destination, which suffers less from overcrowding than some other Caribbean islands).

 
However, there is also one particular site, connected with the island's history as a major former slave trade centre, which makes the island show up on the dark tourism radar too:

  
- the slavery museum Kura Hulanda, Willemstad

  

 
To get to Curacao, most people (at least those without a yacht) will fly in, though cruise ships also frequently head for Curacao. The island has its own international airport just north of the capital Willemstad. From Europe the Dutch carrier KLM provides the main link to Curacao from/via its hub at Schiphol near Amsterdam. From the USA, there are flights from Miami (with American Airlines). In addition there are flights with Avianca from Caracas, Venezuela, and various local airlines provide connections to several other Caribbean destinations.

 
Accommodation options include the Kura Hulanda hotel itself, which for location alone could not be beaten from the point of view of anybody mostly interested in the slavery museum.