Westpunt, Curaçao: The Far End of the Island
Cliff-backed coves, the best diving on Curaçao, and a restaurant worth the hour's drive.
Why Go
Westpunt is the village at Curaçao's north-western tip, about an hour from Willemstad, and the drive is the price of admission for the best stretch of coast on the island. The coves here sit beneath limestone cliffs with water so clear the boats look suspended, the diving is the finest Curaçao has, and Playa Forti has the cliff people jump off. There is a village behind it with a handful of restaurants, one of which has been serving iguana and goat to curious visitors for decades.
The Experience
The landscape changes as you drive north — the suburbs give out, the road narrows, and the land becomes dry hills, cactus and the occasional goat. The coves are the reward: small, cliff-backed and reached down steps or short tracks, each one a pocket of turquoise against grey rock. Playa Forti has the cliff jump and a restaurant looking down on it; Playa Kalki, at the very tip, sits above the dive site divers call Alice in Wonderland. Nearby Playa Piskado is where fishermen clean their catch and green turtles come in to feed, which is the most reliable turtle encounter on the island. It is quiet, remote and entirely un-resortlike, and everything closes early. The distance is doing real work here: an hour of driving is enough to deter the cruise excursions and most of the hotel guests, which is precisely why the reefs are in the condition they are and why the coves are not lined with loungers. Curaçao is a long thin island and its two ends are genuinely different places, a fact that only becomes obvious once you have driven between them.
What to Try
Dive or snorkel — this is the reason to come. Go West Diving Curacao works the sites at this end, and the drop-offs off Playa Kalki are the best on Curaçao. Waterbikes Curacao and Westpunt Aqua Rental cover the surface. Eat at Jaanchie's Restaurant, which has been here for generations, has no written menu and will offer you iguana; it is an institution rather than a novelty. Restaurant Playa Forti sits above the cliff jump, Blue View Sunset Terrace is the view, and Cactus Cafe, Sol Food and Mama Kunuku Gastrobar fill out the village. The Playa Forti grotto and the Punta Azul dive site are the other water features. Christoffel National Park and the wild north coast at Shete Boka are within a short drive and pair naturally with a day up here. Sea Life Souvenirs and Tours and the Playa Kalki ministore cover the practical needs at the top of the island. The shape that works is water in the morning while it is stillest, a long lunch, and the park or the north coast in the afternoon before driving back with the sun behind you.
Insider Tip
Make it a full day and start early. It is an hour each way from Willemstad, everything at this end shuts by early evening, and doing Westpunt as an afternoon trip means arriving as the light goes and the kitchens close. The other thing worth knowing: the jump at Playa Forti is genuinely high and the water below is deep but the entry is unforgiving — plenty of people watch rather than jump, and that is a perfectly reasonable outcome.
The Practical Stuff
Westpunt is about an hour from Willemstad and around fifty minutes from Hato airport, at the north-western tip. You need a car; the bus reaches the village but not usefully for a day of moving between coves. Parking at the beaches is free and informal, sometimes down rough tracks. Facilities are limited — some coves have a bar and a bathroom, others have nothing — so carry water and shade. Several of the best beaches have a small entry or parking fee. Papiamentu and Dutch are the local languages, driving is on the right, and Curaçao lies outside the main hurricane belt, so the water here is calm and clear most of the year.
Common Questions
Is Westpunt worth the drive?
Yes, for the diving and the cliff-backed coves, which are the best on Curaçao. It is about an hour from Willemstad, so treat it as a full day rather than an afternoon.
Where is the best diving in Curaçao?
At this north-western end. The drop-offs off Playa Kalki and the sites along the Westpunt coast are the ones divers travel for, and local operators run them daily.
Can you see turtles near Westpunt?
Playa Piskado nearby is where fishermen clean their catch and green turtles come in to feed, making it the most reliable place on the island to snorkel with them.
How high is the Playa Forti cliff jump?
High enough that a good share of people who drive up to do it decide to watch instead. The water below is deep, but the entry is unforgiving and there is no supervision.
Do you need a car for Westpunt?
Yes. The bus reaches the village but the coves are spread along the coast down separate tracks, and moving between them without a car is impractical.
Are there facilities at the beaches?
It varies — some coves have a bar and bathroom, others nothing at all. Several charge a small entry or parking fee. Carry water and shade regardless.
Pair It With
- Go West Diving Curacao — The sites that justify the hour's drive.
- Jaanchie's Restaurant — Lunch at an institution, with no menu.
- Playa Forti Grotto — The cove, the cliff and the jump.
