Chogogo is a large, beautifully landscaped and maintained resort catering to an upscale Dutch clientele(not necessarily us). It’s located about 10 miles east of Williamsted in a high rent neighborhood on Jan Thiel Bay.
As it is not located directly on the water, don’t expect any grand oceanic vistas. You’ll have to settle for immaculate landscaping. Prices start at $135/night for a studio with a kitchenette. They also have duplexes and whole houses. Expect prices to be high in the winter and mid-summer “high” seasons.
The girls up front were VERY courteous, friendly, and helpful and went out of their way to help us with a couple of special requests.
The restaurant/bar has decent (if not slightly overpriced) food. The "bitterballen" are a must appetizer you have to try. We're more into local food and generally went out for meals if we didn't cook in the room.
We were there in July and the three pools were filled with families on mid-summer vacation. A bit noisy, but no big deal. There was room for all. Extra towels are available outside the office.
Jan Thiel Beach is just a 5 minute walk down the street and is shared by several other resorts as well as the general public (who pay a couple dollars to get in). Nice place, though not a "true beach" with sand right down to the water's edge as one might expect. There is a concrete break wall and a "launch area" instead. There’s a bar, restaurant, and a few shops to relieve you of your burdensome cash. One night a week(?), the beach hosts “Happy Hour” (as do many along the way) which made it a hassle to get past the sizable traffic jam to get up to the resort. A warning would have been nice.
One "problem" is that the A/C is tied to a motion sensor and timer that only allows it to run when it detects your presence. That doesn't really help on hot nights when you're asleep. But when presented with the problem, they explained that it's to prevent the A/C from being left on all day when guest go out(the studios have louvers only, not glass windows) and that they could by-pass the system if we promised to be sure to turn the unit off when we were away and keep the room buttoned up when the A/C was running. We did and they did. It was already done by the time we went back to our room. So it worked out fine.
Overall, it’s a great place to stay albeit a bit pricey for us. But as a splurge, it’s well worth it.
- Chogogo Hotel Curaçao
- Chogogo Resort Curaçao
