For our first days in Curaçao, we chose this resort because we wanted a quiet, relaxed place close to the beach. As soon as we arrived by taxi (70 dollar!!!) the staff started saying we should've ordered a transfer, while at the moment we booked by e-mail, they didn't mention that! The next morning we wanted to go to the supermarket to get some breakfast and then they told us the closest supermarket was near Willemstad, where we could only get with a bus going every 2 hours...!!! The whole action took us half of a day... Disappointed by this, we decided to rent a car but when we asked them, the reception girl simply told us all the cars were already rented out. When we asked if we could go on internet to look ourselves for a rental company, the reception girl said the computer didn't work and when we asked to take a look at it she said no, so we could really feel her will to help us.
The closest beach was a little bit disappointing too, so really not much to do besides hanging out at the pool, which was very nice we must say, but not a day-filling activity.
The place was very nice, it's really a pity that the reception staff was not so helpful - the last day we were told that the reception girl was an intern from Holland and that she was given too much responsabilities. Indeed she wasn't really willing to help with anything else than cashing our money (we arrived at 11:30 pm and the first thing they asked us was to pay the room).
On top of this, the last night we didn't get any sheets for the bed and when we asked for it, they told us all the sheets were being washed somewhere on the island and that they hadn't been delivered yet. At 10:30 pm they finally brought us some synthetic bed cover instead.
If you do decide to stay here, bring a lot of food and amusement or rent a car!!!

Really enjoyed dinner here. So much so, we came back for a second night during our one week stay. Very friendly owner, interesting history, and good to very good food. It's a mile or so down the road from Kura Hulanda, where we were staying.

Not many restaurant choices in the area, but we liked the food here more than Jaanchies. The local corn meal side dish was particularly interesting.

We just got back from our trip to Curacao. We registered to stay at the Rancho El Sobrino Resort in Westpunt, Curacao. They had offered when we registered, to have us pay about $800 extra to stay at their Blue View Apartments, but we declined. When we got there, they informed us that they were "upgrading" us to the Blue View Apartments overlooking the beach at Playa Grandi (no need to pay extra). We were picked up at the Airport by Juan and he was very friendly and accommodating. Our stay was from 8/7/10 to 8/21/10.

The Blue View Apartments themselves are very basis dorm-like accommodations made of what seemed to be cheap wood and glass. We were given room 8 and could only tolerate staying there for 3 nights because we were on the bottom floor and there is no sound proofing between the floors. I was awakened repeatedly by the loud sound of footsteps from above. It felt like the people who were staying above use were walking right into our bedroom-like a stampede of elephants. Bianca was very nice and allowed us to move to the second floor on Tuesday, 8/10/10. The apartments look like they need a lot of tender loving care. The closest door in our bedroom fell off the hinges when we got to the upstairs apartment; the power went out on Friday night and then the power continually flicked on and off again into the mid morning hours the next day; maintenance came and fixed it on Saturday only to have the power go out again later that day; the whole time from Friday night at about 11 PM till Saturday morning after 10 AM, the power was flickering on and off making it impossible to sleep with the sound of the appliances turning on and off. Local work on the water line caused the water to turn brown for the day; electrical outlet in the bed room instead of being place lower down on the wall to plug in the bedside lamp was placed on the wall where you lean your pillow up against-very poor planning; the overhead light in the bedroom did not work; the whole apartment seemed to be constructed as an after thought with not much planning or care.

The apartments are in Westpunt which is 45 minutes away from the downtown area and 25 minutes by highway from the closest supermarket. 15-20 minute drive to the closest ATM; there is only one nice sandy beach in the area and it is at Playa Abao, about a seven minute drive; the rest of the beaches are small and rocky-or consist of large pieces of coral. To get the a decent beach other than Playa Abao, you must drive about 25 minutes to a half hour to Playa Porto Marie. I would not recommend staying in this very rural area of the island unless you are a diver. There is not much around except for Christofel Park; Boca Tabla park and the Kura Hulanda Lodge which has a nice dive operator on Playa Kalki. This is Ocean Encounters West and they have a great snorkeling trip to an underwater cave, a shipwreck and to a black sand beach that has a nice coral reef. They also offer a great intro course to scuba diving that I took advantage of. The dive operator at Rancho told me that he was leaving the island for two weeks to go to Germany; he said that he would put me in touch with is associate who would call me and set up an intro course to scuba diving which he never did. Most of the staff at Rancho had a hard time with the English language and could not understand you. This made them come across as unfriendly. Bianca and Juan were nice. Bianca helped me schedule a trip to Klein Curacao. Klein Curacao has the nicest beach in Curacao, but you have to take a two hour boat ride to get there. The water is beautiful in Curacao and Klein Curacao, but on the main island, the beaches are far inferior to those on Aruba. The weather is great in Curacao; hardly any rain as in Aruba.

If you are going to Curacao and are not a diver, I would strongly recommend staying away from this end of the island. You really need to stay at a resort near Willemstad on the other side of the island. The area around Piscadera Bay where the Marriott and Hilton hotels are is nice-we could see Venezuela from the beach at the Marriott. We decided to stay for a night at the new Hyatt at Barbara Beach and that was an awesome resort. We also stayed a night because we got a great rate on Priceline at the Renaissance Resort in town and that was worthwhile and cost less than Rancho. My best advice is to stay at once of the resorts on the southeastern part of the island-leeward side and let the resort help you schedule daily excursions. We found the locals to not be very friendly or welcoming at all and this may also be due to the language barrier.

For us, this was "love at first sight", we arranged a family gathering in Curacao, so we rented a nice house in Willemstaad, but when we traveled along the island, we drove by Rancho el sobrino. and because of that, we closed the house in the city and spent the rest of our stay there, this was the best thing we could do, the staff was as friendly as they can be, rooms clean, good swimming pool, this place has no pretensions of being the best because they are the best, forget about the price [the best rate around] no shortcuts, they provide the ONLY authentic island atmosphere in Curacao, and even, because I am a musician, they allow me to play in father's day, the crowd was a friendly bunch of nice people. I will recommend this place to everybody I can. the best value for vacations and relax in the island; if you do not check this place, shame on you. you are going to loose the best of what you can get in the whole island. By the way, next time I go there I will take the packages, the prices are the best! .