What's on in Willemstad (Curacao), Curaçao through the year

Peak crowds — Carnival, Cruise season

• Festival

  Carnival

  10 Jan – 5 Mar · usuallyCrowdedBook early

  One of the longest carnival seasons in the Caribbean: tumba competitions from early January, then the Gran Marcha through Willemstad on Carnival Sunday and the farewell parade on the eve of Ash Wednesday. Carnival Monday is a public holiday. Source ↗

Still on: Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually)), Christmas and New Year (18 Dec – 2 Jan)

Peak crowds — Carnival, Cruise season

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Carnival (10 Jan – 5 Mar (usually)), Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Peak crowds — Carnival, Cruise season

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Carnival (10 Jan – 5 Mar (usually)), Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Busy — Cruise season

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in May.

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in June.

Busy — Flag and Anthem Day, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Holiday

  Flag and Anthem Day

  2 JulNational holiday

  Dia di Bandera on 2 July: blue flags on houses and car bonnets, a formal ceremony in the morning and a day off that empties the offices in Punda and fills the beaches on the west end. Source ↗

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Festival

  Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival

  3–5 SepMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  Three nights of Latin, Caribbean and American acts at the turn of September, and the island's biggest ticketed event by a distance. Flights from Amsterdam and rooms anywhere near Willemstad go early for it. Source ↗

Busy — Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival (3–5 Sep)

Busy — Curaçao Day

• Holiday

  Curaçao Day

  10 OctNational holidayCrowded

  Dia di Pais Kòrsou marks the island becoming a country in its own right within the Kingdom in 2010. It is a public holiday given over to concerts and street parties rather than to parades. Source ↗

Busy — Cruise season

• Season

  Cruise season

  1 Nov – 30 Apr · usuallyCrowded

  Around 600,000 passengers a year come ashore at the Mega Pier or the Otrobanda wharves, most of them in the northern winter. The island sits on the southern fringe of the storm belt, so the ships keep calling when others go quiet. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Cruise season, Christmas and New Year

• Holiday

  Christmas and New Year

  18 Dec – 2 JanChristmas & New YearCrowdedBook early

  Dutch families come over for the fortnight and rates go with them. New Year's Eve is set off by the streets themselves rather than by the government, from dusk until well past midnight, and 31 December is a half-day holiday. Source ↗

Still on: Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))