Curaçao, formerly part of the Netherlands Antilles and prior to that the Dutch West Indies, is a Lesser Antilles island located in the southern Caribbean Sea. The island was originally colonised by Arawaks before being enslaved by the Spanish conquistadors. In the 17th century, after the Netherlands attained independence from Spain, Dutch settlers annexed the island and Willem Usselincx (one of the founding fathers of the Dutch West India Company) established Curaçao’s capital of Willemstad.

Since the 1970s, tourism, along with petroleum refining and offshore finance, has been a mainstay of Curaçao’s economy. Blue Bay was one of the very few golf courses to have been constructed to keep visiting golfers occupied when on vacation to the island. However, Blue Bay was joined by a second course in 2010 at Santa Barbara Plantation. Pete Dye’s Old Quarry layout has now turned tropical Curaçao into a delightful double golfing cocktail to be sipped with a cool and delicious Blue Lagoon.

Our Caribbean and Atlantic Islands rankings were last updated in February 2020. Click the link to read the story.