• Take your pick from the island's wide selection of watersports.There are excellent beaches for swimming along the sheltered southwestern coast (some charge an entrance fee). Windsurfing, sailing and waterskiing are popular on the island and the hotels and watersports centres are well equipped. Snorkelling, scuba-diving and deep-sea fishing are also popular and there are plenty of opportunities to participate in these sports. The waters are teeming with underwater life.

• Celebrate with the locals at the Curaçao Carnival. The ancient carnival began as a Catholic rite to represent the Christian practice of 'Carne Levale' or giving up meat for Lent. Today, the event is one of the largest and longest lasting carnival spectacles of the Caribbean – starting in early January and ending late February/March. The main marches, the product of weeks of enthusiastic preparation, take place in February or March. They feature hordes of fantastic floats, costumes and characters, plus carnival 'royalty' elected during full-scale beauty contests.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.