Curacao a LGBTQ+ Women’s Paradise

It’s been a few busy weeks but I had the wonderful chance to do some site inspections in Curacao a few weeks ago and I’m so glad that I went! I was pleasantly surprised that there was so much diversity and inclusion on the island that it gave me peace of mind on my visit. Curacao has been on my radar for a while now because I have seen and heard that Curacao is a queer friendly Caribbean Island so I had check it out! Upon my arrival, I was greeted by a native that felt like my big brother. He then took me over to the Dreams Curacao Resort for my check in. Driving over to the hotel, I felt this sense of familiarity, like a place I have already visited. It reminded me of my roots, Dominican Republic. Once I settled into my room, I opened the balcony door to welcome the sunset, and the view was incredible.

Dreams Resort Curacao Sunset View

The next day I did a walk-through of both AMR Resort properties in Curacao, Dreams and Zoetry. Zoetry Curacao won my heart. I’m a fan of Zoetry properties because of their top-class hospitality but to see this new property made me feel utterly Zen. After talking business and such I knew I had to keep Zoetry as an option. One thing that I liked about both properties is that they are all-inclusive. Zoetry is more a la carte which means you can eat whenever but its freshly made which is a plus.

Zoetry Curacao Tropical Suite

The following day I made it over to Renaissance Willemstad in the heart of downtown and another great hotel making my choice even harder of where to pick for our 2023 group trip. Renaissance is perfectly positioned to get to shops, restaurants and bars. Literally, everything is walking distance and because they don’t have a beach, they made a beach by their infinity pool which has great views of the ocean and cruise ships that come by. Meals are excellent at the Renaissance and carefully created for those with food sensitivities as well as allergies. Their rooms have cute hues of blue with balconies so you can see the people walking by and shopping.

Renaissance Willemstad Pool/Beachclub

Decisions, decisions! After my stay with Renaissance my last stop was at Avila Beach Resort. Avila has been going through some renovations but as soon as you pass the lobby and are out by the beachfront restaurants you get this sense that you are in paradise. Avila has several areas with different style rooms, it has a private beach with beautiful waters, and a couple of restaurants with delicious meals. I definitely enjoyed my stay and food there even though my time was limited. I also liked that Avila was close to the downtown area making it convenient if you wanted to walk into town. In between my days in Curacao of site inspections, I also did a couple of excursions and checked out a few beaches. I loved everything about Curacao and look forward to bringing a queer women’s group there as I know everyone will love it. Curacao is truly paradise and to add that they are super welcoming and accepting of everyone is the icing on the cake especially for these three properties! Stay in touch for our group trip details as well as the top things to do while you are in town on our next blog!

Crazy for Cartagena!

Just a few weeks ago our lesbian travel vacation was redirected to Cartagena due to some of the requirements and changes in our original plans to Thailand. With all the last-minute planning I’m so grateful that the trip fell into place because we had an absolute blast! I had two months to put it together but with one of my partners from Out in Colombia, a LBGT tour company in Colombia, we recreated a similar experience in Cartagena than we were supposed to have in Phuket which was basically a fun and energetic trip!

We had a long trip flying over to Cartagena as we were coming from the west coast, Los Angeles to be exact. Midway in Miami thankfully we went to American Airlines Admirals Club to rest, eat, and wait for our next flight. Upon arrival in Cartagena, our driver was there to pick us up and take us to Ivy House in Walled City in Old Cartagena. As soon as we entered the Walled City, we all already started to fall in love with its charm and quickly we arrived to check in. After our welcome drinks and appetizers, we all showered to get ready for dinner, it had been a long day. As we headed up to the rooftop, we smelled the yummy dinner being prepared by Nelsy who was our private chef for the week. We ate and got ready to head out. There’s so much that goes on in the Walled City that it can be overwhelming at first. People trying to sell you stuff, others performing as you pass by, women working…tons of beautiful women! We navigated around town and checked out several places including Townhouse Rooftop which was a totally cute vibe with mixed music and yummy cocktails. From there we checked out some other bars but I think we were all jet lagged still so eventually got back to the villa to rest.

The next day Belkin met us at the villa for a cultural tour. She’s a lesbian tour guide and I was so excited to have her go out with us for the day. We headed over to the San Felipe Fortress, Monastery of La Popa, and enjoyed the typical street food of Cartagena. Belkin gave us deep insight to the history of Cartagena which was like other Caribbean history. It humbled us as we have it so much better than many had in the past. The following day we took a catamaran out to Playa Blanca and its nearby beaches. It was a beautiful day to soak up the sun and water considering we were there in the winter while everyone else had been experiencing cold weather. The views of the high rises as we left the city and headed to the islands were beautiful. It was definitely worth the trip. On our 3rd day of the trip, we had the day open to rest as the water is always exhausting but headed out in the evening for our dance tour. This tour was so much fun! I don’t know if it was all the music or that we had a couple of drinks before we headed out but maybe it was both! March our tour guide picked us up at the villa and we walked over to Café del Mar for some live Vallenato a traditional Colombian genre of music. From there we met May our other tour guide and we danced in the streets to cumbia which was so much fun as we were in our own world enjoying it all! From there we stopped at Parque Fernandez Madrid for a show we weren’t expecting with folkloric music as well as traditional cumbia. If that wasn’t enough, we walked over to Getsmani to the Caponera Café Bar for some salsa dancing and Champeta, an African inspired dance in Colombia! Did I mention that at every stop we had shots which was part of the tour?? Aguardiente, rum, coffee, and more rum!! By this time, we were all super giddy dancing in the middle of Getsmani and wrapped up at the last bar with some more dancing before heading back. I must say this night was a special one and the group made it even more fun!

At that point, our trip had been amazing, we had lesbian tour guides, Cartagena was gay friendly, and we never felt disrespected. On top of that, the towns colors, charm, history was a great experience. After all the dancing the night before our next excursion was to Bora Bora Beach Club in the Rosario Islands and what a great spot that we highly recommend! Of course, we had VIP service because that’s how we roll at Ladies Touch Travel but we just enjoyed our plush day beds, meals, drinks, and beautiful beach all day.

On our second to last day, we had some down time to go shopping as we were right in the middle of everything. Souvenir shops, apparel, you name it and super inexpensive. We literally shopped til we dropped! After all the shopping we got our covid tests done and had dinner before our last excursion of the week. For our last night we went out on a traditional Chiva bus ride. Chiva buses were designed to transport goods in the past but gained popularity as a “party bus” experience. We rolled around the city in the Chiva and of course DANCED for a couple of hours literally! We realized with all these tours Colombians love music and to dance, we experienced that all week no matter where we went. We didn’t mind all the energy, we fit right in! To wrap up the tour we got dropped off at City Club in Cartagena the local LGBT club and continued to dance til the weeee hours of the night. The night was filled with fun memories, and we made new friends in the process. So many beautiful people and good music!

So, what do we think about Cartagena? We are crazy about Cartagena!! If you love culture, dancing, beaches, and high energy then Cartagena has your name all over it. We loved it so much that we plan to take another group to Cartagena this Summer 2022 so stay tuned! Check in with us in a few weeks on our site for trip details. Our group trips are about creating new friendships and having unforgettable memories as we did on our trip so join us to have a one-of-a-kind experience!