I had been wanting to try out the beach club at Baoase for the longest time, and what better occasion to go than my birthday? I had been dropping hints to my husband all last month until I finally came right out and said, “let’s go to Baoase for the day”. Points for trying, right? [UPDATE: As of early 2025, Baoase opened up an additional beach concept called Bida Beach. This blog post is about the Baoase Resort Beach – the original experience.]

Baoase Luxury Resort is well-known for being the nicest hotel in Curacao. They offer 5-star accommodations and service as well as partner with luxury consortia, Virtuoso, to offer elevated benefits. We had previously visited the resort for a romantic dinner on our anniversary last year and made a promise to come back and try out their beach some day. The day finally came and I’ve written a full breakdown of what to expect when you book a day pass at Baoase Luxury Resort. Is this beach club the right fit for you? Keep reading to find out!

Location

Baoase Luxury Resort is located less than a 10-minute drive from the Punda side of downtown Willemstad. It’s conveniently located to some amazing restaurants in the Pietermaai District, city happenings in downtown Willemstad, and shopping at Mambo Beach. For any cruisers reading this, Baoase is about a 10-minute drive from the cruise port.

It’s important to note that Baoase is about a 45-minute drive from the more beautiful and popular beaches on the west side of the island. Baoase’s private beach is more of a calm lagoon with a small opening for ocean access. Still a beautiful sandy beach, but not expansive like you would find at Cas Abou, for example.

Parking

There is complimentary self-parking just outside of the resort. You’ll see spots marked “guest parking” and there are security guards walking around the area. We felt perfectly safe leaving our car parked outside of the resort. Baoase is located within a quiet residential area with minimal foot traffic so parking is a breeze.

The Beach Club

Upon entering Baoase, we were met by a security guard who checked to make sure our names were on the Day Pass list. She kindly escorted us through the beautiful jungle-like property until we reached the Culinary Beach Restaurant which opened up to the large ocean lagoon. Since we showed up first thing in the morning, we basically had our pick of chairs.

The beach club is laid out in a U-shape with some loungers facing the restaurant and beach while others face the lagoon and open ocean. We decided to settle on covered loungers close to the restaurant so we could both view the lagoon and the ocean.

The first thing we noticed about the beach loungers was their quality. These were the most plush beach chairs we had ever seen! They were already covered with towels for us with additional towels for drying off after swimming. The second thing we noticed was the eclectic music played. There are outdoor speakers stealthily hidden around the beach and throughout the day we heard various playlists from 90’s Latin hits to Yacht Rock and then electronic remixes of pop hits.

When we settled into our loungers we were immediately greeted by our Beach Butler who brought us a bottle of still water (Acqua Panna) and introduced us to the call button and the QR codes for the menus. He let us know that a complimentary fruit bowl will be provided at 11 AM and that lunch will start at 12 PM. There was also a complimentary afternoon snack that would be provided shortly after lunch ended. Anything else that we ordered would be charged to us at the end of the day.

The Vibe

I would describe the beach club at Baoase as calm, tranquil, and relaxing. We didn’t hear loud music at all. Guests at the beach primarily kept to themselves and chatter was at a low volume. Even the kids playing were doing so respectfully and quietly. This is the complete opposite of the beach club at Zanzibar or Zest (Jan Thiel Beach) where all you hear are kids playing, people chatting, and music pumping. Those that enjoy a quiet beach day – this is totally for you!

The Lagoon

Baoase’s Beach Club has a sandy beach with a calm lagoon which is perfect for floating around all day. It’s also fantastic for families looking for calm waters for their kids with fluffy sand for building sand castles. I would describe the lagoon as a large ocean pool.

Throughout the day we saw families snorkeling, kayaking, and even fishing in the lagoon. We saw well-behaved kids digging the sand with their toys, and couples reading their books. My husband and I took a dip to cool off at one point and the water temperature was perfect – cool enough to be refreshing under the hot Caribbean sun.

Compared to Zest Beach Club at Jan Thiel Beach, the beach club at Baoase has some of the calmest waters and most quiet environment I’ve experienced so far. The beach at Zest is chalk full of people bouncing up and down with the waves. People on jet skis hang out among the crowds and swimmers eventually move out of the way for the BlueFinn catamaran to dock at Zanzibar. It’s pretty chaotic in comparison with Baoase, but some people may feel that Baoase is too quiet and maybe even boring for that reason.

Lunch at Baoase Culinary Restaurant

Included with a Baoase Beach Club Day Pass is a 3-course lunch at their Culinary Beach Restaurant. The menus for this restaurant are expansive and offer cuisine options from Asian to Italian to Beach Classics. Day passers can choose one starter, one entree, and one dessert from any of the lunch menus. Let me tell you, this was a lot of food.

Each lunch service starts with a complimentary bread platter including fresh-baked focaccia, polenta fries, and homemade sauces. I ended up ordering a burrata salad as my starter which came with a lovely balsamic dressing. My entree was a margherita pizza with truffle and this was a miss. The dough was flavorless and I couldn’t taste any truffle at all, unfortunately. I’m normally a pizza crust gal, but this time I left them on the plate. Dessert was their spiced chocolate dish with hazelnuts and orange – this was a hit. Delicious with complex flavors and textures, I could eat this any day.

My husband went with two starters and a dessert as he knew this would be a lot of food. He started with a goat cheese salad which was 90% goat cheese and 10% salad greens. This salad was definitely made for lovers of goat cheese! His second starter was the steak tartare with a quail egg which he described as “pretty good”. Since he’s way more cultured and adventurous than I am when it comes to food, he ordered the cheese plate for dessert and loved it. The plate contained a sampling of some of the stinkiest cheeses which he happily devoured.

One of our biggest gripes with lunch was that it took so long. You put in your lunch order at 12 PM so that the food can be ready for you at the time you request, right? Well, that’s not really how it worked as we waited up to 30 minutes between courses. We sat at the restaurant at 2 PM and finished up at 3:30 PM with only an hour and a half left to enjoy the beach. I totally understand the concept of island time, but I think the disconnect came from being asked to schedule a time for our lunch to be ready when it wasn’t. The lunch at Baoase was a whole affair and I personally would’ve just ordered beach bites from the menu so I could enjoy more beach time. Note: The 3-course lunch is part of the day pass, you can’t purchase a day pass without it and you cannot swap out lunch with anything from the beach bites menu.

The Service

The service is one of the highlights of Baoase’s Beach Club! There are dedicated beach butlers who attend to you at the press of a button next to your chair, a service not common on the island. Each butler we spoke with was kind and prompt with an eye for detail. They were constantly walking around the beach picking up empty glasses and plates and checking in with guests.

Water Toys

Right by the beach is a cute little beach hut full of water and beach toys. This was unmanned most of the day so guests would come right up and take what they needed. The hut stocked snorkels, kayaks, pool noodles, floating loungers, and even a basket of sand castle toys. I appreciated that the hotel adopted a grab-and-go style and there was no issue with the availability of toys.

The kayaks and snorkels were mainly used in the lagoon area during our visit, but we did see guests swimming/rowing out into the open ocean. It looked considerably more choppy so we opted to stay in the calm lagoon.

The Spa

One would expect a 5-star resort to have a spa facility, however Baoase doesn’t have one (yet)! What they do offer are massage services in an open-air palapa right by the beach. The plus side of this arrangement is that they don’t upsell you on any product lines or ask you to change into a robe in a sterile locker room. You simply show up in your bathing suit, take it off, and then lay on the massage bed. The downside is that the spa lacks any kind of identity and you have to pay for the treatments in advance.

Does the “spa” have ocean views? It doesn’t. Even though you’re on the beach the palapa is surrounded by tall foliage providing a layer of privacy and obscuring any sea views. There are only two massage beds in the palapa so I would imagine availability is limited.

My husband booked me a one hour deep tissue massage for this day, and the massage hut was conveniently located just a few steps from our beach bed. I walked into the massage room and was greeted by a lovely woman who asked me to briefly fill out a standard form. My feet were briefly washed and I disrobed while she stood outside. Thank goodness there was a nice breeze that day otherwise I wouldn’t have made due with just an overhead fan! Overall, the massage was nothing special but still enjoyable and relaxing. Note: There is a private shower room next to the beach bathrooms for anyone looking to wash off the oil after.

Pricing

The cost of a day pass at Baoase Luxury Resort doesn’t come cheap, and it’s probably one of the most expensive day passes you can get on the island.

Day Pass Cost: $199 USD per person [Edit: As of 2025, price increased to $225 per person] which includes –

• Beach Lounger
• Towels
• Use of the water toys
• A bottle of still or sparkling water
• A fruit bowl in the AM
• An afternoon snack in the PM
• A 3-course meal from Baoase Culinary Beach Restaurant

The mandatory 3-course meal has a value of $99 per person, so the actual value of the day pass isn’t bad. The question is whether you want to be forced to eat a 3-course lunch on your relaxing beach day. I prefer to eat light on beach days so this wasn’t my style, though I’m glad I tried it!

Who Would I Recommend This For?

I would love to say that the beach club at Baoase is for everyone, I’d argue that this beach club is for a particular type of person. Here’s who I would send to this beach club:

• Guests who want to splurge for an elevated beach club experience.
• Anyone looking for a quiet and exclusive-feeling beach experience.
• Any families who appreciate sandy beaches and calm waters with plenty of kids toys.
• Foodies who are dying to eat at their beachfront restaurant.
• Cruisers who don’t want to be far from the port and want a beach club experience that’s luxurious and uncrowded.
• Locals who want to celebrate a special occasion in a quiet and intimate beach environment.

I wouldn’t recommend this beach club for anyone looking for a party or any kind of upbeat atmosphere. People on budgets may also find this place out of their comfort zone as cocktails are priced between $16-$20 and beach bites are in the $20-$25 range. Unless you’re sitting particular seats near the ocean opening, you won’t be looking at the open ocean which can be a negative.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we had a lovely day at Baoase Luxury Resort. We love trying new experiences and this one did not disappoint. While it wasn’t our preferred way of enjoying the beach, we’re still glad we did something special for my birthday and I got to feel pampered in a way that I usually wouldn’t at another beach club.

Have you been to the beach club at Baoase Luxury Resort? Let me know in the comments below!