October is the craziest month of the year for me, but that won’t stop me from trying out a new beach club. Last week was my birthday and to spare my husband from having to do even more planning, I booked us a day at Mondi City Beach Club! I’d been seeing advertisements all over for this beach club, which opened late December 2024, and I’m a sucker for beach days, so why not spend my birthday there?

This beach club is not going to be like my review of Brass Boer. As indicated in the name, this is a “city beach club” so it’s going to have a different experience than other beach clubs in Curacao. That said, keep reading to find out if Mondi City Beach Club is right for you and how I spent my birthday here!

Table of Contents

• About Mondi City Beach Club
• Location
• Mondi City Beach First Impressions
• Our Beach Cabana
• Bed Types + Pricing
• Beach Massage at Feel
• Mondi Restaurant
• Was It Worth It?
• Who Is This For?
• Kat’s Final Thoughts

About Mondi City Beach Club

Mondi is a Caribbean hospitality brand founded by a Curacao-born professional chef Justin Niessen. There are several Mondi bar and restaurant concepts in the Netherlands, and two new concepts in Curacao. Mondi City Beach is the first beach club for the brand, and they just opened in December of 2024. Their newest concept, Mondi Jan Thiel, is a restaurant located at Livingstone Resort in Jan Thiel.

It’s exciting to hear about someone born and raised in Curacao wanting to spread their culture and cuisine with the world. Mondi’s vibe at all of their locations is unmistakably contemporary with a focus on the vibrant Caribbean experience. I certainly felt that at Mondi City Beach.

Location

Mondi City Beach is located right next to the Curacao cruise port just past Rif Mangrove Park. There was a cruise ship docked on the day of our visit so we naturally kept driving towards the ship to get to the beach club. We drove by Rif Fort and the Renaissance Mall (where our beloved Starbucks lives) all the way down towards the cruise port. After we passed the sign for Rif Mangrove Park, we could start to see the entrance for Mondi City Beach.

Parking was no issue at all. There were plenty of empty spaces in front of Mondi’s entrance. The beach club is at the end of a good stretch of road so even if there were no parking spaces available, you’d certainly be able to park on the road or by the park.

Mondi City Beach First Impressions

When I first walked through the gates of Mondi City Beach, I was surprised that we were one of the first ones there. We walked up to the host booth and informed the hostess that we had a cabana reservation under my name. Our hostess pointed to the cabana decked out with faux flowers and said, “Here’s your birthday cabana! Happy birthday!” She then promptly brought us food and drink menus, a bottle of still water, and two towels.

I took the opportunity while it was quiet to walk around the beach club, and I have to say that the area is quite small. The other end of the beach club connects with the Mangrove Beach Resort’s beach area which I could see beyond a locked gate. There was a long swimming pool with a cute swim up bar and water fountain feature facing the ocean. There was also an indoor/outdoor restaurant with another full bar inside. The end of the beach area was home to a massage cabana outfitted by Feel.

Most importantly, there is no ocean access at this beach club. You can see the ocean, but you swim in the pool. This may be due to the close proximity to the cruise ships, though we did see a kayaking group row through here after finishing their Rif Mangrove Park tour. For me, this wasn’t a deal breaker as I was here to relax and enjoy the sunshine so I headed back to my cabana to do just that.

Our Beach Cabana

Our cabana was pretty standard for the island. It came with a large raised bed, pillows, a covered palapa (this came in clutch when it started to rain), a ceiling light, two side tables, a beanbag in the sand, and another side table in the sand. There are only 4 cabanas at Mondi City Beach and they’re all located next to each other so there’s not a lot of privacy compared to other beach clubs.

What I loved about our cabana was that it faced the ocean. What I didn’t love was that our view was taken up by the Norwegian Escape, but that was my bad for not looking at the cruise schedule before making a reservation here. Our cabana experience included a bottle of water, two towels, a snack platter, and a bottle of wine or prosecco.

Bed Types + Pricing

There are 3 different types of beach beds you can reserve at Mondi City Beach. First is the Daybed, which is a cushioned lounge chair positioned in less favorable areas around the beach club. This could be in the corner of the pool area, by the host stand, or quite a distance from the ocean. Typically the cost is around $15 USD per bed for the day, but sometimes they run promos for a free bed with a minimum restaurant spend. Water and towels are not included with the regular daybeds, so keep that in mind.

Next up is the Premium Daybed which is positioned closer to the pool and ocean. A handful of them face the ocean and the rest face inward towards the pool, though I’m sure you could rotate them if you wanted. Typically the cost for the premium daybed is $25 USD per bed and that includes water and towels. To be honest, it’s not entirely clear when you get there what is considered a daybed or premium daybed. I saw people lounging in what looked like premium daybeds near the pool but they didn’t get towels or water.

Finally, there is the Cabana XL located right on the sand facing the ocean. These seats have the best location in the beach club, though there are only 4 of them so there’s a chance they could sell out. This cabana has the most inclusions, and it’s also the most expensive at $150 per cabana. As mentioned above, this will come with a bottle of water, towels, a snack platter, and a bottle of prosecco or wine.

Beach Massage at Feel

The day of our visit there was a hip hop and R&B playlist going which set a nice vibe for the day. After some relaxation in our cabana, it was time for my massage and thankfully I didn’t have to walk far. Mondi City Beach partnered with Feel, a massage studio in Kura Hulanda Village, to offer massages on the beach.

Now, I personally go to Feel in Kura Hulanda when I don’t want to travel all the way to 8 the Experience at Coral Estate for a massage so I was excited to hear about this new partnership. Just a few steps beyond the restaurant tucked into a corner of the beach club is a cabana with two massage tables. Instead of walls, there were flowing curtains allowing in a lovely sea breeze. The pool’s fountain feature is right behind the cabana so you can have your massage to the sound of water.

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My husband gifted me a deep tissue massage here, and I really enjoyed it. Getting that sea breeze coupled with the sound of the water fountain put me in a meditative state. The hour went by too fast and before I knew it, time was up. The massage therapist has a credit card machine so payments can be made after treatment.

Mondi Restaurant

For those that are curious about Mondi City Beach but don’t want to commit to full day of relaxation, having lunch or dinner at Mondi Restaurant is a great alternative. During our beach day we ordered breakfast from the restaurant which was delivered to our cabana. I had the smashed avocado croissant which was almost like an eggs benny with avocado and a smushed croissant. My husband had the shrimp tacos, a recommendation from his trainer. Both dishes were delicious and flavorful.

After a few hours had passed, we started to feel peckish and put in the request for our snack platter. I was expecting the typical Dutch beach bites like bitterballen, cheese balls, spring rolls, and chicken nuggets, but this was on another level. Our snack platter came with barbecue meatballs, cheeseballs, tostones with pico de gallo, fried chicken bites, and ceviche tacos.

The restaurant itself is beautiful and very Caribbean feeling. There’s an indoor portion with plenty of seats and a bar (the AC wasn’t on as the doors were open when I went) and an outdoor section by the pool with cute little umbrellas for shade. I know Mondi City Beach hosts a lot of events, especially on the weekends, so the restaurant is really where it’s at.

Was It Worth It?

From my perspective as someone who lives in Curacao and has access to many beach clubs on the island, I think Mondi City Beach is a solid option but can improve on their value. For $150 for a cabana, I don’t quite see the value when a more exclusive experience with ocean access like Brass Boer is $175. Or when Zest Beach Club, which is closer to us, is about $45 for a cabana including water and a towel plus a sandy beach and swimmable ocean.

Value aside, I’d love to see them improve on their beach service as well. The server who brought our waters and took our food order ghosted us and we had to walk to the restaurant if we needed anything. Not a big deal, and very on par with “Caribbean time,” but it doesn’t match up with a $150 experience, in my opinion. There was also some discarded trash wedged in between the rocks in front of our cabana. We had an instance in which some guests sat in the cabana next to us and smoked cigarettes before going back to their day beds.

On the positive side, I love how close it is to Rif Fort and Renaissance Mall. If there wasn’t a cruise ship docked on the day I went, I know I’d enjoy the view of the ocean much more. The food we received was tasty and high quality. Being close to the Rif Mangrove Park could make for a great detour before heading to the beach club as well.

Who Is This For?

I mentioned above that there are several beach clubs on the island, each with different amenities, prices, and vibes, so who would I recommend Mondi City Beach for? I would undoubtedly recommend this beach club to cruisers who want to walk around downtown Willemstad and then relax not far from their ship. With other beach clubs, you can get stuck in traffic and the transportation eats away at the relaxation time. At Mondi you can stay on the beach pretty close to your onboard time since it’s so close and walkable.

I’d also recommend Mondi City Beach for anyone who wants to relax during the day and party at night. Mondi Restaurant puts on pool parties, ladies nights, wine festivals, and deals on champagne with the sparklers attached to them. They know how to throw a good party and have a fun time at night, so if that’s your vibe then this will be great for you.

Kat’s Final Thoughts

I’m always down to try out a new place, and I’m glad I checked this beach club out. Now, when cruisers ask me if there’s a beach not too far from the cruise port, I can point them to Mondi. I’ll definitely be back to have lunch or dinner at their restaurant. Laying on the beach bed and staring at the cruise ship made me appreciate how lucky I am to live on this island and celebrate another birthday here.