Den Paradera

Den Paradera is a labour of love created by Dinah Veeris, a herbalist who set out to rescue Curaçao's traditional plant knowledge before it disappeared. Set in the open eastern countryside (Banda Ariba) at Seru Grandi, on the Weg naar Fuik a short drive east of Willemstad, the garden is an ethnobotanical Kunuku (the local word for the rural smallholdings of the interior) where hundreds of medicinal and useful plants grow as they would have around an old island homestead.

A guided walk through the garden is really a walk through the island's living folk culture. The plants, aloe, calabash, cacti, herbs, and trees, are labelled and explained for their traditional uses in healing, cooking, and ritual, knowledge passed down through generations and rooted in the island's African heritage. You learn how aloe soothes the skin, which leaves brew for fever, and how plants were woven into daily life.

A peaceful, personal place

This is a quiet, unhurried attraction rather than a polished theme park, and that authenticity is the appeal. A small shop sells aloe products, herbal teas, and natural remedies made on site, and there is a reconstructed traditional dwelling that shows how rural Curaçaoans once lived.

• Guided tours bring the plant lore to life and are well worth taking.
• It pairs naturally with other stops on the east side of the island, such as the Spanish Water area.

Wear sun protection and comfortable shoes, go in the morning when it is cool and the garden is fragrant, and take the guided walk to get the full story behind the plants.