A major new all-inclusive resort is about to open on one of Curaçao’s quieter stretches of coastline—but travelers arriving first should know they are signing up for something unusual: part Caribbean vacation, part soft opening.
Beginning October 20, 2026, TUI BLUE Curaçao will welcome its first paying guests to a new 297-room beachfront resort at Groot Santa Martha, on Curaçao’s less-developed western side.
There will be a private beach. Swim-up rooms. Oceanfront accommodations. An infinity-style pool. Unlimited drinks. Beachfront dining. Kayaks and paddleboards.
But there will also still be construction.
TUI BLUE has taken the unusual step of telling prospective guests exactly that.
The company currently describes October 20 as the start of a controlled opening phase, during which parts of the resort will operate while other facilities continue toward completion. Its latest construction update says rooms are being prepared, pools filled, landscaping installed and employees trained, while acknowledging that the eastern side is further along than the western side.
And there is an important distinction between the dates being advertised.
The resort will receive its first guests October 20, while a July opening notice formally moved its official opening date to November 1, 2026. TUI BLUE’s newer pages continue referring to October 20 as the beginning of the opening or pre-opening phase.
For travelers considering being among the first through the doors, that distinction matters.
The location may ultimately be more important than the hotel itself.
A large portion of Curaçao’s better-known resort development sits closer to Willemstad, Mambo Beach, Piscadera and Jan Thiel.
TUI BLUE went west.
Groot Santa Martha sits in the Banda Abou side of the island, where the geography becomes increasingly rugged and development is noticeably less dense.
Here, Curaçao looks different.
There are cactus-covered hills instead of urban streets. Small bays cut into limestone coast. Fishing villages replace shopping districts. And many of the island’s most celebrated beaches sit along this western corridor.
Caribbean Journal has described the TUI BLUE development as part of Curaçao’s hotel expansion toward the quieter west, emphasizing Santa Martha’s bay, dramatic landscape and proximity to tucked-away beaches.
TUI BLUE itself says the property is approximately 27 minutes from Curaçao International Airport, although actual driving time will naturally depend on traffic.
That makes this resort an interesting proposition.
It isn’t really competing with a city hotel in Willemstad.
It is positioning itself as a base for discovering western Curaçao.
This is where the location begins making sense.
West Curaçao contains several of the island’s best-known natural attractions.
Cas Abao Beach combines white sand and remarkably clear water with full facilities and reefs popular with snorkelers and divers. Playa Lagun occupies a narrow cove framed by cliffs and is known for reef fish, coral and frequent turtle activity. Farther west, Grote Knip is one of Curaçao’s most photographed beaches. And Christoffel National Park offers hiking around Curaçao’s highest terrain.
Willemstad, meanwhile, remains available for the day when you want restaurants, nightlife, street art and the UNESCO-listed historic centre.
This location also changes the kind of vacation I’d recommend.
I wouldn’t book TUI BLUE Curaçao and spend seven consecutive days inside the property.
Rent a car.
The resort can provide the easy all-inclusive base—breakfast, drinks, pools, beach and dinner—while western Curaçao supplies the actual adventure.
TUI BLUE has put substantial emphasis on its accommodation categories.
The basic rooms are already large by many Caribbean resort standards. A Partial Ocean View Room, for example, measures about 40 square metres, or roughly 430 square feet, and includes a nine-square-metre balcony, king bed or twins, sofa bed, rain shower, 55-inch television, Wi-Fi and USB charging. It can accommodate two adults and two children. TUI Blue Curaçao
Then things get considerably more interesting.
The Ocean View Swim-Up Room remains approximately 40 square metres but adds direct access from the terrace into the pool.
Its terrace expands to approximately 11 square metres.
These rooms can accommodate two adults and two children aged 13 or older and face toward the Caribbean.
For couples, this is probably the accommodation category that will appear most frequently on Instagram.
Open the sliding door.
Walk across the terrace.
Get into the pool.
No elevator. No searching for loungers. No carrying a beach bag across the resort.
The more romantic option is the Oceanfront Swim-Up Junior Suite.
TUI BLUE lists it at approximately 48 square metres, with an ocean-facing king bed, freestanding bathtub, rain shower, terrace, sun loungers and direct swim-up access.
The resort describes this category as adults-only.
That combination—oceanfront + adults-only + swim-up—could easily become the resort’s signature room.
There are also accommodations where the water belongs to you rather than being shared with neighboring rooms.
A Senior Suite with Private Pool is approximately 68 square metres with a separate living area, partial ocean views and private terrace.
The largest configuration currently advertised is a Two-Bedroom Suite with Private Pool, offering approximately 72 square metres inside plus a 32-square-metre terrace, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, living space and a private pool. It accommodates either four adults or two adults with two children aged 13 or older.
That makes TUI BLUE unusually flexible.
The same resort can sell a fairly conventional family room, a couple’s swim-up room and something approaching a private Caribbean villa experience.
This is the section I would read before booking.
TUI BLUE is not pretending the entire resort will be complete on October 20.
During the initial opening period, the resort says guests should have access to the Main Pool, Oasis Pool Bar, THEAs, IVO Restaurant & Beach, the beach itself, Grab & Go, Snack Court, Kids Playground and a temporary/pop-up spa experience.
Standard rooms and swim-up rooms are also expected to be operating.
Other areas are explicitly listed as not initially available.
Those currently include the Sunset Pool & Bar, Mesa Caribe restaurant, Culinarium restaurant, The Restaurant, permanent spa and gym, Games Room, Kids Splash Pool and completed lobby.
A temporary reception lounge will substitute for the main lobby.
That is a substantial distinction.
Someone seeing polished resort renderings might reasonably assume all three pools, all restaurants and the full spa complex will be waiting.
They won’t necessarily be there on October 20.
At least not all of them.
New hotel openings are notoriously unpredictable.
A resort announces July.
Then August.
Then September.
Reservations continue being sold while guests discover on arrival that landscaping is unfinished, one restaurant is closed and construction workers are still drilling beside the pool.
TUI BLUE Curaçao hasn’t completely avoided that problem—the opening has already moved—but its communication has become unusually explicit.
Its official opening-update page tells travelers that construction remains ongoing, explains which areas are further along, and even advises guests who want a completely finished and settled resort to consider moving their stay later.
That’s important.
It allows October travelers to make an informed decision rather than discovering reality at check-in.
There is potentially an appealing side to being first.
The resort will be operating with fewer guests. Everything is new. Employees are eager. The beach won’t yet have years of traffic behind it. And early guests are effectively participating in the hotel’s first real-world test.
But travelers who become frustrated when a restaurant isn’t open or when construction screening appears in vacation photographs should probably wait.
TUI BLUE is compensating early adopters with aggressive incentives.
Its current Opening Offer advertises 20% off stays between October 20 and December 1, 2026.
There’s also a broader Founding Guest promotion.
Under that offer, guests staying during the qualifying opening phase can receive 20% off the first stay, 15% off future stays for life, VIP check-in on later visits, possible complimentary room upgrades when available, a filled minibar on arrival and a Founding Guest keepsake. The current Founding Guest page describes qualifying stays through February 1, 2027.
That creates an interesting proposition.
You’re accepting some opening-period uncertainty today in exchange for a permanent discount if you become a repeat guest.
One detail is worth noticing: the resort currently has different promotional pages referring to slightly different opening-offer periods. The basic opening discount references December 1, while the Founding Guest program references February 1.
Travelers should therefore verify the exact terms attached to their reservation rather than assuming every offer is interchangeable.
Once the phased opening is complete, the experience becomes considerably larger.
The planned resort includes a main pool, more peaceful adults-preferred Sunset Pool, spa pool, kids’ splash area, BLUE Spa and BLUEf!t gym. There will also be padel and multisport facilities, fitness and wellness classes, aqua fitness, aqua cycling and beach workouts.
The finished watersports program is expected to include complimentary kayaks and stand-up paddleboards, alongside an on-site diving and snorkeling centre.
That diving component is especially relevant here.
Curaçao reported more than 70 dive sites, including more than 38 accessible directly from shore, and was recognized as a leading Caribbean dive destination in 2026.
A resort on the quieter western coastline with its own diving operation makes considerably more sense than a giant property focused exclusively on pool entertainment.
TUI BLUE describes its Santa Martha beachfront as a private white-sand beach, with loungers, umbrellas and towels included.
The resort says accommodations can sit as little as approximately 20 metres from the shoreline and promotes the bay for swimming, snorkeling and paddleboarding.
This is not the broad Atlantic-style beach associated with some Dominican Republic or Cancun mega-resorts.
Curaçao’s western coastline works differently.
Its best beaches frequently occupy coves and protected bays.
That creates the extraordinarily clear, generally calmer turquoise water for which the island is known.
And because TUI BLUE faces westward across the Caribbean, sunset should become one of the property’s natural selling points.
That explains the aptly named Sunset Pool.
Once it opens.
TUI BLUE’s complete dining program is designed around several restaurants and casual outlets.
Official Curaçao tourism information describes the finished property as having six restaurants, while the resort’s detailed all-inclusive material currently describes a collection of buffet, beachfront, Caribbean, tasting-menu and café concepts.
IVO Beach is perhaps the easiest concept to understand: beachfront lunch during the day, then grilled food and a more atmospheric dinner experience beside the water.
The Restaurant is intended to handle breakfast and dinner buffet service.
Mesa Caribe brings small plates and shared dishes influenced by Caribbean flavours.
Culinarium is positioned toward a more refined tasting/fine-dining experience.
THEAs handles coffee, pastries, smoothies and lighter bites.
Additional snack and Grab & Go concepts fill the gaps between meals.
Under the regular all-inclusive concept, guests are promised unlimited house drinks and a combination of buffet dining plus à-la-carte experiences.
But again, October is different.
During the earliest phase, TUI BLUE says dining will rely on the operating buffet facilities plus a changing pop-up à-la-carte concept while the remaining permanent restaurants are completed.
I’d actually emphasize that in your article rather than burying it.
Someone booking October 22 deserves to know they aren’t receiving the exact same restaurant lineup that someone visiting in 2027 should receive.
This is not an adults-only resort.
TUI BLUE actively markets the property toward families, couples and honeymooners, and the hotel will include family rooms, children’s facilities and a playground.
But it isn’t being designed like a giant children’s resort either.
Certain swim-up accommodations carry minimum ages.
The Oceanfront Swim-Up Junior Suite is adults-only.
And the Sunset Pool is described as adults preferred, providing a quieter area within the wider property.
That hybrid positioning could work particularly well for couples who don’t necessarily require an adults-only resort but also don’t want every pool built around children.
The final BLUE Spa is planned as a proper wellness centre rather than a treatment room squeezed beside the gym.
TUI BLUE’s wellness concept connects spa treatments with yoga, mindfulness, mobility work, breathing exercises and fitness programming. BLUEf!t plans sunrise boot camps, yoga-style sessions, beach workouts, aqua fitness, padel and other activities.
But the permanent spa and fitness centre are among the facilities not expected to be fully operating at the beginning of the October phase.
Early guests are instead being offered a pop-up spa, including temporary treatment spaces and in-room massages.
Again: potentially perfectly acceptable.
But different from what the finished-resort photographs and amenities list might lead someone to expect.
There is another interesting part of the story.
The property occupies the site of the former Coral Cliff Hotel at Groot Santa Martha.
When construction formally began, local reporting put the project investment at around US$80 million and said it was expected to create approximately 400 jobs. Developers argued that redeveloping an existing hotel site reduced environmental impact compared with starting from completely undeveloped land.
The project has also promoted solar energy, water-management measures, local sourcing and employment in the surrounding Soto/Bándabou area.
That local economic dimension is worth watching.
Large Caribbean all-inclusives can generate legitimate criticism when much of the guest spending remains locked inside the resort.
TUI BLUE’s more isolated western location makes that tension particularly interesting.
Will guests remain behind the all-inclusive gates?
Or will the property actually send them into West Curaçao’s beaches, villages, dive sites and cultural attractions?
The latter would make the resort considerably more consequential for the surrounding area.
I would.
Especially here.
If you’re staying at a central Willemstad resort, taxis can handle much of your trip.
At Santa Martha, having your own vehicle changes everything.
You can spend the morning snorkeling at Playa Lagun.
Continue toward Grote Knip.
Visit Christoffel National Park early another morning.
Stop at Cas Abao.
Drive into Willemstad one evening.
Then come back to an all-inclusive resort where dinner and drinks are already paid for.
TUI BLUE itself lists car-rental assistance among the services planned for the property.
That’s probably the version of the vacation I’d choose.
All-inclusive convenience without an all-inclusive prison sentence.
The first weeks make sense for a very specific traveler.
For that person, October could actually be fun.
You’re essentially seeing the resort before everyone else.
If your dream vacation involves checking into a completely polished resort where every restaurant, pool, spa facility and entertainment venue is guaranteed to be operating at full capacity, don’t book October 20.
TUI BLUE itself has effectively said the same thing.
Construction and finishing work will remain in certain areas. Facilities will open progressively. Schedules may change. Parts of the property may be screened from guests.
I’d give the same advice to honeymooners whose trip needs to be perfect.
A honeymoon isn’t the ideal occasion to discover that the romantic pool you’ve been looking at online opens two weeks after you leave.
Book later.
This is likely to become one of the biggest Google searches surrounding the resort, so it deserves a direct answer.
October 20, 2026 is when TUI BLUE Curaçao plans to receive its first guests.
However, the resort’s July construction notice established November 1 as its official opening date, with October 20 beginning a controlled phased-opening period.
The most recent updates still refer to October 20 as the pre-opening/opening phase, with facilities continuing to come online.
So both dates can appear online without necessarily being contradictory.
For travelers, October 20 is the practical date that matters: you can stay there.
For someone asking when the completed resort officially launches, November 1 is the formal date previously announced by the hotel.
And even after November 1, travelers should check the resort’s opening-update page because TUI BLUE warns that facilities and schedules during October and November may continue being introduced progressively.
As of October 7, 2026, the newest detailed construction update published by TUI BLUE is dated September 28.
At that point, guestrooms were being prepared, additional pools were filling, landscaping was taking shape, facilities were undergoing testing and staff training was underway.
The resort said the east side was approaching final finishing work, while its western portion still required more progress.
Importantly, TUI BLUE has also begun publishing real construction footage rather than only architectural renderings.
The hotel even explicitly notes that its latest update contains real footage with “no AI and no renders,” a refreshing bit of transparency in an era when pre-opening hotel marketing can sometimes make it nearly impossible to distinguish finished buildings from computer-generated ones.
TUI BLUE also links to an official preview of the resort:
Watch the TUI BLUE Curaçao resort preview on YouTube
Yes.
But probably not for the reason you’d expect.
Curaçao doesn’t desperately need another all-inclusive.
What makes this development interesting is where TUI has put it.
Western Curaçao remains one of the island’s great advantages.
The beaches are smaller and more dramatic.
The diving is excellent.
Christoffel rises behind the coastline.
The landscape feels increasingly wild as you travel farther from Willemstad.
And yet the large-scale resort sector has historically been concentrated elsewhere.
Putting a 297-room international all-inclusive brand at Santa Martha potentially changes the geography of tourism on the island.
That can be good or bad depending on how the development evolves.
More travelers will discover Banda Abou.
More jobs and visitor spending can reach western communities.
But increased tourism also puts pressure on places precisely because they remain quieter today.
That’s why TUI BLUE Curaçao is worth watching beyond its infinity pools.
October 20 will not be the day TUI BLUE Curaçao magically becomes a fully completed 297-room resort overnight.
It will be the day the first chapter begins.
The first guests will check into new rooms overlooking Santa Martha Bay.
Some will step directly from their terraces into swim-up pools.
They’ll drink beside the Main Pool.
They’ll eat on the beach at IVO.
They’ll explore western Curaçao.
And somewhere elsewhere on the property, workers may still be putting the finishing touches on the next restaurant, pool or spa facility.
That’s not necessarily a reason not to go.
It’s a reason to know what you’re buying.
For travelers willing to accept the quirks of a soft opening, the current discounts and Founding Guest benefits make October and November intriguing.
For everyone else, wait until the construction fences disappear and let those first guests test everything for you.
Either way, TUI BLUE Curaçao is one of the Caribbean’s most interesting resort openings of late 2026—not simply because it’s new, but because it brings large-scale all-inclusive tourism into a very different corner of Curaçao.
And by this time next year, Santa Martha Bay may feel considerably less undiscovered.
Official website: TUI BLUE Curaçao
First guests: October 20, 2026, during a phased opening
Formally announced official opening: November 1, 2026
Location: Groot Santa Martha, Soto, western Curaçao
Rooms and suites: 297
Concept: All-inclusive beachfront resort
Accommodation highlights: Ocean-view, oceanfront, swim-up and private-pool categories
Full resort concept: Multiple pools, restaurants and bars, spa, fitness, diving and watersports
Opening-period offer: 20% discount under current direct-booking promotions
Audience: Couples, honeymooners, families, divers and travelers wanting a quieter Curaçao base
The Curaçao Tourist Board currently describes the completed resort as a 297-room property with a private beach, multiple pools, six restaurants, wellness facilities and easy access to western Curaçao’s diving, hiking and beaches.
