Bonaire accommodations

[Tim Ingersoll]

Okay my buddy and I have decided to take the plunge and head to Bonaire in January, 2009. I am looking for a non-resort environment like a rental villa or two bedroom condo which is convenient to bars and retaurants. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[DeputyDan]

Bonaire is so small almost everything is convenient - not walking convenient but not more than 10 minutes either.

 

[RICHinNC]

Agree on the not walking close...and if that is ok....and you want off the beaten path...quiet and nice.....try the Golden Reef Inn. DvrLiz on here owns it. Give her a buzz and they have a website.

 

[diversteve]

A couple of places come to mind:

BelMar Condos in Belnem south of town
Den Laman Condos north of town
Also check out Sun Rentals Twin Villa's (2BR) page.

Pretty much everything is listed here: Info Bonaire - Hotel, Resort, Condo, and Apartment Listings on Bonaire in Alphabetical Order

Most places will be a 5-10min. drive to Kralendijk where most of the bars/restaurants are. All of the larger dive resorts north of town also have their own. The only one we tried was Rumrunners at Habitat and I was disappointed.

Karel's is the over-the-water bar downtown, City Cafe is another spot nearby and most of the good restaurants are in town - with a few exceptions. Not a lot of nightlife on Bonaire.

Personally I wouldn't stay in town, most of the places are not on the water since there's a boardwalk/road along the water and you'll mostly have to drive somewhere else to dive. Less of an issue on Bonaire since you shoredive anyway.

Liz at Golden Reef Inn mentioned above is dvrliz1 here.

 

[DvrRick]

sjspeck, you mentioned Belnem. We are looking at Casa Del Sol in Belnem (private home) but I'm concerned it may be too close to the airport. Do you or anyone else know what it's like there?

 

[diversteve]

Judging from their website, it's south just past BelMar which is where we stayed. I never heard a plane and I often slept with the window open. We had no a/c except in the bedrooms so we often had both doors open at night also.

There's not a lot of flights - I think the last one is the 9PM arrival from San Juan. There used to be an early morning KLM jet that was loud at Port Bonaire condos, but they're practically at the end of the runway.

The donkeys are another issue...lol

 

[DvrRick]

Thanks for the info. I'm curious about the donkeys now. I'll see what you mean when we get there.

We were trying to get a 3 night rental and they take 7 nights only so we are looking around. Our problem is that four of us are there for three nights and then there will only be two of us. I really don't want to pay $300 p/n for a three or four bedroom place after my friends leave. I'm searcing around for more accomodations right now.

 

[LI Diver]

Theres actually a nice shore dive right across from the airport called windsock. A nice little beach with easy acess for diving.

 

[dvrliz1]

Rick,

If you are interested in "on the water" check out Lighthouse Beach Resort. We used to own #13 and the Babcocks own it now, and it is really nice and very reasonable. Unfortunately they may be booked. They are at the south end of belnem, closer to the salt piers. You can get a nice townhouse on the Seaside. If #13 is booked, try looking into bonairehomes.com, as they have some rentals available at lighthouse beach.

Tim,

Like there others have said, everything is within a 10 minute drive to anything (basically) on Bonaire. If you stay at north of town, toward Hato, you will have "hotel row". All of the restaurants and bars are open to everyone, so you can utilize those. You can also be in town in less than 10 minutes.
If you stay within town, you are walking distance to Karel's Bar and City Cafe and all the major in town restaurants.
If you stay north of the airport, but south of town you have divi and plaza resorts and a couple of restaurants within walking distance.

Belnem is located south of the airport and a more residental area. It does have some great places to stay such as Belmar and Belafonte, but there are no restaurants or bars in that area.

Hope this helps.

Liz

 

[DvrRick]

Thanks Liz! I saw some places to look into.