Just of the coast of Venezuela is a little piece of The Kingdom of the Netherlands that sparkles in the blue waters of the Caribbean and gives the Dutch and many other nationalities a chance to top up their perfect all year suntans. Bonbini na (Welcome to) Aruba!

Along with its neighbours, Aruba sits just beneath the infamous hurricane alley that gets active around October, so it will usually avoid the storms that plague the northern parts of the Caribbean…usually, but not always as when we visited in October 2016 just on the heels of Hurricane Matthew.

Fortunately, the islands were not hit too hard, but the beaches were going through a bit of a clean up when we arrived (not that you could always tell!).

Orientation

A nice compact island that you can easily visit in a few days with a car, just 32km long and 20km wide. The capital of Oranjestad sits in the middle of the island and most of the tourist sites you’ll find in the top half of the island, the big hotels of Palm Beach just above the capital

and then further north to the islands best beaches, ship wrecks to dive or snorkel on all the way up to the sights of the California Lighthouse. There are also a few nice beaches in the south that are well worth a visit too.

Where to stay & eat

Unlike the quaintness of it’s home nation – The Netherlands – you’ll find Aruba very big, American and glitzy, and the hotels are no less the same…high rise hotel chains rising high above kilometres of white sand beaches with all the sunbeds laid perfectly out ready for the tourist masses to decamp.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn, centrally located, decent-sized room and right on the beach with your own sunbeds and palapas that you can laze a few hours away underneath.

The water is crystal clear, warm and with plenty of watersports to try your hand at;

Lyssa had a go at extreme Lamzacking, which involved being blown to Venezuela on our new Lamzac!

Nearby there are a good selection of bars and restaurants where you can get out and taste a bit of the local food – ribs, more ribs at Smokey Joe’s and the local catch of the day at the Lazy Turtle.

Grab breakfast / lunch at the excellent Scott’s Brats right on the beach for tasty sausages, quesadilla and burritos.

All the big hotels are pretty much next to one another and you can spend your after dinner stroll having a wander around each of them…for us the Hyatt and the Marriott looked the nicest with their huge tropical gardens and beautiful pools spread over the properties.

North ‘v’ South

The north of the island is definitely the pretty part of Aruba – epitomised by the white sands of Boca Catalina beach and it’s Divi Divi Tree that will give picture perfect Caribbean vistas;

the quaint and colourful Alto Vista Chapel that you’ll be guided to by the stations of the cross;

and the full island views from the heights of the California Lighthouse, named after a shipwreck from the late 19th century.

The south of the island is a bit more shabby and industrial in places (there is an oil refinery tucked away down here that was once the World’s biggest), but nonetheless there are still some of the islands best beaches – particularly Baby Beach

that has a sheltered bay and is surrounded by forests of cacti.

Cat & Snorkel

The near shore corals had taken a bit of a battering from the latest storms, so snorkeling from the shore in Aruba was not so interesting, but don’t despair as you can still get your fill of underwater delights with a trip on the Pelican Adventures catamaran.

A short ride northwards to the wreck of the Antilla, a German ship that was scuttled in 1940 after the Germans invaded the Netherlands;

here you’ll find plenty of fish and maybe even a turtle or two.

Oranjestad

A colourful central Square and the tropical mall like Renaissance Peninsula that is all in place to welcome the thousands of day trippers that arrive on the many cruise ships that come through the Caribbean.

If you end up being one of these passengers then you could probably see most of the island that we have highlighted in a well planned and efficient day. When there are no ships in then this capital is pretty much deserted,

and especially so in the evening, so make sure you know where you are going if on an evening visit to one of the main restaurants of the island – Driftwood, good fish dishes and a sea shanty feel to it that we tourists all love whilst in this part of the world, waiting for Jack Sparrow to wander on in!

So, just 3.5 days for us on this little island, long enough to see all the main sites (except on the more remote east coast that needs a 4X4) but maybe a bit too short to really relax into the island vibe that there is so much of;

whichever way you do it we are sure you will enjoy!