Skip Navigation

Aruba

Travel Guide > Caribbean > Aruba

In this Article

Quick Facts

Aruba flag

Map of Aruba

[edit]

Capital
Oranjestad
Population
70,000
Government
Parliamentary Democracy
Religions
Christianity (mostly Catholic, Protestant, Jew)
Languages
Dutch, Papiamento, English, Spanish
Calling Code
+297
Nationality
Aruban

Help contribute to this article to share the ad revenue.

[edit]

Introduction

natural bridge

natural bridge

© All Rights Reserved paperix72

Formerly part of the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba lies just north of Venezuela amongst a splash of Caribbean waters. Since its gold and oil industries have both come to a halt, Arubans have turned to tourism with a seemingly undying faith in the power of beaches, turqoise waters and the bright Caribbean sun to draw visitors. So far, their faith has been rewarded with large tourist numbers. Aruba's beaches are reportedly the best in the Netherlands Antilles; unfortunately, this translates into packed sands, making a private holiday experience in Aruba something of a fib. But for many travellers, the large numbers of tourists have actually been an added bonus, granting the island an energetic party vibe. For them, the chance to get down and dance to Caribbean music is enough to make this a destination they will come back to year after year.

Top

[edit]

Regions

  • The Southeastern Coast is home to pristine white sand beaches and warm turquoise seas.
  • The Northern Coast is exposed to the Atlantic and has a rocky coastline holding off the rough seas.

Top

[edit]

Towns

  • Oranjestad is the capital
  • Barcadera
  • Noord
  • Paradera
  • Savaneta
  • Sint Nicolaas

Top

[edit]

Getting there

Plane

Flights arrive and depart at Queen Beatrix International Airport (UAU). Aruban based Tiara Air has flights from Aruba to Curacao, Bonaire and Punto Fijo in Venezuela. Many other airlines serve Aruba from several countries in both North America and Europe. Martinair and KLM have direct flights from the Netherlands, while Condor flies there directly from Frankfurt. Air Canada has flights to and from Toronto, while a number of United States based airlines have flights to cities like Miami and New York. Aruba is well connected with neighbouring islands and countries like Suriname, Dominican Republic and Colombia.

Boat

Apart from flying, your only options are to get there by boat. Unfortunately there are no (more) ferry services between Aruba and any other island in the Netherlands Antilles, nor is there any connection with other countries like Venezuela, although there used to be services to both. Yacht and cruise (and maybe cargo) ships are your only option really.

This is version 5. Last edited at 1:17 on Mar 30, 08 by arubaclair (+13). 12 articles link to this page.

More about Aruba on Travellerspoint

Community Activity

Aruba Travel Sites

  • Aruba - Official
    What to do, where to stay and why to go. With the last answered in abundance...
  • Aruba Travel Info
    A cohesive collection of information covering accomodation, points of interest, activities, and general issues of travel in Aruba.

Creative Commons License
Except where otherwise noted, content of this article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License