ARUBA · DUTCH CARIBBEAN
Turquoise water, white sand, and the wild side.
Catamaran snorkel sails to the Antilla wreck, UTV runs to the Natural Pool, and the open-bar sunset cruises off Palm Beach. Eagle Beach, Arikok, Baby Beach and the colour of Oranjestad, all in one place.
Only here
Pure Aruba, found nowhere else.
Beach bars and palm shade turn up on every Caribbean island. A wild rock pool in the desert, a wartime wreck you can snorkel from the surface, and a national park of cactus and caves belong to this one alone.
The wild side
The Natural Pool
Conchi, the Natural Pool, is a ring of volcanic rock on Aruba's battered windward coast, filled and refilled by the surf that breaks over its rim. There is no paved road in. You reach it by 4x4, UTV or on horseback across the cactus desert of Arikok, and drop into the one patch of calm water for miles.
- 1 Ultimate Island Jeep Safari with Natural Pool, Baby Beach & Lunch
- 2 Aruba Natural Pool and Indian Cave Rugged Jeep Safari
- 3 ThrillSeekers: Aruba UTV Tour & Cliff Jump at Natural Pool
Wreck snorkel
The Antilla
Scuttled off Malmok in 1940, the Antilla is one of the largest shipwrecks in the Caribbean, a 400-foot German freighter resting in clear, shallow water. The decks sit close enough to the surface that you snorkel it, no tank needed, among the fish and coral that have turned the hull into a reef.
- 1 Antilla Shipwreck and Catalina Bay Snorkel Sail
- 2 Private First-Time Dive on Aruba’s Reef and Wreck Site
- 3 Antilla Shipwreck Seabob Tour
Desert & caves
Arikok
Arikok covers nearly a fifth of Aruba in cactus, divi-divi and wind-scoured rock. Inside are the Fontein and Quadirikiri caves with Arawak drawings still on the ceilings, the gold-mill ruins at Bushiribana, and the dune-white sand at Boca Prins. A Caribbean island that looks like the desert it is.
- 1 Horseback Ride Tour to Natural Pool in Arikok National Park
- 2 Jeep Tour Arikok National Park and Snorkeling at Baby Beach
- 3 National Park Arikok Jeep Adventure
Start here
If you do one big day, do this one.
More travellers build their Aruba trip around this than anything else on the island.
The classics
Aruba's Most Popular Tours
The Natural Pool runs, the catamaran snorkels, the island safaris and the sunset sails. The days most people fly in for.
Where to begin
The experiences an Aruba trip is built around.
The Natural Pool, the catamaran snorkels, the island safaris, the sunset sails and the long beach days. The handful of experiences most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
The big day out
How to reach the Natural Pool.
Conchi sits on the wild east coast with no sealed road in, so the how is half the trip. Three ways across the Arikok desert to the same hidden pool, depending on the ride you want under you.
The west coast
Clear water and a wreck to swim.
Aruba’s leeward shore is flat, warm and almost absurdly clear. The catamarans run north from Palm Beach to Boca Catalina, Malmok and the Antilla wreck, anchoring over reef and shipwreck where the fish gather, with the trampoline nets and the open bar for the sail home.
Read the guide: the best catamaran snorkel sails →Last light
The sky show off Palm Beach.
Aruba faces west into the open Caribbean, so every clear evening ends the same gorgeous way. The sunset catamarans push off as the light turns gold, pour the first rum punch, and drift the flat water while the sun drops into the sea. Steel-drum nights and dinner cruises if you want the evening longer.
See the sunset cruises →The leeward shore
Twelve kilometres of white sand.
The calm western side of the island is one long ribbon of powder-white sand and water you can see your feet through. Eagle Beach and its leaning divi-divi trees, the high-rise buzz of Palm Beach, the quiet coves further south. Shade, snorkel gear and a hammock are the whole agenda.
Beaches & island tours →The south end
Baby Beach and the painted town.
At the island’s southern tip, Baby Beach is a shallow turquoise lagoon held in by a sand bar, the calmest, warmest swim in Aruba and the place everyone learns to snorkel. Just inland, the old refinery town of San Nicolas has turned its walls into the Caribbean’s boldest open-air gallery of street art.
- 1 Ultimate Island Jeep Safari with Natural Pool, Baby Beach & Lunch
- 2 Aruba Signature Jeep Tour: Natural Pool and Baby Beach
- 3 Aruba Jeep Tour: Natural Pool, Caves and Baby Beach Adventure
One island, two coasts
Aruba has a calm side and a wild side.
A thin desert island with two completely different shores. The sheltered west is for the beaches and the snorkel boats. The battered east is for the off-road runs and the Natural Pool. Most trips want a day of each.
By place
One small island, six different days.
Oranjestad for the colour and the harbour. Palm Beach for the buzz, Eagle Beach for the quiet sand. Arikok for the desert and the caves. Baby Beach for the warm shallows. The Natural Pool for the wild coast.
By activity
Pick how to spend the day.
Catamaran if you want the reef and the wreck. UTV if you want the dust and the Natural Pool. Sunset sail if you want the gold light. Snorkel, dive, ride or sightsee the island top to tail.
Plan it
Three perfect days.
Never been? Here is a long weekend that hits the essentials without a wasted hour.
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