All Vacation Travel

Aruba lies at the heart of the southern Caribbean, about two-and-a-half hours by air from Miami, Florida and 15 miles north of Venezuela. The island is 19.6 miles long, and six miles across at its widest point, with a total area of 70 square miles. Aruba is outside the hurricane belt and the island boasts year-round great weather, cooling trade winds and friendly people.

Photo: empiricasconsulting.com

Aruba is an easy island to get to know, and equally easy to love. Just l5 miles off the coast of Venezuela, it is far enough from home for adventure — but small and friendly enough to feel like a second home.

The perfect weather and world famous white sand beaches make Aruba ideal for surfing enthusiasts and sun lovers. It is one of the Caribbean’s most beautiful shorelines with its magnificent Eagle and Palm Beaches reaching for seven miles along the coast. In the vicinity of the Palm Beach are the high rise hotels and casinos. Eagle Beach comes right off the main road and has many parking spaces and shaded picnic areas.

Apart from these there are several other magnificent beaches, ideal for inexperienced swimmers or children and home of some gorgeous coral heads. Snorkeling, sailing, wind surfing, deep-sea fishing, playing tennis, dining in the many restaurants and gambling in the numerous casinos are just a few of the many ways you can spend your vacation in Aruba.

Photo: wikimedia.org

Shopping on the island is plenty fun especially in Oranjestad the historical Dutch capital city where the tall multicolored houses of Wilheminastraat combine carved wooded doors and traditional Dutch tiles with airy open galleries and sloping, Aruban-style roofs. This is the place to shop or to browse in the marketplace for Aruban art and local handicrafts. If you prefer shopping centers, then walk over to the waterfront strip and visit the Seaport Market Place, the Seaport Village Mall or Port of Call Marketplace.

The Oranjestad, located on the southern coast near the western end of the island, is extremely picturesque with its Dutch colonial architecture in pastel colors. At the marina, merchants come to sell fresh fish and produce right off the boats every morning and deep sea fishing boats depart for half-day or full-day excursions. The downtown area with shopping malls surrounding it is the primary shopping area on the island.

Aruba’s multi-cultural history is vivid in its sightseeing attractions. From Fort Zoutman’s Museum and the William III Tower to the early twentieth century Dutch architecture on charming streets like Wilhelminastraat, the city of Oranjestad is perfect for a walking tour. In the cunucu, or countryside, undeciphered writings on the walls of the cave at Arikok National Park, recall Aruba’s earliest residents while the Church of Santa Anna, with its famous 115-year-old oak altar, represents more recent history.

Photo: Hornplayer

Topography and vegetation are unusual for a Caribbean island. On the south and west coasts are miles of pristine white beaches that rank among the most beautiful in the world, rimmed by calm blue seas with visibility in some areas to a depth of a hundred feet. The island’s most famous trees are the watapana, or divi-divi trees, all permanently sculpted into graceful, south-bending shapes by the constant trade winds.

Sources: arubatourism.com, cheapcaribbean.com

Posted on May 7th, 2009 under Activities, Attractions, Central America and Caribbean. Tags: Arikok National Park, Aruba Island, Oranjestad. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.