Things to Do in Aruba

Aruba is a Dutch Caribbean island about 18 miles off the coast of Venezuela. It’s a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands — the official languages are Dutch and Papiamento, but English and Spanish are universal. The island is small (20 by 6 miles), arid (cactus, divi-divi trees, almost no rain), and outside the hurricane belt, which means the weather is almost spookily consistent year-round. Eagle Beach and Palm Beach run along the calm leeward (west) coast; the wild Arikok side is rocky, windy, and barely populated.