Spa and Beach Vacation Guru

The most touristy island in the Dutch Caribbean, Aruba offers an amazingly diverse experience in a small package. It has an increasing number of fans, from honeymooners and sun worshippers to snorkelers, sailors and weekend gamblers. Tourists flock here for the sunny climate, perfect waters, and excellent beaches, so much so that the area around beautiful Eagle Beach is an almost unbroken line of hotels, restaurants, and bars. Here on the south coast, the action is nonstop both day and night. However, the fiercely rugged north coast is a desolate and rocky landscape that has resisted development.

Aruba is the smallest of the ABC islands -- only 193 square km (120 square mi) in area -- with Curaçao and Bonaire rounding out the trio. It coastline on the leeward side is smooth and serene, with white-sand beaches; but on the eastern coast, the windward Atlantic side, it looks rugged and wild. Dry and sunny almost all year round, Aruba has clean, exhilarating air. Lying outside the hurricane belt, Aruba gets less rain than any other popular island in the Caribbean.

In 1986, after much lobbying, Aruba separated from the rest of the Netherlands Antilles to become a separate part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Perhaps the separation came so easily because there is little Dutch presence on the island. The small population of 72,000 is of mainly mixed extraction, and many people show distinct traces of some Amerindian ancestry. Some visitors have called Oranjestad, Aruba’s capital, a “Holland-meets-Disney fantasia‿ because of its step-gabled Dutch architecture painted with Caribbean palette of bright pastels.

As with Bonaire and Curaçao, the island was originally populated by the Caiquetios, an Amerindian people related to the Arawaks. After the Spanish conquered the island in 1499, Aruba was basically left alone since it held little agricultural or mineral appeal. The Dutch took charge of the island in 1636, and things remained relatively quiet until gold was discovered in the 1800s. Mining dominated the economy until the early part of the 20th century, when the mines became unsustainable. Shortly thereafter, Aruba became home to a major oil-refining operation, which was the economic mainstay until the early 1990s, when its contribution to the local economy was eclipsed by tourism.

Like the trademark watapana (divi-divi) trees that have been forced into bonsai-like angles by the constant trade winds, Aruba has always adjusted to changes in the economic climate. Realizing that tourism was a valuable opportunity, Aruba has worked on developing the sector to the point where it has now overtaken oil as the island's primary source of income. Having been resolutely dedicated to tourism for so many years, the Aruban national culture and tourism industry are now inextricably intertwined.

With more than half a million visitors a year, Aruba is not a destination that will appeal to those trying to avoid the beaten path. Instead, you should visit Aruba if you're looking for a nice climate, excellent facilities, lots of nightlife, and no surprises. The U.S. dollar is accepted everywhere, and English is spoken universally -- this makes Aruba a popular spot for Americans who want an overseas trip to a place that doesn't feel foreign. In fact, Americans go through U.S. customs right at the airport in Aruba, so there are no formalities on landing in the United States.