Aruba is a small island located about 17 km from the coast of Venezuela.
It is surrounded by the waters of the Caribbean Sea.
This beautiful island is an autonomous territory in the composition of the Netherlands.
It is home for about 110 000 people or as it is the population of one average small city.
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Aruba receives millions of tourists each year.
The official language of the island is the Dutch, but here everyone will understand you in English.
Weather
Aruba is a real tourist paradise situated among the waters of the warmest sea in the world.
The island has dry and warm subequatorial climate.
The temperatures here range from 28°C in January to 32°C in September.
Nights are warm throughout the year.
Unlike the other Caribbean islands, which experience their rainy season from April to November, Aruba is suitable for tourism during all 12 months of the year.
Indeed, from August to January the weather is a little bit wetter, but even then the weather is perfect for summer holidays.
Even in the rainiest month – November – the rainfall is below 100 mm.
Aruba remains aside from the path of the hurricanes that pass through the Caribbean and this is another of the many advantages of this Dutch island.
Aruba is the perfect place where a man to escape from the gray and boring winter.
There is always summer, and the feeling to get out of the plane in January and to feel the warm tropical sun that caress your skin and the temperature of 28°C is a very exciting experience.
As the humidity here is not too high, thirty degree heat is easy bearable.
Sights to See in Aruba
Aruba has beautiful scenery, which will be very interesting to get know.
Northeastern coast of the island seem quite harsh.
The vegetation is grassy, the relief – flat and the coasts are mostly rocky.
Marine waters are usually colored in dark blue nuances and the waves are often quite large.
This part of the island is very sparsely populated.
It is usually windy and so here you can see many wind generators that produce electricity.
The wind, strong sunlight and drought have turned this part of the island into a territory occupied by scrub lands and semi arid landscapes.
On the northeast coast rarely grow something else than cacti.
In the eastern part of the island, amidst the desolation is located Arikok National Park.
This is the wildest and most preserved part of the island.
Here you will find scenery that will make you feel as you are in California or on the Canary Islands – plenty of sunshine and dry loving vegetation.
One of the most interesting representatives of the local flora is the tree Divi-Divi, whose stalk is very strange bended to the one side.
The crown of the tree is not less strange – rather than to grow up, as happens with the most of the trees, the crown of the Divi-Divi tree grows aside.
In this part of the island within the National Park Arikok you will find the highest point of the plane hilly island – Mount Jamanota peak, 188 meters high.
North of the boundaries of the park is one of the biggest attractions on the island – The Natural Bridge.
This is a rock formation that resembles a real bridge.
Usually, visitors do not miss this place because it is very wild and scenic.
Into the north you will find a small chapel, surrounded by desert terrain.
This place offers a magnificent view of the blue waters of the Caribbean Sea.
The southwestern side of the island is completely different.
Landscapes are so different in comparison with the eastern parts of the island that you will feel like you are to the other part of the world.
Here the Caribbean waters are calm, azure and extremely clear.
Under the water there are great variety of life forms.
The coast is protected by wonderful coral reefs that thrive excellent in the warm and clean waters here.
Not far from the coast there are several islands that have a narrow elongated shape.
Most of them are covered with dense tropical vegetation.
Oranjestad
In the western part of the island of Aruba is concentrated in majority of the population, including the capital, Oranjestad.
Its population is about 36,000 people.
This is the largest city on the island, since here live about one third of the population.
This city has a very European look.
Here you will feel like you’re in Europe and not in some other place, but in the Netherlands.
Oranjestad is a similar to Amsterdam and this applies not only to architecture, but also because of the excellent infrastructure, expensive hotels and shops, charming cafes and small restaurants that will make you feel the atmosphere of old Europe, even here on the other end of world.
South of Oranjestad, on the coast of the Caribbean is situated the international airport of Aruba.
On the west coast of Aruba there is a much more greenness and everything looks completely different.
Palm Beach
One of the most attractive places for tourists in Aruba is Palm Beach.
Located in the northwestern parts of the island, Palm Beach has the most beautiful beaches, the most popular hotels and biggest variety of opportunities for entertainment.
On the beach there are huge swimming pools, and from the fine white sand raises up slender coconut palms.
South of Palm Beach you can visit the Butterfly Farm, and just five minutes away from here you will see a windmill, just like those that adorn the plain landscapes in the Netherlands.
Flora
Around the white sandy beaches flourish groves of coconut palms, which create a romantic feeling.
The island is always green, but unlike most of the Caribbean islands it is not covered with dense tropical forests.
Perhaps the densest vegetation you will find around the Spanish Lagoon.
Humid loving trees, shrubs and flowers make this place a real oasis.
As the local climate is subequatorial, the landscapes in the green western part of the island very reminiscent of the African savannah.
Usually grow individual trees and coconut palms.
Shrubs and cacti predominate.
At some places where there are more hotels there is a perfect maintained park vegetation.
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