Oranjestad (Aruba)Oranjestad

The first known people of Aruba were the Caquetio, an Arawak-speaking group who also lived on the nearby coast of what is now Venezuela. They fished, farmed where the thin soil allowed and left rock paintings and pottery that the National Archaeological Museum uses to tell their story. The island was too dry to support a large population, and it was seen by Europeans mainly as a source of labour and a place to graze animals.

Spain claimed the island around 1499, and many Caquetio were taken away to work elsewhere. The Dutch took Aruba in 1636 during their war with Spain, and the island stayed a quiet possession of the Dutch West India Company for a long time. Cattle, goats and aloe were the main products, and a small settlement grew around the harbour that became Oranjestad, named after the House of Orange. In 1796 the Dutch built Fort Zoutman to guard the anchorage, and in the 1860s they added the Willem III tower, which is the oldest building you can visit in the town.

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries brought short booms. A gold rush began in 1824 and lasted, on and off, into the early twentieth century, and you can still find the ruins of a smelter on the north coast. Aloe was exported for decades. In the 1920s oil refining reached San Nicolas at the south-east end of the island, and for sixty years the refinery, not tourism, paid the bills. Workers came from the Caribbean and Europe, which is one reason Aruba is more mixed than its size suggests.

Aruba left the Netherlands Antilles on 1 January 1986 and became a separate country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, known as 'status aparte'. The Netherlands remains responsible for defence and foreign affairs, while Aruba runs its own government, its own currency (the florin, fixed at about 1.79 to the US dollar) and its own tourism policy. The refinery has closed and restarted more than once since the 1980s. Tourism, which took off after the hotel building of the 1980s and 1990s, is now the main employer.

For a visitor, this history is easy to read on foot. The fort is the Dutch layer, the archaeological museum is the Caquetio layer, the old Main Street frontages show the twentieth-century trading town, and the marina and the cruise terminal show the present.

Oranjestad is a harbour town that grew along the water, and it is still easy to understand from a map. The sea is to the north-west. The waterfront road, Lloyd G. Smith Boulevard, runs along it past the cruise terminal, the ferry piers and the marina. Fort Zoutman and Wilhelmina Park sit at the eastern end of the waterfront, Main Street (Caya G.F. Betico Croes) runs one block behind the water, and Renaissance Marketplace is at the western end, where the marina begins.

That gives four small clusters. The fort and the park are the old town, best before 10:00. Main Street and Schelpstraat, where the archaeological museum stands, are the working town, with banks, pharmacies, a few shops and lunch counters. The marina is the evening part of the town, with boats, terraces and a shopping strip. The waterfront is the front door, shaped by the cruise terminal, busy when ships are in and quiet when they are not.

The architecture is a mix that people call Dutch Caribbean: buildings with pastel walls, steep roofs and curved gables, some restored and some replaced by newer concrete blocks. Do not expect a large historic centre. The town was rebuilt in the twentieth century and the best-preserved building is the fort. The pastel fronts on Main Street and the streets near it are the pleasant part, and they are photographed best in the low light of the early morning.

Distances are short but the sun is not. The fort to the museum is about a 12 minute walk, the marina to Main Street about 14, and none of the routes has real shade at midday. A waterfront streetcar has run along the harbour in the past; check whether it is operating when you visit. Most visitors treat the town as a half-day: a morning on foot, lunch on Main Street, a rest at the beach and a taxi back for the marina at sunset.

The beach hotels are not in Oranjestad. Eagle Beach and Palm Beach are 10 to 20 minutes away by taxi or bus, and that shapes every plan. If you sleep on the beach, treat the town as a separate outing. If you sleep in town, plan the beach as a bus or taxi trip.

Aruba is about 32 kilometres long and at most 10 wide, and it lies only about 30 kilometres off the coast of Venezuela. It is a dry island. It sits south of the main hurricane belt and gets little rain, most of it between October and January, so the land is covered in cactus, aloe and wind-bent divi-divi trees rather than green forest. The divi-divi, called watapana in Papiamento, leans to the south-west because the trade wind blows from the east all year.

That wind is the most important fact about the weather. It keeps the island cooler than the thermometer suggests, and it makes the sun feel gentler than it is. Visitors get burned because the wind hides the heat. Use shade, water and high-factor sun cream even on a cloudy, breezy day. The wind also makes the island a centre for kitesurfing and windsurfing on the north-west and the south-east coasts.

The two coasts are different. The south-west, facing the Caribbean, has the calm water and the long white beaches of Eagle Beach and Palm Beach, and the hotels that go with them. The north-east coast is rough Atlantic: black rock, crashing waves and almost no swimming. Arikok National Park covers roughly a fifth of the island and protects the dry hills, caves and the rocky coast; the rough tracks there are best done with a guide or a strong vehicle, and you should check your rental agreement before taking a car onto them.

For swimming, the calm beaches on the south-west and the shallow lagoon at Baby Beach in the south-east are the easy options. Snorkelling is good on the west coast and around a few wrecks, and most visitors do it on a catamaran or a small boat from a licensed operator. The sea is safe for most visitors in calm weather, but currents can be strong at the exposed beaches, and the lifeguard cover is thin outside the resort strips.

The practical point for a short Oranjestad visit is that the land and the sea are the reason people come, and the town is the side dish. A good plan is one morning in the capital and the rest of the time on the beach, in a boat or in the park.

Aruba has four everyday languages. Papiamento, a Creole with Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and African roots, is the language of the home and the street, and it has been an official language alongside Dutch since 2003. English is used with visitors everywhere, and Spanish is widely understood because of the links with Venezuela and Colombia. A few Papiamento words go a long way: bon dia (good morning), bon tardi (good afternoon), danki (thank you) and bon bini (welcome).

The food follows the same mix. The staple dishes are Caribbean, Dutch and Latin American at once. Keshi yena is the national dish: a shell of Dutch cheese, often Edam, filled with spiced chicken, beef or fish and baked until it melts. Funchi is a cornmeal side, close to polenta, served with fish and stews. Stobá is a slow-cooked stew, often of goat or beef. Pan bati is a small flat bread, sweet or plain. Pastechi, a fried half-moon pastry filled with cheese, ham or meat, is the breakfast and snack that most locals eat.

The best cheap meals are at the counters. A pastechi and a coffee cost a few dollars, a plate of the day at a Main Street counter costs around US$8 to 14, and a fried fish plate at a shack such as Zeerovers in Savaneta costs a bit more. The marina restaurants and the hotel dining rooms cost two or three times as much for a similar main, and they are the place for a sunset dinner rather than a value lunch.

The other side of the island is the drink. Balashi is the local lager and is served cold and mild; the island's cocktails follow the Caribbean rum pattern. Water is not a problem: tap water is desalinated and safe to drink.

Practical eating tips are short. Go to counters before 13:00, when the day's dishes are still on. Ask the price of a fish special before it is cooked. Check the bill for a service charge before you tip. Carry small notes for counters and buses, because not every counter takes cards. And book the marina on nights when cruise ships are in.

Aruban public life runs on three calendars: the festival calendar, the public holidays and the cruise-ship timetable. The festival that matters most is Carnival, which builds from January to a grand parade on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. The events move around Oranjestad and the roads close for the parades, so a hotel near the route is loud and taxis are hard to find. The lighting parade and the children's parades are the best-known events. If you dislike crowds, go before the last week of the festival.

The national days are Betico Croes Day on 25 January, honouring the leader of the movement for autonomy, National Anthem and Flag Day on 18 March, King's Day on 27 April and Dera Gai around 24 June, a harvest festival tied to Saint John's Day. Christmas and New Year are large family festivals with fireworks. On public holidays, shops in town shut and the museums close, so check before you plan a town morning.

Aruba's music is a mix of Caribbean and Latin sounds: tumba, danza, calypso and salsa are all heard. Local bands play in restaurants, and the weekly heritage evening that has been held at Fort Zoutman in past years, with music, food and crafts, is worth checking for. Confirm whether it is running before you plan around it.

The cruise calendar is the third clock. On a day with several ships, thousands of visitors land at the terminal by 09:00 and the waterfront and Main Street are crowded from 10:00 to 15:00. On a day with none, the same streets are quiet. The port authority and the cruise lines publish the schedule; check it a few days ahead and plan your town morning around it.

Some etiquette points help. Say good morning before you ask for anything. Cover shoulders and knees in town, shops and restaurants; beachwear is for the beach. Ask before photographing people or their stalls. And accept that service is unhurried: a friendly, patient request usually works better than pressure.

Oranjestad works best as a short, early visit. Start before 10:00, when the fort and the park are cool and empty, and finish by lunch. Use the afternoon for the beach or a rest. Come back to the marina after 17:30, when the heat drops and the ships have left. That rhythm fits the weather, the cruise timetable and the opening hours.

The heat is the main risk. The trade wind masks the sun, so people burn without noticing. Carry water, wear a hat, use high-factor sun cream and take a rest in an air-conditioned place, such as the museum, a café or a supermarket, in the middle of the day. Keep an indoor plan for the wetter months, October to January, when short showers arrive.

The money side is simple. Prices are quoted in US dollars almost everywhere, the florin is fixed at about 1.79 to the dollar, and cards work in hotels and most restaurants. Keep small US notes for counters, buses and tips. Check the bill for a 10 to 15% service charge before you add a tip. Groceries and restaurants are dear because so much is imported.

Taxis have fixed government fares by zone, and there is a fare card at the airport and in hotels. Agree the total, including bags and any waiting time, before you get in. The public bus is cheap and reaches the beach hotels, but it runs on set routes and stops early on some lines. A hire car helps only if you want Arikok and the south-east, and you should drive on the right and watch for roundabouts.

Safety is mostly about common sense. Do not leave anything visible in a rental car or on the beach, use a licensed taxi after dark, and say no to timeshare promoters and unlicensed tour sellers. Use licensed operators for jet skis, boats and jeep tours, and get the price in writing. The emergency number is 911.

A good three-day shape is one town morning, one marina evening and a long beach or boat day, with the last morning left free for the taxi to the airport. Allow three hours before an international departure, and extra time if you are flying to the United States, because you clear US immigration in Aruba before you board.