The North Coast
The rugged northern, windward coast of Aruba is a startling contrast to the calm resort beaches. Here the open Atlantic hurls itself against jagged limestone cliffs, sending spray high into the air and carving the rock over the centuries into natural bridges and blowholes. The most famous span, the Natural Bridge, collapsed in 2005, but the smaller Baby Natural Bridge nearby still arches over the surf, and the dramatic coastline draws visitors for its raw, elemental beauty.
Inland, on a windswept hill, stands the little yellow Alto Vista Chapel, Aruba's first church and still a place of quiet pilgrimage, reached by a winding road lined with white crosses. Not far away, the eerie stone ruins of the Bushiribana gold mill rise from the scrub, a weathered relic of the island's 19th-century gold rush that frames the sea through its empty windows.
It is a wild, photogenic, history-rich side of the island, and best explored by car, UTV or guided tour. We love weaving a morning on the north coast into a beach week to give the trip its sense of discovery, and we know how to time it so the light is soft, the roads are quiet and the surf is at its most dramatic.
