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Best Deals In The Caribbean - Aruba

Aruba is a semi-arid island outside the Caribbean hurricane belt has it all. "Black gold" in the form of oil refineries made Arubans among the wealthiest people in the Caribbean, if not the world. This isle has a south "Gold Coast" lined with some of the globe's finest beaches and high-rise resorts. As if that isn't enough, the island offers no end of fine restaurants, plenty of activities for families and children, world-class casinos, glitzy Las Vegas-style nightclub revues, and water sports galore. Aruba is also a shopper's Nirvana.

Aruba is a 32 km long island in the Caribbean Sea, 27 km north of the Paraguaná Peninsula, Falcón State, Venezuela, and it forms a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, it has a dry climate and an arid, cactus-strewn landscape. This climate has helped tourism as visitors to the island can reliably expect warm, sunny weather.

Aruba is a generally flat, riverless island renowned for its white sand beaches. Most of these are located on the western and southern coasts of the island, which are relatively sheltered from fierce ocean currents. The northern and eastern coasts, lacking this protection, are considerably more battered by the sea and have been left largely untouched by humans. The interior of the island features some rolling hills, the better two of which are called Hooiberg at 165 metres (541 ft) and Mount Jamanota, which is the highest on the island, at 188 metres (617 ft) above sea level. Oranjestad, the capital, is located at 12°19'N 70°1'W.

As a separate member state of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the island/state has no administrative subdivisions. On the east are Curaçao and Bonaire, two island territories which form the southwest part of the Netherlands Antilles; Aruba and these two Netherlands Antilles islands are also known as the ABC islands.

The local climate is a pleasant tropical marine climate. Little seasonal temperature variation exists, which helps Aruba to attract tourists all year round. Temperatures are almost constant at about 28 °C (82 °F), moderated by constant trade winds from the Atlantic Ocean. Yearly precipitation barely reaches 500 mm (20 in), most of it falling in late autumn.

The Aruban guilder has a fixed exchange rate with the United States dollar of 1.79:1.


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