Discover Aruba’s unique charm and desert landscapes
Aruba’s interior looks nothing like its postcard beaches. Arikok National Park alone covers nearly 20 percent of the island — a stretch of cactus-studded hills, volcanic rock, and wind-sculpted divi-divi trees that could pass for the American Southwest if you ignored the turquoise Caribbean Sea on the horizon. The constant trade winds, averaging around 25 km/h, shape everything here: vegetation bends permanently sideways, dust kicks up on unpaved roads, and the heat settles differently than on the leeward coast. This is the Aruba most visitors don’t see — the arid, rugged side defined by what the Aruba Tourism Authority