Aruba Beaches Guide: 18 Best Beaches In Aruba

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Even though the island of Aruba is pretty small and flat, there are still lots of nice Aruba beaches to enjoy, including some beautiful ones in the Arikok National Park.

Some of these, like Palm Beach, are very developed with beachfront hotels and cafes, while others are quiet and relatively unknown, so you can enjoy them without the crowds. A few spots on the west side of the island are also great for sunset watching in the evening.

In general, Aruba beaches have exceptionally clear blue water and soft white sand, and they’re great for swimming and relaxing under a palapa (thatched umbrella) with some drinks. It’s definitely one of the best things to do in Aruba.

We spent a couple weeks trying to see every beach on the island, and we got pretty close, so here’s our complete list of the best beaches in Aruba!

Where To Stay In Aruba

 
 

Best Aruba Beaches

 

1. Palm Beach

Palm Beach is the biggest and busiest beach in Aruba, with high-rise resorts and plenty of restaurants, bars, shopping outlets, and watersports activities.

Even though it’s busy, this is a nice beach for swimming and relaxing. If you want a refreshing treat at Palm Beach, check out Eduardo’s Beach Shack, which sells fresh fruit smoothie bowls with ice cream, as well as Hawaiian poké with veggies.

You can choose from fruit ingredients like banana, kiwi, mango, and pineapple, plus ice cream. It’s a great snack for a hot day at the beach.

Where To Stay On Palm Beach: Radisson Blu or Hilton Resort

 

 

2. Eagle Beach

Eagle Beach is another beautiful, long beach in Aruba with white sand and blue water, plus it has an attractive Fofoti tree that’s become one of the most iconic images of Aruba.

This beach is highly popular and it has soft sand and calm waves, so it’s great for families with kids, along with everyone else. It’s been rated one of the best beaches in the world. There are swings, cafes, and plenty of thatch umbrellas lining the seashore here.

This is one of the first beaches we visited in Aruba, and it’s still one of our favorites!

Where To Stay On Eagle Beach: Eagle Resort or Condominium Residences

 

3. Arashi Beach

Arashi Beach is the star of northern Aruba, and for good reason. It’s extremely beautiful and still not too developed.

Like many beaches in Aruba, the stretch at Arashi has stunning white sand and turquoise water. For facilities, there’s a small cafe called the Arashi Beach Shack, which has food and drinks and restrooms. Aside from that, this beach is still pretty basic.

As an added bonus, Arashi Beach is one of the best sunset spots in Aruba. People come here every evening to enjoy the sunset.

 

 

4. Baby Beach

Baby Beach is one of the most popular beaches in southern Aruba, just outside of the town of San Nicolas. It’s a relatively easy 45 minute drive to get here from the Eagle Beach or Palm Beach area, and I think it’s worth it.

This is a curved beach that sits protected inside of a natural bay, so the water is gentle and nice for swimming or snorkeling. There’s lots of free parking at Baby Beach, and they’re starting to add hotels as well.

It’s no hidden gem anymore, but Baby Beach still deserves a visit. I’d say it’s definitely one of the best Aruba beaches!

 

5. Flamingo Beach (Renaissance Island)

You have to spend at least one day seeing Aruba’s famous ‘flamingo beach’ on Renaissance Island, where about a dozen photogenic flamingos roam around the island freely. It’s a fun experience for kids and adults alike, and you can feed the flamingos or take pictures with them.

This little semi-private island is part of the Renaissance Wind Creek Resort, and it’s free to visit if you’re staying at the hotel, otherwise if you’re an outsider you can buy a day pass to visit the flamingo island. It’s a little pricy, but worth it for the unique experience.

The beach is classy and beautiful, with nice swimming, restaurants, and facilities, plus free sunbeds.

 

6. Iguana Beach (Renaissance Island)

The second beach on Renaissance Island is called Iguana Beach because of the friendly green lizards that like to roam the area. These iguanas are harmless, although they might try to steal your food if you leave it unattended.

Iguana Beach is great for swimming and there are lots of free sunbeds. Like the flamingo beach, it’s protected by an artificial reef, so the water is very calm and suitable for all ages.

You can pay extra to rent luxury cabanas (huts) by the beach, and we found a free hammock that was amazing. It’s a great place to spend the day!

 

7. Boca Catalina

Boca Catalina is a beautiful and underrated beach in northern Aruba, just a short distance from the more popular Arashi Beach.

It’s undeveloped and quiet, with nice clear water and not too many people. Some tour boats bring people here for snorkeling, but it’s never crowded. You can see pelicans at Boca Catalina, and it’s also a prime sunset spot.

This is a wonderful beach, but there’s not a lot of shade during the day, so you’ll want to bring a hat and sunscreen!

 

8. Savaneta Beach

Also known as Santo Largo, this beach is a hidden gem in southern Aruba.

It’s one of the most secluded beaches on the west coast of the island, but it’s still easy to reach with a car, so this is usually a great place to go if you want to have a quiet beach mostly to yourself.

We only saw a few other people at Savaneta every time we went. It’s a very undeveloped beach and the water is a bit shallow for swimming, but there are trees for shade and the calmness here is hard to beat.

 

9. Boca Grandi

Boca Grandi is a prime spot for kitesurfing in the southeast corner of Aruba, near San Nicolas.

This is also a nice beach for taking a walk and snapping some pictures, although we saw a disappointing amount of trash washed up on the beach, so it really needs a cleanup. There’s a kitesurfing school, and people are always riding the waves here.

The wind and currents are strong at Boca Grandi, so it’s not good for swimming, but it really shines for kitesurfing. Even if you don’t do kitesurfing yourself, it’s fun to come here and watch!

 

10. Rodger’s Beach

Rodger’s Beach is another hidden gem. This is a local beach that’s located just a short distance from the much more famous Baby Beach, in southern Aruba.

It’s not a very long beach, but the sand and water here are really great. Overall, I wouldn’t say it’s on par with Baby Beach, but it’s much quieter and less crowded, so that can be nice.

 

11. Boca Keto

Boca Keto is a rugged twin beach in the Arikok National Park, and it can only be reached by hiking or off-roading.

Like most of the beaches in Arikok, this one’s not recommended for swimming because it can be dangerous. If you get in trouble out here, there’s no help coming for quite awhile.

However, the views are pretty spectacular, and there’s a unique rock formation called the ‘Klein Aruba’ (miniature Aruba), because from above it looks like a smaller version of the island of Aruba! You can see it in the picture below.

We enjoyed hiking out to this beach from Daimari Bay, and we didn’t see a single person the whole time!

Read More: Best Hikes In Aruba

 

12. Dos Playa

Dos Playa is another duo of scenic beaches in the Arikok National Park. This one is reachable by car from the main road in Arikok, and any car can get to it, although the road is very rough, so a Jeep or other 4×4 with high clearance is ideal.

This is another beach that’s usually devoid of crowds, and it’s nice for pictures, with big waves crashing on the rocky coast. Just don’t try to swim here! That’s not a good idea.

I’d rate this as one of the best Aruba beaches mainly because of its exceptional scenery, and it’s fairly easy to reach from the other popular spots in the Arikok National Park, such as the Fontein Cave, which is only a 10 minute drive away.

 

13. Wariruri Beach

Even though the Wariruri Beach is located outside of the boundaries of Arikok National Park, it has some of the same features, with an interesting sea cave and a big natural bridge you can walk on.

This beach is popular for horseback riding and ATV tours in Aruba, and the scenery is a great backdrop for those kinds of photos. You can reach Wariruri in any vehicle, although the road is rutted in some places, so having high clearance helps.

If you’re coming from the Bushiribana Ruins, it’s only a 5 or 10 minute drive to get to this Aruba beach, so it’s easy to do both places at the same time!

Book Now: Aruba Horseback Riding

 

14. Mangel Halto

Mangel Halto is a quiet beach surrounded by mangroves and a reef, giving it calm, shallow water.

This is a very relaxed spot, although I wouldn’t call it a hidden gem, because there are usually plenty of tourists and families here soaking up sun and wading in the water.

There’s plenty of parking at Mangel Halto, and plenty of places to set up a chair and chill for awhile, although the shaded spots are often taken unless you go early.

 

15. Malmok Beach

Malmok is almost too rocky to be called a beach, but there are a few spots where you can enter the water and swim. This is also one of the best places on the island to see wild pelicans. They’re always chilling here!

The water at Malmok is a beautiful turquoise, and you can usually spot a few catamarans and pirate boats coming here on day tours, so it’s a top spot for photos. The sunsets can be fantastic as well.

Water shoes are a good idea if you snorkel at Malmok Beach. If you’re lucky, you can see some nice fish and sea turtles!

 

16. Hadicurari Beach

Hadicurari is a breezy beach just north of Palm Beach, although it’s much less developed and much less crowded.

This beach is mainly used for windsurfing and kitesurfing, and it’s great for that because of the constant strong winds. There are schools here giving lessons to newcomers.

In the evening, Hadicurari Beach is also perfect for sunset, and you can watch the boats go by as the sun dips under the horizon. It’s one of our favorite sunset spots in Aruba and we came back several times to see it!

 

17. Blackstone Beach

One of the most unique beaches in Aruba is probably the Blackstone Beach, which is located near Arikok National Park. This one isn’t good for swimming since it has strong currents.

Instead, this secluded beach has smooth black rocks and an unusual three-pronged natural bridge called the Tripod Bridge. It’s a very unusual rock formation, and this is also the only beach in Aruba that has black sand or black rocks!

You can get to Blackstone Beach by hiking for about one kilometer from the parking lot for Aruba’s famous Natural Bridge, which is visited by a lot of day tours. There are also some ATV and UTV tours that go specifically to Blackstone Beach.

 

18. Grapefield Beach

Grapefield is one of the most secluded beaches in Aruba. We only saw one other person the entire time we were there!

This is a long, beautiful white sand beach that you can get to by driving or walking from Boca Grandi, the kitesurfing beach. If you drive to Grapefield in a regular car, the road turns to sand at the end, so make sure to stay on the hard packed sand so you don’t get stuck.

Swimming is possible at Grapefield Beach, but I wouldn’t go too far from shore because the currents can be strong. Stay in the turquoise waters.

 

Map Of The Best Aruba Beaches

Here’s a map of some of the best beaches in Aruba. Most of these beaches are easy to visit!

You can click the icons on the map to get more info and directions for each point of interest, but keep in mind some of the locations on this map may be approximate.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

• What part of Aruba has the best beaches?
  There are nice beaches in every corner of Aruba island! If you want touristy beaches with accommodation, those are mainly on the northwest side of Aruba. If you’d rather get away from the crowds, then you’ll enjoy the remote beaches on the east side of the island.

• Where are beaches with flamingoes in Aruba?
  The most famous beach to see flamingoes is on Renaissance Island, or you can also see them on De Palm Island.

• Do the beaches have bathrooms?
  Yes, there are public bathrooms (or else restaurant bathrooms) at the popular beaches like Arashi, Eagle, and Baby Beach.

• Are there nude beaches in Aruba?
  No, there aren’t really any nude beaches in Aruba, and going topless isn’t allowed on the public beaches, although it is apparently allowed at the private beaches on Renaissance Island and De Palm Island. Another unofficial nude beach in Aruba seems to be Grapefield Beach, since it’s remote and almost always empty of people.

• How many beaches are there in Aruba?
  There are dozens of beaches in Aruba, but it’s hard to get an exact count. Some sources say up to 40!

 

Best Aruba Tours

 

Aruba Hotels

 

More Things To Do In Aruba

Thanks for looking! I hope you enjoyed this list of the best Aruba beaches. There are so many nice beaches on this little island.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of my travel blog posts about Aruba before you go!
 

See Also

• Best Things To Do In Aruba Island (Fun, Kids, Couples)
• Best Hikes In Aruba Island