Guide to Aruba
Must See Aruba
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Aruba's bright, breezy, pastel-coloured capital is on the island's southern leeward coast, southeast of the main resort area. It has a distinctly Dutch flavour, thanks to the modern vogue for fake colonial architecture. It has some good shopping options and three small but interesting museums.
The small Archaeological Museum has worthy exhibits on Aruba's Arawak inhabitants. The Museo Arubano, located in the restored 18th-century Fort Zoutman, does a passable job explaining Aruba's pre-European and colonial eras. And, if you want to see what jingled in the pockets of the oldendays folk, the Numismatic Museum has a vast collection of coinage from over 400 countries, some of which was salvaged from shipwrecks in the region.