Oranjestad, Aruba

View of the main street in Oranjestad, capital of Aruba
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aruba_Oranjestad_MainStreet.jpg
Author: Set1536


Oranjestad is the capital and largest city in Aruba. The city is located on the western part of the island. It has a population of 35,000 people and is the main town in Aruba.

Oranjestad traces its history to Fort Zoutman, which was built in 1796. Oranjestad developed as the settlement around the fort. In the beginning, the area was known after the surrounding bay, which was Paardenbaai, meaning "bay of horses" in Dutch. It was only later that the town was named Oranjestad, after William of Orange-Nassau.

Today Oranjestad has grown into another cruise ship destination. Fort Zoutman is still around, and has been represerved as a local attraction. The town itself has pretty, colorfully painted Dutch colonial-era buildings. The main road, Lloyd G. Smith Boulevard, skirts the waterfront.

Royal Plaza Shopping Mall in Oranjestad
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mauna_Kea_from_Mauna_Loa_Observatory,_Hawaii_-_20100913.jpg
Author: Nula666

Visiting Oranjestad

Many people arrive on cruise ships. Alternatively, the Queen Beatrix International Airport (AUA) gets flights from Amsterdam, Atlanta, Baltimore, Bogotá, Bonaire, Boston, Caracas, Curaçao, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Miami, Milan, New York-JFK, Orlando, Panama City and Toronto, among others. To explore, you can either rent a bike or a taxi to go around.

Places of Interest in Oranjestad

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.