Aruba, reef to cunucu.
Catamaran sails to the Antilla wreck, the Natural Pool by 4x4, sunset off Palm Beach. What each tour is really like, what it costs, and where to book it.
Seven that always deliver.
First trip or fifth, these are the days you’ll talk about: the catamaran that anchors over the Antilla, the bumpy run out to the Natural Pool, the sunset sail everyone photographs and nobody regrets.
ThrillSeekers: Aruba UTV Tour & Cliff Jump at Natural Pool
UTV through Arikok National Park, swim and snorkel at Conchi and Tres Trapi, plus cliff jumps and lunch starting at 8 AM.
From $320 per person
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★ 5.0Safe betWild Side UTV Tour: Explore the Northern treasureFrom $2604,793 reviews
★ 4.5Books out fastDolphin Catamaran Snorkel and Sail with Open BarFrom $692,291 reviews
★ 4.5Crowd favouritePremium Morning Snorkel Sail with Champagne BrunchFrom $852,036 reviews
★ 5.0Worth every pennyHalf-Day Aruba UTV Adventure TourFrom $2201,426 reviews
★ 4.5Easy winHalf-Day Aruba Island Tour from OranjestadFrom $551,362 reviews
★ 4.0Traveller favouriteAruba De Palm Island All-Inclusive Day Trip with TransportFrom $1461,299 reviews
The pool the map keeps hidden.
Conchi sits on the rough Atlantic coast, ringed by volcanic rock and reachable only over the cunucu by 4x4, UTV or horseback. You climb down and swim in glassy calm while the ocean explodes against the rocks a metre away. Most trips fold in Baby Beach or the caves and hand you lunch on the way back.
How do you want to reach the Natural Pool?
You can’t drive a rental car to Conchi: the track beats it to pieces. So the real choice is how you cross the cunucu. Three ways in; pick the one that sounds like you, and every tour behind it is already reviewed and priced.
Ride shotgun
By Jeep safari
from $130 · 8,653 reviews
A guided convoy rumbles across the north coast, past Alto Vista Chapel, the gold-mill ruins and the Natural Bridge remains, before the drop to Conchi. Someone else drives, lunch is handled, and you just hang on and take it in. The easy, everything-included way to the pool.
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Drive it yourself
By UTV or ATV
from $320 · 5,733 reviews
Same rugged terrain, but you’re at the wheel: kicking up dust across the cunucu, following the lead guide, stopping to swim and cliff-jump. Dustier and louder than the Jeep, and a lot more fun if you like the controls in your own hands.
See the UTV & ATV tours →
The quiet way
On horseback
from $155 · 1,147 reviews
The oldest way in and the calmest: a horse picks its way through Arikok to the coast at a pace that lets you actually look around. Fewer engines, more scenery. Made for riders who’d trade speed for the quiet. Beginner-friendly stables included.
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Aruba keeps the best for dusk.
The trade wind eases, the sky goes molten behind the divi-divi trees, and the whole west coast turns out to watch. Do it from the deck of a catamaran with a rum in your hand: champagne toasts, tapas, or a full dinner as the lights of Palm Beach come on behind you.
The reef begins at the beach.
You don’t have to go far: the Antilla wreck, Boca Catalina’s fish clouds and Malmok’s turtles all sit in calm, clear water off the west coast. If you booked only three hours underwater, these are the three.
Where the pavement ends.
Two-thirds of Aruba never sees a paved road. A UTV, ATV or Jeep is how you get to the caves, the dunes at Boca Prins and the cliffs above the surf. Wear clothes you don’t mind reddening, then pick from these.
The island slows down south.
Past the high-rises, Aruba softens: Baby Beach is a shallow turquoise lagoon you can wade halfway across, and San Nicolas, the Sunrise City, wears the Caribbean’s best street-art murals. Snorkel the calm, walk the colour, and finish with a drink at Charlie’s Bar.
The island, mood by mood.
Aruba splits into moods. Palm and Eagle Beach for the sand and the sails. The Natural Pool for the wild coast. Arikok for the desert. Baby Beach for the calmest water on the island.
Know what you’re after?
Twelve ways to spend a day in Aruba. Pick the one that sounds like your kind of afternoon and every tour behind it is already reviewed and priced.
Nowhere here is more than an hour away.
Aruba is twenty miles end to end, so the whole map is a day trip. Cactus desert, a hidden rock pool, a mural town and a lagoon made for floating, all within a short drive of the beach.
Your first three days in Aruba.
You can see the best of Aruba in three days if you sequence them well. This is the order we’d hand a friend checking in on Palm Beach tomorrow.
Day 1
Ease in on the west coast
Morning on Eagle Beach under the divi-divi tree, an afternoon catamaran to the Antilla wreck, then a sunset sail to close the day. Calm water, no rush.
Plan day one →
Day 2
The wild side
A Jeep or UTV across the north coast, past Alto Vista Chapel, the gold-mill ruins and the caves, then a swim at the Natural Pool before the dusty ride home.
Plan day two →
Day 3
The calm south
Drive to Baby Beach for the island’s gentlest snorkel, walk San Nicolas’s murals, and finish with a cold one at Charlie’s Bar. The slow day you’ll remember.
Plan day three →
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