Aruba live webcams

A desert island in the Caribbean

Aruba is the A of the ABC islands, the westernmost of the three, about 30 km (18 miles) off the Venezuelan coast. Like Curaçao it governs itself inside the Dutch kingdom, and it is one of the most visited islands in the Caribbean, especially by travellers from the United States, who clear US customs at its airport before flying home. Inland it is dry and rocky, with cactus, boulders and the hills of Arikok National Park; the beaches are on the sheltered west and south coasts.

Eagle Beach, Manchebo and Palm Beach

The resorts line two long beaches north of the capital, Oranjestad. Palm Beach, further north, has the high-rise hotels and casinos; Eagle Beach, closer to town, has low-rise resorts set back from a very wide strip of soft white sand, and the wind-bent fofoti trees that appear in so many photographs of the island. One cam looks over Eagle Beach from one of those resorts; another, at Manchebo Beach just to the south, where the sand is as wide, replays its last 24 hours.

Beyond Eagle Beach

The rest of the island is worth the drive. Baby Beach, at the southern tip near San Nicolas, is a shallow, almost enclosed lagoon; Arashi Beach and the California Lighthouse mark the northern tip; and Arikok National Park, which covers a large part of the island, protects the rugged windward coast, its caves and the Natural Pool, a basin of seawater ringed by rocks. Oranjestad, the capital, keeps a waterfront of Dutch colonial buildings painted in pastel colours.

Getting to Aruba

Queen Beatrix International Airport is just south-east of Oranjestad, a short drive from the resorts. Flights from the United States are the most frequent, and their passengers clear US immigration and customs in Aruba before boarding home. On the island, cars drive on the right, and Papiamento, Dutch, English and Spanish are all widely spoken.

When to watch Aruba

Aruba's clock never changes: it is four hours behind UTC all year. It is one of the driest islands in the Caribbean and lies south of the usual hurricane tracks, so the weather on the cam is sunny on most days of the year, with a steady trade wind from the east that keeps the heat down.