Oranjestad

Oranjestad is a compact city that repays walking. The main thoroughfare, L.G. Smith Boulevard, runs along the waterfront and is lined with buildings painted in vivid pastels — pink, yellow, turquoise and lime green — that give the city a visual distinctiveness unusual in Caribbean capitals. The pastel palette is not accidental but a deliberate civic choice made after a 1970s renovation that replaced many of the original Dutch colonial facades with Art Deco equivalents; the result is a streetscape that looks like a Caribbean answer to Miami Beach.

The city was named after the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and the Wilhelmina Canal cuts through the centre, a reminder of the engineering ambitions of the early 20th century when Aruba was transforming from a quiet cayo into a major oil-refining hub. The canal is still navigable by small vessels and the waterfront along its banks has become a focus for dining and evening promenades, particularly around the floating market where Venezuelan fishermen sell their catch each morning from boats tied up alongside the quay.

Cruise tourism dominates the city centre during the day; the massive Queen Beatrix International Airport terminal is a short drive away and the cruise port can accommodate several megaships simultaneously, disgorging thousands of visitors into the small downtown core. The effect is dramatic and sometimes overwhelming for a place of only about 30,000 permanent residents. The shops along the main street are heavily oriented toward duty-free luxury goods, jewellery and souvenirs, and the restaurants near the port charge port-inflated prices. The quality and authenticity of the Aruban dining experience is better found a few blocks inland.

Yet the city has a genuine cultural depth beneath the tourist surface. The National Archaeological Museum of Aruba is housed in a restored 19th-century building and documents the island's pre-Columbian history, including the Caquetio indigenous people who were the island's first inhabitants. The Fort Zoutman historical district preserves the original 18th-century fort and the Willem III Tower, the only surviving structure from the Dutch colonial period before the 1970s renovation programme transformed everything else.

Coney Island, at the tip of the harbour jetty, is a small residential neighbourhood of wooden houses painted in equally bold colours, connected to the mainland by a narrow bridge and retaining a neighbourhood feel despite its tourist visibility. It is one of the few remaining areas of traditional Aruban wooden architecture and gives photographers some of the most distinctive images of the city, particularly in the golden hour before sunset when the houses glow against the harbour water.

The pastel Art Deco waterfront is one of the most distinctive streetscapes in the Caribbean.

The historic Fort Zoutman district and Willem III Tower provide a window into Aruba's Dutch colonial past.

The daily morning floating market and waterfront canal give the city a working port character that contrasts with its tourist retail.