Experience the best of Palm - Eagle Beach

Palm Beach and Eagle Beach run in a line along Aruba's west coast, a short way north-west of Oranjestad, and between them they hold most of the island's resorts. Palm Beach is the livelier of the two, with tall hotels, water-sports stands, restaurants and casinos behind the sand. Eagle Beach is wider and calmer, backed by low-rise hotels and dotted with trees bent by the steady wind.

The sea is shallow and clear, which suits swimming, snorkelling and paddleboarding, and sunsets over the water are a daily event. Sea turtles nest on Eagle Beach in season, and the Bubali Bird Sanctuary, a wetland of shallow ponds between the beaches, draws herons and other water birds. Further north, Malmok and Boca Catalina are shallow snorkelling bays, and the wreck of the Antilla, a German freighter sunk in 1940, lies off Malmok.

Dinner leans towards fish and Dutch-Caribbean cooking, from grilled wahoo and snapper to keshi yena, a stuffed cheese dish found in many local kitchens, with ponche crema, a creamy rum-laced drink, to follow. Beach bars serve their drinks on the sand as the light drops. The air stays dry and breezy for most of the year, with only a lighter rainy spell in late autumn and early winter.