6 Best Places to Shop in Aruba

Aruba may be household to a quantity of procuring facilities and malls, but it is the marketplaces and boutiques you will genuinely want to discover. Scattered around the island, they offer artisan products like regionally built hot sauce, pottery, aloe vera cleaning soap and much more, all of which make for distinctive souvenirs.

Whether you’re on the hunt for gourmet treats, vacation resort use, or some Aruban art, you will discover the very best regional products at spots like a food items emporium in Noord, a small shop on Eagle Seashore, and the open up-air stalls on Oranjestad’s most important pier. Store at spots like these and, fairly than leaving with a mass-developed keepsake, you will head residence with something that you can only locate on island.

Browse on for the six finest locations to store in Aruba and put your travel dollars towards a worthy memento of your trip. 

Caya G.F. Betico Croes

Aruba is a paradise for purchasers, and this leafy street, named for a neighborhood independence fighter, is its main attraction. Lined with palm trees and an antique streetcar, the 50 %-mile stretch in Oranjestad functions various different retailers, all housed in pastel-hued, Dutch Colonial–style buildings. Offerings operate the gamut from significant-close manner and jewelry to souvenir T-shirts and postcards—housewares are of particular take note. Really don’t go away the area without purchasing some Dutch Edam cheese, which comes wrapped in pink wax, and a piece of iconic blue-and-white, Delft-design pottery.

Bula Surf Aruba

Ailments are proper 12 months-round in Aruba for both of those novice and seasoned surfers. Easterly trade winds blow steadily more than the island from March as a result of August, whilst waves come consistently in late drop and winter. If you’d like to try surfing—or even just seem like a surfer—while in Aruba, Bula Surf Store in central Oranjestad can get you started. Opened in 2003 by two surfers, the retailer boasts a friendly team which is well-informed about all factors watersports on the island. Choose up swimsuits, sunglasses, boards, and backpacks by preferred surf manufacturers like Billabong, Quicksilver, and Ripcurl. Just never prevent by on Sundays—that’s when the staff members is “gone surfing.”

The Regional Current market

Suitable by Oranjestad’s cruise terminal, in the vicinity of one particular of the more substantial malls, you are going to find The Local Sector, total with Dutch-fashion stalls hawking distinctly Aruban products. The open-air spot is the spot to go for factors as diverse as handicrafts, watercolors by neighborhood artists, cigars, leather goods, and hand-milled aloe soaps—all at economical costs. Bargaining is expected, so really do not settle for the 1st rate you hear. And bring loads of dollars equally florin and U.S. dollars are approved. 

Mopa Mopa

At Mopa Mopa in Oranjestad, neighborhood handicrafts aren’t just souvenirs—they’re ornamental art. The gallery specializes in carved wood figures, crafted lovingly in the regular mopa mopa, or barniz de Pasto, type. To complete each individual piece, artisans paint them with vegetable dyes and resin-centered lacquer, making for one particular-of-a-sort keepsakes. Check out the gallery to shop and discuss with the artisans themselves, who will gladly solution concerns and show their intricate strategies.

Tremendous Food stuff Plaza

Although there’s nothing at all specifically charming about this Focus on-esque emporium in Noord, Tremendous Foodstuff Plaza is the finest area to go for connoisseur goods. Only-on-Aruba solutions include things like Incredibly hot Delight sauces (all-natural taste enhancers handcrafted on the island) and coecoei liquor (a generations-outdated spirit built from agave), while Dutch specialties vary from cheese (Edam, Gouda) to chocolate (Verkade, Droste). If you get absolutely nothing else, try out the stroopwafels, which function a caramel, syrup-like filling sandwiched involving thin-baked dough. Tremendous Food’s café, Jack’s, features excellent coffee and Dutch dishes throughout the working day.

The Lazy Lizard

Filled with vacation resort put on for adult men, girls, and young children, The Lazy Lizard on Eagle Beach is stocked with seaside bums in head. Here, consumers will come across an countless array of vast-brimmed hats, baseball caps, and straw totes together with T-shirts, bathing suits, and deal with-ups. There are also accessories like water-resistant mobile phone situations and wind chimes manufactured from shells, as perfectly as a range of area artwork. Adding substance to style, the retailer donates a share of each and every invest in to community charities.

>>Next: The AFAR Guidebook to Aruba