Driving in Aruba,
the rules that differ
For anyone picking up a rental car. Roundabouts, four-way stops and the signs, explained by people who drive here every day.
Roundabouts
Traffic already on the roundabout goes first. Always.
- Slow down on the approach and look left. The traffic you are waiting for comes from your left, going round anticlockwise.
- Give way at the shark teeth. If a car is on the ring, or about to pass you, wait. You do not have to stop if it is clear.
- Enter when there is a gap and go round to the right.
- Signal right just before your exit, so the driver waiting there knows you are leaving.
Never stop on the roundabout itself to let somebody in. It feels polite, and it is the move that causes the bumps: the drivers behind you are not expecting it.
Your first roundabout is the hardest one
The flag roundabout outside the airport. Know your exit before you reach it.
Four roads meet it, each split down the middle by a strip of red brick. Leaving the airport, you go round to the right and reach the exits in this order:
- San Nicolas, for Savaneta, San Nicolas and Baby Beach.
- Watty Vos Boulevard, the highway across the island to the high-rise hotels. Leave on the left-hand side of the split; the right-hand side is the way in.
- Oranjestad, which carries on along the coast road to the hotels.
It has three lanes all the way round, so the lane you enter in decides where you can leave. Follow the arrows painted on the approach and stay in your lane. Missed your exit? Go round once more.
The red brick ring around the flags is for trucks and buses to run over on the turn. Keep your car on the grey.
Roundabouts with more than one lane
Pick your lane before you enter. Once you are inside, you stay in it.
Aruba’s bigger roundabouts are built the Dutch way, with two or three lanes and a raised kerb or a solid line between them. The arrows painted on the approach tell you which lane goes where, so read them early, while you can still move across.
Inside, you cannot change lanes. Your lane carries you to your exit. If you are in the wrong one, go with it, take the next exit and come back round. That costs you a minute; cutting across costs a lot more.
Four-way stops
Stop completely. The first car to stop is the first to go.
Where Aruba does not have a roundabout, it usually has a stop sign on every side. Every car stops at its line, every time, then the cars go in the order they arrived. If two of you stop at the same moment, the car on the right goes first.
A wave from another driver is common here and means “go ahead”. Arubans are courteous drivers and will often let you out; take the offer, and return it.
Is there right on red?
There are no traffic lights on the island, so there is no red to turn on.
Aruba replaced its traffic lights with roundabouts and four-way stops. If you have read older advice about red lights here, it is out of date.
Junctions with no signs
The car on your right goes first.
At a crossing with no signs and no road markings, give way to traffic from your right. Turning left, give way to oncoming traffic. A sand road counts as a road, so a car coming out of one on your right has the right of way too.
The signs worth knowing
International shapes and colours, the same family as Europe’s. These are the ones visitors ask about.
Speed limits
Follow the signs, and remember they are in kilometres.
Towns and built-up areas are usually signed at 30 km/h (about 19 mph), roads outside town at 60 km/h (about 37 mph), and parts of the main roads at 80 km/h(about 50 mph). School and residential streets can be lower. Your rental’s speedometer will be in kilometres too.
Drinking, phones and seat belts
Lower drink limit than home, hands-free only, belts on.
The limit is 0.5 per mille, which is 0.05%, lower than the 0.08% in most of the United States. One cocktail on an empty stomach can be enough. Your rental insurance does not cover a driver over the limit.
You may not hold a phone while driving; hands-free is fine. Everybody wears a seat belt, and children under 12 ride in the back, in a child seat.
Parking in Oranjestad
Pay at the meter, and never park on yellow.
Downtown Oranjestad has paid parking during the day. Find the meter, pay, and keep an eye on the time. Parking along a yellow line, on a bridge, or beside a solid line down the middle of the road is not allowed, and bays marked in yellow are for permit holders only.
Filling up
Pay inside first, then fill the car yourself.
At most stations you go into the shop, tell them your pump and how much, pay (cards are fine), then go back and fill up. The price is the same at every station, because the government sets it, so there is no point driving around for a better one.
Dirt roads, Arikok and the beach
Most rental cars are not allowed on dirt roads, and damage there is not covered.
Read your contract before following a sand track. Driving on the beach is prohibited, and ATVs and UTVs have been banned from Arikok National Park since November 2020. For the Natural Pool and the rough side of Arikok, a jeep tour is the way in without risking your deposit.
At night, and the goats
Many roads are unlit, and animals use them too.
Outside the hotel areas, a lot of roads have no street lights. Goats, dogs and iguanas stand in the road, especially inland. Drive slower than you would at home after dark, and slower still after rain, when the roads get slippery.
If you have an accident
Do not move the car. Call the police first.
- Police: 100. Leave the cars where they are until the police say otherwise.
- Ambulance or fire: 911.
- Then your rental company, on the number on your contract or key tag.
Your licence, and renting
Your licence from home is fine.
A valid foreign or international licence is accepted. Rental companies usually want you to be 25 or older and to have held your licence for at least two years; some take drivers from 21 with extra conditions. Before you drive off, check the lights, indicators, wipers and horn.
Quick answers
There are no traffic lights in Aruba to turn on. Junctions are roundabouts and four-way stops instead: on a roundabout you give way to the traffic already on it, and at a four-way stop the first car to stop is the first to go.
The traffic already on the roundabout. Slow down, give way to cars coming from your left, and enter when there is a gap. On a roundabout with more than one lane, choose your lane before you enter and do not change lanes inside it.
Give way to traffic already on it, then go round to the right. Leaving the airport, the exits come in this order: San Nicolas and Savaneta, then Watty Vos Boulevard, the highway to the high-rise hotels, then Oranjestad and the coast road to the hotels. It has three lanes all the way round, so follow the painted arrows and stay in your lane.
The right, as in the United States and most of Europe. You overtake on the left, and on a road with two lanes in your direction you keep to the right one unless you are overtaking.
Follow the signs, which are in kilometres per hour. Most towns and built-up areas are signed at 30 km/h, roads outside town at 60 km/h, and parts of the main roads at 80 km/h.
A blood alcohol limit of 0.5 per mille, which is 0.05%, lower than the 0.08% used in most of the United States. If you have been drinking, take a taxi.
Do not move the car. Call the police on 100, or 911 for an ambulance or the fire service, and then call your rental company. Both drivers should also contact their insurers.
Had a drink, or not in the mood for roundabouts in the dark?
Leave the car at the hotel. LYNX sends a government licensed taxi to you, at the official fixed fare, and the driver knows every roundabout on the island.
Call a taxiSee the official faresFree on iPhone and Android. LYNX also works in any browser at app.lynx.aw.
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Checked against Aruba’s tourism authority, the ANWB and the UK government’s travel advice, and corrected by LYNX drivers who drive these roads every day.