It’s a tiny slice of paradise in the Caribbean but it boasts turquoise seas, year round temperatures of 30C, and European food.

Aruba is just 69 square miles, making it smaller than Birmingham. But it boasts tropical beaches, deserts, shopping and some of the most luxurious and impressive hotels in the world - all while locals speak four languages and can get EU passports.

Aruba is a country in the Caribbean islands, but a constituent island country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In short, it’s Dutch-owned, and it has a special relationship with the EU by extension despite being located 4,900 miles from Holland, the main land mass of the Netherlands in central Europe.

My wife and I visited Aruba for our honeymoon, and the island is simply breathtaking. 

Unlike many Caribbean islands, Aruba is classed as a desert island. In fact, much of its tiny landmass is comprised of a huge sprawling dust expanse peppered with cacti, rockpools and some of the most staggering scenery I’ve ever seen.

Aruba.com explains: “Bathed in the warmth of a turquoise sea and cooled by trade winds, Aruba is the happy home to constant sunshine and powdery-soft white-sand beaches.

"But our island is also alive with sights, sounds and culinary delights found on no other Caribbean island. With friendly people eager to welcome and embrace you. With surprising natural wonders to explore, and countless ways to relax, indulge your wild side and find happiness, however you want to.”

Year-round, Aruba is the perfect temperature for a holiday, with peaks of 33C in the summer months of August and September, but still 30- 32C every other month of the year, with a cooling breeze that stops it from feeling too humid.

Along the coastal edges are the beaches and holiday resorts - complete with flocks of flamingoes.

We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel Aruba, which is notable because it has two parts: the main hotel area, with rooms overlooking a pool and the sea, and a separate, secret island only accessible by boat. To get to the Renaissance island, you have to get on a speedboat in the hotel lobby, and speed under the hotel and out into the open water for about 15 minutes before you reach the private lagoon island, exclusively for hotel guests. It feels like something straight out of a Bond movie. And once you disembark at the private island, you’re treated to a private beach, complete with segregated swimming lagoon, beach bars and restaurant - only for hotel guests.

Aruba has two main built up areas - the downtown and the hotels strip. Our hotel is actually in the downtown, but we preferred this - it’s a short walk from shops, trams, and cafes, and even though we were all-inclusive, we wanted to try the local culture, which is unsurprisingly a blend of Dutch and Caribbean. Think Dutch fare like stroopwafels and poffertjes meets traditional Aruban carni stoba (kind of a stew) and Keshi Yena (a cheesy dish). 

In fact, apart from one trip to the resort area, we preferred the downtown - there’s more local culture, whereas the resort part feels built for people who want to fly 5,000 miles just to order a McDonald’s. Here, in the local area, we got chatting to locals, who confirmed they are able to get a Dutch passport, which because the Netherlands is in the EU, gives them access to all of the EU to live and work in. There may be fewer more well placed countries anywhere in the world for those who want to travel, work or live wherever they want. What’s more, the locals all speak four languages from birth: English, Dutch, Spanish and Papiamento, which is a tiny local Portuguese Creole spoken by only 350,000 people in the world. 

Then we took a trip out into the desert. With a local tour company, you can jump in a Jeep and buggy across the sands, stopping at several points in the arid, yet beautiful Arikok National Park before we took a dip in the Natural Pool, which is like a warm water rock pool in the middle of the desert. 

Another claim to fame for Aruba is its water. It proudly boasts some of the best drinking water in the world. As Aruba.com explains: “Aruba is known for its pristine beaches and turquoise waters, but not many realise that the tap water found all over our island is both potable and delicious. It’s so good, we even gave it a new, splashy name that sounds as refreshing as the beverage itself — Paradise on Tap. So next time you visit our One happy island, pack your reusable water bottle, and let the good times flow. We know you’ll be coming back for more.”

Aruba is simply breathtaking, and we wouldn’t hesitate to fly back any time for another slice of Caribbean-Dutch paradise.