Boca Prins and the Beaches of Arikok National Park

Name: Arikok National Park Tours
Brand: Arikok National Park Tours
Availability: InStock

Hours, prices and access verified by the Arikok National Park Tours team — last checked 2026-09-02

The windward side of Aruba is the side the postcards leave out: no palms, no loungers, no calm turquoise shallows. Arikok National Park's coast is a run of small bays between limestone cliffs, with the Atlantic swell coming in unbroken, and it is the most dramatic scenery on the island precisely because almost nobody swims there.

Boca Prins, and the dunes above it

Boca Prins is the best known of them and the easiest to reach: a small wedge of pale sand between two headlands, with a wooden staircase down from the parking area. Above and behind it sits a field of sand dunes, blown inland off the beach over centuries, which is the one landscape on Aruba that reads as desert rather than coast.

The water is not a swimming beach. Swell breaks straight into the bay and the undertow is strong. What people do here is walk the dunes, photograph the cliffs and eat something in the shade of the vehicle.

Dos Playa, the twin bays

Dos Playa is two bays separated by a rock spur, a short drive north of Boca Prins, and the more spectacular of the pair. The cliffs behind it are higher and the sand is coarser. Surfers occasionally work the break at the northern bay; nobody else should be in that water.

Several guided itineraries stop here for ten to fifteen minutes, which is enough for the view and not enough for the walk down. If you want the walk, one of the named trails ends here from the interior.

Daimari, Boca Keto and Boca Fluit

Further north the bays get harder to reach and quieter for it. Daimari sits at the end of a track and is where the wild donkeys tend to be. Boca Keto and Boca Fluit are smaller still and appear on almost no itinerary, which is their appeal if you are driving yourself and have a full day.

Swimming on the windward coast

The plain answer is that these are not swimming beaches. The Atlantic arrives here without a reef to slow it, the currents run parallel to the shore, and there are no lifeguards anywhere inside the park. That is not a warning to stay away — it is the reason the coast looks the way it does.

The safe water on a park day is Conchi when conditions allow it, and that is a different thing entirely: the Natural Pool is a rock basin protected from the swell by its own rampart.

Reaching each bay

Surfaces read from the park road network and the operators' own itineraries.

Bay	Surface to it	Swim?	Walk down	On tours?
Boca Prins	Graded road, ordinary car	No — strong undertow	Wooden staircase	Occasionally
Dos Playa	Graded road, ordinary car	No — open swell	Steep path	Short photo stops
Daimari	Rough track, 4x4 advisable	No	Short	Rarely
Boca Keto	Rough track, 4x4	No	Scramble	No
Boca Fluit	Rough track, 4x4	No	Scramble	No
Conchi (the Natural Pool)	4x4 only	Yes, sea permitting	About 93 steps	Most departures

Compare the tours by what they reach

Baby Beach is not in the park, and most tours go anyway

Baby Beach sits at the southern tip of the island near San Nicolas, well outside the park boundary, and it is a shallow, sheltered, genuinely swimmable lagoon. Four of the itineraries here finish there, and the reason is obvious: it is the swim the windward coast cannot offer. It is worth knowing that it is a separate place rather than part of the park, because half an hour there is half an hour not spent inside the boundary.

Frequently asked questions

Can I swim at the beaches inside the park?

Not safely at most of them. Boca Prins, Dos Playa and Daimari face the open Atlantic swell with strong currents, and they are places to look at rather than swim from. The safe swims on a park day are Conchi when conditions allow and Baby Beach, which sits outside the boundary at the island's southern tip.

What wildlife will I actually see?

Cododo, the blue-tailed Aruban whiptail lizard, on almost every wall and rock, and wild goats and donkeys along the roads. The shoco, Aruba's endemic burrowing owl, is genuinely findable early and late in the day. The cascabel rattlesnake exists here and is very rarely seen.

The windward bays are what you photograph and Conchi is what you swim in, and one guided morning covers both. They are listed together on Arikok National Park Tours.