Aruba Cruise Port to San Nicolas: Taxi, Bus and the Murals

San Nicolas is the one stop on an Aruba port day that does not look like a brochure. The island’s second city — locals call it the Sunrise City — sits at the far southeastern end of the island, its six-block centre covered in internationally commissioned murals, with the oldest bar in Aruba pouring since 1941. Getting there from the ship is a single flat taxi fare or a cheap bus ride. Every figure below comes from official sources, checked in November 2026.

The quick answer

A taxi is a flat official fare of $54 per car each way for up to four people, about half an hour’s drive. The bus from the Oranjestad terminal near the ship is $2.60 each way and drops you at the San Nicolas bus station, steps from the murals. Go for the street art, the local food and Charlie’s Bar — not for a beach day — and think twice on a Sunday, when Charlie’s is closed and the town is at its quietest.

Taxi: $54 per car, fixed by the government

Aruba’s taxis have no meters — fares are flat rates per car set by the Government of Aruba. The official pricelist at taxi.aw (published 18 May 2026) puts Cruise Ship Terminal to San Nicolas at $54 per car each way, for one to four passengers.

• A fifth, sixth or seventh passenger adds $3 each; the minimum fare on any trip is $10.
• A flat $5 surcharge applies once per trip on Sundays, on official holidays, late at night, and from 24 December to 1 January.
• The drive is about half an hour — the same southeastern coast road as the Baby Beach run, ending a few minutes earlier.

At $108 per car round trip, the taxi maths works for a full group of four. For two people, a day’s rental car from our desk in Oranjestad often costs less than that one round trip — and it lets you carry on to Baby Beach or loop back along the coast on your own clock.

The bus: $2.60 each way on the L2

The Arubus terminal on L.G. Smith Boulevard is a 550 m, seven-minute walk from the cruise terminal gate. From there the L2 (or L3A) runs to the San Nicolas bus station roughly hourly at half past the hour, from early morning until late evening — $2.60 (Afl 4.50) a ride, so $5.20 round trip, or a $15 day pass if you plan more hops. The station sits right in the town centre, so you step off the bus into the mural district. Check the posted timetable at the terminal before relying on it on a Sunday or holiday.

What San Nicolas offers on a port day

The murals concentrate around Main Street, the Charlie’s Bar block and the streets behind the bus station — a compact core you can walk properly in 45 minutes to an hour. They are not decoration so much as documentation: Aruban history, culture and wildlife, painted large. A self-guided mural walk map is available from the tourist information centre on Main Street, and the Aruba Art Fair (typically October) adds new walls every year — visit during the fair and you can watch the artists work. The full story of the town is in our San Nicolas guide.

Charlie’s Bar has been open since 1941 — the oldest bar in Aruba, its interior buried under decades of photographs, license plates and keepsakes left by visitors. It opens Monday to Saturday from 11:30am to 6pm and is closed on Sundays, so check which weekday your call falls on before promising anyone lunch there. Our Charlie’s Bar guide has the menu and the history.

The food scene is the other reason to come: San Nicolas has a large Venezuelan community, so the arepas and pabellón criollo here are the real thing, and informal fish spots along the southern coast road serve fresh catch with funchi. And yes — this is also the town with Aruba’s legal red light district, a couple of quiet streets by daylight; our red light district guide explains honestly how it works.

Combining San Nicolas with Baby Beach

Baby Beach is ten minutes further down the same road — the official taxi fare from the ship directly to Baby Beach is $68 per car — so the classic combination is murals and lunch in town, then two hours in the lagoon before heading back. On weekdays the L900 shuttle connects the San Nicolas bus station to Baby Beach; our cruise port to Baby Beach guide has the full timetable and the last-bus warning that matters.

Our verdict

San Nicolas is the best half-day in Aruba for anyone who wants art, food and a real town rather than a beach chair — and with a call of six hours or more you can comfortably do both town and lagoon. If you simply want sand close to the ship, Eagle Beach is a $28 taxi in the other direction. For everything around the terminal itself — fares, the free streetcar, timing — start with our Aruba cruise port guide.

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