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Bonaire · North coast
Breathtaking north coast tour
Up the wild side of the island — cliffs the sea slams into, flamingos on the lagoon, the oldest village inland — with the story at each stop starting by itself when you arrive.
- Duration
- 2–3 hours
- Distance
- 60 km
- Stops
- 12
About this tour
You drive it yourself, at your own pace, in a rental car. The app navigates you to each stop and on to the next, and when you arrive the story starts on its own — no button, no searching for the right track.
The north is the half of Bonaire that people come back for: a coast road with the sea on one side and cliffs on the other, a lagoon with flamingos on it, and an inland village that was deliberately built out of sight of the water. Stop where you want, skip what you want; the route waits.
The tour in numbers
- Duration
- 2–3 hours
- Distance
- 60 km
- Stops
- 12
- Language
- Audio in English; the app in Dutch and English
- On the road
- Works wherever you are, wifi or not
- Download
- The map along the route and the audio are downloaded per tour
- Price
- A paid audio tour — you see the price in the app
The route on the map
The stops in order. Click a pin for the name.
-
01 Cruise Port -
02 1000 Steps -
03 Devil’s Mouth -
04 Landhuis karpata - 05 Gotomeer
-
06 Rincon -
07 Mangazina di Rei -
08 Eastcoast -
09 Seru Largu -
10 Boulevard Kralendijk -
11 Fort Oranje - 12 Cruise Port
The stops, and what you hear there
At every stop the story starts by itself when you arrive. Here are the first ones; the rest come with the tour in the app.
-
01
Cruise Port
The cruise pier sits in the middle of Kralendijk, so the route starts where the ships come alongside and the town begins — not at a car park outside it.
10 min here · 0:16
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02
1000 Steps
1000 Steps is a shore dive and snorkel site on the northwest coast of Bonaire, about twenty minutes' drive north of Kralendijk.
40 min here · 1:30
About this place -
03
Devil’s Mouth
Devil's Mouth is a stretch of the wild northeast coast of Bonaire where the swell drives into undercut limestone, about half an hour's drive from Kralendijk on the road…
10 min here · 0:41
About this place -
04
Landhuis karpata
Landhuis Karpata is the ruin of a plantation house on the coastal road in the northwest of Bonaire, about thirty minutes' drive from Kralendijk and just above the dive site…
10 min here · 1:02
About this place -
05
Gotomeer
Gotomeer is a saltwater lagoon in the northwest of Bonaire, near Rincon and about thirty-five minutes' drive from Kralendijk.
10 min here · 0:59
About this place -
7 more stops in the app
With the story at each one, and directions in between.
Why this order
Start in the morning, and start at the coast. The water at 1000 Steps is clearest and calmest early, and the staircase down is a climb you would rather not make in the afternoon heat. Karpata comes next because it is on the same road, and that stretch of coast road is the best drive on the island — you want it before the light goes flat.
Gotomeer sits fourth for the birds: early morning and late afternoon are when the flamingos move most and the middle of the day washes everything out. Rincon is inland and works at any hour, with one exception — most of the village is shut on Sundays, so if you are driving this on a Sunday, treat it as a look rather than a stop.
The east coast comes after that because it needs wind, and the trade wind builds through the day. Seru Largu is deliberately near the end: it has the widest view on the island, and in the middle of the day that view is flat and the bare hilltop is unpleasantly hot. Late afternoon puts the light back in it.
The last two stops are in town, which is where you want to end anyway: the boulevard and the fort are a short walk apart, and after them you are a few minutes from where you started.
Practical
- You need a car. There is no bus network on Bonaire worth planning a day around, and the stops are twenty to thirty kilometres out of town.
- Traffic drives on the right, the same as in the Netherlands and North America.
- Fuel stations are few and mostly around Kralendijk. Fill up before you head out rather than on the way back.
- Download the tour over wifi before you leave. The map along the route and the audio go onto your phone, so the route holds up where the signal drops — and away from town it does.
- Do not swim at Devil's Mouth. The current along that coast is strong and there is no safe way out.
- This route stays outside the national park, which charges its own fee and keeps its own hours. Check before you improvise a detour.
Questions people ask
- Where does the Breathtaking north coast tour start and end?
- It starts and ends at Cruise Port, so you come back to where you parked.
- How long does the Breathtaking north coast tour take?
- The app puts it at 2–3 hours over 60 km, with 12 stops. Allow longer if you swim or eat on the way: the story at a stop only starts once you are there.
- Do I need a car?
- You need a car. There is no bus network on Bonaire worth planning a day around, and the stops are twenty to thirty kilometres out of town.
- Is there a guide?
- No. You go at your own pace, and the story starts by itself when you arrive — no group to keep up with, no departure time to make.
- Does it work without internet?
- Works wherever you are, wifi or not. The map along the route and the audio are downloaded per tour.
- What language is the audio in?
- The tour audio is English. The rest of the app is in Dutch and English.
- What does it cost?
- A paid audio tour — you see the price in the app.
Ready to drive it
You buy and download the tour in the app. Do that over wifi before you set off — the map along the route and the audio go onto your phone.
