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Bonaire · South coast
South coast tour
The flat, strange half of the island: salt pyramids, the huts where enslaved workers were housed, the lighthouse where the two coasts meet, and the shallow water on the far side.
- Duration
- 2–3 hours
- Distance
- 40 km
- Stops
- 11
About this tour
You drive it yourself and the story at each stop starts on its own when you arrive. The south is flatter than the north and the stops are closer to the road, so this is the easier of the two halves to drive — but it is the one that stays with you.
Most of it is the history of salt: the pans still being worked, the pyramids you can see from a long way off, and the huts along the shore. It is not a comfortable story and the audio does not pretend otherwise.
The tour in numbers
- Duration
- 2–3 hours
- Distance
- 40 km
- Stops
- 11
- 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 Te Amo Beach -
03 Salt Pans -
04 Pink Beach -
05 White Slave Huts -
07 Atlantis Beach - 08 Red Slave Huts
-
09 Willemstoren Lighthouse -
10 Sorobon Beach -
11 Sorobon Viewpoint -
13 Boulevard Kralendijk
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.
5 min here · 0:16
-
02
Te Amo Beach
Te Amo Beach is a narrow strip of sand on the west coast of Bonaire, five minutes' drive south of Kralendijk and directly beside the runway of Flamingo Airport.
15 min here · 0:57
About this place -
03
Salt Pans
The salt pans cover the southern third of Bonaire, starting about twenty minutes' drive from Kralendijk and running for kilometres along the coast road.
15 min here · 1:45
About this place -
04
Pink Beach
Pink Beach is a stretch of pale pink sand on the southwest coast of Bonaire, about twenty-five minutes' drive south of Kralendijk along the road past the salt pans.
15 min here · 0:55
About this place -
05
White Slave Huts
The white slave huts stand on the shore of the southern salt pans, about twenty-five minutes' drive from Kralendijk.
15 min here · 1:48
About this place -
6 more stops in the app
With the story at each one, and directions in between.
Why this order
It is a loop around the southern tip, and the direction matters more than the distance. There is under an hour of actual driving in it, spread over eleven stops — what fills the afternoon is standing still. So the order follows when each stop is at its best, not the shortest line.
The first half is the salt road and it works at any hour: the pans, the pyramids, Pink Beach and the white huts all sit on the same stretch, with the sea on your right the whole way. They are grouped because they are one story, not because they happen to be close together.
Atlantis Beach and Sorobon both want wind, and the trade wind fills in through the day. In the morning it is usually too light there to be worth stopping for. Reaching the east side after lunch is the point of the order, not a compromise.
The last stop is the Kralendijk waterfront, and it is why this route starts in the early afternoon rather than at nine. The boulevard faces west over Klein Bonaire, and the sun goes down between half past six and seven all year round.
What you give up is Pink Beach in low light: the sand reads pinkest late in the day, and on this route you pass it hours before that. If that is what you came for, drive the salt road again one evening — it is twenty-five minutes from town and the pyramids are on the way.
Practical
- You need a car. The stops run from the edge of town to the southern tip and back up the east side — the whole loop is under forty kilometres.
- Traffic drives on the right. Fuel stations are few and mostly around Kralendijk, so fill up before you head out.
- Download the tour over wifi before you leave. The map along the route and the audio go onto your phone, so it holds up on the road south, where the signal thins out.
- There is no shade and nothing to buy at Pink Beach, the salt pans or the huts. Take more water than you think you need.
- The salt pans are a working industrial site. Stay on the road and behind the markers.
- At the Sorobon viewpoint, stay on the main road. The flats behind it are protected and the flamingos there spook easily.
Questions people ask
- Where does the South coast tour start and end?
- It starts at Cruise Port and ends at Boulevard Kralendijk.
- How long does the South coast tour take?
- The app puts it at 2–3 hours over 40 km, with 11 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. The stops run from the edge of town to the southern tip and back up the east side — the whole loop is under forty kilometres.
- 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.
