San Nicolas

San Nicolas exists because of oil. The Lago refinery opened in 1928 and drew workers from across the Caribbean, particularly the British West Indies, which gave the town an English-speaking, Anglican, cricket-playing character quite unlike Dutch-Papiamento Oranjestad, and made it the island's largest settlement for decades. The refinery's decline hollowed it out. Since 2016 an annual street art festival has covered the buildings with large murals by international and Aruban artists, turning the main streets into an open-air gallery, and a carnival museum and studios have followed. It is a town in the middle of reinventing itself.

What you actually see

• The murals - large works covering buildings through the main streets.
• The Caribbean character - English-speaking and West Indian, unlike the capital.
• The carnival museum - the island's carnival history and costume.
• The refinery - the plant the whole town was built around.

When to go

Year-round. The street art festival adds new murals each year, usually in the autumn. Carnival season from January to Lent is when the town is liveliest. Weekdays are quiet.

Honest expectations

The town has struggled badly since the refinery's decline and parts of it are visibly poor and empty; the murals are painted on buildings that are often derelict behind. Air quality complaints have been raised when the refinery runs. There is not a great deal beyond the murals and the museum, and half a day covers it. The murals are not labelled, so a guided tour adds context that wandering misses; some fade or are painted over between festivals, and there is little shade, so midday walking is hot.

Nearby

Baby Beach and Rodgers Beach are ten minutes; the natural bridge is beyond.