Culture and history across the Caribbean Netherlands
Explore historic sites, museums and local traditions on Bonaire and Sint Eustatius.
This guide brings together places that connect the islands’ present-day life with their past. Visit museums and historic buildings, reflect on Bonaire’s salt-harvesting history, and experience local food and drink in Rincon.
Bonaire Slave Huts
Things to do, Bonaire
By Bonaire’s southern salt pans, the coral-stone huts built around 1850 sheltered enslaved people who worked the salt harvest. The red huts and nearby obelisk form a memorial to that history.
Fort Oranje
Things to do, Sint Eustatius
Fort Oranje’s cobbled parade ground, bastions and cannon occupy a cliff above Oranje Bay. A plaque commemorates the 1776 salute to the flag of the newly declared United States.
Posada Para Mira
Food & Drink, Bonaire
In Rincon, this hilltop restaurant serves krioyo, including stewed goat, local fish and funchi with fried plantain. Its menu offers a taste of Bonairean home cooking alongside views of the island’s oldest village.
St. Eustatius Historical Foundation Museum
Things to do, Sint Eustatius
Housed in an 18th-century merchant house, the museum traces Statia’s history through pottery and objects from the sugar and shipping trades. The foundation also organises guided walks through historic Oranjestad.
Terramar Museum
Things to do, Bonaire
On Kralendijk’s waterfront, exhibits cover seven thousand years of Bonairean and wider Caribbean history, from Caquetío artifacts to colonial-era finds. An upstairs gallery explores the slavery period.
The Cadushy Distillery
Food & Drink, Bonaire
This Rincon distillery makes cactus liqueur from the island’s kadushi, along with rums and spirits honouring the Dutch Caribbean islands. Visitors can see the production process and join tastings in the courtyard.