Practical info for a trip to Bonaire

Bonaire keeps Atlantic Standard Time, four hours behind UTC, all year, and it does not use daylight saving time. That puts it six hours behind the Netherlands in summer and five in winter, and on the same time as New York in summer.

Yes. Every visitor pays $75 from age 13 and $10 for children up to 12, per visit. Pay it only through tourismtax.bonairegov.com⁠ (opens in a new tab), from seven days before arrival, because look-alike sites also appear in search results.

Everyone who enters the sea, including swimmers and snorkelers, pays $40 per person for the calendar year. The fee also covers Washington Slagbaai National Park, and STINAPA exempts children under 12.

On the west coast the sea is usually calm, and that is where the snorkel and dive sites are. There are no lifeguards on any beach, and apart from Lac Bay the east coast is too rough to swim. Water shoes help on the coral entries.

It is warm, dry and windy for most of the year, with a steady trade wind from the east. Bonaire lies south of the usual hurricane track, so a direct hit is rare, although storms further north can bring rain and waves.

From Amsterdam, KLM, TUI fly and Corendon fly non-stop in about nine and a half hours. From the United States there are flights with American from Miami, Delta from Atlanta and United from Houston, and from Germany you usually connect in Amsterdam. Routes as of September 2026.

The US dollar. Cards are accepted in most restaurants and shops, and there are cash machines in Kralendijk.