balashi gold mill ruins

Like to know the history of Aruba, and took a tour of the island. This was one of the highlights. Pieces of the buildings are still standing. Wind is ferocious there, so hang on.

Balashi gold mill ruins are a nice stop to visit if you have extra time and already visited all popular spots. It's very solitaire place so try not to go alone and take your camera for good pictures, you won't take more than 1 hour once to get here.

I went on 3 tours: Safari Natural Pool, Sunset Sail and 5 hour bus tour. The first 2 they did a fabulous job. If it had to be 1 - I'd go with the Safari. It is one of the jeep tours where you won't get sunburned to a crisp/has shade and you see the Alto Vista Church, California Lighthouse (not worth that trip but included on all tours), Natural Pools, the Goldmine ruins, the Natural Bridge, the Baby Natural Bridge and more. You don't go to Baby Beach - which is touted as all the rage for some unknown reason to me. If you want to snorkel - go to the Shipwreck or Malmark Beach. Weather permitting on the Safari you can swim at the Natural Pools if you are physically able to climb down (and back up). Not for the disabled. The Bus tour was the most informative but lunch stop - I'm still scratching my head on the choice of restaurant. No views, horrible non-Arubian food and completely unimpressive - go with the 3 hour tour - not worth the extra money. The Sunset Sail - guides were fantastic and made their best efforts to entertain. The "snacks" (no gluten free and again not much if anything to do with Aruba) are not what you would go for - although the booze is for some but no one got sloppy to my relief!

We visited the ruins as part of our ABC Jeep Tour. My husband and I thought the ruins were fascinating. It boggles the mind to think that people back then could build such huge structures! It was fun to climb around and think of what life might have been like back then.

This is really strange artifac but the pilling up of the stones gives a respect to an old knowlede.They give such certain impression that you can not connect to the gold ones.

The ruins were so incredibly fascinating. We could not get our heads around how these incredibly huge slabs of stone were ever moved into place so perfectly. A free and fun excursion on Aruba. Don't miss this special place.

We drove here only because we were in between the natural pool and natural bridges. Honestly we didn't even get out to look. It honestly was a bunch of ruins.May be good for some but just not my thing.

The best part of this site was the stories Richie our guide told us. Also, got some really great photos from inside the ruins, with people posed in the window with the ocean in the background.

Stopped here briefly on our 4x4 tour. Pretty neat story. This whole are is nice to see. It's such a unexpected side to see of Aruba. This side is more desert like with lots of sand, rocks, and cacti.

Beautiful scenery...great photo ops. Very interesting story. Also, the water and rocks surrounding this is amazing.

Stopped here while doing the UTV tour and it is gorgeous. The view is spectacular and to see all the piles of rocks is unbelievable. Everyone stacks 7 rocks for luck and they are everywhere. If you are touing the island make sure to stop here!

This site, like some other attractions on the island, is kind of fend for yourself. It was fun to see the ruins, but there is nothing out there to tell you what was what, how it used to work, or the history of the smelter ruins. No plaques, barely a sign, or anything. I would research it on the internet before you go out there and make your own guide because there is nothing out there to tell you. It is neat to see though so don't pass it up.

ABC Jeep ride stops lets you take pictures and explore as you go. This was a good place to stop. There was also a small bus that had souvenir t-shirts at great prices.

This was another landmark on our jeep journey around the island. Worth stopping and climbing around but really not much here. A sign or two with information about the place would help make it more interesting.Note that you can get to this location form the road but I would not venture any further north than this if you are in a car.

Neat to walk around the ruins & grounds. Not much really to see here once you walk around. Get a beer from the food truck near the ruins!