What to Wear in Bonaire: Packing List + Outfit Ideas

🌡️ Weather: Warm, sunny + breezy
👗 Clothes: Lightweight, breathable clothing + swimsuits
👟 Shoes: Comfortable sneakers, sandals + water shoes
🤿 Snorkeling: Swimsuit, water shoes + your own mask and snorkel
☀️ Sun: Reef-safe sunscreen, sunglasses, hat + SPF lip balm
🥾 Hiking: Comfortable shoes, athletic clothes + plenty of water
🧴 Beach: Dry bag, beach bag, sunscreen + reusable water bottle
🚗 Exploring: Swimsuit in your day bag, comfortable clothes + sun protection

👉 Planning the rest of your trip? Start with my Bonaire Travel Guide for First-Time Visitors, where I cover where we stayed, what we did, how we got around, and other practical travel tips.

If you’re wondering what to wear in Bonaire, the good news is that you probably don’t need to reinvent your entire vacation wardrobe.

Bonaire is warm, casual, and very outdoorsy, so comfortable pieces that can handle the heat and a day of exploring will get much more use than dressy outfits.

Here’s what I’d wear for the different types of activities you’ll likely have on your Bonaire itinerary.

For everyday exploring, keep it simple.

I’d pack lightweight, breathable pieces that you’re comfortable wearing in the heat and that can handle a spontaneous stop at the beach.

Think:

• Tank tops and lightweight T-shirts
• Shorts
• Rompers
• Casual sundresses
• Lightweight pants
• Athletic tops and shorts for more active days
• Comfortable sandals

One of my favorite things about Bonaire was not having to think too hard about getting dressed.

On our road-trip days, a tank top, shorts, sandals, sunglasses, and a fanny pack or small backpack were basically all I needed—and I’d keep a swimsuit with me in case we decided to stop somewhere along the coast.

Your swimsuit is probably going to get more use in Bonaire than almost anything else in your suitcase, especially if you’re staying at a resort with a private beach like we did.

I brought 7 swimsuits, since we spent so much time in and around the water.

But, you certainly don’t need a different swimsuit for every day unless you enjoy having options like I do.

For an 8-day trip, packing and rotating through 3–4 swimsuits is more than enough for most people.

For beach and resort days, I’d pack:

• Swimsuits
• A lightweight cover-up
• Shorts or another easy outfit for walking around
• Comfortable sandals
• Sunglasses
• Hat
• Reef-safe mineral sunscreen

One thing I learned after the trip: I packed too many cover-ups.

I brought 3 and barely wore them. Most of the time, I was perfectly happy in my swimsuit, and the cover-ups mainly came in handy when I wanted something over my swimsuit while eating at the resort restaurant.

If you’re trying to pack light, I’d bring 1-2 versatile cover-ups rather than several.

👉 My Bonaire beach essentials: These are the swimsuit, sandals, sunglasses, and sunscreen I actually packed and used throughout our trip. If you’re building your beach wardrobe from scratch, these are the pieces I’d start with.

What to Wear for Snorkeling

Snorkeling is one of the activities where I would prioritize function over fashion.

For most of our snorkeling days, I wore a swimsuit with water shoes, along with the usual sun protection.

A rash guard is also worth considering if you want more coverage from the sun while you’re in the water.

I’d wear:

• Swimsuit
• Water shoes
• Rash guard, if desired
• Snorkeling gear (I will get more into specifics later in this post!)

The clothing itself is pretty simple. Your swimsuit does most of the work; the rest is about comfort and sun coverage.

👉 Shop the snorkeling gear I used in Bonaire: I recommend bringing your own mask and snorkel if you plan to snorkel regularly. We used ours throughout the trip, and having gear that fit properly was worth it compared with paying daily rental fees.

For the kind of hiking and exploring we did in Bonaire, the gear mattered more than having a dedicated outfit.

For the Lagadishi Walking Trail, I wore a workout top, athletic shorts, hat, sunglasses, and my sneakers.

For hiking and outdoor exploring, I’d recommend:

• Lightweight athletic top or T-shirt
• Athletic shorts or lightweight pants
• Comfortable sneakers, walking shoes, or hiking sandals

👉 Planning to hike in Washington Slagbaai National Park? Read my Lagadishi Walking Trail Hiking Guide to learn exactly what to expect.

This is probably the easiest category to pack for.

Bonaire is casual.

Unless you have a specific upscale restaurant or event on your itinerary, you don’t need a suitcase full of formal clothes.

I brought a few dresses, rompers, a jumpsuit, and linen pants, and that gave me plenty of options for dinners throughout the trip.

For most evenings, I’d pack:

• 1–2 casual dresses or rompers
• A jumpsuit or lightweight pants
• Simple tops
• Comfortable sandals
• Simple jewelry
• One lightweight layer

We did a couple tasting menu dinners and still didn’t need anything remotely formal.

You can absolutely look nice in Bonaire without dressing up too much!

One of my favorite parts of putting together a packing list is looking back at what I actually wore once the trip was over.

After more than a week of snorkeling, hiking, road-tripping, relaxing at the resort, and going out for dinner, I had a much better idea of which pieces actually earned their suitcase space.

Here’s exactly what I wore each day of the trip.

For our flight to Bonaire, I wore my favorite travel leggings, a workout tank top, a workout jacket, compression socks, and my Vessi sneakers.

The Vessis were actually a packing strategy as much as a shoe choice.

They were the largest shoes I brought, so I wore them on the plane rather than taking up valuable suitcase space with them.

That worked out particularly well because I wore the same sneakers to hike the Lagadishi Trail later in the trip and didn’t need to pack a separate pair of bulky hiking shoes!

For dinner that evening, I changed into linen pants and a tank top, which was perfect because it was a bit humid that first night.

A Broad Recommendation: Even though you won’t need anything heavy once you’re on Bonaire, I’d still bring a light layer for your flight. The plane can get surprisingly cold when they crank up the AC.

For our northern Bonaire road trip, I kept things very simple: tank top, jean shorts, sandals, sunglasses, and my signature fanny pack, with a swimsuit packed just in case.

That same casual combination worked perfectly for driving, sightseeing, and spontaneous stops along the coast.

For our tasting menu dinner that evening, I changed into a dress…and once again, forgot to take a photo in it!

I guess we were just having too much fun for photos, haha.

👉 Here’s the dress I wore to our second tasting menu dinner.

Day 7: Southern Bonaire Drive

Day 7 was a repeat of my road-trip formula: tank top, shorts, sandals, sunglasses, and my fanny pack.

We visited the Donkey Sanctuary Bonaire, Lac Bay, and Sorobon Beach, and I kept a swimsuit with me in case we decided to swim.

We didn’t end up swimming at Sorobon, but having one along was still worth it because our plans could’ve easily changed while driving around the island.

Dinner was another simple outfit: a tank top and linen pants.

I packed a jean jacket.

I never wore it.

If you’re wondering whether you need a jacket for Bonaire, I wouldn’t bring something bulky like a jean jacket unless you know you’ll use it.

I would still pack one lightweight layer, particularly for breezy evenings or boat trips.

Something like a linen shirt or lightweight jacket would be much more useful and likely take up less space.

I actually had a lightweight white jacket from a previous trip to Greece that would have been a much better choice.

I packed 2–3 cover-ups and barely wore them.

The main time I used them was when I wanted something over my swimsuit while eating at the resort restaurant.

If you’re planning to spend most of your time at the beach or in the water, you might get more use out of a pair of lightweight shorts or a casual dress that can double as a cover-up.

I definitely wouldn’t dedicate a large portion of your suitcase to cover-ups.

I intentionally packed a little extra on the workout-clothing side because I knew we’d be active.

I didn’t end up wearing everything.

A couple of athletic outfits were plenty for hiking and active days.

You don’t need a completely separate workout outfit for every day you’re going to be outside.

For an 8-day trip, I’d rather bring a small mix-and-match wardrobe and repeat outfits than pack 8 completely different looks.

Bonaire is one of those destinations where I’d give your snorkeling and beach gear a little more thought than I would for a typical resort vacation.

We snorkeled several times during our trip, including both shore snorkeling and a boat excursion, so these weren’t theoretical items on a packing list. They were things we actually used.

I highly recommend purchasing and bringing your own snorkeling gear if you plan to snorkel.

Our resort had rental gear, but you had to pay per day and that really adds up if you’re planning to snorkel a lot!

These were one of my more useful packing decisions.

Bonaire doesn’t have your typical sandy beaches, and many pathways to the water are covered in rocks and coral.

I brought these WateLves Barefoot Water Shoes and used them almost every day for snorkeling and getting in and out of the water.

You can also wear them for light hiking and road trip days, though I personally didn’t do this.

Sun protection is a major part of any Bonaire beach day.

Bonaire restricts sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate, so make sure the sunscreen you bring complies with the island’s rules.

Mineral sunscreen with non-nano zinc oxide or non-nano titanium dioxide is the safest choice to look for when packing.

We went through sunscreen quickly, so if you’re not checking a bag, keep in mind that travel-size bottles may not last the whole trip.

A Broad Recommendation: Refer to Bonaire.com for more information about Reef-safe sunscreen on Bonaire: rules and alternatives.

I also brought along my DJI Osmo Action 4, floating wrist handle, and SD card (you need one of these to actually use the camera).

I bought the camera only days before the trip and barely knew how to use it when we arrived.

But by the end of the trip, I was using it constantly underwater—which made it one of my favorite last-minute packing decisions.

If taking underwater photos and video is important to you, this was one piece of tech I was genuinely glad to have.

My Vessi sneakers pulled double duty as both my travel shoes and hiking shoes.

That was ideal because I didn’t have to sacrifice suitcase space to another bulky pair of shoes.

For the type of hiking and exploring we did, comfortable sneakers worked well for me, although the other women in our group preferred hiking sandals.

Both came in handy repeatedly.

They’re small enough that there’s really no reason not to bring them, particularly when you’ll be spending hours outside.

This was another item I was glad to have.

We drank the tap water at the resort and brought water with us while hiking and exploring.

I wouldn’t plan a full day of driving and outdoor activities without having a way to carry water.

I used my Venture Pal backpack on the plane, during our road trips, and on our Lagadishi Walking Trail hike.

A small backpack is useful for carrying water, sunscreen, snacks, and whatever else you don’t want stuffed into your pockets.

If you have room, I’d also bring binoculars.

I didn’t pack mine for Bonaire, but after wishing we’d had them for spotting flamingos and other wildlife from the car and trails, they’re on my list for next time.

👉 These are the ones I used on safari in Kenya: Nikon PROSTAFF P3 8×42 Binoculars.

Depending on your itinerary, you may also want a camera, portable charger, snacks, and bug spray.

I wouldn’t consider all of these essential for every Bonaire itinerary.

Think of them as optional extras based on your plans, though Tim and I habitually bring snacks on all of our trips and usually eat most of them.