r/Aruba

Headed to Aruba in August for the first time and trying to figure out our itinerary. What are the most overrated / underrated parts of is the island from prior experiences? Are there certain things you were looking forward to thatd didn’t live up to the social media hype or vice versa? Can be excursions, things to do, restaurants, etc. Trying to decide what is worth our time to see and do rather than just another tourist trap.

I’m going to be in Aruba for 4 days excluding travel. What places should I eat?

It’ll be my wife and I and we love unique menus with beautiful scenery. Are there any must - eat staples on Aruba? Any places known for brunch or beautiful scenery.

Any recommendations if we want to eat dinner while watching sunset ? I made a reservation to passions on the beach one of the days but I’m still looking for good menus and places for the others !

Had ordered a few taxis while in Aruba ordered on the phone the phone gave me a price and most of the taxis also had that same price well others gave me another price witch was $10 more then the price I got over the phone after trip is that a scam or? Was just wondering
Trying to go to baby beach from Palm beach tomorrow had to add extra words to be able to post this so question is only about is taxis a scam or is it really a new updated price? If so how come every taxi don’t have that same price

Just flew out of Aruba’s airport, once to Curaçao and once back to Miami. The airlines advised us to arrive 2 hours early for the Curaçao flight, and 3 hours early for the return to the US. Various Redditors generally reinforced this advice. I wish we had ignored it. Both times we were through the various baggage check and security lines in less than 10 minutes. Zero waiting. Rather than sit at the airport for hours and stare at our phones, we could have been soaking up more sunshine.

This was our first trip to Aruba and we had an amazing time. We stayed in the Hooiberg area and rented a car which ended up being extremely convenient. Nothing on the island felt too far away and I’m really glad we were able to explore all different parts of Aruba. We stayed for 8 days.

Dinners & Food

Yemanja – Easily the best dinner we had on the island. Definitely make a reservation.

Lima Bistro – Our second favorite dinner spot. Reservations are recommended.

Sexy Shrimp – Great vibe and good food.

The Fish House Island Bar & Restaurant – Right on the water. Worth visiting if you have a rental car.

Zeerovers – Local spot with super fresh and reasonably priced seafood.

Papiamento Restaurant – Beautiful outdoor atmosphere. We ordered the hot stone grill meals and really enjoyed them.

Lucy's Retired Surfers Bar & Restaurant – First place we stopped after landing. Good tacos, drinks, and waterfront views.

Salt and Pepper – Decent, but skippable. Mostly convenient when we needed a late dinner without reservations.

The West Deck – Unfortunately, this was our least favorite meal of the trip. I’d skip it.

Waffles & Beach House – Great breakfast spot with excellent açaí bowls and coffee.

Linda's Dutch Pancakes – Really good pancakes.

Santos Coffee with Soul – Great downtown breakfast and coffee spot.

Pofferdorie – Perfect mini Dutch pancakes for dessert after a night out in Palm Beach.

Excursions

De Palm Tours – Palm Pleasure Snorkel Adventure

We did the morning tour for the included lunch, which was surprisingly good and filling. The overall snorkeling experience was decent, but not a must-do.

ABC Tours Aruba – Wild Side UTV Tour

This tour included a lot of stops around the island, which made it worth it for a first trip to Aruba. The guide was average, and while lunch was good, it wasn’t very filling. I probably wouldn’t do it again on a future trip, but I’m glad we experienced it once.

Beaches

Baby Beach – Easily the best beach we visited. Definitely worth renting a car and driving out there.

Eagle Beach – Beautiful beach and a great place to relax.

Arashi Beach – Bring water shoes.

Tres Trapi – Also recommend water shoes. The snorkeling here was really fun, and we got to see a sea turtle.

We are going to Bucuti in Early December during which we will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. We are fortunately healthy and physically active. I know there are those who will wonder why I’m planning so far ahead of time, but I tend to try to get these things out of the way and revisit them a month or two before the trip. We’re bookending Terra and Elements. Our second night is a Sunday when a lot of restaurants are closed, so we’re thinking of wandering over to the Water’s Edge for a nice outdoor meal. That leaves Monday and Tuesday. I am looking for an opinion on Monday, the actual date of our anniversary. We’ll figure something out for Tuesday. maybe just take a break at the Sandbar. Would stay longer if we could, but have to get home. Also, not picky eaters but plain. We both love Italian but have great places where we live. We’re also steak and potatoes people and my wife is not that adventurous (with food at least) lol. We haven’t been back to Aruba since two trips with the kids over 20 years ago. We went to Wilhelmina, Papiamento, Madame Jannette, Old Cunucu, Chalet Suisse, and Hostaria then. So if you could go one place, and I’m sure I’ll get many recommendations, where would you go? I really appreciate all the tips I get from this sub. It improves the experience of every vacation we have taken. Thanks!

Hello has anyone traveled to aruba with kratom powder in capsules form? Has anyone had any issues, experience, or opinions? Just afraid of TSA confiscating it and not having it while on vacation in Aruba? If so how recent did you go and did TSA stop or question you on it?? Please any tips or anything on this topic, and Thank You!

Thanks to this group for being an amazing resource! Just got back from a week in Aruba with my two kids and husband. Here is my report - TLDR; it was amazing and I'm so thankful!

We didn't realize when you get off the plane there are a lot of stairs, and then a bus. This would normally be fine, but really surprised our youngest kid and he got a bit scared with the engine noises/etc. Getting down the stairs with two kids plus all of our bags was interesting to say the least. Then, there are about twelve hundred thousand escalators inside the airport. It would be totally fine if we had known so I am just letting families be aware.

We rented a car through Nexus Car Rental. The pick up was at the Hyatt, which is quite literally next door to the airport. Through them, we got two car seats as well. It was so nice to just be able to get into our car rental, put our bags in, blast the A/C and get going. I was worried about car pick up from the airport but it was totally worth it. It was about a 2 minute walk from the exit to the airport.

We rented a condo at LeVent, which is a newer condo on Eagle Beach. Two of us are Celiac, so it just made more sense to me to have access to a kitchen. We also don't drink very much. In the end, the location was really nice, definitely on the quieter side of things although it's good they've built a little coffee shop on the main floor. It was 3 minute drive to Super Food and a 3 minute walk to Eagle Beach. The pool was really nice. We are not super picky, so of course there were some negatives, but how can you complain when you're in Aruba, you know?

We mostly ate dinners in our condo, we had one nice dinner out, to Lima Bistro, which was absolutely amazing and we had a fantastic time.

For kids activities:

Ostrich Farm - everyone disliked this except my ostrich-loving-son, so tricky to rate it low because he is very into Ostriches. I wouldn't recommend it otherwise.

Donkey Sanctuary - really special, enjoyed.

Pizza Hut and McDonalds indoor playgrounds - good way to kill time before you have to go to the airport, if you have to check out before your flight but dont want to get sandy all over again :)

We did a private boat tour with 1 Fool & A Boat, probably the highlight for the two adults in our group. Kids tolerated it haha.

Light show at the mall was not worth it, but we laughed a lot at its absurdity. The little merry go round is super sweet there.

Super Food is expensive AF but wow, it literally had everything on the planet. So many amazing options. It was a fun visit every time.

We also went to Dutch Pancakehouse, and the little treasure chest for kids was well received. We didn't go in busy season, so keep in mind the line-ups were fast even at peak hours.

Lunch at Zeerover's - wanted to enjoy this but my poor kid didn't like the aggressive seafood smell (fair) and so he cried during most of our meal, but if that hadn't been the case, I think we would have enjoyed it much more :)

The airport is under construction so there was one Quizno's and otherwise, not even a souvenir for sale, so plan accordingly!

Thanks for having us, Aruba, I hope we can come back one day soon

Me and my fiance we are planning our honey moon in Aruba but it’s coming up to $8k minimum with resorts (JOIA Aruba by Iberostar) car rental, flights, food, spa etc. it seems a bit much for a 6 nights trip but I really really love the videos I seen it looks so nice but if you have any advice or tips ?? To make our trip cheaper? Please help us out

Going on our honeymoon and we want to enjoy our time there and do fun activities but I want to know about night specially because I haven’t seen much to do?? We don’t drink or party but any recommendations are more than welcome ?? And restaurants too we both foodie and enjoy eating out and trying new food 🙂

hi all! my boyfriend and I are traveling to Aruba in the coming week for a quick trip ~ 4 days. we are staying right behind “beach at the blue”, so essentially that long strip of hotels. it sounds like we can rent bikes so fully will be taking advantage to move around.

as of right now, our loose itinerary consists of the beaches, lighthouse, cute little downtown area.

BUT need more to fill our days! please give me your best recs in terms of excursions (is renaissance island worth it? ), beach suggestions, hidden gems, restaurants, etc.

thank you!!!

This is my 14th time in Aruba and my first time staying off the high rises. It’s my first full day and I woke up this morning to get a coffee around 6:30 AM at a local place in the neighborhood. A man drove by me and made a gross motion with his tongue. I kind of shrugged it off and just kept walking. He drove past again and made a jerking off motion as he was driving by. I panicked and texted my friend and said I’m think I’m being followed. There was no one around and I was really scared. Then he drove past the third time and that’s when I really really really got alarmed. This time he just had this smile on his face I went into one of the side streets and hid between two cars and messaged the owners of the room and said that I needed help and that I thought I was being followed. They didn’t get back to me in time. I eventually just made my way back to the street and it was a five minute walk to my room so I just walked as fast as I could.

Other guys looked at me as I was walking and one pulled over and asked me if I needed a ride, but none alarmed me as much as this one did. Please be villugant and careful. I know it’s a safe island, but people are still crazy everywhere we go. Don’t go out too early by yourself. Don’t walk alone by yourself in deserted places. It’s not worth it. I’ve been shaken all day by this. It’s like this creep was looping around and watching me/following me and now I’m worried he knows where I’m staying.

Anybody have recommendations on a car service to and from the airport to our hotel?? Only 2 people in my party just want something nice, reliable and good service. We are staying at the Hyatt Regency.

We prefer having someone there waiting for us over trying to get a taxi! Thanks so much in advance!

Last year, we were there and I agonized about going to a doctor there..... and was in extremely bad hip pain 3 days into a 7 day trip. We skipped going to any doctor and I was in hell.

If I'm visiting the island and I experience extreme pain what can my expectations be should I decide to engage medical services as a cash pay client?

What may be required or requested from me in order to demonstrate a pre-existing condition? Does that even matter? They are welcome to run x-rays to show my hardware. Is there anything I can bring that helps affirm my condition, because I have records, surgery results, MRIs... wheelchair assistance at the airport, a daggum cane to walk, and ahem,

What is the cost for such a consult?

Also I wouldn't be looking for "a fix" or "a weed", but whatever they can do to relieve my symptoms so I can get back up and be able to at least join my spouse on outings? I know my hips, and they get in pain quite easily due to combined dysplasia, FAI/CAM impingments and arthroscopy on old lefty; quite literally, my hips are trash. I'm 41.

If they tell me to "rub some 'Tussin on it," or "ice it and call us in the AM" then that's not worth my entire evening, being in pain in BED, and $400+ USD (I'm making prices up I have no idea) But, you understand what I mean. Whatever WORKS. Whatever that may be. I don't know what Arubans commonly use of prescribe for pain relief aside from OTC meds.

Oh: Has anyone on here experienced, as a tourist, an acute injury or emergent pain along with a medical condition that engaged urgent or emergency medical care in Aruba?

Also, right now the "fix" is to bring some fully legal full-spectrum CBD gummies which I verified are legal. I feel like such a wussy but I'm too disabled to go to jail. I get wheelchair service in the airport, I'm lame. Ha....ha, ha literally. Aw 😞

Also, thank you so much if you took the time to read this!

Hi everyone! Staying at the Marriott Aruba surf club with my family early July. I have two babies ages 1 and 2 and wanted to ask are you able to go to the stellaris pool or beach? I usually always stay at the stellaris and love it but thought the surf club would be the better option for kids since it has a kitchen. I just hate crowded beaches and not sure now looking at it if the surf club beach is too crowded.

Hi,

We are a family of 9 heading to Aruba and will be there during father's day. I was wondering if you guys had any ideas of fun things we could do specifically for father's day?

Or if there are any father's day events/specials going on anywhere?

He does really enjoy bike riding.

Thanks

Also BTW, one of the family of 9 is a baby 👶

So excited to return again! Last time we were in Aruba we went to Pinchos, Red Fish, and Flying Fishbone. Everyone was happy with their meals and service. What other restaurants can you recommend for parents and four kids (two teens and two college aged)? We are staying in the Malmok area but would drive. Kids aren’t that picky but some are not super adventurous with food. We love fish, beef, desserts and good cocktails. Great tasting food & service are a must; atmosphere is a plus. 😎

Planning a babymoon for July and Bucati is full during our tentative travel days. I will push to stay at either Boardwalk or Manchebo as they seem to be the most similar in vibes (adult focused, more intimate, quiet), but we have a lot of Marriott points and it’s hard to pass up “free” lodging.

While a large Marriott resort will definitely present a different vacation experience, I’d appreciate suggestions for which resorts may offer quieter or more intimate areas with a touch of luxury. I’m assuming we’ll need to decide between the Ritz and St. Regis, but I’ve also seen mixed reviews on both properties. What Marriott property would best fit these needs?