Aruba: Making the Most of Your Trip
/Need a little break from the cold? Consider Aruba!
Corby and I visited Aruba in December of 2018. It was so nice to trade cold and dreary Charlotte for warm and sunny Aruba. Aruba is currently accepting American visitors with restrictions in place. Click here for more information.
breathtaking sunsets
What you need to know:
Aruba is an island and a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the southern Caribbean Sea. It’s a huge cruise ship port destination, and the people are ridiculously nice. We met a family who had been vacationing in Aruba for 18 years! It’s a pretty small island, only 20 miles long and 6 miles long. It’s pretty dry, not quite a tropical lush paradise. Instead, they have a lot of sand and cactus filled landscape. It is outside of Hurricane Alley - so you’re in the clear for year-round sunshine. The official language is Dutch but everyone we encountered spoke English. They also take dollars as currency, in addition to florins.
There are two major areas for tourists, Palm Beach with the high-rise hotels, and Eagle Beach with the low-rise hotels/motels. We also encountered several people while on outings that were staying at Airbnbs in the Eagle Beach area like these 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom condos. If we return to Aruba with friends, we’d probably rent a car and stay in an Airbnb in Eagle Beach. As a couple traveling just the two of us, we really enjoyed the walkability of Palm Beach, and didn’t have any trouble with taxi availability when we wanted to go somewhere.
You need cash (USD) to take taxis around the island. Aruban taxis do not have meters, as all pricing is based on destination rather than time or distance. That was nice because you just checked the rate sheet before traveling and knew exactly how much it would cost per trip. Aruba only has taxis - no Uber or Lyft, and the hotel/restaurant/bar call them for you if there’s not one waiting outside.
Since Aruba is a huge cruise destination, there was a gigantic cruise ship somewhat in the way of the airport runway. We’re all excited, looking out the plane windows about to land, and suddenly the plane takes a sharp up-turn and then we circled for about half an hour while the ship moved. I hear that’s somewhat common, but scary nonetheless. We worked with a travel agent for this trip, and she arranged a transport from the airport to the hotel. In retrospect, we could have taken a taxi or just rented a car.
Where we stayed:
The hilton offered a parrot experience. I loved it. Corby hated it, if you can’t tell by that nervous smile.
We stayed at the Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino which had beautiful dining outlets, and two pools. We got a glass of sparkling wine upon check-in at their open air lobby, with a beach view - SO relaxing after our flight.
Almost all of the activities we did offered Palm Beach resort pick up and drop off, so we didn’t have to worry about a thing. Parking at the resort was free, and the bellhop was always happy to call you a taxi.
Upon check out, we discovered that someone charged over $200 in gift shop and food and beverage purchases to our room but the Hilton was quick to pull the paper receipts, confirm the scribble on those didn’t match either of our signatures from check-in and that the staff member hadn’t confirmed the “charge card” with our name and room number on it to the charges. It was less than a 10 minute ordeal and we were on our way. I was very impressed with how quickly that was handled, so wanted to mention it here.
What we did: (This section is only going to cover activities. Keep scrolling for restaurants.)
Cave pool exploration - water shoes are a must
Jeep Tour: Aruba Cave Pool & North Coast Exploring
$85 per person, includes lunch
We kicked off the week bright and early with a Jeep tour of the island. This tour featured the Breathing Rocks; the heartbeat of Aruba, made up of volcanic rocks resulting in a seasonal refreshing Natural Pool. Stops included the North Cape, Blackstone Beach, Twin Bridges, and the Bushiribana Gold Mill Ruins. This was a four hour tour with lunch provided after the tour.
The highlights were definitely the cave pools and the natural bridge (pictured at the top of this page!), and I highly recommend doing a similar tour at the beginning of your trip. Since Aruba is so small, it’s a great way to get your bearings and see the highlights. The guide was incredibly friendly, and our group was only 5 people so we had some flexibility in how long we stayed at each stop. Get water shoes to protect your feet and if you check a bag, bring sunscreen because it’s a zillion dollars to buy it there.
$160 per ATV
This one was Corby’s favorite! This tour also picked us up from the resort, bright and early! One HUGE plus for this company is they are so small, and take out really small groups - no tour buses here! We zipped around the island on our ATV to see and swim in the Natural Pool before the buses of people showed up once the national park opened. Once 4 buses packed FULL of people parked, our guide gave us a shout and off we went to the next stop. I believe our group had 7 people, one small family of 4 and two couples plus our guide. The early access to the Natural Pool made this experience stand out from the competition. This tour included the same ruins and natural bridges we saw the day before, but we didn’t mind the repeat. The ATV tour ended with the Alto Vista Chapel, the cutest little desert chapel. The tour lasted about 3 1/2 hours and did not include lunch. Water shoes, again, were a must for the Natural Pool and helmets were provided. They offered goggles and bandannas for sale to cover your nose and mouth since we were slinging sand the whole trip. Since you’re on and off an ATV all day and sometimes your ATV is out of your line of sight, I do not recommend bringing any valuables or things you don’t need. Everything ends up super sandy. If we go back to Aruba, I’d definitely do this tour again!
Taste of Aruba Snorkel Antilla
$63 per person, lunch included
This was our least favorite outing, and if I did snorkeling again, I’d probably be a little more discerning in my selection. Corby had some beard grow out, and they didn’t mention in advance the mask would have trouble suctioning or offer Vaseline, which is apparently a popular solution to the beard/sealing issue. There were also a ton of little kids.
The boat leaves at 10:00 am Tuesday - Thursday, and it’s a 4.5 hour cruise with 3 snorkeling stops: Boca Catalina, Malmok reef, and the Antilla wreck. It was at stop one I realized I’m not as good of a swimmer as I thought, the winds were stronger than I was expecting, and salt water tastes terrible. I also don’t think my face was very well suited for the mask, as water kept getting in around my lips and nose. They didn’t give too much of a lesson, and life jackets were provided. I quickly shimmied my flippered self up out of the water and got a life jacket, which did help at the next two stops. I’m not a huge fan of the ocean to begin with, and I found the world-famous Antilla wreck to be incredibly haunting! It is the largest shipwreck in the Caribbean (400' long), originally a German freighter in WWII. The only stop I really enjoyed was the reef stop at the end. I could touch the bottom if I wanted or if I got water in my mask. After the last snorkeling stop, we anchored for lunch. They served a Caribbean buffet style lunch, and had a full bar open for the duration of the trip. After lunch, while still anchored, they let everyone swing and do tricks off of the rope swing for a while. That was the highlight for me. We met another young couple on this outing, and hung out with them for the rest of the trip - that’s the best part about vacation if you ask me! So take my words with a grain of salt, if you love the ocean, and you like to snorkel, you’ll probably have more fun than we did.
Passions on the beach
The Flying fishbone
Where we ate:
I can recommend two outstanding places! We had high hopes for a few other restaurants but didn’t make it to all of them unfortunately.
Passions on the Beach, located about a 5 minute taxi ride from Palm Beach, Passions on the Beach is toes in the sand, ocean-front dining. They only serve dinner, and if you arrive early you can grab a drink at the bar and watch the beach transform from sunbathers to a restaurant, complete with white tablecloths and elastic toppers for the wind. It’s quite amusing to see.
The Flying Fishbone, located on the other end of the island, about a 30 minute drive. This was by far our most pricey taxi ride, but it was worth it! Because it’s so far removed from the touristy areas, they have to call you a taxi before you order dessert to ensure you have a ride when you finish dinner. I’d say this was the best beach front restaurant, and you choose from a table IN the water, on the beach in the sand, or on the desk. They also only serve dinner, and reservations are required since tables are so limited. This restaurant also offers a little foot wash station to get the sand off before getting into the taxi.
A savory breakfast delight!
Tips and tricks:
We felt incredibly safe the entire time we were there, and liked that the taxi rates are set by the government and they are all required to carry the fare rate sheet in the car. I also recommend you confirm pricing before getting in, and I had the fare chart on my phone as well that I’d show. Sample script “Hi, we’d like to go to Passions on the Beach at Eagle Beach, from Palm Beach. It says here (motions to chart) it should be $9, yes?” Pro tip: don’t tell the bellhop you need a cab. They’ll likely be confused.
Get sunscreen and aloe before you go if you’re checking a bag. We are carry-on only type people, so we had to pay $27 for a 8oz sunscreen upon arrival.
Have a Dutch pancake for breakfast. They are to die for!
While Aruba is generally safe, there are a number of undocumented Venezuelan immigrants and you’ll hear Arubans grumbling about them blaming them for everything from drug smuggling to theft. Keep your wits about you, and of course, keep your doors and windows locked, and don’t leave anything on balconies or in breezeways you don’t want to lose.
Aruba was such a fantastic trip and I’d love to go back one day! I recommend Aruba for those of you who want a warm sunny getaway but crave more adventure than an all-inclusive resort provides. It truly is “one happy island!”
Xoxo
Emily
