Two weeks in Aruba

We spent two weeks of our vacation here and could not have found a better place to relax and enjoy. The weather was sunshine and 89° everyday, with a 10 to 20 mph cool trade wind. If you were outside, it was very comfortable. The water was a pretty constant 80° as well, which just seems to take the stress right out of you.

We never got bored with Aruba. There is plenty to do if you get out there and check out the communities and the natural wonders.

Dining is pretty diverse. Everything from fast food to fine dining. We tried a number of places that we either read about in these reviews or in the local newspapers. We never had a bad meal. The price is about what it is in the US.

Baby Beach: A must do for beach people! It's located on the southern most tip of the island and it's awesome. You can wade out hundreds of yards into the surf and never get over your head. The sand is a beautiful white and the water is clear and warm. A great place if you have kids. The wind blows a little here, so rent a lounge chair, otherwise you and all you stuff will have a fine coat of white sand on it.

Oranjestad: The shopping is great on the main drag, but we wandered onto the side streets and there were plenty of interesting shops off the main drag. We actually had more fun shopping off the main drag. Definitely go to Iguana Joe's at the mall. Get a cold Balashi beer and ask to sit at a table on the railing. You can watch the people and traffic go by while you sip your cold beer, eat great appetizers, and feel the cool breeze blowing through your hair. If you're a cigar guy, Oranjestad has a wide variety of shops with cigars from all over the world. Nice!

Donkey Sanctuary: If you're an animal and nature lover, this is a must-do. The Donkey Sanctuary takes care of about 40 donkeys, all friendly and hungry! We stopped at a grocery store on the way there and bought a bunch of carrots to feed them; what a blast! Admittance is free and the people there are all volunteers, great people that really care!

The people are great and speak English!

Quick Tips:

We suggest you use the taxi instead of the ground transfers between the airport and your hotel. It's faster and much more convenient ( one way to or from the high rise hotel area). Otherwise you end up waiting in the heat after you flew all day to get there. Bummer!

Best Way To Get Around:

Transportation is available in all forms. We used the bus to get around between the hotel highrise district and downtown Oranjestad. It was convenient, clean, and affordable (.60 for a round-trip). We used the bus to get into Oranjestad even when we had a rental car just so we didn't have to deal with the traffic and parking headaches.

We took a taxi from time to time and that was also reasonable for short trips.

We rented a jeep for three days to see the back country, natural bridge ruins, etc., and then rented a standard economy car for an additional three days. The driving is pretty straightforward here. They use a lot of rotaries for intersections and the speed limit is a max of 45mph. A little knowledge of international signage is definitely useful.

Touring the back country is a must-do, but you pay a lot more for a jeep and we really only used it for one day to see the backcountry. We could have used a standard economy rental car for everything else. We got the jeep for a day and the economy car for a day from American Rental Cars, and had no issues with them. They came and dropped the car off at the hotel, and retrieved it at the end of the rental period.

On this trip we decided to stay at an all-inclusive resort, so through our research we found that this hotel had a pretty good reputation. We were not let down. The rooms were great! Balcony rooms overlooking the beach at Palm Beach. The floors and bathrooms were all marble and the room had all the required accommodations, including a stocked refrigerator.

The pool and beach areas were beautiful and well maintained. The pool had a swim up bar and the beach had a bikini bar. We ended up spending most of our time out on the beach and under the paylapas. The drinks were great,  try the Aruba Aribas!

The dining experience was limited to the Palm Restaurant (buffet) for breakfast, but the food, service, and atmosphere were great. For lunch you had a choice between the Palm buffet or the Desire Restaurant. Both served great food and the service was excellent. For dinner you could make reservations at four specialty dinner restaurants for four out of every seven nights you were there. The other nights you had to eat at the Palm Restaurant (buffet).

We found the O'lio Italian Restaurant to be a fantastic experience. The food, atmosphere, and service were excellent (sit on the patio at dusk). The Mexican Restaurant was also excellent, the Carne Asada is to die for. Again the service was excellent. The Japanese Restaurant was also a favorite, especially the Teppan Grill experience. We had read that the Desire Caribbean Restaurant food was not very good and it lived up to its reputation. We only ate here once - and that was enough.

The bars and lounges were plentiful and well staffed. The pool bar service was a little slow at times.

The staff at the hotel, from the housekeepers to the hotel management were great to deal with. They were always smiling, courteous, helpful, and friendly. We had a little problem with noise on our floor, and they moved us to another area without any fuss.

We read about this restaurant in the local newspaper and had to try it. The atmosphere is like a pirate ship inside with fish aquariums located at every booth table. The food was excellent. My wife had the grilled baby shark and I had the seafood pallenta. The service was excellent and we paid about $55 for dinner for two with wine.

This place was recommended to us by another couple because of their Dutch pancakes. They have a variety of them to choose from, or you can choose your own toppings. I had the Walnut, Brie and Honey pancake and my wife had hers German style with powered sugar and lemon. The pancakes are not like anything I have ever eaten. Top that off with a hot Latte and we had a great breakfast!