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15 Best Tips For Traveling to Aruba | Explained

Aruba is one of the most coveted destinations due to its beautiful climate, unique history, and amazing attractions.

In this page, we will explain the best tips for traveling to Aruba to ensure that you arrive to the island extremely prepared, and know all of the 'hacks' to maximize your time and money.

Table of Contents

  1. Know the Best Season to Visit
  2. Do the ATV Tour
  3. Visit Flamingo Beach
  4. Know That There’s No Uber
  5. Best Places to Eat
  6. Stay in During the Day & Go Out at Night
  7. Make a Reservation For 2 Fools and a Bull
  8. Best Resorts to Stay at
  9. Go in Person For Water Activities
  10. Take a Picture Next to the Aruba Sign
  11. Bring Water Shoes
  12. No Need to Pack a Converter
  13. Dress Light
  14. Double Check Your Bill Before Tipping
  15. Get to the Airport Early When Heading Back Home

1. Know the Best Season to Visit

The best seasons to visit Aruba is in late March - Late July. The weather is perfect as the temperature averages in the mid 80's, and the sun is almost always out.

aruba beach

It's the perfect time to enjoy everything that the beautiful island offers, including their outdoor activities and luxurious resorts.

This is the time that visitors go, in order to snap those scenic pictures that will last a lifetime.

Avoid the Rainy Season

It's important to know that Aruba does have a rainy season, and it is exactly what it sounds like.

During this season the prices will be lower, but it will also be a little tougher to do everything that you want to do, as you'll have to work around the rain.

The rainy season typically begins around September and lasts through the start of January.

Specifically, the rainiest month in Aruba is in November.

2. Do the ATV Tour

If you're even just a little bit adventurous, you have to do the ATV tour in Aruba.

The ATV tour will allow you to see Aruba in a way that only explorers from hundreds of years ago were able to.

You'll navigate through desert, rocky, and beach terrain as you visit a chapel that was created in 1752, massive cliffs, goldmine ruins, caves, and finish off the tour by cooling off in clear and calm waters.

aruba gold mine ruins

 

aruba oldest church

Throughout all of this, there will be a very friendly and informative tour guide leading the way, and stopping at different points to give everyone the history (and fun facts) of each location.

Aruba caves

Types of ATV Tours

You'll notice there are dozens of ATV tours in Aruba, and may be wondering what the differences between them are.

There's really only one main difference, and that is what type of vehicle you'll be riding in.

We (2 people) ended up doing the Aruba ATV Tour with Kini Kini, as it had amazing reviews, the tour guide was very funny and interactive, and the classic ATV model allowed us to fully feel the wind throughout the ride.

How to Get to the Tour

If you're staying at a hotel, the ATV tours will send a bus to pick you up at a specific time.

If you're staying at an Airbnb, you'll have to head to the meeting point yourself.

3. Visit Flamingo Beach

Flamingo Beach is one of the coolest spots in all of Aruba, as it is its own private island featuring huts, hammocks, flamingos and iguanas.

Drinks and food are also available at the bars, and servers will come around every so often to ask if you need anything else.

Island Layout

The island is split up into two sections, one is the family side and one is the adult side.

The adult side is noticeably more calm and laid back, while the family side is much more lively.

Other than that, they're pretty much identical.

Perfect Place For Pictures

Besides being the ultimate place to relax, it's also exactly where most people take pictures on Instagram when they visit Aruba.

The combination of flamingos roaming the water, with the huts (and occasional ships) in the background make it a perfect spot for travelers to get the perfect picture.

How to Buy Access

If you're staying at the Renaissance Wind Creek Resort, your admission to the private island is included.

Otherwise, you'll have to purchase a daily pass that costs around $125 for the day.

These passes often sell out, so you'll want to purchase them in advance.

How to Get There

There's a speedboat that comes around the Renaissance Wind Creek Resort every 20-25 minutes that will take you to Flamingo Beach.

water taxi to renaissance island map

You'll simply show them your ticket and enjoy the 20 minute ride.

It's important to note that the boat makes several stops to the island, and once you're leaving the island as well (to pickup/drop off visitors).

4. Know That There’s No Uber

Although Ridesharing Services like Uber and Lyft are very popular and common nowadays, they're still not available in Aruba.

Taxis are still the most common way to travel around there, but luckily the island is very small, which means you won't be using this too often.

In fact, we stayed in Aruba for five days and only ended up using a Taxi service twice.

How to Pay For a Taxi

You can pay with cash or card, they accept dollars as well.

5. Best Places to Eat

There are so many great places to eat in Aruba, but we've narrowed down our favorites below.

Gianni's Ristorante Italiano

What if I told you that you could go to a restaurant where they soak pasta in a bowl of cheese in front of you, mix it, and then serve it with the freshest cheese that you've ever had?

Yeah, I wouldn't believe you either.

If you love Italian food and/or cheese, this is a must-visit place.

El Gaucho

For the meat-lovers out there, this Argentine food will not disappoint.

El Gaucho features Argentine steaks, the famous Gaucho steak, Pincho Torro Caliente, the biggest shishkebab ever served and a giant T-bone steak.

All the dishes are served with potatoes or rice, vegetables, corn on the cob and garlic bread.

6. Stay in During the Day & Go Out at Night

For strictly going out to the 'Downtown' area of Aruba, you'll want to wait until the night time.

One of the times that we took a taxi to ride around the area, we ended up in the downtown location, but everything was closed up.

Our driver would tell us that it isn't until nighttime that this part of Aruba 'wakes up', and he was absolutely right.

When we re-visited at night time, it seemed completely unrecognizable as there was live music, all of the stores were open, and there were dozens of pop-up shops that opened up as well.

In our experience, do the tours and enjoy the resort/beaches during the day, and then visit downtown at night time for the best experience.

7. Make a Reservation For 2 Fools and a Bull

2 Fools and a Bull isn't really a restaurant, but an entire experience.

It includes 5 gourmet courses and it's simply the best intimate dining experience on the island, with the best gourmet chef.

For this reason, it's often sold out a year in advance!

How it Works

The way it works is you'll make a reservation ahead of time, and once you arrive, you'll enter with a total of 16 people for the night.

2 fools and a bull gourmet aruba

You'll be total strangers in the beginning, but you'll all be great friends by the end.

You'll be greeted with champagne, and the chef and owner will introduce themselves, and go around the room as you'll do the same.

After a few minutes of this, the owner will call everyone back in the room, explain what each appetizer, drink, and meal consists of, and then you'll eat in the U shaped bar.

You'll repeat this five different times, and will be absolutely stuffed with some of the greatest food (and drinks) that you've ever had by the end of the night.

2 Fools and a Bull Food

If you have any food allergies, you'll simply let them know ahead of time and they'll prepare your food around these restrictions while still keeping it amazingly delicious.

The Best Part

We genuinely enjoyed hearing both Chef Erwin and Roger inform us about the wine and food preparations.

Each dish was an experience in flavors and pairings. 

They put a ton of thought into everything from the facility ambiance and lighting to the signs hanging up on the wall, to of course the exact pairing of food and drinks.

8. Best Resorts to Stay at

You really can't go wrong with staying at an actual resort in Aruba for these main reasons:

  • It'll most likely be on the water
  • Very easy to walk around the surrounding areas
  • There are a ton of food places nearby

The Renaissance Wind Creek Aruba Resort and the Ritz Carlton, Aruba are both amazing for different reasons.

The Renaissance is a Marriott property, has a pool in the front of the resort, many places to eat nearby, and includes admission to the Flamingo Beach.

The Ritz Carlton is at the end of Palm Beach, offering more privacy, and they also have their own massive pool right in front of the beach that even offers cabana service and rentals.

ritz carlton aruba

9. Go in Person For Water Activities

When you're walking on Palm Beach, you'll notice almost all of the hotels are located in a line along this coast.

Right across from the hotels on the water, there are tons of activities going on every morning-afternoon.

water activities in aruba

In this area, there are a ton of water activities that you can do including:

  • Jet Ski
  • Flyboarding
  • Donuts
  • Parasailing

The easiest way to purchase for these experience is by going right up to the people operating it and reserving your spot from there.

We tried to call and reserve from there, but had much more success walking up in person.

They simply had us write our names down, we put down a reservation fee, and they told us to come back in an hour.

It seemed a little bit weird at first, as their culture is so laid-back that we weren't accustomed to it.

But everything ended up working out when we returned, and we had some of the most fun experiences ever on that water.

10. Take a Picture Next to the Aruba Sign

The famous 'I <3 Aruba' sign is located outside of the Renaissance Aruba Resort and Casino close to downtown Oranjestad.

i love aruba sign

11. Bring Water Shoes

Most beaches have white and extremely soft sand, but if you decide to go on any tours that includes walking through cliffs and caves, the floor won't be so soft.

We didn't think this through for our tour, but if we could do it all over again we'd wear water shoes.

aruba cliffs

Not only is it slip resistant, but it can prevent cuts, and simply be worn in any environment.

For Men, the best bang for your buck is the HIITAVE water shoes.

 

hiitave water shoes

 

For Women, the most reliable water shoe is the Speedo Women's Surfwalker Rush water shoe.

speedo women's surfwalker rush water shoes

12. No Need to Pack a Converter

One of the best parts about traveling to Aruba is that you don't need to worry about bringing any type of converter for your electronics.

Aruba uses the same voltage as the United States (120 V), which means one less thing to worry about.

We were able to seamlessly use iPhone & laptop chargers, a blowdryer and a curling iron without an issue.

13. Dress Light

Everyone knows that they'll wear a bathing suit for the majority of their trip to Aruba, but what about when you're not doing activities?

Aruba will be hot and pretty humid even at night, so you'll want to dress light, and wear breathable clothes.

If you easily get cold, the only thing that you'll need to know is there's a breeze at night, so bring a light jacket.

14. Double Check Your Bill Before Tipping

When eating at Aruba, you'll want to double check your receipt before tipping, as the tip is normally already included.

Typically this is the case at the resorts.

However, if you received amazing service, and would like to tip additionally, go right ahead!

15. Get to the Airport Early When Heading Back Home

Everyone wants to read tips for preparing for Aruba, or once you're actually at the island, but many forget to prepare for the way back.

You'll want to make sure that you're at the airport 3 hours early if you're traveling back to the United States.

The reasons are:

  1. It's International travel
  2. U.S Required clearance for travelers flying back to the U.S

Everything else is normal, meaning you'll drop your luggage off and go through security afterwards.