Hi,

Elaine and I are going to vacation in Aruba this June. We have never been there and was wondering if anyone here may have Hotel recommendations and also things we should consider doing or seeing.

Thanks,

Jim

 

I stayed at the Marriott Ocean Club...very nice place.

As far as things to do, enjoy the beach and relax

If you want to get away from the sand a bit, they have jeep tours, submarine tours, scuba, cruises, etc. Depends what you're in the mood for and how active you want to be. They have amazing water and great weather so I had a hard time removing myself from the beach.

Have a good time!

 

Jim,
We have been there a number of times and love it. There are two areas where you can stay. The low rise area with smaller hotels and the high rise area with the larger hotels. High rise is more expensive but do offer some beautiful hotels. The Riu is a beautiful resort in the high rise area and is an all-inclusive. When we go we like staying in the low rise area because it's not as busy, i will pm you the name of the resort we stay at.
I would suggest renting a car so that you can experience the entire island. There is a beach called "Baby Beach" at the opposite end of the island from the high rise section which is rated as one of the top 10 beaches, and a car would be helpful. The island is perfectly safe and we never felt threatened by walking around at night. There is little nightlife on the island, all shops close at 5P, but there are casinos and nightclubs if your into that. We usually don't do an all inclusive resort because there are so many good restaurants on the island from inexpensive to expensive. There is a restaurant where your table is in the water and your eating with fish swimming around you. As soon as you firm up dates you should call restaurants to make a reservation. The other great thing about Aruba is that the weather is always good. Mid to high 80's with a nice breeze.
I would strongly suggest Aruba, except for the amount of tourists it's a great place to visit.

 

We Aruba.....

OK, it's been several years but here's what we know. Eagle Beach is great to walk on. You can walk for a long time. We stayed at the Divi and walked over to Eagle beach and kept walking. The Divi was an older hotel, but it was on the beach and it suited our needs. It was an all inclusive at the time. Some nice hotels are on Eagle Beach and even more on Palm Beach.

Aruba is not the prettiest of islands as it is a desert island, (hotel properties are lovely) but you are almost always guaranteed good weather, very little rain. The gentle tradewinds are sometimes not so gentle.

There are casinos, and some stage shows. We checked out both. We rented a Jeep like vehicle on the last trip and did some of our own touring. Local taxi guys can take you around for the tour as well. We found the island more "Americanized" on our last visit. Subway sandwich shop, Hooters and a Pizza Hut were there.

It is safe to drink the water and the residents are some of the friendliest of any of the Caribbean islands we visited. You can walk around at night without any issue.

Maury has been more recently, so he can probably give you more up to date information.

Have fun!

 

I prefer the low rise section (places such as the Tamarijn or the Divi) over the high rise section. I think the beach is nicer there, it has bigger waves and less people.

I'd recommend staying at the Tamarijn, which is all inclusive (just don't get roped into a timeshare presentation).

The high rise section has more to do since there are quite a few hotels next door to each other and 3 new shopping malls, all within walking distance.

I usually rent a car (with air conditioning) and you can drive around yourself. Most of the snorkeling spots are accesible from beaches you can park at. There are a lot of restaurants too.
I'd recommend going to Pincho's which is just south of town

(http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...tad_Aruba.html)

and Matthew's (www.matthews-aruba.com). Both are right on the water or beach.

I have a timeshare at Casa Del Mar in the low rise section and love it there. The wife and just got back on April 3 after ten days there, the weather was great the whole time.

My accountant has a timeshare at the Marriott and loves it there, for me the high rise section has to much hustle and bustle, I like going to quieter places for vacation.

The island itself isn't all that pretty, it's mostly desert like.