A Week in Aruba

We headed to Aruba in the spring of 2017 for a much needed Caribbean beach getaway. We booked a weeklong stay in a condo on Palm Beach. The goal of this trip was pure relaxation so we didn’t have much of an itinerary planned before we arrived.

It was great having a condo for this trip. We had access to a full-size refrigerator, microwave and stove not to mention amazing views of the ocean. After getting settled in our room, we headed out to explore the property and grab a bite to eat at a nearby oceanfront restaurant Bugaloe Beach Bar and Grill. This restaurant was great! The food was quite good, the view was amazing and we were treated to some local entertainment.

We spent the next day at the resort alternating between the beach and the pool. After some fun in the sun, we headed to the main entertainment district for dinner and nightlife. We dined at +297 Restaurant and then headed to the piano bar Sopranos. The piano bar was so much fun! Everyone in the crowd was having such a great time which gave the place so much energy.

We rented a car the next day so that we could leisurely explore the island. Our first stop was ‘shelling’ on Eagle Beach before making our way to the lighthouse on the north end of the island.

Next, we explored Kite, Arashi and Baby Beach. Kite Beach was a fun place to watch kite surfers – both experienced and beginners. It’s also a great place to learn how to kite surf as the wind was strong but the water was relatively flat.

After watching the surfers for a while, we headed to Arashi beach. Arashi was beautiful – but, since we arrived too late, there weren’t any shaded spots for us to spend the day.

Our last stop was Baby Beach. Baby was hands down our favorite. The water was very calm and the onsite restaurant was decorated in a full-on Flintstones motif.

We had dinner at Wacky Wahoo’s that evening which was fantastic! It’s well worth stopping by during the day to make a reservation since they don’t take them by phone or online.

We capped off our last full day with more lounging around at the resort before heading to dinner at Quinta de Carmen. We really loved the ambiance of this place – the service was great and the food was outstanding. After dinner, we tried our luck at the Hyatt Regency casino. We got up $20 on the slot machine before cashing out our winnings and calling it a night.

Our flight was scheduled in the early afternoon the following day. We decided to get a taxi to downtown to do some shopping and sightseeing. I was really impressed and quite surprised at the shopping in Aruba. After some retail therapy, we had lunch at a great little ocean side restaurant called West Deck. Their seafood was very fresh and it was fun to watch all of the planes come into and depart from the airport. We grabbed a taxi outside of the hotel and headed to the airport to begin our journey back home.

Bottom Line:

Aruba is a great vacation destination for beautiful beaches, amazing food and fun nightlife. The island is easy to navigate too making renting a car and visiting different beaches and points of interest easy.