If you are looking for your next tropical vacation spot, I highly recommend Aruba. I recently took a trip to the beautiful island with my boyfriend and fell in love. This is a great trip for couples or even your family! The flight time was about 4 and a half hours from NYC and there was no time difference. The weather was in the low to mid 80’s, but felt very comfortable with the wind. Also, Aruba is outside of the hurricane range so you never have to worry about a scary storm ruining your vacation! For most of the trip, I walked around in bathing suits with cover ups or shorts and then dresses for the restaurants. I also recommend bringing sneakers and water shoes if you want to try some of the more active excursions.
Where to Stay
We stayed at The Ritz-Carlton, which is the hotel on the very end of the popular hotel strip. I know this is very pricey but it was definitely worth it! We booked this because we heard that it was the best hotel on the island and after looking at some of the other hotels, I definitely agree. This was also the calmest and quietest hotel on the strip. The service was also very helpful and friendly. Housekeeping comes in the morning for cleaning and then in the evening for turndown (AND leaving chocolates on your pillow). Every room in the hotel has a balcony where I loved to just sit and look at the ocean. They also have live music and a few fire pits lit up at night.
Things to Do
First thing is first - the beaches are amazing in Aruba. They had the prettiest blue and clearest water I have ever seen! The white sand was also comfortable to walk in. I was at the beach almost every day, especially to look at the gorgeous colorful sunsets. We also loved walking up and down the popular hotel beach strip just checking out the different events and restaurants. There are so many different little huts along the beach offering different excursions like jet skiing or paddle boarding. One of the days, we decided to be adventurous and try parasailing. It was so scary and so fun at the same time!
Another excursion that I highly recommend is the Jeep Safari Tours with the company ABC Tours. Our hotel’s concierge booked this for us but you could also book online on your own. You could either do a morning or an afternoon tour but I highly recommend the morning one because it comes with lunch! This tour was perfect to sight see and get to know several parts of the island. The jeep picked us and another friendly couple right at our hotel. Our driver took us to more stops than the itinerary had planned so we definitely got the most for our money. We saw several volcanic rocks, natural bridges, and did cliff jumping into a small natural pool. You will also see several flyers offering ATV tours that you could try but keep in mind you will get extremely dirty and you need to feel comfortable driving.
Where to Eat
I’m going to include a few places that I recommend but please try more places! Aruba is known for its great food so you will definitely find something that you will enjoy. These were recommended to us by our concierge and another couple we met on the trip that had been to Aruba several times.
Breakfast: Taste of Belgium (great crepes!)
Lunch: Salt & Pepper and Iguana Cantina
Dinner: Flying Fishbone (dinner with your feet in the ocean) and Azzurros (try the famous big cheese bowl spaghetti and the sangria)
Jess