Hi all,

We are planning a honeymoon in early September in Aruba! We have a rough itinerary that we want to leave a little open, but we were hoping people with experience there could review it. We are open to any recommendation for restaurants, dessert places, activities, etc. Below is the current itinerary:

• Aug. 31:
  • Arrive at 2:45 PM
  • Check in time for hotel - 4:00 PM
  • Beach
  • Groceries
  • Dinner
• Sept. 1:
  • Breakfast at hotel
  • Car drop off at some point
  • Eagle Beach / Pool
  • Local lunch
  • Dinner at Yemanja
• Sept. 2:
  • Breakfast at hotel
  • California Lighthouse
  • Arashi Beach
  • Tres Trapi (snorkeling)
  • Lunch
  • Boca Catalina (optional, good snorkeling)
  • Drive the coast
  • Dinner
• Sept. 3:
  • Breakfast at hotel
  • Renaissance Island / Couples massage
  • Lunch
  • Relax
  • Dinner at Lima Bistro
• Sept. 4:
  • Breakfast at hotel
  • Arikok National Park
    • Natural Pool, Fontein Cave, Quadirikiri Cave, Dos Playa, explore
  • Lunch
  • Baby Beach
  • Dinner at Pika’s Corner
• Sept. 5:
  • Breakfast at hotel
  • Beach / Pool
  • Explore Oranjestad
  • Lunch at Dutch Pancake House
  • Dinner
• Sept. 6:
  • Breakfast at hotel
  • Mangel Halto
  • Optional: Baby Beach if want more beach
  • Donkey Sanctuary Aruba
  • Dinner at Zeerover
• Sept. 7:
  • Breakfast at hotel
  • Beach or something ?
  • Lunch
  • Dinner
• Sept. 8:
  • Breakfast at hotel
  • Beach
  • Shopping
  • Lunch
  • Dinner
• Sept. 9:
  • Breakfast at hotel
  • Car pick up at some point
  • Check out time for hotel - 12:00 PM
  • Flights start at 3:10 PM

Thanks all in advance!

Anybody with Verizon lines got issues with cell service?? Got 2x Unlimited Plus (w/ TravelPass), 1x Unlimited Ultimate (with built-in international travel abilities) cell doesn’t work on any.

Customer service told me it’s a global outage. Fiber cut caused outage in several countries. Second time we’ve been here and SAME exact outage happened last time two years ago.

Tried switching the carrier from Automatic to AW Digicell. Didn’t work.

Anyone having similar issues? Is it really a global outage? Any tips otherwise?

Hi! I’m a 25-year-old woman living in Aruba, and I’m looking to make some genuine female friends around my age.

I’m a pretty private, calm, and respectful person, and I’d love to connect with other women who are also looking for meaningful and genuine friendships. Whether it’s going out for food, grabbing a drink, having good conversations, exploring the island, doing fun activities together, or simply hanging out and enjoying each other’s company, I’d love to build a real friendship.

Making new friends as an adult isn’t always easy, so I thought I’d put myself out there and see if there’s anyone else in Aruba who feels the same way. If you’re looking for a new female friend and think we might get along, feel free to reach out! 😊

We just booked next winter’s week at Divi Dutch Village, but we did Sun-Sun because sat-sat was not available. Is there any scenario where it’s economic to come in on Saturday and stay one night somewhere else for fun? Thoughts?
Not sure why Reddit thinks this post is too short so padding it with more words so I can post. Why is brevity not a virtue?

Hello!
So my partner and I had planned and booked to stay at Barceló Aruba all inclusive— until today when our flight was severely delayed, ruining the whole trip’s itinerary.
Long story short, and in a SERIOUS pinch, we decided to change our stay (rather than canceling our first vacation together, entirely) to Holiday Inn by IHG (not all inclusive) and pushing the dates back a couple days.
I guess what I’m asking is, was this a good choice? Of course this is a very subjective question… but we did a lot of research into the HI when planning 2 months ago but decided on barceló originally due to the all inclusive aspect and being that we enjoy our drinks…

Thanks in advance for any and all insight, it has been a stressful 5 hours!

Hi there - my family of 3 (2 adults, 1 9yo- not picky, quite adventurous) is going to visit for the 1st time next month (last minute trip and planning). We did our research and decided where to stay and also rent a car.

What we need some help and suggestions is where to prioritize our dinners during our 7 night stay. Here is a list of the places we've seen the most and visually like the food - taste could be another story.

List in no specific order ( are our favorites so far) - Pelican Nest Seafood Grill - Lima Bistro. - Yemanja Woodfired Grill - Barefoot Restaurant* - Madame Janette - Azia Restaurant & Lounge - Old Cunucu House - Azar - Screaming Eagle - Lola Taqueria & Craft - Pinchos Grill & Bar

We saw many mentions of Papiamento and Quinta del carmen but not sure if overrated or worth adding. We saw flying fishbone and absolutely no with a kid with ADHD

Thank you!

Also, if anyone has recommendations for ATV or katamaran experiences we're all ears.

Looking for AI for beach destination wedding. 20-25 people, with 2 kids in wedding party. Would need pool(s), activities for all ages, entertainment/programming at night.
I understand there are maybe 3 possibilities so not hopeful. Also considering Curaçao but I realize this is just an Aruba site.
Thoughts?

hi everyone! ive looked at so many places fir welcome parties and they're all over 10k. We are having about 100 people and just thinking a simple cocktail hour. Has anyone had a welcome party under 10k and where? We still want something nice, we looked into Azzuros and a catamaran boat trip but thats about 11k

Hi everyone!
I’m getting married in Aruba in November 2026 and I’m looking for a local wedding content creator.
We already have a traditional photographer booked, so I’m not looking for photography services. I’m hoping to find someone who can capture all of the candid, behind-the-scenes moments throughout the day on an iPhone (or similar), so we have lots of vertical content to look back on and use for social media.
If you’re local to Aruba (or know someone who is), I’d love to see your recommendations.

My wife and I are planning Aruba and noticed most of the resorts there are not all inclusive, which surprised us a bit. We still want to go the AI route for this trip.
We narrowed it down to these:
Secrets Baby Beach Aruba
JOIA Aruba by Iberostar
Riu Palace Antillas
Tamarijn Aruba
Are there other AI options we should be looking at? And if anyone stayed at one of these, which one is most worth the money? We keep going back and forth.

Canned beer is expensive. The cheapest I could find was 12 pack of balashi for $53awg. Or Aguila 6 pack for $20awg. Both of these at the super do it center

Bottled beer seems more affordable but I haven’t done the math for the price per ml. Idk why bottled beer just seems harder to carry to the beach with the 7oz bottles.

Is bottled beer cheaper per ml?

Is there an option to buy bulk canned beer? Or a cheaper place than super do it? I checked c mart and superfoods and prices were not better iirc.

My family drinks about up to 20 cans per day so for 4-5 days that adds up quick ;)

How did you like Secrets at Baby Beach? Any tips/things to avoid while there?

Also looking for pregnancy friendly excursions andthings to do? Planning on doing a sunset sail. Did ATVs last time I was there but that was the busier part of the island and obviously out of the question now lol

Would you recommend renting a car? We mostly plan on staying at the resort but we’re staying 6 nights so may want to venture out for some things to check out

This is our 2nd trip to Aruba that we have coming up in August. The first time we stayed in the Palm beach area and mostly stayed in Palm Beach. Some notes:

-We are a family of 5, kids are 16, 12, and 8.

-We love walking around and exploring before and after dinner.

-The first time we went we pretty much walked around the mall area in Palm Beach (Noord I think) every night.

We are staying in Palm Beach again but this time we are renting a car. Are there similar areas we can check out after dinner that are different than Noord/Palm beach? I have read about Oranjestad and I think they have a downtown area for us to explore, is that correct? Any other cool places to eat dinner and explore after dinner that you would recommend?

Thanks all, this sub is great and I have done most of my planning by searching through this sub. Really appreciate the help.

Sorry for Typos.

My friend and I are going to be first time visitors and we both plan on drinking. Renting a car isn’t really something we’d like to do since it would kind of be more of a hassle on that front. She’s big on going out, whereas I’m not so much, however I’d still like to have fun and not worry about transport. Has anyone used a driver/service before? Any recommendations? (We plan other stuff too- she’s mentioned a sunset cruise, jolly pirates, and snorkeling) The going out will be a big part of it for her though.

Hello!

My boyfriend and I will be in Aruba for five nights, and we’d love some recommendations for breakfast and lunch spots, as well as bars and nightlife. We already have dinner reservations at Azar for one night and Papiamento for our last night, but we’re still looking for a few more places to check out during the rest of our trip.

We’re a young couple, and my boyfriend especially likes trying new drinks and checking out nightlife, so we’d really appreciate any suggestions for bars, lounges, or places with a fun evening vibe.

Thanks so much in advance for any recommendations!

Hi everyone!

Sorry if this is a silly question lol, but I’ll be visiting Aruba next month for the 3rd time, but it’ll be the first time since being diagnosed with sleep apnea lol. I need distilled water for my CPAP, otherwise I get super dry throat/bloody nose, and overall just feel kinda crappy. I’d rather not have to bring a whole gallon of water with me from the USA, especially if bottled distilled water is easily available at grocery stores/pharmacies etc like it is here.

Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks so much!

Does anyone know where I can find corn tortillas on the island? I’ve checked Super Food and Ling & Sons, but neither had corn tortillas, just flour. There were some hard shell tortillas, but for some of the meals I’ve planned I’m hoping to find a source for corn tortillas. I will happily buy them from are restaurant or any type of store possible, I just wasn’t really sure where to start. I have a rental car and am happy for an adventure!

I was looking at this resort for a family trip ( kids aged 9, 15, 18) next June. I've read the reviews and seems like a decent place. Being a timeshare location i was a bit worried they might push timeshare purchases on people renting for the week. Does anyone have any insight on this ? Has anyone had experience renting at this hotel?

We were at Mangel Halto a few weeks ago and a lady mentioned, as we were coming in from a snorkel swim to the buoy and back, that she and her husband like to drop in a little further south of the main swim area there and drift. Does anyone else know of this as a safe and reliable swim? Does the current in fact run slightly north? If you are familiar with this, or other Mangel Halto snorkeling suggestions, I'd like to know more detail, such as specifics on where to enter/exit the water, how far out to swim, etc.

Hi! I’m going to Aruba for six months to complete my minor as part of my studies (Bachelor’s degree in Primary Education), and I’m really looking forward to it. Since I’ll be living and studying there for quite a while, I’d love to hear from people who have experience with it.
What are the things that students most often underestimate before moving to Aruba? What should I really know about living there, studying, finding accommodation, managing finances, transportation, safety, healthcare, the local culture, making friends, and everyday life? Is there anything you wish you had known before you went?
I’d appreciate any advice, tips, or personal experiences that could help me prepare and make the most of my time there. Thanks in advance!

Edit: thanks for the advice, you guys are really helpful! :)

Is there snuba anywhere else besides this island? Staying on Eagle Beach and don’t want to go to Palm Island.

To get certified for the most basic scuba, how long does it take? Most websites aren’t that specific. Only staying in Aruba four full days, so not sure if I have the time for certification and scuba diving…

Looking for a snorkel company that takes you to the shipwreck and other cool places where you actually see a nice amount of fish or turtles, but is not overly crowded. There are many places to choose from but when you dig into reviews some people say the boats are so crowded and you don’t actually end up seeing too much.

Recently a new italian restaurant opened close to eagle beach. It is called Baccus and we went last night.

It was absolutely amazing. They don’t have much on the menu (only pastas), but their pastas and wine were so good. I really love it.

I saw that it was quite empty, so if you want to try something new and support a new restaurant I would recommend it!

Going on a family trip to Aruba for the week of Thanksgiving… Five adults and 2 12-year-olds. We initially looked at Barcelo but now I am reading about old and outdated rooms, and mediocre food. Riu looks really nice, but I’ve read that the pool area is obnoxiously loud all day and night (too loud to have a conversation with the person next to you). Maybe the Hyatt? Looking for something nice and in the higher-end…doesn’t have to be the Ritz, but don’t want old and musty. Entertainment and nightly shows is a plus. Must be on the beach.

Thanks in advance for any input and suggestions!