So my first time in Aruba, it was great in terms of safety and everything but overall i wasn't impressed.
There are lots of crappy restaurants that overcharge for food. There are some great restaurants with great food but you can get much better value for that money in other great restaurants in other countries including usa.
In terms of site seeing and water activity, there are lot better options. I guess ppl prefer Aruba because its very safe day and night and you can pretty much get anything from usa in the supermarket.
In terms of water activity, most places wouldn't even rent a boat...they said we will have to take it with a tour guy. Other rentals are great but you can do much better in other destination for the money. There are much better snorkelling destinations.
I didn't manage to get a 4 by 4 but still ended up doing the natural pool. You dont need 4 by 4 to do the natural pool. Just take the sedan to the daimari ranch, park the car up top the hill when you can see the cococnut trees and the ranch then do the hike (about 35 minutes walking slow). This way is much better than 4 by 4 because you come across many good photo ops. But the pool itself was overhyped, it was very small and i have seen lot better natural pools. But its still fun though. I am guessing most reviews saying that you MUST need 4 by 4 are done by tour group owners and workers. You can see the entire island without any tour group in your own. I didn't even use a gps...its a small island and if you have a sense of direction its pretty easy to navigate once you memorize the key spots/road in the map. Since i traveled with a toddler and a 1.5 year old we couldn't do most of the group tours because of age limits but i am glad it happened that way because we did almost everything our self. Best location for snorkelling is Baby beach, Manglo alto and the Palm Island. Manglo Alto currents are tricky and you need to be good swimmer if you are going past the yellow bouey. Most snorkeling groups tours bring their boat and dump the tourists in the manglo alto snorkelling area but you can do this easily by youself by accessing it through the Manlgo Alto Beach (not well known by tourists) In the superfood supermarket you can by the full snorkel set including the flippers for 49.99AWG...i ended up getting two and brought it back with me. Its better than renting for $10usd to $25 per hour depending on where you are going. Next time explore it yourself guys...its lot more fun since its a small safe island.
Finally for restaurants, even though i i ate in some fancy good restaurants that you guys recommended, in my opinion the best value for money is the restaurant called Gostoso. I highly recommend to anyone who goes there next time. The owner is Jose and this guy personally comes to your table to explain all the specials. Price is in local money. I highly recommend the Pastel de Baccalauh and beef carpaccio for appetizer. The surf turf with lobster and medallion for entree was great. We ordered 3 entrees, 3 appetizers, 1 desert (tri leite, also highly recommend) and a jug of Sangria (the best sangria i ever had, highly recommend) and the bill after converting to USD was around 185USD. I left a $30 tip on top. This is a restaurant that i would go again and again to try all the items on the menu. Its a good mix of local flair with other things but mainly its a portuguese restaurants. They have great seafood items on the menu as well. If you are into flavor in food, this is a must visit place.
Overall Aruba is not a place i would go out of my way to visit again. Everyone i know hyped up aruba and therefore my expectation was high and that could be the reason i feel that way. Money wasn't an issue for me. But if you are travelling with budget, don't go here...you can get much better bang for the buck in other destinations.
There are lots of crappy restaurants that overcharge for food. There are some great restaurants with great food but you can get much better value for that money in other great restaurants in other countries including usa.
In terms of site seeing and water activity, there are lot better options. I guess ppl prefer Aruba because its very safe day and night and you can pretty much get anything from usa in the supermarket.
In terms of water activity, most places wouldn't even rent a boat...they said we will have to take it with a tour guy. Other rentals are great but you can do much better in other destination for the money. There are much better snorkelling destinations.
I didn't manage to get a 4 by 4 but still ended up doing the natural pool. You dont need 4 by 4 to do the natural pool. Just take the sedan to the daimari ranch, park the car up top the hill when you can see the cococnut trees and the ranch then do the hike (about 35 minutes walking slow). This way is much better than 4 by 4 because you come across many good photo ops. But the pool itself was overhyped, it was very small and i have seen lot better natural pools. But its still fun though. I am guessing most reviews saying that you MUST need 4 by 4 are done by tour group owners and workers. You can see the entire island without any tour group in your own. I didn't even use a gps...its a small island and if you have a sense of direction its pretty easy to navigate once you memorize the key spots/road in the map. Since i traveled with a toddler and a 1.5 year old we couldn't do most of the group tours because of age limits but i am glad it happened that way because we did almost everything our self. Best location for snorkelling is Baby beach, Manglo alto and the Palm Island. Manglo Alto currents are tricky and you need to be good swimmer if you are going past the yellow bouey. Most snorkeling groups tours bring their boat and dump the tourists in the manglo alto snorkelling area but you can do this easily by youself by accessing it through the Manlgo Alto Beach (not well known by tourists) In the superfood supermarket you can by the full snorkel set including the flippers for 49.99AWG...i ended up getting two and brought it back with me. Its better than renting for $10usd to $25 per hour depending on where you are going. Next time explore it yourself guys...its lot more fun since its a small safe island.
Finally for restaurants, even though i i ate in some fancy good restaurants that you guys recommended, in my opinion the best value for money is the restaurant called Gostoso. I highly recommend to anyone who goes there next time. The owner is Jose and this guy personally comes to your table to explain all the specials. Price is in local money. I highly recommend the Pastel de Baccalauh and beef carpaccio for appetizer. The surf turf with lobster and medallion for entree was great. We ordered 3 entrees, 3 appetizers, 1 desert (tri leite, also highly recommend) and a jug of Sangria (the best sangria i ever had, highly recommend) and the bill after converting to USD was around 185USD. I left a $30 tip on top. This is a restaurant that i would go again and again to try all the items on the menu. Its a good mix of local flair with other things but mainly its a portuguese restaurants. They have great seafood items on the menu as well. If you are into flavor in food, this is a must visit place.
Overall Aruba is not a place i would go out of my way to visit again. Everyone i know hyped up aruba and therefore my expectation was high and that could be the reason i feel that way. Money wasn't an issue for me. But if you are travelling with budget, don't go here...you can get much better bang for the buck in other destinations.
