Everything you needed to know about the beaches in ARUBA

 

 

You are welcome and I hope you have a wonderful time in Aruba. We will definitely be back. Your villa isn't a little white cottage trimmed in green is it?

No, but now I am intrigued on this little white and green cottage???

This is the one we rented - https://www.vrbo.com/353212ha#summary

(I am not sure if I allowed to post this)

I guess it isn't that close to Arashi as I thought now that I look at the map. Some of the beaches that you listed are closer and it all is making more sense. Let me ask you, did you find the island safe? How was driving? We are renting a car...

Thanks, Kim! I have the link to your review bookmarked so I won't lose it. I plan to head over and read your review, and probably register over there while I'm at it. I probably will not get to it until this weekend when things hopefully slow down a bit around here. I have an early, busy day tomorrow, so it's off to bed for me right now.

Nancy, no worries...it won't take you long to finish all of the reviews over there. It's nothing like here. ;)

No, but now I am intrigued on this little white and green cottage???

 

This is the one we rented - https://www.vrbo.com/353212ha#summary

(I am not sure if I allowed to post this)

 

I guess it isn't that close to Arashi as I thought now that I look at the map. Some of the beaches that you listed are closer and it all is making more sense. Let me ask you, did you find the island safe? How was driving? We are renting a car...

That looks adorable! Is that an entire house and your own pool? Or do you share with others?

Trust me, if you are anywhere on that side of the island (west) ,then all of those beaches are VERY close. Nothing is too far away in Aruba. :D Very quick to get around.

Yes, the island is very safe and from what I had read and heard, very little crime. However, always pay attention to your surroundings and keep a level head no matter where you go...which I'm sure you know.

Driving is super simple (drive on the right side) and there's hardly any traffic lights at all. Almost all roundabouts on the island (even the main road/highway from one end to the other has roundabouts either there or being built. I call myself the roundabout queen now. ;p

No worries, you'll get around fine and have a blast!

Once again you are so very much interesting to read but next time please bring me :-) lol

Sea ya

Eric

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Once again you are so very much interesting to read but next time please bring me :-) lol

Sea ya

Eric

 

 

Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Forums

Haha, thanks :)

Thank you for your hard work on the video and review.

You cannot guess how happy I was when I open the Aruba board and see your name at the top! I knew that you have posted great information. I was not disappointed! :D

I'm stopping there in October on my Panama cruise from 8am to 8 pm. We both like to snorkeling but I don't think that we will only do that on that day as we will be in port for 12 hours.

1. Seem like baby beach is the place to go. Have you take some taxi? if so, were they expensive? I'm not good in geography as I cannot figure where you stayed vs the cruise port, is it going to take longer or shorter than 45 minutes to go there in taxi from the port?

2. What other land activities did you prefer?

3. which of your underwater camera did you use?

thanks!

Thank you for your hard work on the video and review.

 

You cannot guess how happy I was when I open the Aruba board and see your name at the top! I knew that you have posted great information. I was not disappointed! :D

 

I'm stopping there in October on my Panama cruise from 8am to 8 pm. We both like to snorkeling but I don't think that we will only do that on that day as we will be in port for 12 hours.

1. Seem like baby beach is the place to go. Have you take some taxi? if so, were they expensive? I'm not good in geography as I cannot figure where you stayed vs the cruise port, is it going to take longer or shorter than 45 minutes to go there in taxi from the port?

2. What other land activities did you prefer?

3. which of your underwater camera did you use?

 

thanks!

Aww, thanks so much for your kind words.

Since we stayed on the island for 10 days, we rented a car and drove everywhere. So, not sure how much a taxi would be.

So to help you out with the geography of Aruba, the port, where we stayed and Baby Beach:

At the top of the map below, you'll see it marked with a supermarket, Julio Watersports and Tropicana. That's Eagle Beach and were we stayed. If you look at the bottom of the map, you'll see the cruise port marked on there.

Now on the following map, you'll see the cruise port and Baby Beach. The cruise port is all the way at the top and Baby beach at the bottom:

Now, putting it all together you would have us (western), then running to the east (or right) the port, then all the way to the right is Baby Beach. So, the cruise port is closed to Baby Beach than we were at the place we were staying. So, less than 45 minutes from the port for sure.

Hopefully that helps to put things into perspective. I'm a visual person as well and it always helps me.

There are a lot of land activities and we had a good time at all of them...from the animals to the rocks. Did you check out those reviews I did? HERE are the animal places we went. HERE are the others places we went.

We also went to DePalm Island, which was amazing and great snorkeling there as well. There's a lot to do there and it's an AI. HERE is that review. It might interest you as well. It's also closer to the port.

I also did a video of the entire trip. It is about 32 minutes long with both pictures and video included if you are interested. You can find the link HERE.

I usually use my TG4 camera 99% of the time. My daughter has the 620 camera, so she used that with some of the pictures (and they turned out pretty good...she got a lot of close ups of the iguanas and blue lizards) and the hubby had a 620 when we went scuba diving as well. So, they could have some of the photos mixed in with mine.

Hopefully this info helps. If you have any other questions, please let me know. :)

Amazing pictures Kim!

Thanks for taking the time to post this "Aruba Beaches 101".

I was wondering where you were since I did not see much posting from your end for quite some time.

We kind of did a B2B this August...went on the MSC Divina (aiyyy caramba!!! Not my cup of tea, but the cruise addict I am, I will go again if the price is right and if there is no other cruise to choose from;);p) and then we went on the Oasis.

Oh my, Sakari looks so grown up with every new picture I see!

Going to Aruba (on the Equinox) in October and I will use your beach information. Thanks again.

Amazing pictures Kim!

Thanks for taking the time to post this "Aruba Beaches 101".

I was wondering where you were since I did not see much posting from your end for quite some time.

We kind of did a B2B this August...went on the MSC Divina (aiyyy caramba!!! Not my cup of tea, but the cruise addict I am, I will go again if the price is right and if there is no other cruise to choose from;);p) and then we went on the Oasis.

 

Oh my, Sakari looks so grown up with every new picture I see!

 

Going to Aruba (on the Equinox) in October and I will use your beach information. Thanks again.

Hello there Arzeena my favorite name!

Yep, I've been missing in action for a bit (you know, all that research on going to Aruba was taking up a lot of my time). :D

It sounds like you have had a busy August as well. Funny how you talk about going on the Divina and not really caring for it...then slip in that "and the Oasis" part....LIKE WOW~ I'm jelly! My neighbors are trying to get us to go on the Oasis with them in December but I still struggle with having to pay the amount of money RCL wants for their cruises and they are going so close to Christmas that it just hurts the hubbys business too much during that time. So, we are going in November, which is our "normal" time each year.

I hope you have a wonderful time in Aruba in October. It's such a beautiful place and I definitely plan on going back for another land vacation.

Hello there Arzeena my favorite name!

 

 

Yep, I've been missing in action for a bit (you know, all that research on going to Aruba was taking up a lot of my time). :D

 

It sounds like you have had a busy August as well. Funny how you talk about going on the Divina and not really caring for it...then slip in that "and the Oasis" part....LIKE WOW~ I'm jelly! My neighbors are trying to get us to go on the Oasis with them in December but I still struggle with having to pay the amount of money RCL wants for their cruises and they are going so close to Christmas that it just hurts the hubbys business too much during that time. So, we are going in November, which is our "normal" time each year.

 

 

I hope you have a wonderful time in Aruba in October. It's such a beautiful place and I definitely plan on going back for another land vacation.

Have a wonderful time on the Oasis. I cannot wait to read a mitsugirly review!

Have a wonderful time on the Oasis. I cannot wait to read a mitsugirly review!

Oh no, we won't be on the Oasis (hence the reason I said we wouldn't be joining our neighbor friends and that RC just charges too much for their cruises). ;)

We will be on the Carnival Magic in November. :D

Oh no, we won't be on the Oasis (hence the reason I said we wouldn't be joining our neighbor friends and that RC just charges too much for their cruises). ;)

 

We will be on the Carnival Magic in November. :D

Ohhh. I had been looking at the Magic too! (but for their Aruba cruise)

Have a fun time.

Awesome. Ty so much for such a useful and detailed post.

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Awesome. Ty so much for such a useful and detailed post.

 

 

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Thanks so much and glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do another amazing review!

There are 26 of us going on a cruise in 9 weeks and one stop is Aruba from 8-8.

Was having trouble trying to pick a beach or two to enjoy beautiful sand (wanting to do family pics) and time to snorkel(for my daughter's 15th Birthday that day!)

After your review we are leaning towards baby beach.

Again thank you and I'm even more excited now!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to do another amazing review!

 

There are 26 of us going on a cruise in 9 weeks and one stop is Aruba from 8-8.

Was having trouble trying to pick a beach or two to enjoy beautiful sand (wanting to do family pics) and time to snorkel(for my daughter's 15th Birthday that day!)

 

After your review we are leaning towards baby beach.

 

Again thank you and I'm even more excited now!

 

 

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You are very welcome and glad that this helped you out some. I think you have made a great decision and hopefully will enjoy Baby Beach. It's definitely a beautiful place for pictures and a really nice sized beach...even when crowded, I believe you could find a great place for pics without others in the picture.

Have a wonderful time. :)

we are avid cruisers who never taken a land vacation-- until we took a cruise to Aruba. It just totally wow'd us from the moment we visited-- took a tour using ABC jeep tour then went back to the ship to clean up grab lunch then headed to the Palm Beach area. We took chairs (which was the Westin at the time) and was stayed from 4pm til 7 just to watch the sunset. We used sunscreen but i guess not enough because honey had his tops of his feet severely sunburned. The sunset was spectacular Not one other sunset compared.

We decided to try a land vacation the following year. Stayed at the Raddison which is now the Hilton. THe week was totally amazxing. Went back the following year- stayed at radisson and decided to check out some time shares. (which theyh feed us all week so out meals were all paid for- each resort had their own place they sent us to.

We bought into Occidental and went back the next year-- (Occidental is not for us as there are just too many places out and about that buying into an ALL Inclusive was a mistake. ) Other places we were tied to the same week year after year and didnt want that either.

the next year we rented some ones time share from Playa Linda and been back there ever since-- (we just rent some ones time share-- be in a studio or a 1 bedroom unit if we take the kids.

This year I wanted to go visit other beaches. Your postings with pictures help me with that decision-- thanks

we are avid cruisers who never taken a land vacation-- until we took a cruise to Aruba. It just totally wow'd us from the moment we visited-- took a tour using ABC jeep tour then went back to the ship to clean up grab lunch then headed to the Palm Beach area. We took chairs (which was the Westin at the time) and was stayed from 4pm til 7 just to watch the sunset. We used sunscreen but i guess not enough because honey had his tops of his feet severely sunburned. The sunset was spectacular Not one other sunset compared.

We decided to try a land vacation the following year. Stayed at the Raddison which is now the Hilton. THe week was totally amazxing. Went back the following year- stayed at radisson and decided to check out some time shares. (which theyh feed us all week so out meals were all paid for- each resort had their own place they sent us to.

We bought into Occidental and went back the next year-- (Occidental is not for us as there are just too many places out and about that buying into an ALL Inclusive was a mistake. ) Other places we were tied to the same week year after year and didnt want that either.

the next year we rented some ones time share from Playa Linda and been back there ever since-- (we just rent some ones time share-- be in a studio or a 1 bedroom unit if we take the kids.

 

This year I wanted to go visit other beaches. Your postings with pictures help me with that decision-- thanks

That's awesome and pretty much the same story as us...cruised there for the first time in April and loved it so much we knew we wanted to return. Our beautiful 10 days there was amazing every single day. Since we didn't get to do everything we wanted to do (can you believe it???), we will definitely return again. I'm thinking this just might be a yearly thing we'd like to do. It's so different than a cruise and I love being on our own time frame and getting to do everything we'd like to do (or should I say more than one place like we do when on a cruise).

Playa Linda was suggested to us, but we ended up staying at the Tropicana instead (due to the price). Next time, I think we might decide to stay in a cottage or something...but probably not Tropicana again (unless we could stay in the newer units). :)

That's awesome and pretty much the same story as us...cruised there for the first time in April and loved it so much we knew we wanted to return. Our beautiful 10 days there was amazing every single day. Since we didn't get to do everything we wanted to do (can you believe it???), we will definitely return again. I'm thinking this just might be a yearly thing we'd like to do. It's so different than a cruise and I love being on our own time frame and getting to do everything we'd like to do (or should I say more than one place like we do when on a cruise).

 

Playa Linda was suggested to us, but we ended up staying at the Tropicana instead (due to the price). Next time, I think we might decide to stay in a cottage or something...but probably not Tropicana again (unless we could stay in the newer units). :)

You will not find availability through Playalinda. I look at all time share pages to get a price. Being flexible helps.

We can rent a 1 bedroom unit at playalinda for 1200. I like having akitchen to do morning coffee although a dunkin donuts is right there for us. we do breakfast in the room (our plan in March is to visit the Eagle Beach area to see if we can stay there next visit...or stay on Palm beach . I like that everything for us is within walking distance. I have no inclination any longer to do any site seeing-- been there done it. (loved the ostrich farm)

You will not find availability through Playalinda. I look at all time share pages to get a price. Being flexible helps.

We can rent a 1 bedroom unit at playalinda for 1200. I like having akitchen to do morning coffee although a dunkin donuts is right there for us. we do breakfast in the room (our plan in March is to visit the Eagle Beach area to see if we can stay there next visit...or stay on Palm beach . I like that everything for us is within walking distance. I have no inclination any longer to do any site seeing-- been there done it. (loved the ostrich farm)

I'm not sure what you mean by you will not find availability through Playa Linda? We put in dates and it gave us pricing and it was a lot higher than where we picked. (Around $1500 for the time frame we were looking). Our 10 day stay was only $700+ and since we had planned on being gone 80% of the day, each day, it was more important to us to find a cheaper place to stay. Ours also had a kitchen and everything we needed, including a Dunkin Donuts on the property along with several other restaurants. It fitted the bill for us I guess. I'm not sure where we will stay next time. But honestly, as long as we are there, that's what matters. :D (Ostrich Farm was awesome to us).

Playalinda? Gave you pricing when you plugged in dates? Weird. This is a time share hotel not a regular resort. All rooms are owned by members. Playa Linda right? Not costa Linda

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Playalinda? Gave you pricing when you plugged in dates? Weird. This is a time share hotel not a regular resort. All rooms are owned by members. Playa Linda right? Not costa Linda

 

 

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Yes, it gives you $$ amount when you plug in the dates. I just went in and did it for a random date just now and it gives me pricing

Excellent review and love the pics.

We will be in Aruba in January on a cruise. Not yet sure of how long we will have on the island but DH has decided he would like one of our ports on the upcoming cruise to be a beach day and I'm leaning more and more towards Aruba for the beach stop.

However, I cannot swim and will only go no more than knee deep into water and DH doesn't enjoy swimming in the ocean!!. We also want to do some shopping (DH is unusual in that he enjoys rummaging through shops!!).

So with the above criteria in mind, which beach would you recommend?

VERY interesting. I just plugged in our dates and it quoted me a tad over 3500. (we are renting a time share from someone for 1200. total

Yes, it gives you $$ amount when you plug in the dates. I just went in and did it for a random date just now and it gives me pricing

 

Excellent review and love the pics.

 

We will be in Aruba in January on a cruise. Not yet sure of how long we will have on the island but DH has decided he would like one of our ports on the upcoming cruise to be a beach day and I'm leaning more and more towards Aruba for the beach stop.

 

However, I cannot swim and will only go no more than knee deep into water and DH doesn't enjoy swimming in the ocean!!. We also want to do some shopping (DH is unusual in that he enjoys rummaging through shops!!).

 

So with the above criteria in mind, which beach would you recommend?

You didn't really say how long you will be in port. If you are in port for a decent amount of time, Baby Beach is a bay/lagoon type of beach and you wouldn't really worry about having to swim much there because the water is pretty shallow in most of the area. But, it's further than the other beaches are located. For a beautiful beach just to cool off I mean you could go to any of them: Eagle, Palm, Arashi.

You mentioned that DH does not like swimming in the ocean. What other places are you going to on your cruise? It sounds like the type of place you might need (for both of you to enjoy it) is a beach club type of place that has the beach and also a pool on the premises. Aruba doesn't really have this (that I know of) unless someone sells a day pass to one of the hotels located on the beach. I'm not sure.