Aruba with kids: Sights or Beach?

[Crystalcat]

Me again.

We are a family of 4 travelling on AOS March 5. Our sons will be 9 and almost 11. I understand that Aruba's "Natural Bridge" succumbed to the elements in September 2005. Are the gold mine ruins and California lighthouse interesting and worthwhile, or would a beach day be better?

I don't mind a beach day, as long as I get some sight seeing in at other ports.. St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Curacao.

Thanks again!!!

Cathy

[joebert]

There are no sights on Aruba. We did a land tour when we were there. Not much to see on the island. The beaches and water are beautiful.

[CRUSINGFAMILY]

WE were there twice last year, the second time with our 13yr old son. We rented a jeep on the peir both times. We were there from 8am to 1am I believe. It is a very different island, and we found it easy to travel around. In May we took a catimeran tour from the Holiday Inn area which was very reasonabel 3 1/2 hrs for 35pp included lunch and drinks and snorkel gear. They we traveled up the rugged coastline in the Jeep, went to the gold mine and a church and saw the natural bridge. We then traveled up to baby beach at the opposite end of the island. We found we had lots of time. In Nov we stopped on the public beach down by the light house and rented Jet ski's for 1/2hr for $40.00 as the sun was going down, then went back to the ship for dinner and returned the jeep. We went for a walk in the evening in the downtown area. There is a casino there, we left our son on the ship with his friends.

 

We are going back there on Explorer in Nov with our friends on a repo cruise.

 

You and the kids will have a great time

 

Brian J

 

 

Here is a link to Roberto's which we sailed with

 

http://www.visitaruba.com/attractions/sunandfun/sailing.html#robertos

[Host Jacquelyn]

You could always do both... the tours generally last only around 2 hours, and then your cab driver can drop you off at a beach. We did that a few years ago - the best of both worlds! See my Brilliance review (link below) for more details.

[negc]

You could always do both... the tours generally last only around 2 hours, and then your cab driver can drop you off at a beach. We did that a few years ago - the best of both worlds! See my Brilliance review (link below) for more details.

Jacquelyn is correct. Do both. Sightseeing opportunities are limited in Aruba, especially now that the Natural Bridge is gone. Take a quick tour of the island (it isn't that large) and spend some time at the beach. Considering how much closer you are to the equator, that you need to be cautious about how much exposure you get to the tropical sun, so you won't need to spend that much time at the beach either.

[Robin G]

OMG!! :eek: There of LOTS of sights in Aruba to see. We have a young daughter who LOVED exploring this very unusual island with us. I believe she was 7 or 8 when we were there a couple of years back.

 

We rented a Jeep with a lift kit so that it sat higher than usual. Our first stop was a Coastal gas station where we picked up a cheapy styrofoam cooler (to throw later that day), some water and snacks. We drove to Malmock Beach -- if your kids like hermit crabs, there are TONS of them here. Very fun to watch. There was no one on the beach and we hung out for about an hour. Then, we drove North toward the Lighthouse. We got some nice photos of it, but didn't stop. There was a caravan tour there and it was crowded. Plus, we weren't planning on climbing it anyway. We then headed around the top of the island and headed East. We stopped at the cool-looking "stone people" and built a few ourselves. They are suppose to be good luck as long as you don't knock any of the hundreds of thousands others that are already there. I'm not sure what order the other stops were, but we also went to the Gold Smelter, the gorgeous but simple church, and the Natural Bridge. I understand a portion of it remains, but I honestly don't know what it looks like. It's along the same shoreline, so it's not out of the way or anything. The shoreline all along this coast, beginning at around the stone people, is just incredible and breathtaking. We drove off the "road" and found a pastry shop and took a little break. Even this was fun as the people who worked there didn't speak English. It made ordering fun and we were ALL laughing by the time we left.

 

We then drove to the highlight - the Natural Pool. This is the reason why we rented the lifted Jeep. The terrain is very harsh and dangerous -- but well worth the trip. Our daughter was videotaping from the back seat as we bounced all over the rocks saying "Oh, my bladder!" -- it was hysterical! We still laugh about it today.

 

This was the best day we spent together on a cruise. What an adventure and experience.

 

We ended the day at Baby Beach, but we were very disappointed and left after about 45 minutes.

 

When we begin an excursion like this, we all try to have an open mind and open to the experiences. I think it's a good lesson for our daughter and a pretty good way to live life in general.

 

Explore and have fun!!

[rokcop]

Aruba is a unique and beautiful island. My wife and I are cruising AOS same week, I noticed your post on the roll call. We played golf last visit to Aruba at Tierra del Sol and took sunset catamarn cruise. Amazing to see cacti on a tropical island. This time we're going horseback riding in the morning and will figure the rest of the day/evening out as we go.

[pd933]

Keep an eye out for iguanas on Aruba my kids (4 DD, 8DS) had a blast feeding the iguanas behind the Seaport Casino, there had to be 30 or 40 iguanas as we fed them.

[Robin G]

Never saw the iguanas. Sounds like fun!

 

Robin