As I mentioned in my last post we went from a winter wonderland in Maine in December to a winter Island beach escape in Aruba! In this post I will tell you about our highlights & Favorite beaches & fun things to do!  Hope it helps you with your Aruba vacation!
In later posts I’ll write more in depth about some of these places too!!

Aruba

Aruba is a beautiful Island in the Caribbean, it is not a very big island just 20 miles long and 6 miles at its widest point! The main Languages are Papiamento, Dutch, English & Spanish! According to our bus tour guide, Aruban people are required to learn all four languages 🙂 wow!!  Tourism is an important industry, as well as aloe!! Its has a very mild climate, & typically dry & warm, cactus are a  common sight in the landscape, that’s what we saw when we took our scenic drives! Palm trees & trees that require very little water can be seen as well!

One thing I didn’t see was homeless people, which was good but we did see many stray dogs, sadly we are dog lovers & my daughter really wanted to bring a few home!! Hahah but other than that the island has a nice reputation of being a happy place & relatively safe!! The people are very friendly!! & the beaches were absolutely beautiful!!

The local currency is the Florin but accept the US dollar! I had a hard time converting figures! Oh well!!

One thing to note is there are a lot, I mean a lot of Rotaries but We found the driving was pretty easy!!  Sometimes when we weren’t sure where to go, we just went around the rotary again!! Hahaha

 

Eagle Beach Aruba Resort

First off, We absolutely loved our stay at the Eagle Aruba Resort & Casino! It was so much fun with ongoing activities during the day for the kiddos but also happy hour for adults & I absolutely loved the live music! On Wednesday evenings they even have their Carnival dinner & show!! They charge admission but includes a yummy dinner of chicken & fish, rice, salad, seafood soup & carrot cake on the night we went!
My kids & hubby loved the water slide!! It was a blast, my daughter could go up & down that slide all day If she could! 🙂

The hospitality at the hotel was outstanding!! We loved the breakfast included with our stay, we paid alittle more for it beforehand 🙂 totally worth it!! Everyone that works here is amazing!!

*only problem we had was the sofa bed, it wasn’t that comfortable for two adults. A small child maybe, my teenage son however didn’t seem to mind it too badly!

Amazing Beaches

We wished we could have stayed longer to explore all the beaches & everything Aruba offers but we will have to come again!! We did explore many of its beaches though!! Here are three of our favorites,

Our #1 favorite was Eagle beach; it is absolutely gorgeous, the white sands, clear water, water sports that could be done here was great!! you can enjoy & use resort perks which included the use of the beach loungers!! We also enjoyed The sunsets here, they were gorgeous!

 

#2-Baby Beach~ 

Baby beach is a beautiful beach, it’s shallow & excellent for families with small children, safe & a great place for snorkeling! The white Sand is cozy for your feet & the beautiful blue clear water was so pretty!!

#3 Arashi Beach– We went on a day it was extremely hot so I didn’t get in the water but it was a gorgeous place to rent a lounger & relax! There is a restaurant here, so we ordered lunch & enjoyed a cold beverage! It was great! The kids loved playing in the water 🙂

 

#4-6 Fun Excursion- De Palm Island All Inclusive Day tour!

The De Palm Island excursion was one of our favorite excursions, we loved everything about it, including the ferry ride!!

#4 Flamingos  I initially wanted to see the flamingos & thought my kids would like to see them too, there were probably like 10!  We enjoyed seeing them even though we couldn’t be among them, they were on the other side of a wooden fence! What We saw was still nice:

the all you can eat buffet & food & drink included was yummy!! Also the  alcoholic beverages were amazing!! I loved the mamacita drink, it was layered with color including blue!! That was included too!!

My daughter loved the water slides!! Did I mention she loves water slides, she could go up & down all day!! Lol!!

#5 I loved the banana boat ride, it was exhilarating & fun! A boat takes you around in a circle while you’re holding on to dear life with 9 other people on what looked like a banana! 5 people on each side!! You wear a life vest of course, It was so much fun!!

#6 The family loved snorkeling!! It wasn’t a first time snorkeling easy experience though! I recommend blowing up your life vest because the waves are rough but once you have your vest inflated, then you’re all set! & good to go!! The sight you see is amazing! There are so many tropical fish, big ones too & the corral reefs are cool!! The ocean was teeming with so many colorful fish!! It’s amazing how our wonderful creator is so creative & shows us he loves us thru his works!! That’s what I thought of when I was down there!! We Snorkled when we were on De Palm Island but snorkeling could be done on almost all the beaches, baby beach being the easiest 🙂 & most popular spot to do it at!!

 

#7-9 Tourist Drive around Aruba

 

We wished we could have had more time to visit more sights around Aruba but what we saw was so nice!! We explored the dirt roads & ATV trails & on one one drive  we found the #7 natural bridge, mine & blue horses downtown!

#8 On another excursion we drove to the California lighthouse & climbed to the top! That was fun, we enjoyed taking pictures & drinking ice cold drink from a local bender nearby afterward!

#9 We watched the sunrise from the Alta Vista Chapel another morning! We totally recommend watching the sunrise, it was like a 20 minute drive from one end of the island to another!! That’s pretty cool to do!!

If you can rent an ATV for the day that would be a great way to see the sights & ride the trails! We took our car as far as it can go one day & probably missed a lot 🙂 but we enjoyed seeing what we could!

Visit a local Bakery/Market

#10 my husband loved tasting the local goodies, I also love a good bakery!! We found a place called Huchada!! It’s a local bakery!! One of the local favorites we were told about & fell in love with (my husband still has a craving for it) is their Pastechi Carni & the Pastechi Gallina 🙂 yummy! It is a   Empanada like delight with a flavorful ground beef or chicken with spices & sauce & what looked & tasted like raisins inside!!  The flavors tasted like a bbq burrito!! Yummy!! They also sell other things like cakes & other pastries, coffee & breakfast & lunch items too!!

 

So as you can see Aruba is a wonderful place to visit & get away to!! It’s a wonderful place to enjoy summer again especially during the winter months! Hope these suggestions help if you’re planning a trip there!! It has been so much fun sharing our trip with you!!