Live well. Eat well. Travel well.

April (Spring) trip to Aruba

Also known as one happy island, Aruba did not disappoint for a solo female traveler. It was a short trip but well worth spending my free night voucher with Marriott and points redemption with IHG to maximize my Diamond Elite status that’s expiring by the end of the year. 

It was a busy itinerary but it was still a relaxing and enjoyable trip. Here’s what my trip looked like to maximize my stay:

Day 1 (and first night), Tuesday

• Early afternoon arrival 
  • 2:20 PM – The estimated arrival in Queen Beatrix International Airport. The plane landed 20 minutes ahead of time. It took maybe 30 minutes to clear the immigration and claim my checked baggage. 
  • 2:50 PM – Taxi on the way to my first hotel, Renaissance Wind Creek Aruba Resort. 

• Hotel check in at Renaissance: I chose this hotel for my first night since with a stay you get free access to Renaissance Island (a.k.a Flamingo island) which is open from 7AM – 7PM everyday. To maximize, I planned to visit it in the afternoon after checking in and early morning before checking out. 
  • 3:00 PM – Checked in and freshened up for an hour or so. It was a free night redemption so I didn’t really care about the view or how big the room was. It was spacious for just myself.

• Late afternoon water taxi ride to the Renaissance Island to see the Flamingos at the beach
  • 5:00 PM – Took the water taxi to Flamingo island where I stayed to have a few drinks and snacks while laying by the beach shared with the flamingos. 
  • 6:30 PM – Took the water taxi back to the hotel area. It’s about a 10-15 minute boat ride depending on which stop you’re getting off.
  • 7:00 PM – After exploring the hotel area for a bit, I went back to my room to freshen up and search where to eat dinner.

• Dinner at Wilhelmina
  • 8:15 PM – Decided to eat at Wilhelmina. It was a 10-15 minutes walk from the hotel. I have to say, I was confident that it should be a safe walking distance. It felt a little scary as I walked farther from the hotel, passing by empty streets, a police station, and poorly lit streets with the strong wind.

• 8:30 PM – Arrived at the restaurant without reservation but it wasn’t really a long wait since it was only a table for 1. I picked to be seated by the garden area, which was really nice and had a mix of folks from a group of family and friends to romantic couples.
  • My dinner consisted of Balchi Pisca (Aruban style fish cakes with Caribbean rock lobster, local Madame Jeanette pepper mayonnaise), snapper (their catch of the day), and Lemon Tart.

• 10:00 PM – Extremely full by this time. I thought of taking the taxi back to the hotel, but wanted to walk it off instead. Took me more time to get back to the hotel as I turned to other streets I haven’t passed by that would also lead me back to the hotel. 

• Exploring downtown and casino play
  • 10:30 PM – Back at the hotel and went to the casino. Upon checking in, they gave me a coupon to claim the free slot play to use at their casino. I forgot how much it was, maybe $10-20 USD. It was pretty cool, however sadly I did not win.

Day 2 (and second night), Wednesday

• Early morning boat ride to the Flamingo island to hang with the Flamingos
  • 7:30 AM – After getting coffee from Starbucks (I poured it into my reusable travel cup since there were no drinks and food allowed on the boat ride), I queued up for the water taxi to Flamingo island.
  • 7:40 AM – Arrived at the island where there were more folks compared to the late afternoon trip the day before. They allow kids during the morning hours.
  • 9:00 AM – Back at the hotel at this time where I cooled off for a bit in their pool area. 

• Souvenir shopping before hotel #1 checkout 
  • 9:30 AM – Took a quick shower and packed up before heading into town to check their marketplace and buy some souvenirs.
  • 11:30 AM – Check out from hotel #1 then took a taxi ride to hotel #2 which took about 15 minutes.

• Hotel #2 check in at Holiday Inn Resort Aruba-Beach Resort & Casino: I selected this hotel since I have the highest status with IHG and had points to redeem. It is also located in the Palm Beach area (a.k.a. High rise area), another side of the island I wanted to check out where the water is calm and nice.   
  • 12:00 PM – Tried doing an early check in with my Diamond Elite Status, but my room was not yet available. I got my wristband to explore the resort while I waited.

• 4×4 Adventure Tour: Since I was traveling alone and the open-air Jeep was already full, they had me ride an air-conditioned truck to what turned out like a private tour. I ended up getting to more stops than usual because I really didn’t spend a long time at one stop (besides there wasn’t anybody else we had to wait on).
  • 2:00 PM – Scheduled 4-hour tour with AGW Tours. The Jeep Adventure Tour package included Natural Pool, Caves & Baby Beach Aruba. 
    • Stop 1: Baby Beach – Blue clear warm waters with the colorful cabanas along the beach. 
    • Stop 2: Arikok National Park – Visited 2 caves where 1 had a spot where I did a natural fish pedicure, took a dip at the natural pools, took an extra stop at the gold mine ruins and the natural bridges.
    • Stop 3: Casibari boulders – This was another extra stop where I had a chance to climb up the boulder to get a 360 view of Aruba.  
  • 6:30 PM – Dropped off at the hotel and finally got my room. Then freshened up for dinner.

• Exploring the town, dinner at Chicken & Lobster, and casino
  • This place was recommended by the tour driver since his house mate works here. Although I wasn’t able to meet her, I still enjoyed the food and it was a short walk from my hotel. 

Day 3, Thursday

• Buffet Breakfast at the hotel
  • 7:30 AM – As a Diamond Elite member, I was entitled to a free breakfast. The choices were massive. I wish I had the belly space for it.

• Early morning beach day at the Palm Beach area
  • 8:00 AM – Another perk of being Diamond Elite, I get a beach hut and chair for free for the whole day. I laid for an hour or so then took a dip in the clear blue ocean before heading back to the room to finish packing. 

• Hotel checkout then head to airport
  • 10:30 AM – Checked out of the hotel then taxi to the airport. It was about a 20 mins ride.

Recap and some fun facts:

• If you are on a budget, I think 2 days is good enough for solo traveling if you start early. I wouldn’t mind going back in this beautiful country with friendly folks for sure!
• You don’t need Aruban Florins here… US Dollars are widely accepted and everything I saw was priced in USD. You need a bunch of cash though! In my experience, taxis don’t have credit card machines. You also need them for tips… and the casino 😛
• Although their official language is Papiamento, all the locals I talked to knew Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and English at minimum!