I’ve always dreamed of taking a vacation to a Caribbean island. The turquoise blue waters are endless, the marine life is incredibly diverse and the lifestyle is the perfect slow pace for a week to relax. But as a West Coaster I always assumed it would be incredibly expensive, so I didn’t even think to try. Circumstances allowed us to add Aruba on to our extended world travels and showed me that the dream vacation is actually in reach - and at an affordable price! Here are some tips for enjoying the best of Aruba on a budget.
1. Go during off season
High season in Aruba is November - March which are the “Winter” months where the weather is moderately cooler and there is less rain. But in speaking to locals, they say there is such minimal variability in weather on the island that the days in September can be just as nice as in January. “Off season” does see some rainer days but since Aruba is outside of the hurricane belt, there’s really no worry about the rain developing into something more serious. We were personally there in October and found the weather to be great. It did rain a few times, but like most tropical places, the storms were scattered and quick, with the clear skies returning in minutes. The weather fluctuated between 80 - 83 most days (never dipping below 80!) and it was definitely hot, but you’ll spend most of your time in the Caribbean Sea anyways! And the differences in price are drastic. Rates at the Marriott Aruba in January are literally double that of the same room in September, for example. High season impacts pricing for flights, rooms, rental cars, food and activities on the island. So the easiest way to do Aruba cheaply is to avoid the high season (and the crowds!).
2. Book your flight with points
I go into detail on how we book cheap flights with points and miles in this article if you want to go more in depth. But generally - American, Delta, United, JetBlue, Southwest and Spirit make the trip to Aruba from the US. If you have points or miles with any of these airlines, I’d look to see if it makes sense to use them or transfer points (to American, Delta, United and JetBlue) from a credit card like Chase Sapphire, AMEX or Capital One VentureX.
We personally flew Southwest because we have a lot of Southwest points both from Tim’s work travel and me signing up for their credit card. The Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card has a low annual fee and currently has an offer of 50,000 points after spending $3,000 on in the first 3 months. About once a year, they do a deal where you also earn the Companion Pass for a year as a sign up bonus which is a HUGE plus. That means you get 50,000 points (enough for a roundtrip Aruba ticket) and your partner flies for free.
We actually didn’t even have Aruba on the radar, but knew that we wanted to go to Colombia from Columbus, Ohio. Flights directly to Colombia were really expensive, so knowing we had Southwest points + companion pass we checked to see how far they could get us. The answer was to Aruba for free, then the flight to Bogota was about $90 on Avianca. So we saved around $500 on flights and tacked on an amazing 5 days in Aruba!
3. Stay at an Airbnb instead of a high rise hotel There’s more reasons than just price to stay at an Airbnb over a high rise hotel, but price is a pretty compelling one if you’re looking to do Aruba on a budget. The average cost of an Airbnb in low season is around $90 compared to around $200 for a larger resort. Some other reasons to stay at an Airbnb: - Have a more authentic experience - The ability to cook some meals at home - Comfort of having more space - In our case, meet some awesome people! We stayed at this Airbnb in Savaneta and I cannot recommend it enough. The accommodation itself was only $114 a night and was just steps away from the Sea. We had a full kitchen and coffee supplied by the host, so we saved money by buying food for breakfast and having the ability to have leftovers from dinners out for lunch the next day. But the real difference maker were the hosts themselves, two Aruba locals. The Airbnb is set up almost like a guest house with six cottages surrounding a large common area palapa and kitchen. The hosts lived next door and were available for local recommendations and tips, to supply anything we missed (like free snorkel gear which is necessary on the island) or even take us to their favorite snorkel and dive spots. Another couple staying there were there for their second time, the first of which they got engaged in Aruba. This time they were doing a honeymoon before the wedding which was the weekend after they got back. The hostess, Brigitte, handmade them a beautiful wedding gift made from found sea glass and sea shells with their wedding date engraved on it. This is the type of hospitality (and friendship) that is so rare and amazing to find during travel!
I realize some people are looking for more of a “resort” type relaxing stay in Aruba, so there’s nothing wrong with staying at a larger hotel. But even with a less expensive Airbnb you can still have resort type experiences. ResortPass allows you to buy a day pass to a few of the larger resorts to use their facilities like pools and beach clubs (around $25/day). Another option for a relaxing pool day is to head to Rum Reef on Baby Beach. For $50 you get access to their infinity pool all day, 4 cocktails and lunch. The Renaissance hotel has an island called Flamingo Island for guests to enjoy. But non-guests can pay to access the island and relax for the day on Saturdays (around $150/day). One tip - if you book a massage with them, you can ask to have it done on the island and then you get a massage + free access to the island for the day. The best of both worlds!
4. Eat locally Avoid the resort zone which is generally filled with overpriced food and cocktails (we had one dinner here at Lola, which had great tacos, but a margarita was $18! That’s SF pricing). Instead, choose to eat in more local areas. Some recommendations: - Zeerovers: So good we went here twice! They only serve two things - shrimp and freshly caught fish. Everything is thrown into a fryer and you can get sides of french fries, plantains or their version of cornbread. For $35 we got 2.2 lbs of shrimp and a large cut of fish, french fries, plantains and two sauces. And the shrimp is the best we’ve ever tasted! Plus we had shrimp left over for omelets in the morning. - Charlie’s: Bar and restaurant in San Nicolas. Fun vibe and inexpensive food - Eduardo’s Hideaway: Insanely delicious acai bowls, salads and other health food items. We ate here three times and the bill was always under $40 - The Lionfish Snack: Fun fact, Lionfish are not native to the Caribbean and cause a lot of damage to the ecosystem. They eat the local fish but have no predators and reproduce like crazy. So a lot of locals hunt them to eat, and to make jewelry! This shack is only open on Saturday’s but was so delicious and fairly priced. - Tio Pepe’s Chinese: It’s a restaurant, sports bar, karaoke bar…what more could you want?! This was right around the corner for our Airbnb and you can’t beat the bang for you buck. For around $14 we got two HUGE containers of fried rice and Chinese chicken. And it was really good. - Buy fish straight from the fisherman! Next to Marina Pirata, fishermen will sell you freshly caught fish that you can cook at home. 2.2 lbs of shrimp is around $15
5. Shop around for your “splurges” We knew that we wanted to do two expensive things: rent a Jeep for the week and go Scuba Diving. We were comfortable with splurging on these things because we were living pretty cheaply otherwise. So whatever you want to spend a little more on, just make sure to shop around to get the best possible price. There are tons of companies who rent Jeeps and run Scuba shops all over the island. The best price I found for a Jeep was from Rent 2 Go Aruba ($550/week). For Scuba, we went with Nautilus Dive Center for their pricing ($130 pp for 2 dives). Unfortunately, I found that the companies weren’t willing to negotiate, but it doesn’t hurt to try!
In total, we spent around $376 per day (food, transportation, housing, activities and miscellaneous included) on an incredibly memorable Aruba trip! I hope this helps you do the same.
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