r/Aruba • u/Either_Armadillo_407 Tourist • 7d ago
Question GROUP OF 4 (26 years old)
A group of friends and I are planning a 5-night, 6-day trip to Aruba, staying around Palm Beach. We’re a pretty lively group, so we’re looking for a place where we can have our own space.
We’re trying to figure out a realistic per-person budget excluding flights and lodging. We’re thinking restaurants, a rental car, 2–3 excursions, transportation, drinks/nightlife, and general spending. We’ll mostly use taxis/Ubers at night when we’re drinking.
We want a mix of casual spots and nicer dinners and enough room in the budget to enjoy ourselves without constantly watching every dollar.
I’ve seen people recommend anywhere from $1,000–$1,500 per person for this type of trip. What do you think is realistic?
Also, PLEASE drop your best dinner and nightlife recommendations! We’re looking for fun spots with great food, a good atmosphere, and a social/energetic vibe. 🙏🏽
3
u/Ok_Impression_8720 7d ago
There are no Ubers in Aruba. If you’re planning on night life with drinking, just walk or use a taxi. If you’re staying in Palm Beach at an oceanfront resort, you can walk most places. I think the budget is really dependent on the kind of places you plan to go and what individuals choose to order. My husband and I don’t do night life, haha. It’s safe to budget around $100 a day for food per person, again depending on the person’s taste. You can spend tons more, but $100 is reasonable, excluding alcohol. Excursions are dependent on what you choose. If you’re asking if $1000-1500 is enough for one person for a week, yes. It’s enough. Unless you’re going super high class or gambling it away or something. You can look up restaurants and their prices online, as well as excursions. Some people your age would be on a low budget and grab some food at Superfoods to eat for breakfast and lunch before going out for dinner. You can save money that way. Others would eat expensive buffet breakfasts with mimosas or champagne to start the day. So it’s hard to give you a budget. Talk to your friends and decide what you want. Look up prices online. Eduardo’s Beach Shack has nice açaí bowls for under $20 for breakfast or lunch on the beach! Dushi Bagel has delicious burgers and fries for around $30 for lunch. Add a frozen cocktail for another $15 or so. Entree at Salt and Pepper will run betwee $30-40 for dinner. Add on for drinks. Have a great time! (An alternative for a group like yours is to go to an all-inclusive place like the Riu Palace.)
1
2
u/defrostedbrain 7d ago
Check out Liquid Lounge. May be the vibe you're looking for. Budget? How much do you drink and are you looking at STVR, AI or standard hotel?
1
u/Either_Armadillo_407 Tourist 7d ago
Sorry, I worded my question wrong. I already got Air bnb. Ngl everyone in the can hold down a min 4 drinks a night
2
u/OregonTrailislife 7d ago
What does your “own space” mean?
Are you looking at non resort airbnbs?
0
u/Either_Armadillo_407 Tourist 7d ago
Sorry, worded my question wrong. We already got air bnb. Just mainly looking for what I should expect to spend for six days.
2
u/I_Come_In-Pieces78 7d ago
Why not rent a car? Taxis are expensive. You could add more to your budget by renting a car and saving some cash. And on the off chance that the bunch may have a little too much to drink at during a night, then take an taxi. But for the days that you just want to relax on the beach or just run to get something to eat and sightsee, you have your own transportation. Rentals are really reasonable there.
1
u/Either_Armadillo_407 Tourist 7d ago
Thank you for responding. Yeah you’re definitely right. We’re gonna rent a car because it just makes sense and definitely just use taxis for the nightlife.
2
u/I_Come_In-Pieces78 7d ago
Wonderful. It is good to stay safe, have fun, and save some money. When we went, we had a ball. We had friends that were walking distance away from all the fun. Hopefully, you guys have a place that is that close to all the good spots!
We were walking distance from the beach and that is where we spent a lot of our time! Aruba is awesome and we are looking forward to going back.
2
1
u/gigi1478 6d ago
Use Tropic car rental - they are the best and they won’t nickel and dime you. Some of those rental agencies will ding you for things like sand in the car and who has time to detail a car in Aruba before bringing it back! You can then get snacks and breakfast food at superfoods or Noords supermarket and take drinks and snacks to the beach to save money. You can also get pizza for dinner or late night at good places like Amore Mio. You can plan a dinner in 2 nights that will also save. Happy hours on beach at noon at Marriott and many others! 2 for 1! Enjoy!
1
u/Beanandcheese14 6d ago
My wife and I just got back from Aruba and went on 3 excursions (snorkeling + shipwreck, arikok national park + natural pool, and did a sunset cruise + dinner), had one very expensive meal, and drank just about every night and each spent less than $1200 each! We were getting up kinda early like 7:30am every other day to grab a light breakfast and head to the beach and we’d be so tired by noonish that we’d go back to our bnb to shower and nap that we skipped lunch most days so that was the way we ‘saved’ some money lol 😂 But then we were ready to take on the evening with a decent meal and plenty of drinks. I will say we had a lot of fun and enjoyed the restaurants in Noord and probably spent most of our time there by the resorts! Señor frogs was a blast when we went and the food was great! As two women traveling, we never felt unsafe but of course always use your best judgment!
1
1
u/Prestigious_Yam_9898 4d ago
Thursday nights at Ike’s Bistro has live cooking of paella. It’s a little upscale, has a bar, and right on eagle beach.
1
1
u/ExtremePast 7d ago
Let us do all the work for you because you're lazy AF
-1
0
1
u/smokeybrownie 1d ago
I (26) just got back from a trip w my partner and another couple all around the same age. I would expect $1500 or more. Especially if you’re doing rental + taxi at night. Each night was like $20 back to our Airbnb in Noord, which was no more than 10 min. And drink can be pricey. Didn’t see anything less than $10. We also got a taxi when we went to Old Man and the Sea (near baby beach), oof, that one was $60 each way. We didn’t verify that on the taxi rate website tho, so might have been an up charge idk. We did a couple excursions, UTV, sunset snorkel, scuba diving at Tres Trapi (no cert needed + turtles!). Also snorkel the baby beach channel if yall are more adventurous.
6
u/Kitchen_Beat9838 7d ago
I think $1500/person will get you a really good experience. As long as that doesn’t include hotel and airfare. That about my 7 day budget with a lot of fine dining but no excursions.