Flamingo Beach Aruba: Renaissance Island Day Pass

Flamingo Beach Aruba is the most photographed beach on the island and one that almost nobody who stays with us actually visits. Both things are true, and the reason is the day pass. Ghislaine has taken guests to the Renaissance front desk at 8 am and watched them walk away empty handed, and she has also seen the photos from the ones who got in. Here is the honest version so you can decide before you drive to Oranjestad.

Where is Flamingo Beach?

It is on Renaissance Island, a 40 acre private island a few minutes by boat off Oranjestad, owned by the Renaissance Aruba Resort. The island has two beaches: Flamingo Beach, adults only, with the flamingos, and Iguana Beach, the family side with a shallow lagoon and a lot of iguanas. There is a restaurant, a bar, a spa, restrooms, loungers, hammocks over the water and a few private cabanas for rent.

The only way on is the resort’s water taxi, which leaves from a dock inside the lobby of the Renaissance Marina hotel in downtown Oranjestad, roughly every 15 minutes, and takes under ten minutes.

How do non hotel guests get the Flamingo Beach day pass?

This is the part every blog gets vague about, so plainly:

• Day passes are sold only when the resort’s own occupancy leaves room on the island. Hotel guests come first, always.
• They cannot be reserved online or by phone in advance. You go to the front desk of the Renaissance Marina hotel in the morning and ask. Some mornings there are passes; in high season there are often none.
• The price has been around $125 per adult in recent seasons, which includes the boat, a lounger, lunch and a drink at the island restaurant. Children, when allowed, pay less. Check the current price with the resort before you go.
• Go early. Guests who get passes are usually at the desk when it opens, around 7 or 8 am, and on the first boat.

The reliable way to see the flamingos is to book a night at the Renaissance. Hotel guests get unlimited island access for the stay, and one night mid week in low season is sometimes cheaper than two day passes.

What is Flamingo Beach actually like?

Small, pretty and busy. The beach is a short curve of sand with calm, shallow water, loungers under palms, a bar, and a handful of flamingos that live on the island and are fed from a vending machine. They walk between the chairs and pose for photos because they have done it every day of their lives. You will get the picture.

By 10 am in high season every lounger is taken and the water is full of people getting the same picture. The water is clear but there is not much to snorkel; the fish are on the other side of the island near Iguana Beach, and even there it is modest compared with the west coast.

The island is lovely for a lazy day with lunch and a drink included, hammocks in the water and a spa. It is not a beach day in the Aruba sense of space, waves and wide sand. Plan on four or five hours: boat over by 9, a swim and the photos before the crowd, lunch at the restaurant, and the boat back by early afternoon when the loungers are all taken anyway.

The children rule

Flamingo Beach is adults only, 18 and over, except for a short morning window, usually 9 to 10 am, when children may visit the flamingos. Outside that hour families stay on Iguana Beach, which has a calm lagoon, a playground and loungers but no flamingos. If the point of the day is a child and a flamingo, be on the first boat.

Is the Renaissance Island day pass worth it?

Ghislaine’s honest answer, by type of guest:

• You want the flamingo photo and a lazy day with lunch, and you are on the island in low season when passes exist: yes, once.
• You are here in February and would have to gamble a morning in Oranjestad on getting a pass: probably not. Have breakfast in town, walk the harbor, and go to Arashi.
• You want to swim, snorkel or have space: no. The west coast beaches are better at all three and free.
• You are staying at the Renaissance: obviously, every day.

What to do instead

For a beach that looks like the photo, with calm turquoise water and palapas, go to Arashi at the northwest tip. Free, lifeguarded, better snorkeling, ten minutes from our Gold Coast home. For wide sand and quiet, Eagle Beach. For an all inclusive private island day with kids, De Palm Island off the south coast sells its pass in advance and includes the water park. The full comparison of every beach is in our Aruba beaches guide.

For wild flamingos, the honest answer is a day trip to Bonaire, where thousands live in the salt pans, or the small flock that sometimes appears at the Bubali wetlands between Noord and Eagle Beach, with no promises.

Practical notes if you go

• Park in the Renaissance Marketplace garage or on the street nearby; downtown Oranjestad has paid parking on weekdays.
• Bring reef safe sunscreen, a hat and water shoes for the rocky edges; the shop on the island is expensive.
• The island restaurant and bar take cards and dollars.
• The last boat back is in the late afternoon; ask when you board.
• A private cabana with its own service can be reserved by hotel guests; day pass visitors are usually limited to loungers.

Stay nearby

Oasis Hideaway in Gold Coast is ten minutes from Arashi, the beach we send people to when the passes run out, with a private pool for the afternoon. Ocean View 2BR on the Palm Beach strip is twelve minutes from the Renaissance dock. Hideout Dream Big Suite and Hideout Happiness Suite near Eagle Beach are adults only, like Flamingo Beach, without the boat. See them at /stays/.

Questions people ask

How do you get to Flamingo Beach in Aruba?

Flamingo Beach is on Renaissance Island, a private island owned by the Renaissance resort in Oranjestad. The only way there is the resort's water taxi, which leaves from inside the Renaissance Marina hotel lobby every 15 minutes or so.

How much is the Renaissance Island day pass?

Around $125 per adult in recent seasons, with lunch and a drink included; check the current price with the resort. Passes are only sold when the resort is not full, in person, on the day.

Can you book the Flamingo Beach day pass in advance?

No. The resort releases day passes to non guests only when occupancy allows, and you ask at the front desk that morning. In high season there are often none. The reliable way in is to book a night at the Renaissance.

Are children allowed on Flamingo Beach?

Flamingo Beach itself is adults only, with a short window for children in the morning, usually 9 to 10 am. The rest of the day families use Iguana Beach on the other side of the island, where there are no flamingos.

Are the flamingos wild?

No. A small group lives on the island and is fed there; they are used to people and will walk up to you. The wild flamingos of the region are on Bonaire, not Aruba.