Best Breakfast in Aruba: Pancakes, Pastechi and Coffee

Breakfast is the meal that decides your morning on Aruba, and the best breakfast in Aruba is rarely the resort buffet. Eat early and you get Eagle Beach before the chairs, Boca Catalina before the boats, Arikok before the heat. Linger over a resort buffet and you arrive at everything at 11 with everyone else. Here is how Ghislaine thinks about it, from the cheapest option to the one with the view. We have left out opening hours we are not sure of; check the day before.

Option one: the pastechi window

The Aruban way. A pastechi is a fried half moon of dough filled with Gouda (kaas), chicken (galina), beef (carni) or tuna. Two of them and a coffee is a full breakfast for under $5.

The Pastechi House on Caya Betico Croes in Noord is the classic, five minutes from Palm Beach by car and roughly fifteen on foot from the north end of the strip. There is a window, a short line of locals on their way to work, and a menu board. Order kaas unless you have a reason not to. They also do croquettes and the Aruban “pan bati” flatbread.

If you are near Eagle Beach, any snack bar in the Pos Abou or Bubali neighbourhoods does the same thing, and so do the gas stations. Early is better; the popular fillings go by mid morning.

Option two: the Dutch Pancakehouse and Dutch pancakes

Aruba is Dutch, and the pancakes are the proof. The Dutch Pancakehouse at the Alhambra casino complex, across the road from the Divi resorts between Eagle Beach and Palm Beach, serves plate sized pannenkoeken, sweet (apple, stroop, powdered sugar) or savoury (bacon and cheese is the one). One pancake feeds an adult or two children. Expect $12 to $18 a plate.

Linda’s Dutch Pancakes and Pizza near Palm Beach is the other address, a little closer to the high rises. Both are family friendly, both get busy on weekend mornings, neither takes reservations for breakfast as far as we know.

Poffertjes, the small puffed pancakes with butter and sugar, appear on both menus and are the thing to order for kids.

Option three: eggs with a view

The Palm Beach strip has a row of cafes where you can sit at the edge of the sand with eggs, pancakes and a coffee. They are pleasant and they are priced for the resorts: $15 to $25 a person plus a service charge that is often already on the bill. We will not name a favourite because they change hands and change menus; walk the beach path between the Hyatt and the Holiday Inn and pick one with a free table facing the water.

A tip that saves money: order one breakfast and one coffee each. The plates are large.

Option four: proper coffee

The resort coffee is weak. For a real espresso:

• Café Baristas at the Alhambra complex near Eagle Beach: Italian machines, pastries, open early.
• The coffee bars inside Paseo Herencia and Palm Beach Plaza on the strip: fine for a flat white before the beach.
• In Oranjestad, the cafes along Wilhelminastraat and the Renaissance Marketplace are the best on the island, but that is a 15 minute drive and a different morning.

Option five: breakfast at home

This is what most of our guests end up doing by day three, and it is why we put real kitchens in our homes. A run to Super Food Plaza in Noord (5 minutes from all four homes) gets you:

• Bread from the in store bakery, Dutch style, baked in the morning.
• Gouda, young or old, by the wedge at the cheese counter. Dutch guests, there is hagelslag on the shelf.
• Eggs, local papaya and mango in season, yoghurt.
• Coffee. Our homes have a machine; bring your own beans or buy a bag of the Dutch supermarket brand, which is better than it sounds.

A week of breakfasts for two from the supermarket costs roughly what two resort breakfasts cost. Eat on the terrace at 7, be on the sand at 7:45.

What to order when you want the local plate

Weekends, Aruban families eat a bigger breakfast: eggs with funchi (cornmeal), fried fish, or a bowl of stoba (stew) left from Saturday. You will find this at the cunucu restaurants in Noord that open for Sunday brunch and at the food stalls at the Bon Bini Festival on Tuesday evenings, which technically is dinner but has the same plates. The Old Cunucu House, five minutes from the strip, is the easiest place to try it.

Timing, by beach

• Eagle Beach: pastechi in the car at 7, on the sand by 7:30, pancakes at Alhambra at 11 when the sun gets high.
• Palm Beach: eggs on the strip at 8, walk the beach north, swim, done by 11.
• Snorkel morning: breakfast at home at 7, Tres Trapi by 8, Arashi Beach Shack for a second breakfast at 10:30.

Stay nearby

Our Hideout Dream Big Suite and Hideout Happiness Suite near Eagle Beach are a five minute drive from the Dutch Pancakehouse and Café Baristas. Ocean View 2BR on the Palm Beach strip has the beach front cafes on foot and the Pastechi House a short drive inland. Oasis Hideaway in Gold Coast has a full kitchen and a terrace for the supermarket breakfast, with Arashi ten minutes away. All four at /stays/.

Questions people ask

Where is the best breakfast on Palm Beach?

For a sit down breakfast with your feet near the sand, the beach front cafes on the strip. For value, the Dutch Pancakehouse at Alhambra near Eagle Beach. For a local breakfast, a pastechi from any snack window in Noord.

What do Arubans eat for breakfast?

Pastechi, a fried pastry filled with cheese or meat, with coffee. Also pan bati with cheese, and on weekends a bigger plate of eggs, fish or stoba.

Is breakfast expensive in Aruba?

On the resort strip, yes. Expect $15 to $25 per person for eggs and coffee plus service. A pastechi breakfast is under $5. Making it at home from Super Food Plaza costs a few dollars a day.

What time do breakfast places open in Aruba?

Most cafes on the strip open between 7 and 8 am. Pastechi windows open earlier, around 6 am, and sell out of the popular fillings by mid morning.