Aruba Honeymoon: Where to Stay and What to Book

An Aruba honeymoon is the easy choice, and we mean that as a compliment. The sun is reliable, the sea is calm, nobody needs a visa, and the island is small enough that you will never spend a honeymoon morning in a car. Ghislaine has hosted dozens of couples in Noord and near Eagle Beach, and this is what she tells each of them: where to sleep, the two dinners to book, the one sail worth paying for, and a five night plan that leaves room to do nothing.

Where to stay for an Aruba honeymoon

Three areas, three different honeymoons.

Eagle Beach, the low rise area. Wide white sand, fofoti trees, no high rises, sunset straight out to sea. Our Hideout Dream Big Suite and Hideout Happiness Suite are here, a short walk from the beach, and both are adults only. No kids in the pool at 7 am, no family of six next door. This is the area for a quiet honeymoon with the beach as the main event. Full detail in the Eagle Beach guide.

Gold Coast, by Arashi and the lighthouse. Oasis Hideaway is a house in a gated community with its own pool. You get privacy, a terrace for breakfast, and the island’s best snorkel beaches five minutes away. You need a car, and you drive to dinner. For couples who want a pool to themselves more than a beach bar, this is it.

Palm Beach strip. Ocean View 2BR is on it: walk to the sand, the piers, forty restaurants and the casinos. Livelier, more social, no car. Pick it if your idea of a honeymoon evening is a cocktail bar and a late dinner rather than a bottle of wine on a balcony.

What we steer couples away from: the big all inclusive resorts on Palm Beach for a honeymoon. You pay a premium for a buffet and a crowded pool, and you never leave to see the island. The honeymoon version of Aruba is in the small places.

What should you book before you fly?

Four things, in this order of urgency in high season (December to April):

1. The home. Adults only suites sell out months ahead for February.
2. Passions on the Beach, Eagle Beach. Tables set in the sand in front of Amsterdam Manor, torches at dusk, a real kitchen behind it. Ask for a front row table at sunset, which means about 6:30 pm most of the year. Book one to two weeks ahead in winter.
3. Flying Fishbone, Savaneta. Tables standing in the shallow water of a fishing village on the south coast, 25 minutes from Eagle Beach. The drive back in the dark along the coast road is part of it. Book weeks ahead.
4. A sunset sail. Catamarans leave from the Palm Beach piers around 5 pm, two hours, open bar, snacks, back at dark. Expect roughly $75 to $95 per person depending on the boat; check current prices. Smaller boats cost more and feel more private.

Everything else can wait until you land.

A five night Aruba honeymoon plan

Day 1, arrival. Taxi or rental from the airport, about 20 minutes to Eagle Beach. Supermarket stop at Super Food Plaza in Noord for breakfast things and a bottle of something. Sunset on Eagle Beach, a towel, nothing else. Dinner at Tulip or Screaming Eagle on the boulevard, both walkable and both fine without a reservation on a weekday.

Day 2, Eagle Beach day. Walk the beach at 7 am before the chairs come out and photograph the fofoti trees with nobody in the frame. Swim, read, repeat. Lunch at the Dutch Pancakehouse by Alhambra. Afternoon nap, which is allowed on a honeymoon. Sunset dinner at Passions on the Beach.

Day 3, the snorkel coast and the lighthouse. Drive or taxi north to Boca Catalina and Arashi for a morning in the water; turtles graze the seagrass at Tres Trapi most mornings and they do not mind swimmers who keep their distance. Lunch at a beach bar on the strip. Late afternoon, drive to the California Lighthouse, climb it if it is open, then watch the sun go into the sea from the terrace at Faro Blanco with a glass of wine. Our Arashi guide covers the entries and parking.

Day 4, the south and Savaneta. Morning at Baby Beach, the calm lagoon at the far end of the island, or Mangel Halto if you want to snorkel from shore. Lunch at Zeerover in Savaneta: fried fish and shrimp by the kilo on a pier, cash, plastic chairs, perfect. Back for a swim and a shower, then return south for dinner at Flying Fishbone with your feet in the water. The south coast guide has the details.

Day 5, sunset sail. Lazy morning. Massage on the beach if you like; most low rise hotels sell them to outside guests. Afternoon on the water on the catamaran, the sun going down behind the boat. Last dinner on the Palm Beach strip, which is a 10 minute taxi from Eagle Beach and has every cuisine on earth.

Day 6, leave. For US flights, you clear US customs in Aruba, so arrive at the airport three hours before departure and no earlier; the airport will not let you into the US terminal before that.

With seven nights, add a full nothing day and a half day in Arikok National Park for the Natural Pool. Our couples itinerary has a three day version of this if your stay is shorter.

What does an Aruba honeymoon cost?

Rough numbers for five nights in shoulder season, for two: the home $1,200 to $2,000, flights from the US east coast $400 to $700 per person, a rental car for three days about $180, the two beach dinners $120 to $200 each with wine, the sail $160 to $190, groceries and lunches $300. Add 30 to 50 percent to the home and the car for December to March. A resort week with a sea view runs well past that before you have eaten.

Small things that matter on a honeymoon

• Tell us it is a honeymoon. Hosts on Aruba, including us, tend to leave a bottle out.
• Reef safe sunscreen is the law, and sunburn on day one is the most common honeymoon injury we see.
• The Dutch Pancakehouse and most beach bars take cards; Zeerover and the food trucks want cash.
• Sunset is between about 6:15 and 7 pm all year. Plan dinners around it, not after it.

Stay nearby

Hideout Dream Big Suite and Hideout Happiness Suite near Eagle Beach are adults only and built for exactly this trip. Oasis Hideaway in Gold Coast is the private pool option. Ocean View 2BR on the Palm Beach strip is the lively one. See all four at /stays/.

Questions people ask

Is Aruba good for a honeymoon?

Yes, if you want guaranteed sun, calm sea, dinners with your feet in the sand and almost no planning risk. It is not the island for jungle, hills or a remote feel; it is the island where everything works.

Where should we stay in Aruba for a honeymoon?

Near Eagle Beach for quiet, wide sand and sunsets, or Gold Coast for a private pool. The Palm Beach strip is livelier and better if you want restaurants and bars on foot every night.

How many nights do you need for an Aruba honeymoon?

Five is the minimum that feels like a holiday. Seven lets you add a lazy day and the south of the island. Most couples who come for four wish they had stayed longer.

What is the most romantic restaurant in Aruba?

Two beach dinners stand out: Passions on the Beach at Eagle Beach, with tables in the sand at sunset, and Flying Fishbone in Savaneta, with tables in the water. Book both before you fly in high season.