One week in Aruba- suggestions for restaurants or activities?

I would stop at a grocery store and add cheese, bread, butt and milk to your supplies.

Here are lists of the Top 10 fine dining, casual dining and budget restaurants on Aruba.

As for activities: rent a mountain bike (the sandy roads are level); sailboat charters (like snorkeling or romantic cruises); different? a visit to an ostrich farm.

We went to Aruba 2 years ago and stayed at the Hyatt. There are many restaurants around the hotel that we enjoyed. The Flying Fishbone was very good. Most memorable activities included a Land Rover off road trip. We saw parts of the island not accessible by other off road vehicles. It was a full day tour and well worth the time and money. We also took an ocean excursion – chasing an Aruba sunset by boat was fun. Can’t wait to go back, loved Aruba.

My strongest memory of a very enjoyable week in Aruba was the mother of all sunburns. I had forgotten just how close to the equator the island is. Latitude is c. 12˚30” north.

Wear gauze pants and tops and hats and sunblock and stay under an umbrella. The beaches are made of confectioner’s sugar and the water is an astonishing turquoise, but the sun will burn the part in your hair.

Notice the divi divi trees that all point in the same direction due to the trade winds.

There are wonderful birds too; the blue-tailed emerald hummingbird He is color- coordinated with the water, and they both glitter in the equatorial light.

Stay away from any person whose last name is Van Der Sloot

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/06/11/van-der-sloot-reveal-location-holloways-remains-transferred-aruban-prison/

I remember Baby beach being a quiet restful beach where you can walk out in chest deep water a long way. There are a lot of beaches for water sports, but this beach was peaceful and tranquil.

Receiving the world’s worst sunburn would not even come close to the pain I suffered, after just 20 minutes in the sun on a chaise lounge, drinking rum and coke.

My wife warned me, but the alcohol had clouded my thinking. I was burned like a french fried potatoe. I suffered for three days, even soaking in a tub of cold water. Heed my warning: USE A SUNBLOCK !!!

Aruba does not grow anything. All food and extras are imported and costly.

Aruba has the second largest water filtration plant in the world. It transposes sea water into clean drinking water. Go for a visit and be amazed.

Aruba has casinos. The slot machines are very tight and give very little jackpots.

Real estate brokers will hound you to death to buy a condo there. We went to one presentation and received a free dinner, just for listening to their spill. It was worth it for a free steak dinner.

Do not rent a car in Aruba. Its very expensive and a gallon of gasoline is twice that of gas in the U.S. Ride the bus. One comes about every 10 to 15 minutes and its free.

Keep your personal belongings close to you in Aruba. The crime rate is not the best in the world.

All in all, your visit to Aruba should be one to remember. Just keep an eye on your valuables.

Aruba is a great place to go, I’ve been there quite a few times and am also going in a few weeks! Anyways, some things I though were really fun are renting quads and riding out to see the natural bridge (now collapsed, but still a great sight!), and you can also venture out to the natural pool (kinda hard to get there but it is AMAZING and you can swim in it, but it’s quite a hike down to it once you get there). Also, if you have kids/teens riding around on the quads in the open desert is pretty fun. If you do decide on quads make sure you have them for the day because a few hours is definitely not enough time for picture stops/taking in the scenery.

Another fun thing is going on one of those pirate ship tours, we got to snorkel by a sunken ship and my brother saw these HUGE barracudas, scary but still cool they play music and stop to swim around, they even have a rope swing on the ship!

If you’re free for a night go see one of the shows at the Crystal Theater (I think that’s where it is…not sure though, but it’s near a casino and in a mall?) It’s a fun show and the costumes are cool.

De Palm Island is also a nice place to visit while there. It should be a one day trip and you take a ferry or some boat to get there. I do believe they recently build a water park there and the snorkeling is great. The beach is nice and they have areas for food/alcoholic beverages as well.

One last note: take everyone’s advice on the sunscreen! Don’t skimp on applying and don’t forget to apply it to areas like your ears and neck, and reapply often. The sun down there is brutal if you’re walking around outside for a while. Oh, and it can be pretty windy at times.

Thanks to all the advice! We did dine at The Flying Fishbone (awesome food and service) and we did hike to the Natural Pool (parked just above Rancho Daimari). Other restaurants we loved were Screaming Eagle, Bingo cafe and The Old Cunucu House.
Heard the Pirate cruise was fun, but we went with another snorkel charter. I was a little disappointed in the snorkeling, not as many colorful fish and varieties as Hawaii.
We also kayaked to De Palm Island (we won 2for 1 tickets) they do have water slides.
The groceries were not so expensive (then again we usually vacation in Hawaii). Same for price of gas, and since the island is so small we didn’t use much gas.

It was a great week, a good introduction of the Caribbean, but since we’re from the West Coast, the flights were long. Personally, for tropical vacations my preferences would be Hawaii (Big Island), Maui, Kauai then Puerto Vallarta over Aruba.