Overview of Our Return Trip to Aruba: Flights, Hotels, and Tips

We enjoyed our trip to Aruba so much last year, that we returned this year as well (and have already started making reservations for 2025).

FLIGHTS

Don’t you love it when the pilot greets the passengers before the flight?

JetBlue has many nonstop flights to Aruba from New York, New Jersey and Boston, which makes the trip so easy and reasonable. Of course, it makes Aruba feel a little like you never left home, which is good or bad depending on your preferences.

HOTELS

We stayed at three different hotels in Aruba, all on points!

Radisson Blu Aruba

The first two nights we stayed at the Radisson Blu Aruba. I haven’t stayed at a Radisson hotel in the Americas since they joined the Choice Hotels program, but I was pleasantly surprised by the hotel suite and grounds (45,000 points per night).

We stayed four nights at the Hyatt Regency Aruba, clearly one of my favorite Hyatt hotels for so many reasons! We made the reservation long in advance and were able to add a suite upgrade award – but boy was I surprised when I saw that we’d been upgraded to their most beautiful suite – the Governor’s Suite! (25,000 points per night).

Please enjoy this video!

Last but not least, on the final night, we stayed at the Hyatt Place Aruba Airport. I booked the hotel when it was a category 2 World of Hyatt hotel (it is currently a category 3) (6,500 points).

ACTIVITIES

I don’t usually book excursions on trips, especially on resort-type trips. We tend to explore areas by foot by going for long walks. We mainly walked along the beach, but one day we even walked to a large supermarket in Eagle Beach.

Another day, we explored the island via public bus, Arubus. The trip required two buses – each with a $2.60 fare – with a change at Aruba’s main town, Oranjestad. It wasn’t complicated, and it was nice to relax in the air-conditioned bus and see the sights of the island. I was particularly interested in seeing the town and street art in San Nicholas.

RESTAURANTS

I know others rave about the Aruba restaurants, but I often find them overpriced and not memorable. The food at the Regency Club, on the other hand, was wonderful.

We did go to one restaurant that was worth raving about – AZAR OPEN FIRE RESTAURANT. It is an attractive restaurant with delicious food. We shared salad, grilled octopus and a Peruvian chicken. It’s rated #2 in the area by Tripadvisor for a reason!

CONCLUSION

Stay tuned, I’ll be publishing a post about each of these hotel stays!