In Aruba, car rental is a good and safe choice
by Lise - an avide cruiser
If you're cruising to Aruba, rent a car or a jeep like we did. If you want to see and do things in Aruba at your own pace, it's very easy to find your way around.
Aruba car rental companies are located right at the pier. Here are the links to the better ones:
Royal - Avis - Super - American
I found bad reviews for these : Hertz, Top Drive, Thrifty and sometimes American
If your ship is in port for the day, don't worry you'll have plenty of time to visit most of the island and even have time for a beach rest in about 5-6 hours.
My husband and daughter
We drove off to the left of the port and made it to the California lighthouse, you can see it on the map here.
We then tracked back and decided to go snorkeling right away. It was morning and less people would be on the beach. The one closest to the lighthouse was Arashi Beach and it looked very nice, so we spent about 90 minutes there snorkeling and it was great!
Our ship was in port for the whole day, so we had plenty of time to discover the island. Our car rental was for the day, so why not take advantage of it. We decided to go back to the ship for lunch, because in the afternoon, we were going to the other side of the island in search of the natural bridge.
What you should know if you decide to rent a car in Aruba
- Get a map from the car rental company or get one in the cruise terminal
- Right-hand side of the road driving
- Minimum age to rent a car is 21-25 and the maximum of 65-70 depending on the company
- Child seats are not required by law but most companies have them available
- International road signs are used in Aruba
- Foreign and international driver's licenses issued by a member country of the Geneva Convention, are valid
- Car speedometers and road signs are in kilometers
- The speed limit is 40km/h in urban areas and 60 out of town, unless specifically indicated otherwise
- In Oranjestad, most of the traffic is one-way and when you get to an intersection where there are no road signs, a car coming from your right has the right of way
Driving is so easy here that you can hardly get lost. Get a map with your Aruba car rental and you'll see that road numbers are indicated on it. The only place we were confused is on the East side of the island. The map was showing the natural pool and bridge but we could not see any roads to them. And that's because there are none! All of a sudden, it's just dirt and tracks. So we followed the tracks. But we never got lost.
Happy driving!
