Seven days in Aruba is the ideal length — enough time to experience all the main beaches, explore the island’s interior, have a mix of activities and relaxation, and eat your way through the restaurant scene without feeling rushed. This itinerary is tested and realistic.
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Day 1 — Land, get your bearings, keep it easy
Most flights from the US land early afternoon. Clear customs, pick up the car if you are hiring one, and resist the urge to plan anything big. Aruba is small, so nothing is far away — you have all week.
Check in, swim at your own hotel beach, and eat somewhere close. If you land on Palm Beach you can walk to dinner. If you are on the low-rise side, everything is a five-minute drive. A rental car pays for itself from about day two onward, but on day one a taxi is fine — see whether you actually need a car in Aruba.
Day 2 — Eagle Beach and the low-rise side
Start with the beach Aruba is famous for. Eagle Beach is wide, white and far less built up than Palm Beach, with the two bent divi divi trees that end up in everyone’s photos.
Go early. Shade is the one thing Eagle Beach is short of, and the free palapas are claimed before breakfast, so either bring an umbrella or reserve a set with two chairs for the day. Spend the afternoon slowly, then drive ten minutes for dinner. Full detail on the beach itself: Eagle Beach guide.
Day 3 — Out on the water
This is the day most people remember. A catamaran sail west along the coast takes in the Antilla wreck and the calm snorkel stops at Malmok and Boca Catalina, usually with lunch and drinks aboard.
Two ways to do it. Join a scheduled sail — cheaper per head, sociable, fixed route — or take a whole boat for a group. Booking direct with the operator, the Isabella private catamaran is $825 for the boat for three hours, whether there are two of you or twelve, with $275 online and the balance on the day. Compare both on the Aruba tours page.
Book this one ahead. Peak-season departures fill three to five days out.
Day 4 — Arikok, the wild side and the Natural Pool
The east coast is nothing like the resort strip: cactus, rough surf, gold-mine ruins and cliffs. Arikok National Park covers nearly a fifth of the island and the tracks inside it need real clearance.
Do not take a small rental car in. Either hire a proper 4×4 or go with a guide — a private full-day jeep tour is $700 for the jeep, not per person, which works out well for four people and includes the Natural Pool, which you cannot reach any other way.
Bring more water than you think, and closed shoes.
Day 5 — Palm Beach, watersports and the sunset
Palm Beach is the busy one, and on this day that is the point. Calm water, every watersport on the sand, bars that serve you where you sit.
Morning is for the water — parasailing runs about $70 per person from the pier between the high-rise hotels. Afternoon is for doing nothing. Then take a sunset sail, or just find a west-facing table, because every beach on this coast faces the sunset.
More on the strip itself: Palm Beach guide.
Day 6 — The south end: Baby Beach and San Nicolas
Drive south. It takes about forty minutes from the hotel strip and almost nobody bothers, which is exactly why it is worth the morning.
Baby Beach is a shallow, protected lagoon — waist deep a long way out, and the easiest swimming on the island with small children. On the way back, San Nicolas has become the island’s street-art town, with murals across whole buildings. Details: Baby Beach guide.
Eat somewhere local rather than at the resort tonight. The restaurant list is sorted by area.
Day 7 — Slow morning, last swim, fly out
Do not book anything. Most flights out are afternoon, so you get a final morning: breakfast, one more swim, and time to pack without rushing.
If you want a proper last day, this is the slot for a treatment at your hotel rather than a tour — a massage comes to your room and takes an hour. Leave for the airport two and a half hours before the flight; US-bound passengers clear US immigration in Aruba, and that queue is the one that catches people out.
How to adapt this week
Travelling with young kids? Swap day 4 for a second Baby Beach day, and move the catamaran earlier in the week while patience is high.
Rain? It rarely lasts. Aruba sits outside the hurricane belt and showers usually pass within the hour, so reorder rather than cancel.
Only got three days? Keep days 2, 3 and 5 and drop the rest.
Here on a cruise? You have one port day, not seven — do the water day and nothing else.
What a week like this costs
The big three are accommodation, the car and the tours. Hotels swing hardest by season, so start with where to stay in Aruba by area and budget, then decide whether an all-inclusive actually saves you money for the way you eat.
For everything else — flights, food, taxis, activities — there is a full breakdown in the Aruba vacation cost guide.
Book direct · no booking fee
Take the whole catamaran — 3 hours, $825 for the boat
One flat price whether there are two of you or twelve. Nobody else aboard, your route, your music, and you decide when to stop swimming. Captain Tico has sailed these waters for over 20 years.
Cooler with ice and drinks, sanitised snorkel gear, Bluetooth speaker and safety gear included. Bring your own food and drink — encouraged, not charged for.
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Worth weighing against which Aruba all-inclusives are actually worth it.
Over a week you will want the freedom to go where you like, so rent a car for the trip — our minimum rental is three days and the weekly rate works out well.
With a spare day, see full-day excursions in Aruba.
Before the good slots go
Peak-season departures fill 3–5 days ahead.
Top ratedAruba Sail and Snorkel with Turtles at WW2 Shipwreck Includes BBQ
$119 / person
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Traveller favouriteIsland Jeep Safari with Natural Pool Baby Beach and Lunch
$139 / person
Check dates & bookLive prices from Viator · free cancellation up to 24 hours before · we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Got longer? The 10-day Aruba itinerary adds two proper rest days and the southern end of the island, which a week cannot really fit.
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Car rental · from $50 a day
Rent a car in Aruba
Automatic and air conditioned, picked up at the airport or our Oranjestad office. We hold the exact car for your dates, you pay 13% online and the rest at pickup. Minimum 3 days.
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