Aruba Trip Recap
The Famous Flamingo Beach in Aruba
Olivia and I had the unreal experiences of spending 4 nights at Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino. This Resort is separated into two different hotels (side by side), where one is adults only and one is family friendly. However, no matter which side you stay on – everyone has access to both properties and the Renaissance Private Island, which is home of the famous Flamingo Beach in Aruba. And while the resort is not considered an all-inclusive hotel, they do offer all-inclusive packages (which I HIGHLY recommend)!
Hotel Layout:
As previously mentioned, the resort is made up of two separate hotels. We stayed on the adults only side (for obvious reasons). However, I feel that it is very important to note that there is no beach “attached” to this hotel. To enjoy the {insanely gorgeous and famous} flamingo beach in Aruba, you have to take a water taxi (provided for free by this hotel) to Renaissance Private Island. I will be explaining more about the island in the next section of this post.
The adults only side has a Casino, a luxury shopping mall, a rooftop pool, and 3 restaurants. The family friendly side has a small beach, swim-up bar, pool, and 2 restaurants. Guests at either hotel can visit and use any facilities at the other property and the water taxi picks up and drops off at both hotels.
My only complaint is that there is not much entertainment offered by the hotel at night… so the casino and the bar are really your only options. This was not a huge problem, as our main focus for this trip was relaxation anyway. However, it’s worth noting. We did try our luck in the Casino a few times, and we won around $20 each and then quit. LOL
Renaissance Private Island:
A water taxi (boat) is provided by the resort for access to and from Renaissance Private Island every 15 minutes between 7am and 7pm. The island is owned by the resort and no one else has access to it. So the ONLY way to experience flamingo beach in Aruba is to stay at Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino. The beach, water, nature, wildlife, and views are all completely and totally incredible. I have visited 7 Caribbean islands thus far in my life, and none have compared to this beach.
The island is separated into two sides: The Flamingo Beach side (adults only) and the Iguana Beach side (family friendly). The flamingos are really friendly and offer such a unique experience. However, I will admit that I liked the beach better on the Iguana side and that is where we spent most of our leisure time. And yes, there are real iguanas and lizards of all sizes roaming the island.
On the island there is a restaurant on the Iguana side (offering a bar, breakfast and lunch) and another smaller bar on the flamingo side. The island also have private beach cabana for daily rental, a tour company desk on site (offering snorkeling equipment, floats, boat tours, etc), and a gift shop.
Restaurants:
Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino has a total of 6 restaurants. Three are on the adults only side, two are on the family friendly side, and one is on the island. The only restaurant that requires reservations is LG Smith’s Steak and Chop House (which was our favorite place for dinner)!
We ate breakfast and lunch at the Island restaurant everyday because (1) the views and (2) the food was just too good! I highly recommend the pizza and wings 🙂 Another favorite was Fresco (Italian) on the family side.
As mentioned previously, the hotel in itself is NOT all inclusive. However, you can choose an all-inclusive package when you book your vacation. The all-inclusive packages includes 3 meals per day and unlimited drinks (alcoholic and non). There are only a few drink brands that are not in the all inclusive package, but nothing overly restrictive. Overall, I was extremely satisfied with the all-inclusive package.
Aruba in General:
Aruba is located just off of the coast of Venezuela. Therefore, it is extremely close to the equator – making sunscreen, shade, and the gorgeous water complete necessities. The flight from Atlanta to Aruba lasted around 4 hours.
The country (as a whole) seemed very clean, safe, and stable. One evening, we walked over to a shopping center. Most all of the natives in Aruba speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch. I was extremely impressed with their knowledge of so many cultures and diversity. Also, they drive on the right ride of the road (unlike most other Caribbean islands).
Overall Opinion:
Is it worth the trip just to see the famous Flamingo Beach in Aruba? Absolutely. But mostly because, there is so much more to fall in love with once you get there! The people are extremely friendly, the hotel is clean and safe, and the views are literally jaw-dropping. And the crazy part is, it was actually very affordable! I’m not 100% sure if it’s because of the time of year that we went (October) or if we just got the perfect deal on CheapCaribbean.com.
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What’s Next?
The rest of October should give me a bit of downtime. But don’t worry, I’m always planning my next move. I’m actually already planning for 2019, as I can’t fit anymore trips into 2018 if I still want to have a personal life and actually see my husband 🙂
November will take my mom and I to the island of St. Martin, who experienced awful devastation from Hurricane Irma last year. I will be working with a hotel there to celebrate their grand re-opening! Then later in the month, we get to celebrate a huge family trip to (once again) Nashville!
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you learned something about the famous Flamingo Beach in Aruba. Follow me on Instagram to keep up-to-date on adventures and things that I’m loving! I’d love to chat with you.
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Until Next time,
Xo
This post contains affiliate linking, where I might make a small commission on things purchased through my links. However, as always, all opinions are honestly and organically my own.
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