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First trip to Aruba. Should we rent a car?

amanven

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Exchanged into the Divi Phoenix for mid November. Our daughter and her travelling companion will be up the beach at the Surf Club the same week. I have heard driving in Aruba is relatively easy and a better option than waiting for taxi's and buses. Budget rent a car has a reasonable weekly rate for a car. Can the members here tell me about their experiences renting a car or just relying on taxi's and buses. I like the idea of the freedom you have with a rental car to explore, shop and dine out but don't want to get into something that is more trouble than it is worth. Also wondering about resort parking if you do get a rental vehicle.
 

mark201235

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We rent a car every time we visit Aruba and normally use Tropic Car Rental. We used Wheels 2 Go this past April because Tropic was sold out and it was a last minute reservation for us. Both companies are great. We also usually stay at the Divi Phoenix and there are no issues with parking. It’s as easy as it gets. Plenty of great restaurants on the island to justify that car rental. Enjoy your trip !

Mark
 

stmartinfan

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We haven't been to Aruba recently, but our experience was that it was worth it to rent a car. The roads were good and driving was pretty easy. We enjoyed seeing some of the scenery away from the resort area and trying other restaurants.
 

Maple Leaf

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We rented a car when we were there for only 3 days on a 7 day stay. We stayed in Palm Beach area and did a lot of restaurants in Palm Beach. We took a taxi to and from the airport. 3 days was fine with us to do the sight seeing and Oranjestad.
 

jojo777

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Amigo is at the airport and very resonable as well. We have rented from them many times as well as the others at the airport. I like to support the local companies and they are less expensive usually. None of the cars are spectacular. Last time we did Hertz or Avis and the car needed to be jumped. definately better to have a car. I even drive there. Its easy driving.
 

jwalk03

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Just returned from my first trip to Aruba on Sunday. We rented a car from Dollar. The rental offices are right outside baggage claim and the cars are parked in a lot right behind the small buildings. All the major rental companies are there (Hertz, Budget, Dollar, Avis, Thrifty, Alamo.) It was a very easy process- no excessive pressure for add on insurance or pre-paid fuel or tolls or any of that.

Driving in Aruba is also very easy as long as you are comfortable with roundabouts. Lots and lots of roundabouts, but well marked and easy. The speedometers and speed limits are all in kilometers.

I would definitely rent a car there again. We drove it too and from dinner several times and also drove over to Baby Beach and back one day which was fabulous!!
 

hajjah

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We have been going to Aruba since 2005 and always rent a car. We stay at the Surf Club and try to request the Lighthouse building so we can park underneath in the garage. The spaces are very limited, so if we can't park there, we park in the regular parking lot that is in front of the Spyglass building or in that garage. It's pretty easy to navigate the island, even venturing out to the Natural Bridge, Baby Beach, California Lighthouse and a few other good spots. We're going back next week and are currently renting with Alamo. We did use Hertz once.
 

amanven

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We just returned from Aruba and thanks to the advice we received on this forum regarding whether to rent a car, we went ahead and rented a car from Alamo at the airport and were very happy with the whole pickup and return process. Having the car gave us so much more freedom to get around and like everyone said, driving in Aruba is easy and there was plenty of parking at our resort. It's the only Caribbean location I would ever rent a car in. Thanks to all who replied with advice to my original question!!
 
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