3 Days in Aruba: The Perfect Itinerary
Three days is enough to see the best of Aruba — the beaches, the food, the sunsets, and a taste of the island's wild eastern side. Here is how to spend every hour.
Day 1: Palm Beach and the Resort Strip
Start your Aruba trip the obvious way: arrive at your Palm Beach hotel, change into swimwear, and spend the afternoon getting your bearings from a beach chair. Palm Beach's calm, turquoise water is immediately disarming — the ocean here is so flat and clear it looks like a swimming pool. Rent a paddleboard for the first hour, then order a cold Balashi at the nearest beach bar and watch the water-sports parade.
For dinner on your first night, book a table at Gasparito near Eagle Beach. The 20-minute taxi ride is worth it for the keshi yena and the cultural grounding it provides: eating Aruban food in a centuries-old cunucu house gives you more context than any museum.
Day 2: Eagle Beach, Snorkeling, and Sunset Sail
Start early at Eagle Beach before the day trippers arrive. Walk north from the Amsterdam Manor toward the iconic fofoti trees at the north end of the beach and take your time with the landscape — this is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and deserves more than a quick photo stop.
In the afternoon, join a guided snorkel tour from Palm Beach pier that includes the Antilla shipwreck. The wreck sits in about 60 feet of water but its upper structure is accessible to snorkelers in 15 to 20 feet — you will swim alongside parrotfish, sergeant majors, and occasional sea turtles without needing SCUBA certification.
End the day with the catamaran sunset sail. Leave from Palm Beach pier around 5:30 PM, rum punch in hand, and watch the sun drop below the horizon from the deck of a sailing catamaran. The trade winds make it comfortable even at that hour, and the sky — this is the Caribbean, after all — puts on a serious show.
Day 3: North Coast, Natural Pool, and Oranjestad
Spend your final day on Aruba's wild side. Join a morning UTV tour through Arikok National Park to the Natural Pool — a hidden volcanic rock formation on the windward coast that is only accessible off-road. The drive through the cactus-covered landscape is beautiful and the pool itself is a genuinely thrilling swim.
In the afternoon, drive or taxi into Oranjestad for a few hours of wandering. Walk Wilhelminastraat to see the Dutch colonial facades, stop into the Archaeological Museum, and browse the duty-free shops near the harbor. For a final meal, try Screaming Eagle for a theatrical send-off — arrive at 9 PM and stay as long as the night takes you.