car rental in aruba

Every company listed here works Queen Beatrix International (AUA), either with a desk at the terminal or a meet and greet where an agent waits for you in arrivals with the car keys and drives you the short distance to the vehicle. You pick your pick-up point during booking, and the exact instructions land on your voucher.

Put your flight number in the booking. It is the single most useful thing you can do: a tracked flight that lands late is not treated as a no-show, and the agent will be waiting rather than gone. Without it, companies generally hold a car for about two hours past the booked time.

From the airport it is roughly ten minutes to Oranjestad and Eagle Beach, and fifteen to twenty to the Palm Beach hotel strip. If you land late at night, say so in the booking notes so the company can staff the pick-up.

You drive on the right, the main coastal roads are paved and in good condition, and the island is small enough that you are rarely more than half an hour from your hotel. Signs and speed limits are in kilometres per hour, typically around 40 to 60 in built-up areas and up to 80 on the open road. Roundabouts are common and traffic already in the circle has priority.

Two things surprise first-timers. Outside the hotel strip and Oranjestad, roads are unlit at night, and the interior has no street lighting at all. And in the countryside you will meet goats, and occasionally the island's wild donkeys, standing in the road as though they own it, which in fairness they do.

Rush hour around Oranjestad and the road past the airport is real but short. Give yourself an extra twenty minutes if you are returning a car during the late afternoon, and remember that the streets in central Oranjestad are one-way in places.

For almost every visitor, no. Palm Beach, Eagle Beach, Oranjestad, the California Lighthouse, Alto Vista chapel, Baby Beach and San Nicolas are all reached on paved road, and a small economy car does the whole holiday comfortably while using very little fuel.

The exception is the interior of Arikok National Park and the Natural Pool (Conchi), where the tracks are rough enough that a high-clearance 4x4 is genuinely required. Before you plan that, read your rental agreement: most companies on the island do not allow their standard cars off paved roads, and damage sustained on unpaved tracks is normally excluded from any coverage you bought. If the Natural Pool is the reason for the trip, a guided UTV or jeep tour is usually the cheaper and safer answer than betting a deposit on it.

What an SUV does buy you here is ground clearance on rough parking areas, luggage space, and a better view over traffic. It is comfort, not necessity.

Rates from Aruban companies are quoted for the car itself. Collision damage waiver is bought separately, either as an extra when you book or at the desk on arrival, and the company's own conditions apply. Ask what the excess is and what it excludes: off-road driving, tyres, glass and the underside of the car are the usual exclusions.

A refundable deposit is taken in the main driver's name at pick-up, between $600.00 and $670.00 with the companies here, depending on the class, payable by card or sometimes cash. The exact amount for each car is shown before you book. A card hold is released after the car comes back, on your bank's own timetable rather than the rental company's.

Some travel credit cards include rental car coverage. If you plan to rely on it, bring the policy documentation, and expect the desk to take its deposit either way.

Fuel is sold by the litre and priced in florin. Stations cluster around Oranjestad, Noord and San Nicolas, and not all of them are open late, so fill up before a long evening drive to the far end of the island rather than after.

Parking is free at essentially every hotel, beach and shopping centre outside the capital. Central Oranjestad has metered and paid parking areas, and it is the one place you will hunt for a space, particularly on cruise ship days.

US dollars are accepted island-wide and change often comes back in florin. Cards are taken almost everywhere, but keep some small cash for parking meters and roadside stands.

A valid national driving licence is accepted for visitors, and most companies do not require an International Driving Permit if your licence is in the Latin alphabet. Bring the physical licence, not a photo of it.

The minimum age is 25 with the rental companies on GetCar, and the same companies set an upper limit of 65. There are no young-driver surcharges here, because there are no young-driver rentals: a driver outside the range is refused at the desk, so enter your age in the search to see only cars you can collect. The exact range is shown on every listing and again before you pay.

Bring a card in the main driver's name for the deposit, your passport, and the voucher, on your phone or printed. The name on the licence has to match the name on the voucher: the company signs its rental agreement with that person, and a different driver at the desk means a rewrite at best.

Aruba runs a real high season from December through April, plus Carnival, and the island fleet is finite in a way that mainland destinations are not. Automatics, seven-seaters and SUVs are the first classes to disappear on peak weeks.

Book early for those dates and you are choosing from the whole island. Book late and you are choosing from what is left, usually at the top of the price range. Cancellation is free up to 48 hours before pick-up, so an early booking costs you nothing to hold.