What should I avoid in Palm Beach?

Start with the activity booths. The lobby desks inside Palm Beach's high-rise hotels and the kiosks along J.E. Irausquin Boulevard sometimes sell a free or half-price sunset catamaran, and the catch is a 90-minute timeshare presentation the next morning. If the price is far below what De Palm Tours or Pelican Adventures charge for the same sail, ask whether a presentation comes attached. It usually does. The second trap is the 6am towel war: guests at the Hyatt Regency, Holiday Inn and the two Riu resorts drape towels over shaded palapas before sunrise, so by 9am the sand on Palm Beach is hot enough to sting through thin sandals and the empty chairs stay claimed. Eagle Beach is about 10 minutes south by car: its sand is wider and quieter, many of its palapas are public, and you'll hear far fewer jet-ski engines there than off the Palm Beach piers.

Eating every meal on the strip is the costliest habit first-timers pick up. The beachfront restaurants between the Ritz-Carlton and the Hyatt tend to price a grilled catch-of-the-day plate near $40, many add a 15% service charge, and plenty of visitors tip on top of it without noticing, so read the bottom of the bill. For fish that tastes of the island, drive about 35 minutes south to Zeerovers in Savaneta, a working fishermen's dock where you order fried wahoo or red snapper by weight at the counter, with pan bati on the side and a cold Balashi. The place smells of hot oil and salt spray and gets loud on Sunday afternoons; two people usually eat for around $30, and the counter has long preferred cash. Dollars work everywhere, but change often comes back in florins: the official rate stood at 1.79 florins to the dollar on 8 October 2026, so a vendor who counts your dollar as 1.75 is shaving a little off. Skip the bottled water as well, because Aruba's tap water comes from the WEB desalination plant and is safe to drink.

Don't take a rental sedan to the Natural Pool. Arikok National Park has been protected since 2000 and charges adults around $15 to enter, and the last stretch to Conchi is rutted volcanic rock that most Aruba rental contracts exclude from their insurance coverage. A cracked oil pan out there can mean a four-figure bill plus a tow. Book a guided 4x4 or UTV tour, or rent a proper Jeep and read the contract first. On the north coast, between Boca Prins and the Natural Bridge site, don't swim: that windward shore faces the trade winds head-on, surf pounds the limestone, and the currents pull hard. Palm Beach's calm water is on the western shore. Thieves also target cars parked at the remote north-coast lots, so keep nothing visible on the seats.

Flamingo Beach on Renaissance Island is the photo many first-timers build a day around, and most of them can't get there. The island belongs to the Renaissance Wind Creek resort in Oranjestad: access is mainly for hotel guests, plus a small number of day passes that usually cost well over $100 and sell out early. If you aren't staying there, cross it off. Take the sun seriously even on grey mornings. At 7am on 9 October 2026, Palm Beach was overcast at 28.6°C and felt like 31°C, and cloud that thin does little to cut UV at Aruba's latitude of about 12.5°N. The breeze keeps your skin feeling cool while it burns. Reapply reef-safe sunscreen every two hours, because Aruba has banned sunscreens containing oxybenzone. Aruba scores 8.5/10 for solo-traveler safety (see the TTDI Solo-Safety Index). On Palm Beach the realistic hazards are sunburn, jet skis running close to swimmers, and the bar tab.