Aruba non-beach questions

[jbrinkm]

Looking for feedback on a number of places in Aruba to try to narrow down our sightseeing. We're doing diving & beach (different members of our party) in the morning and then we have a rental car for the rest of the day for non-beach/non-water places on the island. We do love interacting with animals - but I just don't think we want to do the animal garden + the ostrich farm + the donkey sanctuary + the butterfly garden. I'd love feedback on any of the possible stops to help us narrow down what to do.

 

-If you went, did you feel that the time and admission cost was worth it? 

-Which would you rank over others, if you have been to more than one of these? i.e. Philip's is better than Ostrich farm

-How many of these do you think we could fit into one afternoon?

(we are not going south to Baby Beach or Arikok for a variety of reasons - we've already narrowed our options down to this list, thank you!)

Butterfly Farm ($19/$16)
California Lighthouse ($5)
Alto Vista (free)
Philip’s Animal Garden ($10)
Ostrich farm ($15)
Natural bridge (free)
Donkey Sanctuary (donation)
Aloe factory (free)

 

 

[Got2Cruise]

I would definitely do the Alto Vista Chapel if you’re Christian. It’s just a lovely place. 
 

The Natural Bridge is also something only in Aruba and everyone should see the rough side of the island. 
 

The lighthouse has beautiful views. 
 

I’ve never done the others. But I do love Aruba Aloe products. The sunburn gel is great especially but I just purchase at one of the Aruba Aloe stores. 

[Hatteras51]

I've been vacationing in Aruba for years but I've never gone to any of the animal attractions.  We have been to the Butterfly Farm and really enjoyed it.  

[mitsugirly]

We love the animal places and our favorite is Philips Animal Garden and we go each time we stay in Aruba. 

 

The Butterfly Farm doesn't take long. The guides give a little educational talk and then you look around.

 

The Ostrich Farm is interesting...especially when you feed them. Donkey Sanctuary as well. But we always spend more time at Philips because there's more to see and it's bigger. 

 

I have reviews with tons of pictures of all of them. You can find them HERE. Maybe that will help. 

[jbrinkm]

3 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

I have reviews with tons of pictures of all of them. You can find them HERE. Maybe that will help. 

 

This is awesome, thank you so much! We might end up being able to do a bunch of the places, depending on when we get back from our dive. I booked specialty dining for that one night, instead of trying to rush back for our early dining in the MDR, so we'd have a few extra hours that evening.

[mitsugirly]

Where are you doing your dive at? We LOVED Mangel Halto for diving. It was amazing!

 

If you have a rental, I suggest (if you don't have service or don't want to pay for service) download the MapsMe app. I use this everywhere we go and it don't require internet service. We pre mark every place we'd like to visit on the map and all you have to do is click where you want to go and it will give you directions. 

[jbrinkm]

We're using Happy Divers - recommended on here by Harris in the scuba section. We just finished our PADI cert in October so it will be our first "real" dive. I don't know where we'll go - we're just trusting Jeffrey (Happy Divers) to guide us. 

 

Thanks for the recommendation of MapsMe!

[mitsugirly]

On 3/12/2024 at 11:14 PM, jbrinkm said:

We're using Happy Divers - recommended on here by Harris in the scuba section. We just finished our PADI cert in October so it will be our first "real" dive. I don't know where we'll go - we're just trusting Jeffrey (Happy Divers) to guide us. 

 

Thanks for the recommendation of MapsMe!

 

We used Happy Divers before and they were great! They took us to Mangel Halto and it was a great reef. I think they are located in that area so you might go there. HERE is our dive with them if you are interested (we are not certified, but have done 21 Discover Scuba Dives). We love that area and went to a shipwreck. Happy Divers also took pictures of us while diving (we always take our own pictures as well of course)