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Vakantie Curacao
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Tamarijn Beach Resort, August 10 - 15, 2002
By Peter
We stayed at Tamarijn Resort from August 10 through 15, 2002. Overall, we had a great vacation.
Tamarijn resort exceeded our expectations - we expected less from the two star resort.
This is not a luxury hotel, but it was absolutely adequate for us, and definitely worth
the money we paid. We stayed in 1900 block, and we liked it a lot.
View from our window
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Smelter ruins (Bushiribana Ruins)
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Pros: We liked to live in small buildings right on the beach rather than in the big hotel.
The rooms were clean and comfortable. The staff was very friendly. Every evening there were
some entertainments, and they were good. The food was good, although pretty much the same
every day. The restaurants were very good. Since we had Mega pack, we could use Divi
restaurants and buffet as well, which were even better than in Tamarijn. The beach was
great, just a few meters from our door. Tap water wais absolutely safe to drink, like
everywhere in Aruba. There were not many people, so sometimes we were almost alone on the
beach.
Cons: Just couple of things. Although the food was good, it was nothing comparing to,
for instance, Puerto Vallarta. We've never had such an excellent fresh food and
fresh-squeezed juices like in Mexico. Aruba is mostly a desert. Nothing really grows
there (some coconut palms, mango trees - that's all). Even in the hotel most flowers
were artificial. All fruits and vegetables are imported from South America or
Netherlands, and not that fresh. Another minor problem - there were many rocks on the
bottom in Tamarijn beach, which made sometimes quite difficult to enter into the water.
However, if you walk just five minutes to the beach in Divi, you can find an excellent
beach and sandy sea bottom.
Desert in Aruba
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Off-road driving
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Weather:
The weather was great - hot, but not
humid. Constant wind makes it easier to
stand. There was only one short rain at night. Sun was very strong - take lots of
sunscreen.
Snorkeling: Snorkeling was great,
especially in the Northern part of the island and
in the Natural Pool. It's a good
idea to have a car to go to these places.
Tours: Cannot provide any information, because we didn't
take any. We rented a car and explored
Aruba ourselves.
Snorkeling in the Natural Pool
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Arikok National Park
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Driving: It is not necessary to rent a car to have a great
vacation in Aruba.
However, if you want to have a freedom, explore the island on your own, and save a
lot of money on tours, we would highly recommend to do it. We reserved a car in
advance for $180 for 3 days, and picked up our Chevrolet Tracker at the Dollar
car rental at the airport. The car was pretty much a wreck, even speedometer
didn't work. However, it handled Arubian roads pretty well, so we didn't complain.
When we came to the hotel, we realized that we made a mistake by making reservation
in advance. There was a Hertz car rental at Tamarijn, which had plenty of cars in
much better shape and cheaper. We could rent a Suzuki Jimney for $55 a day.
After 3 days we returned our car to the Dollar car rental near the hotel and rented
another car in Tamarijn. Since we've been done with off-road driving, we rented
small Daihatsu Cuore for $35 a day (no taxes or surcharges in Aruba), which we
returned later at the airport.
The driving in Aruba is different, but not difficult. The drivers are generally
very polite. The only problem was to find the place you want to go, especially
in the countryside. The road signs show only major towns. We used everything -
maps, compass, and asked local people. Even if they didn't speak English, they
usually could point us to the right direction. The places we would recommend to
visit (besides Oranjestad) are:
Natural Bridge,
Natural Pool and
Arikok National Park.
You must have a 4WD to go to Natural Pool and to drive some back roads in
Arikok. The driving is mostly on the rocks through the desert. The desert is
beautiful, the landscape looks surrealistic. You can also have a great swimming
and snorkeling in the Natural Pool.
Shopping Mall in Oranjestad
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Oranjestad
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Shopping: We haven't spent much time
shopping, but generally we were not impressed.
There is a big mall in the downtown Oranjestad which has many familiar stores like
Guess, Tommy etc. The prices are the same or even higher than in the US. As always,
there is a lot of tourist junk. The regular department stores are much cheaper,
but there is not much to buy there. My wife bought a lot of European cosmetics,
which is usually not available (or very expensive) in the US. The US dollar is
accepted everywhere.
Crime: Never had any problems, and never heard about
any incidents. Aruba doesn't seem to be a very poor country - no slums like in some
parts of Mexico or some other
Caribbean islands.
Communications: There are four languages in Aruba:
Dutch, Papiamento (language
of local people of Netherlands Antilles -
Aruba,
Curacao
and
Bonaire), Spanish
(due to proximity of Venezuela) and English. In the tourists areas most people
speak English, in the other areas they may not.
Again, we had a great and pretty quiet vacation. If you want to party, you
probably could do it as well - there are many
casinos,
big hotels,
restaurants
and other places in Aruba. I think everyone can find something for himself.
We hope to be back some day.
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