🧭 Aruba: good to know
The general-information half of trip planning: how expensive Aruba feels, what is considered polite, what is not, and the everyday practicalities - alongside our 57 written places.
One happy island is the licence-plate motto and the service style - warm, multilingual and unhurried.
Cost level: High Costs run at western European levels - planning and a few local tricks keep it sane. Estimate a daily budget →
✓ Considered polite
- Open with Bon dia or Bon tardi - a little Papiamento delights people who already speak four languages
- Greet staff and shopkeepers before asking for anything
- Dress up slightly for dinner - resort casual, not beach casual
- Return smiles and small talk - brisk transactional manners read as cold
✗ Better avoided
- Wear swimwear in shops, restaurants or casinos - cover up off the beach
- Haggle in shops - prices are fixed
- Rush a meal - service is friendly but never fast
- Tip a full 15-20% on top of a service charge - the charge already covers the gratuity
💡 Worth knowing
- US dollars are accepted everywhere alongside the Aruban florin at a fixed rate
- Many restaurants add a 10-15% service charge - when it appears, a small extra 5% for your server is generous
- Tap water is desalinated seawater and excellent - skip the bottled stuff
- The island sits outside the hurricane belt, so the dry, breezy weather holds nearly year-round
Plugs and voltage
Type A, B, F · 127 V travel adapter →
CurrencyAruban florin (AWG)
LanguagesDutch, Papiamento
Driving sideright
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Keep planning
Customs are living things - regions differ, cities relax, generations shift. Take these notes as a friendly head start, watch what locals do, and when in doubt a smile and a greeting in the local language cover almost everything.