Aruba on Less Than $50 per Day!

Though not typically considered affordable, visiting Aruba on a budget is possible! So how much to budget for Aruba?

Following Bottom Dollar Backpackers’ guide on How to Budget for a Trip, I’ve created a budget one-week itinerary. This budgeting style and itinerary is similar to our own trip to Aruba (Five Days in Aruba), with optional extras included.

Through this guide, I’ll also show you my thought process on how to plan the best budget-friendly trips. Of course, a cheap trip to Aruba will be more of a relaxing “vacation,” with a less-packed schedule than an activity-heavy “trip.”

Aruba is a year-round destination, but there are a few things to consider!

Luckily, Aruba sits outside of the hurricane belt, making it fairly safe year-round. With that being said, it has been hit by hurricanes before, just much less frequently than other Caribbean islands.

June through November is regarded as hurricane season. Even though it’s very unlikely Aruba will be affected, keep an eye on storm forecasts for trips during this time.

October through December is when Aruba sees its “rainy season.” The island receives less than 4 inches (100 mm) of rain per month. Though it’s not a lot, this would generally include two rainy days per week and some overcast days. Not bad, but not ideal for a beach or scuba vacation!

September through October is fairly hot in Aruba, with average temperatures of 85 degrees Fahrenheit (30 C). For heat lovers like me, that doesn’t sound bad at all!

December through March is generally the busiest season, with prices reaching their peaks. Like most islands, the busy season is filled with Americans and Europeans fleeing the winter cold. 

April through August are the ideal months for the best-possible weather and prices. Flight-finding service Kayak reports that August has the cheapest flights to Aruba.

Consider that my flight research is done out of my hometown of Boise, Idaho, USA. Flights are more expensive because we have to connect to a larger US city.

Direct flights from hubs like Newark and Chicago are significantly cheaper. Getting to Aruba from Europe is much more expensive.

My preferred method for getting a general idea of prices is Google Flights. Looking one month out, I found a round-trip flight for $525 (BOI-AUA).

If you live near Newark, a round-trip flight is only $250! Just remember that flight prices can change drastically based on the time of year you plan to go.

Average low prices from Boise were around $610, which is fairly affordable. Comparing these prices on Hopper and Skyscanner, I was able to see that this is the best price.

Keep in mind, these are “basic” economy seats, meaning you only get to bring a small personal item onboard.

Any other luggage (including a typical “carry-on”) will have to be checked. Depending on the airline, a checked bag costs on average about $35 each way.

This is one of the reasons why I suggest having a way to combine both your personal item and carry-on bag in my article How to Pack Your Pack (coming soon).

Packing light and being able to easily combine your bags would save you $70 on these flights!

When finding a place to stay, I always use Hostelworld, Booking.com, Airbnb, and Couchsurfing for the best prices.

Consider location when searching for a place, as the cost of transportation will often outweigh the savings of out-of-the-way accommodation.

All of the following accommodations have wifi, air conditioning, and a kitchen. With the exception of Kwihi Lodge, they also come with access to a pool.

On Hostelworld, there is only one expensive “hostel” listed, which is actually a hotel. This was also the case when we went to the island back in 2018.

We found and stayed in a hostel that was only listed on Airbnb and Booking.com. Pista Q Hostel was $34 per night, or $17 per night a piece, for a spacious private room with ensuite bathroom.

There are some cheaper hostels. For singles, simply-named “The Hostel Room Aruba” on Airbnb offers a classic dorm bunk for $20/night.

For some reason, they charge $56/night for two people, so it’s cheaper for groups to make separate bookings.

There are a few shared rooms further inland, like Palmita Hotel Hostel at $17/night.

Couples will save even more by splitting the cost of “Kwihi Lodge Aruba Apt. #3” for $35 per night.

This is a great price for its fantastic location and the solitude of having your own apartment.

Kamerlingh Villa’s $45/night for a queen bed, pristine pool, and prime location is worth taking note of for couples.

Here you will also enjoy a more social atmosphere as there are multiple rooms.

For an accurate price with all fees included, I have listed the one-week (7 night) totals below.

Because of Airbnb’s variable service and cleaning fees, it ends up costing just a bit more than the listed nightly prices.

To be inclusive, I will use the cost of The Hostel Room Aruba in my following calculations, as singles or groups could book this accommodation for a similar price.

With nearly 200 Couchsurfing listings, finding a free place to stay is very plausible. For those planning the lowest possible budget, this is highly recommended!

Unfortunately, camping is not allowed in Aruba, so Couchsurfing is the only free option.

Ling and Sons Supermarket has great prices and online shopping, but it’s about a 15 minute bike ride from the accommodations listed above.

Supermarket Prikichi is only a 3 minute walk from The Hostel Room and Pista Q.

For just $50 USD, or $90 Aruban Florin, you can easily get a week’s worth of healthy meals. For low budgets like ours, $30 USD will suffice.

Our cheap diet in more expensive destinations like Aruba consists of items that are easily found almost anywhere in the world.

Breakfast is scrambled eggs with salsa and vegetables and fresh bread, croissants, or baguettes.

For lunch, we have sandwiches (or leftovers) with snacks from the snack bag or fresh local fruit.

Dinner is almost always spaghetti and veggies or beans and rice, with chicken if it’s affordable.

Though Aruba boasts many fine dining options, it still has plenty of cheaper local restaurants.

Cheap eats in Aruba include a wide variety of cuisines, partly due to the island’s Dutch influence and proximity to South America.

Cheap Eats Closest to Accommodation ($)

Little More Spendy, Close to Accomodation ($$)

Cheap Eats Biking Distance/ Long Walk ($)

Average food prices in Aruba are similar to the US. Cheap meals are $5-15, and $15-30 for a more upscale restaurant. Plan on at least $40 per day per person for food if you want to eat out for every meal.

That’s right, one day of dining out costs more than our full week’s worth of groceries! If $280 sounds too high for your food budget, try making at least some of your own meals.

If you prepare yourself breakfast and lunch every day and just go out to dinner, you’ll save about $20 per day. That cuts your food budget in half, down to $140!

Our best tip for cheap drinks in expensive countries is… make your own!

Consider that one $15-20 liter of rum can make 22 single shot drinks. At a bar, that would cost over $100!

Our personal drink budget in Aruba was $100 each. This got us a few bottles, a few six packs of beer, and a few drinks at the bar. (Of course, you could set this budget all the way to zero if you’d like, as tap water is fine to drink in Aruba– no need to buy bottled– but how much fun would that be?)

Whipping up ice-cold drinks on the beach is simple if you follow my Ultimate Packing List (coming soon). We make use of a few of our multi-functional items.

For example, I always recommend having a reusable water bottle as a secondary rehydration source.

Rehydration powders like Gatorade or Fizz can make it easier to drink water and replenish electrolytes.

Staying hydrated gives you more energy, prevents sunburn, and keeps you healthy and happy!

However, these products leave a lasting flavor in your Nalgene that’s difficult to remove. If flavored powders leave a taste in your water bottle, you can only imagine what alcohol does.

For beach trips, I usually bring a cheap, Hydroflask-type bottle to keep my drinks colder. This secondary water bottle can be used for rehydration mixtures OR cocktails!

If you don’t have a second reusable bottle, just pick up your favorite sports drink and reuse the bottle. This will also help hydrate you before drinking to prevent a nasty hangover.

A lunch box or dry bag can easily become a cooler for your liquor, juice, or beer. My recommended lunch box can easily carry a six pack with room for extra ice.

A ten liter dry bag can fit a liter of liquor, a large mixer, and still have room for lunch. However, I personally prefer the 20L to fit everything two people would need for a beach day.

The 20L also has backpack straps to hold all that liquid weight more comfortably. When using this bag, ice has to be kept in Ziplocs on the bottom to avoid wetting towels and such.

Even though I’ve never had anyone say anything to me about drinking my own liquor on beaches around the world, it’s always best to be discreet if you don’t see any locals doing it.

We mix our first drink at the hostel before we head off for the day so it’s ready to go. Then we can gauge how secretive we should be when we get to the beach.

The cheapest activity is going to the beach! Aruba has enough lovely beaches to go to several a day for the whole week.

There are even more further from the main town, but you’d need a rental car or hired driver.

The cheapest beaches near town are Surfside Beach and Governor’s Bay Beach, simply because they’re walking distance.

Here you can watch the sunset, play volleyball, go for a swim, and watch planes land at the nearby airport.

In this area, you can also stop by the “I Love Aruba” sign for a photo shoot, browse local shops, watch live music, and visit the National Archaeological Museum (free) or the Fort Zoutman Historical Museum ($15).

The next closest is a chain of beaches named Bushiri, Druif, Divi, Manchebo, and the famous Eagle Beach.

Walking here is still an option; however (speaking from experience), it’s quite the walk from town.

Bushiri Beach is a 33 minute, 1.5 mile (2.6km) walk each way. If you plan on going all the way to Eagle Beach, it will take 1 hour to walk almost 4 miles (6km).

While this might not seem too bad, it was a lot with a backpack full of liquor and juice and all our snorkel stuff and hammock gear.

Weight is not the only problem. If you don’t head out early and return late, you will face Aruba’s humid, hot weather as well. The heat makes the walk seem twice as long!

Below is a table of the costs of the many other activities on the island. For more info on the activities look at the Best Things To Do in Aruba (coming soon).

Prices may fluctuate, and many companies offer a variety of options for each activity that are not listed. Use the links to check the websites for all options, and to book the ones you’re interested in!

Go-Karting

Golfing

Private Beaches and Resorts 

Animal Experiences

Explore the Island

Scuba Diving (prices are for certified divers, check websites for more info)

Adventure Sports

With just one main road heading from town to all the beaches, hitching a ride seems possible. 

However, considering that a large portion of the drivers on this road are tourists in rentals, hitchhiking is trickier. 

Katelyn and I tried hitchhiking one day after sunset unsuccessfully. We were able to hitch one ride from a few local friends we’d made. They recognized us walking and pulled over to pick us up.

With the frequent and affordable buses, I would say hitching a ride isn’t really necessary.

If you opt out of walking and hitching, the next cheapest option is a $5 round-trip bus pass. Because Aruba’s bus system can be confusing at first, I’ll explain it in my post on How to Use the Bus System in Aruba.

Using the bus to spend a week exploring the beaches with your own snorkel equipment will cost $5 per day.

For a low-end budget, that’s only $30 if you spend one day on foot exploring Oranjestad and the close beaches.

Of course there’s our new Bottom Dollar Backpackers budget transportation of choice– the Razor Scooter!

Razor now makes adult-sized scooters that work extremely well and are easier and faster than walking. 

Adult scooters have larger tires that allow for faster speeds and smoother riding over varied terrain. They also fold down to fit in larger packs, and are plane- and TSA-friendly!

The next cheapest option is renting bikes with Tri-Bike Aruba. Their prices are as follows.

Biking may not be for everybody though. Keep in mind that Arashi Beach, the furthest north shore beach, is 15 miles round-trip.

For travelers who prefer the ease of a motorized scooter, you can rent one from George Cycles for $55 per day.

If you want to explore the National Park or other inland locations, you’ll need an ATV or UTV. George Cycles offers these for $125 and $225 per day respectively.

There are an unlimited number of ways to set your budget for Aruba. Everything listed is general budget advice for the cheapest possible Aruba vacation.

Making Aruba affordable compared to other countries and islands in the area can be difficult. A lot of luxuries have to be sacrificed. Personally, I’d rather rough it and save money for my next trip.

Using the info above, we will now calculate a bare bones budget, along with some more luxurious examples (like eating out, so fancy!). Daily budgets include average daily expenditures (accommodation, food, drink, transportation, activities).

For an in-depth explanation of True, Preferred, Supreme, and Extravagant Bottom Dollar Budgets, check out our article on How to Budget for a Trip!

Less than $30/day

On the no-alcohol True BDB, spending $15 extra will get you to a $10 per day budget. This could allow for one meal out, better food from the grocery store, or a bottle of rum/some beers. 

Of course this is truly roughing it, but you can see that it is possible! If you live near a city with direct flights to Aruba like Newark or Chicago, your whole trip with flights could be under $350!

From a two-flight connection city, like Boise and most other cities in the US, the trip would be around $600. Consider this next time you think you can’t afford the trip. 

Most likely what you mean is, you can’t afford doing the trip as comfortably as you’d like. If you really want to make your trips happen, you might just have to rough it sometimes. 

After all, isn’t sleeping on a couch while making local friends, and cooking your own food worth a week on some of the world’s best beaches?

With a goal of $10-$20 per day in Aruba, you will have to Couchsurf, since the cheapest accommodation is already over $20 per day.

For $20 per day, you could have a True Bottom Dollar Budget, with a large fund of $70 for making your own drinks and buying beer. That’s 3 fifths of local rum ($15 each), and 3-4 six-packs of beer ($7-10 per pack). Half a six-pack and half a fifth every day? Time to party on the beach!

You will also have the $15 surplus for better food or drink, but you still can’t afford any activities or hostels.

With the increased $20/day budget, you could instead add that extra $85 (7 days x $10 per day + $15 surplus) to anything else.

You could now afford a rental scooter and gas for one day at $55 to go explore the island beyond the beaches. You could eat at a few restaurants, get some good meals at the grocery store, or do one night out.

For the more adventurous, wakeboarding, go-karting, jet skiing, parasailing, or windsurfing are in your price range!

At $20/day, you will still have a pretty limited budget, but your leash is long enough to do something else besides snorkel and beach bum. (Lucky for me, snorkeling and beach bumming is my preferred vacation– with drinks of course!)

Overall, the True Bottom Dollar Budget option is less than $210, not including flights.

$30-50/day

With the absolute cheapest accommodation (except Couchsurfing), we are in the $30-40 per day range. If your goal is $30 per day in Aruba, you’ll have to cut this already bare-bones budget. 

I have a few tricks for that. All we have here that’s “cuttable” are food and bus rides. To hit that $30 mark, we only have two options.

Make friends on the beach and hitch rides with them; hitchhike; or take some long but doable walks/scooter rides to the far beaches. 

The furthest beach, Arashi, is about 15 miles (25km) round trip. 

Of course we only need to save $20 total, so it’s possible to bus to Arashi one day. Then you’d have to walk to the other beaches, the furthest being Eagle Beach, the other four days (7 miles [11km] round trip).

That’s still pretty far for a relaxing beach day, so I’d probably opt for the second option.

With food prices in Aruba comparable to the US, there is one way to cut the trip’s already-tiny food budget.

Bringing a few meals from home is a great way to save a few bucks on travel meals. After all, the cost of the food you buy at home is already in your at-home budget.

Non-perishable snacks can be purchased cheaply at home. You probably already have some lying around. Think granola bars, ramen packets, trail mix, etc.

I recommend bringing a large snack bag for quick, on-the-go meals in areas where food is hard to find or overpriced.

Also, the food where you live is likely cheaper than on an island.

In a location where basic amenities are so expensive, I would suggest bumping up your minimum Aruba budget to $40 per day. With a total of $280 to spend for the week, you start to have some options, including a hostel bed.

With $54 dollars to spare ($280 minus $226), you could very well afford to be tipsy on the beach all week. You could also choose to stay sober for a day or two and eat at a restaurant those days instead.

There are two reasons why I personally chose the drinks budget in this scenario.

First, on vacation I prefer a few drinks while I relax in my hammock.

After a long day of snorkeling with fish, turtles, and other cool sea creatures, sitting back with a beer and watching the sunset is ideal.

Secondly, the Dutch food options in Aruba were either pancakes or cheese-smothered. I don’t like pancakes much, and I’m lactose intolerant. In some other countries, like Japan, my beer budget ends up going to food instead. (In Japan the food is way better than the beer!)

Overall, the Preferred Bottom Dollar Budget option is around $210-350, not including flights.

$50-100/day

Aruba is not the cheapest vacation destination. At $100 per day, you are still going to be cooking most of your own meals, taking public transit, and making your own cocktails most of the time.

However, you can see how much it would cost to have a larger variety of activities on your trip. With this budget, you can go out and try some of the local foods and drinks, and have more activities options.

Overall, the Supreme Bottom Dollar Budget option is around $350-700, not including flights.

$100-200/day

A $15 budget per meal is achievable by having cheaper breakfast and choosing affordable eats from the list above. 

The Extravagant drinks budget works well for those that like a few drinks per day, or having a couple nights out and some sober days. 

This is still a low-end budget. You’re using public transit, staying at low-cost accommodation, and eating and drinking at the cheaper places on the island.

There are a lot more activity options with this larger budget compared to the other three Bottom Dollar Budgets. 

You will be fairly comfortable while not breaking the bank too much.

Overall, the Extravagant Bottom Dollar Budget option is around $700-1400, not including flights.

For contrast, I’ll compare the above Bottom Dollar Budgets to the expenditures of the average all-inclusive tourist.

You might think that booking all-inclusively can save money by combining food, drink, and accommodation.

I used Booking.com to search for a week-long stay at any of Aruba’s all-inclusive resorts. There’s a bit of a price difference!

The average week-long stay at a 3-star resort costs $3,500 with no included activities. Higher-tier 4-star resorts are around $4,500 per week.

A budget of $4,500 can pay for 6 months of travel at $25 per day, or 3 months of travel at $50 per day!

If you choose this option, you’ll most likely want to go out and try other restaurants after several meals with the same typical buffet choices. Also, activities and transportation cost extra, and don’t forget about tips!

Overall, staying at an all-inclusive resort in Aruba is around $4000-5000, not including flights.

True Bottom Dollar Budget

$210 or less

-Couchsurfing

-Making cheap meals

-No alcohol or making all your own drinks

-Public transit

-Free activities (like snorkeling with your own gear or going to the beach)

Preferred Bottom Dollar Budget

$210-350

-Hostel or cheap Airbnb room for two

-Making cheap meals

-No alcohol or making all your own drinks

-Public transit

-Free activities (like snorkeling with your own gear or going to the beach)

Supreme Bottom Dollar Budget

$350-700

-Hostel or cheap Airbnb room for two

-Making cheap meals and going out a few times

-Making most of your own drinks and going out for a few cocktails or beers

-Public transit, rent a scooter for a day to explore the island, or a bike for a few days

-Free activities (like snorkeling with your own gear or going to the beach) and a small activities budget

Extravagant Bottom Dollar Budget

$700-1,400

-Lots of affordable accommodation options

-Eating at affordable restaurants for every meal

-Getting a few drinks at the bars every day

-Public transit, rent a scooter for a day to explore the island, or a bike for a few days

-Larger activities budget for two expensive activities during the week, or one cheaper activity every day

All-Inclusive Budget

$4,000-5,000

-3-4 star hotel room on the beach

-3-4 restaurant options included for free

-Unlimited drinks from the bars included

-Public transit, rent a scooter or bikes, or an ATV/UTV for a day

-Larger activities budget for two expensive activities during the week, or one cheaper activity every day

No matter which budget you choose, we hope we’ve given you some tips to make your Aruban vacation much cheaper! Check out our article How to Budget for a Trip for even more money-saving hacks. You can read about our own experiences in our post Five Days in Aruba: A Spontaneous Beach Vacation. Happy travels!