Aruba rental car??

[hotcoffee]

I will be going to Aruba for the first time in a couple of weeks. I keep reading conflicting suggestions on whether to rent a car or not. Is it better to take a cab from the airport to the hotel or rent at car at the airport? Is renting a car at all advisable on such a small island? Thanks in advance for suggestions and opinions.

[lvhmbh]

We always rent a car. You pay an up price $100 or so from the airport which is an airport tax. Some rental agencies will shuttle you to the car to avoid that extra price. Where are you staying? I can give better info if I know where you're staying. We are in Aruba now. Linda

[ecwinch]

For a first time visitor, I would say rent a car, unless you just want to lay on the beach and hang-out at the resort. I have the price of renting a car from one of the off-airport companies to be a better deal, then taking a cab to the hotel, and renting a car at the hotel.

[dougef]

Go to: http://www.aruba-bb.com/ for all you could ever want to know about Aruba.

[hotcoffee]

Originally Posted by lvhmbh

We always rent a car. You pay an up price $100 or so from the airport which is an airport tax. Some rental agencies will shuttle you to the car to avoid that extra price. Where are you staying? I can give better info if I know where you're staying. We are in Aruba now. Linda

We will be staying at the Marriott Surf Club. I am if renting for a full week is worth the cost given the smallness of the island and existence of public transportation.

[IngridN]

Originally Posted by hotcoffee

We will be staying at the Marriott Surf Club. I am if renting for a full week is worth the cost given the smallness of the island and existence of public transportation.

On a cost basis only, probably no. We stay 2 weeks each year and always rent a car for the convenience. I did the math once and if we stayed only one week it would be a wash (close, but taxis would be slightly cheaper), but for 2 weeks it would definitely be cheaper to take taxis.

Ingrid

[hotcoffee]

Originally Posted by IngridN

On a cost basis only, probably no. We stay 2 weeks each year and always rent a car for the convenience. I did the math once and if we stayed only one week it would be a wash (close, but taxis would be slightly cheaper), but for 2 weeks it would definitely be cheaper to take taxis.

Ingrid

What rental car company would you recommend? I read on an Aruba forum that Royal was a very good choice. Then on a later post, a Royal horror story followed by another post suggesting that Royal has really gone downhill of late. What company(ies) do you usually use, an what have been your experiences?

[IngridN]

DH checks the various sites for costs and we used to pick the cheapest. Different companies each year. Sometimes local, sometimes national. About 2 years ago, the gov't purged the number of car rental locations at the airport and now if you elect to pick up at the airport it's more expensive than the offsite locations. In May, we found the difference to be about $50 between airport and off site companies and as we rent for 2 weeks, it was worth it to us to use the airport vendors for the convenience. You pick up your luggage, walk out of the terminal and across the street are the car rental companies. We got tired of the Yaris (I'm TravelBug over yonder) and for the past 2 years, Hertz has offered the best price for a mid-size car at the time we travel.

Ingrid