Hi My husband and I are celebrating our 30th anniversary by going to Aruba for the first time! We are going 11/30/08 and staying at Bucuti Beach Tara Suites. We are looking forward to quiet relaxation, reading and having a few cool tropical drinks on the beach! We don't need nightlife, but would like suggestions for good restaurants and whether or not we should rent car. We are staying for 6 days. Thanks!

Welcome to the forum. There are tons of restaurants on the island in every price range, a lot of good info in these threads:

Restaurants
Restaurants, bars and menus
reasonable dining options
Looking for something simple!
Less expensive dinners?
inexpensive restaurants
Suggest your FAV Restaurant and Bars
Anniversary dinner - need recommendation
What's Your Opinion of these Restaurants?
The Screaming Eagle
New Romantic Dining Spot
sole mare vs. giannis
Ideas for a sunset dinner
Promenade
Maddam Jeanettes! YUMMMY

There is a list of the current "in" spots to dine here.

We had an excellent dinner on the beach for our anniversary in June. From my review:

"Friday night for our anniversary, a friend as well as my parents, had recommended Passions on the beach at the Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort.

When we arrived we were immediately greeted by Diana the hostess/maître d' and everything from the food to the service, it was nothing less than perfect and a wonderful evening. Our table was closest to the water with torches and a lantern on the table. I can imagine how nice it would be at sunset, however since we can view that from the comfort of our patio, and like to eat later, dining under the stars with the Aruban tradewinds are just delightful in my book!

Dd had Caesar Salad with shrimp and a seafood sampler platter with Caribbean lobster tail, shrimp, grouper and mahi-mahi. I had a filet mignon and dh had grilled grouper and shrimp with a creamy spicy sauce. For an appetizer he had goat cheese with prosciutto, arugula and honey dressing, I had a crab salad. Everything was delicious! If anyone has that recipe for the crab salad you just pass it on to me please!

Dessert was amazing ...a sampler with full size portions of cheese cake, tiramisu, raspberry mousse, key lime pie and chocolate cake. Even dd had a double decaf Espresso. We practically rolled back to the Tamarijn."

Car rental is personal preference. Taxis are fairly affordable if you are just going out to dinner and buses are an option for shopping in Oranestad and transportation between say the Bucuti and Palm Beach. If you plan on spending most of your time on the beach a rental for a day or two would be sufficient. Would also depend on whether you were planning on touring and if so, on your own, or with an excursion. There is some excellent info regarding rentals at http://aruba.com/whattodo/rentalcars.php. That page also has links to a good number of car rental agencies. You need to shop around for the best pricing. We have good experiences in the past 9 months with both Aruba Royal Car Rental and Amigo Car Rental

For a tour, imo, ABC Jeep Tours or Kini Kini Tours. We just had a great experience with an ATV tour through Kini Kini.

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