My first time to Aruba.
After seeing other posts am starting to wonder if 1 week is too short?

Staying at the Divi all Inclusive resort

Bartender! - Another round for me and the lady please

One week is a typical vacation stay in Aruba but after going one time, many people try to extend their vacation to more days when they return after that. Most people enjoy Aruba so much that they hate to leave. If you have the opportunity to extend your stay, go for it. You will have a great time.

It really is going to depend on how much you like Aruba. Admittedly not everyone falls in love with the place as much as some of us others do ....too windy, not tropical enough, not lush enough...the list could go on, but I will instead list the positive like great beaches, friendly people, fantastic restaurants, perfect weather...

So a week has ALWAYS has been for me way too short! We only have to fly from Atlanta and I think 4 hours each way on an airplane itself is a big enough feat to warrant spending more time at the destination. 1 week there subtract the day you travel in and are basically only eating dinner and sleeping in your hotel room, the day you leave there is breakfast and maybe a quick hop in the ocean before checkout and another day lost. So that leaves you with 5 or 6 carefree days, depending on whether you are doing 6 or 7 nights.

7 days/8 nights last year went by in the blink of any eye. 1 day touring, 1 day on a sailing excursion left us with only 5 days on the beach which is what we love to do best. We've been for as long as 15 nights and began to get a little tired of "living" in a hotel and eating dinner out each night. Besides missing our pets, yeah, I could have probably stayed the rest of my life....12 nights for us is perfect. 10 days to do as little or as much as we want. We'll break up our beach days in the middle of our trip with 3 days of wandering the island: natural pool...butterfly farm...donkey sanctuary...maybe a stop at the Ostrich farm...a day of snorkeling stops around the island...THEN it is back to the beach!

If you love the beach, you could spend forever in Aruba, or at least until the money runs out.

Aruba Bound! ~ Hoosier Kitties ~ Our-Cruises ~ Blogging to Aruba
Back to paradise Trip #18

In most cases I think 1 week is just right, but I have thought it would be nice to stay longer. Last year instead of our usual Sunday to Sunday we flew down a day early to catch the Grand Parade. It was kind of nice having that extra day. I woke up on Wednesday thinking our vacation was half over then realized it was still Tuesday.

My aunt and uncle own consecutive weeks but in that past have never used both weeks until recently. After the rest of us left on Sunday my aunt was ready to go home by Wednesday. Part of it was the fact that rest of us had already left the island so it changed dynamic of the vacation for her.

Yes. I would never do less then 10 days, remember 2 days for travel.

For me, it's a little different, but similar. I usually take a one week vacation to Aruba, and I've come to the conclusion that it's not enough time. The crazy part is, that I don't even think 2 weeks is enough time. I've actually thought about this a lot since my last trip in June, and I would prefer to take 2 trips a year, each for 1 week at a time. Although 1 week isn't enough time for me, even if I stayed for 2 weeks straight, to wait a whole year to go back seems too long. If I could break it down into 2 trips and go every 6 months, I would prefer that to staying there for 2 weeks and then having to wait another year to return. If I had to go only once a year though, I would stay for at least 10 days.

Does the #5 train stop at Reina Beatrix International?

I could live with one week twice a year, but with airfare at $1800 for our family of 3 it is a KILLER. So, we pay that airfare once and just have to stay longer. Next year we were able to get 2 ff tixs, but Delta wants $800 for the ticket we have to buy! <<<praying for a sale >>>

Aruba Bound! ~ Hoosier Kitties ~ Our-Cruises ~ Blogging to Aruba
Back to paradise Trip #18

Arubalisa - bite your tongue!

The first year we went back in 2003, it was the first time in about 7 years that we left the kids for an entire week. They were 11 and 8 at that time. Around mid-week I became very weepy and missed them terribly...but then I got over it! The following year we only booked for 6 nights. That was a mistake, because I was getting into the groove and it was time to go home. The last 2 years we've gone 7 nights, and with the kids now 15 and 12, being fairly self-sufficient I don't feel so bad leaving them, even though my mother thoroughly enjoys the week with them and always looks forward to it. I would be more apt to stay 10 days, but won't until they are older.

The first part of the week seems to just flow nice and slowly...and then by Thursday/Friday, it flies. I would love to stay 2 weeks - much later in the future when the kids are young adults, but for now, 7 nights will have to do.

I agree with you 1000%!! The airfare is the part that scares me. I'm overly optimistic, but I scour the interned for sales. If I find anything within my budget during the time I can travel, I'm jumping on it. This is all theory though, since I've never been fortunate enough to travel to Aruba twice in one year. I'm just gonna keep my fingers crossed for an airfare deal!!!

Does the #5 train stop at Reina Beatrix International?

Well our original plans were to go to Italy but we thought that hiking up and down cobblestone streets would be interesting, but not a relaxing vacation so we decided to do Aruba instead.

I have a feeling we will love it. We actually have two consecutive weeks off from work but were planning on doing one week in Aruba then coming back to North Carolina and spending some time in the mountains to see the foliage.

I probably should have done it the other way around because the mountains in October here can be quite cold especially after a warm week in Aruba.

We can also go back to work and put those days back into the pool and use them some other time.

Our honeymoon was in AcapulcoMexico for 9 days. We started getting home sick at around day 8. I think that was because we started running out of interesting things to do and spend most of the day in the pool

Guess we will plan some extra time for our next trip.

Just curious though, if you had 2 weeks to go on vacation and could go anywhere EXCEPT Aruba, where would you go? What is your second choice?

Bartender! - Another round for me and the lady please