Here is the third and final recap post of our spring break family trip to the Hyatt Regency Aruba! Check out part I here and part II here!
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Our final days in Aruba were casual beach days. Thomas, Mazen, Matt and Emerson ended up doing a second snorkeling tour directly from the beach that they loved. Mom, Larbs and I stayed back with the little kids and had a relaxing lunch at the Palms restaurant.
This Tuna Poke Bowl was fabulous! We thought the food at the resort was very good, and you know not all resorts are like that.
I went for several walks on the beach, which was lovely to stroll down.
The walk to the Ritz!
And the boys and I loved going to the swim up bar for a treat every afternoon! This day they were allowed to share a mudslide.
Beach Time
We spent tons of time on the beach! Our biggest complaint about the resort was that you had to book umbrellas or palapas on an app, and somehow they were 99% booked everyday despite not being very many people there. And to get front row, which is necessary when you have to be watching kids swim, you had to pay!!! We ended up paying $70 one day to get front-row shade which just seemed a little ridiculous for parents of kids.
This flamingo we borrowed provided tons of entertainment!
We aren’t as sunburned as this photo suggests, but I did want to shout out this new suit I got from Target! It was great!! Always paired with my go-to beach hat.
Young Adults Luncheon
On our final day, my parents offered to watch the kids so we could have a quiet young-adults lunch. We walked down the strip to the Bungaloe Beach Bar for grouper sandwiches, mahi mahi, french fries and plenty of Balashi, Thomas’s new favorite beer!
Adults Only Pool
When we got back, one of us relieved the grandparents while the other went to the adults-only pool.
Man-oh-man was that nice! We should have done a better job trading off the kids because the hour I spent there was heavenly!
Final Happy Hour
Per usual, we met at the Balashi bar for drinks before walking to dinner.
Fishes & More
We loved dinner at a long table at Fishes & More.
This young man was living his best life!!
More fishes and more – seafood is my favorite food group (behind cheese!)
Thomas’s smoked tuna came out in a globe of smoke!
Final Breakfast
On our final morning I went for a walk to the famous Eduardo’s for a smoothie bowl.
I sat right on the beach listening to the water while I ate in peace and quiet. I didn’t want to forget this dreamy moment!
Flights Home
Our flights home luckily went well. It was sad saying goodbye to our cousins in Charlotte!
This little man was totally tuckered out.
Flying Into Charlottesville
How breathtaking are the Virginia mountains? The Caribbean is gorgeous, but so is our home <3
Review of the Hyatt Regency Aruba
I wanted to end with a quick review of the Hyatt Regency Aruba! Overall we loved it and would return!
The Location
A 15 minute drive from the airport and walking distance to tons of restaurants was ideal! We loved walking on the beach and the beachfront path too!
Our Room
We booked standard room on points, so we didn’t have any bells or whistles like a balcony. My sister’s family had a suite for the first few nights, and it was impressive!! I would be tempted to get one next time, although the cost differential between free and the suite would be a lot : )
We loved our room though, and it was very comfy. The beds were soft and nice, and the bathroom was spacious for a “regular” hotel room.
The Resort
The resort, lobby, pools, open areas, and staff were all great! No complaints. Everything was nice and open and updated! Wifi was free, and the coffee shop had plenty of extra snacks and grab-and-gos if you needed a snack.
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The Restaurants
We had an amazing dinner at Ruinas del Mar (although it was expensive) and the lunches we had by the pool were great. We especially loved the juice bar for breakfast! My sister and parents said the breakfast buffet that was included in their stay was great. (It would have cost us about $140 a day, so we opted for smoothies / coffee shop staples a la carte instead).
Our one critique of the restaurants is there wasn’t really a casual option for dinners. While you could eat and order food at the pool bar and upper courtyard bar, we would have loved if The Palms was open for dinner. We got in a bind once or twice with hungry kids and no where to sit and relax by the pool after hours.
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The Hyatt Regency Beach
The beach area was beautiful, and the water was calm and shallow. I was a bit surprised there weren’t waves, but I think that was for the best because we did so much swimming!
But as I mentioned, you have to reserve seats with an app and everything was either booked OR expensive. We ended up getting the very back row each day as a place to drop of our stuff, but we didn’t really spend any time there because we had to stay with the kids in the water. So we found this quite annoying. The front row spots were $60/70 a day. I get that they are prime view, but I just didn’t love this part. It was our only real complaint about the Hyatt.
All of these were either reserved or expensive:
Aruba itself was lovely and I would totally go back! Compared to our Mayakoba trip where it was cold and poured down rain for two whole days, the constant warm sun in Aruba was much appreciated!
The Hyatt Regency Aruba Is Great For Families
The Hyatt Regency was a great spot for our family, and I would totally recommend it for anyone travel with kids! I think if you’re looking for a very romantic trip, it’s still a great choice, but you would want to spend most of your time at the adults only pool or splurge on the front-row palapas. As far as beach areas go, this one wasn’t quite as upscale as Andaz Mayakoba, Mexico, or the Four Seasons Anguilla. But it was still nice!
