The Best Family-Friendly Hotels to Book in Aruba

This is heaven on earth for water sports enthusiasts – a family hotel in the popular Low Rise hotel area. Palm-tree lined Eagle Aruba is just a five-minute walk to Eagle Beach where you’ll enjoy snorkelling (with complimentary equipment), sea kayaking and jet ski rentals – not to mention all the top-class cuisine and cocktail joints. When you’ve had enough of the beach, perhaps the 150ft (46m) water slide will tempt you – or there is always the option of a treat from Dunkin Donuts.

This place has absolutely everything you need for a family holiday in Aruba – the Tamarijn Aruba has a prime coastal location on the white sands of Druif Beach. Fussy kids will be sure to find something to eat at the unlimited buffet offerings at the two properties. You can also try your hand at everything from floodlit tennis to scaling a 30ft (9m) climbing wall. There’s even free non-motorised water sports on the adjacent beach. If you’re an extrovert, you’ll want to throw shapes during the nightly entertainment, from dance competitions to karaoke, or you can kick back at a bar.

A perfect family hotel in Aruba, the Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort Spa and Casino has a convenient central location on Palm Beach in the high-rise hotel district. Kids love to explore – and the private tropical setting is home to an impressive three-tier pool with waterfalls and a waterslide. It is also home to chattering scarlet macaws and black swans, parading up and down the koi pond, and there’s no doubt you will make friends with the cute and colourful iguanas as they scurry around the grounds.

This Aruba family hotel is the final stop on the hotel strip and has a distinctly European vibe. The cheerful sunflower-yellow architecture is built in a time-warped European style, complemented with tile floors, shocks of plants and the Dutch flag marking the main entrance. It’s worth reserving a table for dinner at the surf-side diner ‘Passions on the Beach’, which serves up a range of family-friendly grub, but you can also pick up any essentials from the well-stocked mini-market which has imported, local and last-minute items. And don’t forget to recycle your books at the handy library.

You’ll be spoilt for choice dining at the Barceló Palm Beach, with L’Olio serving Italian cuisine, Mexico Lindo offering Tex-Mex and the Japanese diner, Kyoto, even boasting an elegant indoor garden. Elsewhere at this family-friendly hotel, you might take a dip in the lagoon-shaped pool with its central hot tubs and swim-up bar, a popular spot for the all-inclusive drinkers during the day. The kid-friendly evening entertainment ranges from Cirque du Soleil-style shows to magic and live music, or you could nip off and have a flutter at the five-table casino.

Among the many benefits of the family-friendly Hilton Aruba are the convenient rental bikes and hotel-organised water sports, including sailing, snorkelling, windsurfing and scuba-diving lessons. You can also get your photo taken with the resident macaws and cockatoos, which mass in the exotic bird garden, before hitting the adjacent beach to top up your tan. Back at the hotel, enjoy the beachy-inspired artworks and historic property photos before cooling off in the pool or Eforea spa, including Vichy steam rooms, a sauna, and a plunge pool set amid Japanese-style gardens.

The largest family-friendly beachfront resort in Aruba is the Holiday Inn Aruba Beach Resort and Casino, which has honed the American and European holiday vibe. The all-inclusive property spells excellent value for money with a friendly atmosphere and terrific amenities. With three pools on the grounds, and the beach just footsteps away, there are plenty of water-based activities to get stuck into. Still, if you want to explore further afield, it is also ideally situated for the Palm Beach Plaza, Tierra del Sol Golf Course, Arikok National Park and the island’s delightful child magnet the Butterfly Farm.

Whether you’re into diving, snorkelling, golfing or prefer to chill out at the spa, the sophisticated Divi Aruba All Inclusive resort has you covered. There’s the prime position on Druif Beach and the impressive four (count ‘em) pools. You’ll also get access to the facilities and restaurants at the nearby Tamarijn Aruba, which has a well-equipped kids’ club. With unlimited food and drink at the two properties, which have ten restaurants between them, your plate is going to be well-loaded. And there is nightly entertainment, ranging from fire shows to thrilling live music.