Aruba · Transportation · Car Rentals and Island Driving

Insider's Guide to Car Rentals and Island Driving

Aruba Transportation

Hail a taxi and zip away as you yell "follow that car" to the driver… even if there is no car in front of you. Alternatively, hop into your new, spic-n-span rental vehicle that has that oh-so-special new car feel. Within minutes, you can begin your crash course in island driving - the Aruba way.

Fortunately, driving on the placid and beautiful island of Aruba is not as harrowing as it may be in many other parts of the Caribbean and Latin America. This is due to the fact that there's an element of internationalism and civilization that occurs when three disparate cultures get together on the same island - Europeans, Latins and North Americans. So, evidence of this comes in the first welcome feature that the expert rental car driver such as you will be able to figure out pretty soon after getting behind the wheel of one of the fine rental vehicles - the driving is on the right hand side of the road (not the case in every Caribbean destination, I'll have you know, as I've learned the hard way).

The second good thing to know about driving on the serene and exquisite island of Aruba is the fact that all of the road signs are posted in easy visibility of the happy island vacationer like you. One thing though - all the signs here are written in kilometers, so it might take a little while getting used to. Fortunately, the kilometers are also the unit of measurement displayed on your speedometer, so just do us all a favor and keep it in synch with the signs.

Another important rule of the road to remember - especially to those of you flying in from the state of California - is that there is absolutely no turning right on red lights on any part of the entire island of Aruba - even as you near the "California Lighthouse" on the Northern part of the Island.

But aside from the essentials of the traffic rules that I'm sure you were dying to know about, my hunch is that what you really want to get the skinny on is car rentals on the island of Aruba. Perhaps you have a question about how old you can be, what kind of driver's license you need to have, or if you just want to get an approximate idea of how much you'll be spending to cruise around this beautiful tropical island - to and from the hotel to the fine restaurants, to the exceptional hiking destinations or anywhere else you might want to fly off to at a moments notice on the whimsical and paradisiacal island of Aruba.

So in order to allay your apprehension, it is safe to say that one of the best features of renting a car on the island of Aruba is the fact that any and all of the rental car companies will automatically provide you, the happy island driver, with maps of the island. Included in these informational packages are also the useful promotional magazines that have in depth road maps as well.

And what about the minimum age for car renters? Generally, it's pretty standard and about the same as the normal age of car renters around the world. If you're in between the ages of 21 and 25, you will most likely be able to find a rental car agency that will hook you up. Over 25 years old? How much older? The cut off age for people allowed to rent cars on Aruba varies somewhere between 65 years old and 70. So bring if you're older than 70 and you don't plan on taking a cab or bus to every far off spot you want to go to, bring someone younger along for the ride, so to speak.

A few of the best car rental agencies that will help you get your spiffy rental vehicle around the scenic back roads of Aruba - as well as to and from the airport (there's no hotel-provided service by shuttle) - are as follows:

• Toyota Rent a Car (297) 583-4832
• Economy Car Rental (297) 583-0200
• Amigo Rent a Car (297) 583 8833
• Econo Car Rental (297) 582-0920
• Explore Rent a Car (297) 582-7202
• Thrifty Rent a Car (297) 585-5300
• Budget Rent a Car (297) 582-8600
• American Car Rental (297) 588-0299
• Caribbean Car Rental (297) 5822515

And much, much more!