Our family (including two hard-to-please teens) just returned from a wonderful five days at Paradera Park Apartments (PP).

As many fellow reviewers have noted, this is an excellent, reasonably priced location/accomodation for enjoying all that Aruba has to offer.

Despite it not being right on/next to the beach, you are not far from the coast where the beaches are. You're also close to the Palm Beach touristy area and not far from Oranjestad, either.

There is a nice pool at PP that you can cool off in any time you like...

Of special note, the landscaping at PP is lush and beautiful - the owners call it 'tropical paradise,' and I don't disagree. It's easy to feel relaxed in the quiet surroundings. I took advantage of the on-site hammocks a couple of times and curled up with a book and napped.

Although you feel like you're in paradise, the satellite tv with quite a few stations and on-site wifi let you keep in touch with the outside world, if you so desire.

We highly recommend renting a car if you stay here. They advise going with Value Rent a Car, which we did. Miguel from Value met us right after we exited the baggage claim area and drove us to Value's location - about 10 minutes from the Airport and approximately 5 minutes to PP - an easy drive with only a couple of turns.

We rented a Camry - $240 per week and it had already had 40K+ miles on the odometer - pretty high for a rental, especially one on a small island. The brakes squeaked a bit & it already had a few scratches on it. Consider renting from someone else, but I have no idea who to advise. I saw several on-site rental companies at Reina Beatrix Airport, but only recall Hertz as one of these.

Expect hot, but dry weather (we were told Nov/Dec is rainy season). The tradewinds were a welcome and pleasant surprise. Definitely helped cool things off. PP room had fans and a couple of AC units (we were in #113). Also, nice porch with table for eating breakfast, TV with a wide selection of channels and a well-stocked kitchen, fridge & microwave.

Check out Ling's and SuperFood supermarkets. Both are located very close to each other - not far from LowRise Hotel area. We arrived over Easter holiday and went to one of the smaller, local markets first. Prices seemed high and there was a lack of selection.

Couple of food recommendations off the beaten path - both are in same small strip mall on the way to beach area (Palm Beach - near HighRise Hotel district). Linda's for pancakes and pizza and Bingo for salads and fresh fish (delicious Grouper dish). In general, restaurants in Aruba are pricey.

Don't forget the sunscreen! Sun is very powerful...

Cheap place to purchase bottled water = McDonald's.

Have a great time in Aruba and by all means, stay at PP!

Give Ingrid, Debby and Henk at PP our best...

Can't say enough wonderful things about Paradera Park. Debbie and Hank were awesone - met us with a beer and drink in hand for us. They helped us find some good spots to eat and the dive shop they recommended was fantastic.

The room was perfect - talk about spotless! My husband and I would dive in the morning and then come back and spend most of the afternoon parked by the pool relaxing, taking a nap or checking e-mail with the use of their wireless. We will definitley be back.

Bonnie and Abe Jansen
Keene, NH

Buggy Apartment

We stayed here 1 week in March 2008 in apartment #115, 1 bedroom. Here is good and bad:
Good:
- Kitchen well-equipped
- Clean
- Good size bedroom and beds
- Plenty room to put clothes away
- Quiet
- Plenty bath towels
Bad:
- No hair dryer or iron.
- The shower stand did not have a door (not sure recently broken or like this all the time), just 3 walls around. After each shower we had to mob the floor. The water did not drain either since the drainer was elevated higher thus water retained. I told Debbie about this but nothing was done.
- A lot of bugs that look like fruit flies mostly in the bathroom and few mosquitoes.

We can handle bugs that don’t bite but mosquitoes do. We did not have this problem when we stayed at Westin (2007) and Allegro (2000).

Well, what can I say that hasn't already been said...it's simply a wonderful place to stay. My latest trip to Aruba was my 7th and I have stayed at a different location each time. Paradera rates right up at the top! My personal Aruba preferences -

Favorite breakfast place - Salt & Pepper
Favorite lunchtime place - Mambo Jambos
Favorite romantic dinner - Flying Fishbone
Best Dessert - Madame Jeanettes
Best beach - Eagle Beach
Favorite Activity - ATV tour & the donkey sanctuary
Favorite casino - excelsior for the poker tournaments otherwise the Radisson
Favorite hotel/resort - Paradera
Favorite spa - Intermezzo