Aruba is 20 miles long and has better range than islands three times the size. On Palm Beach alone you can get wood-fired pizza at a table set on the actual sand, then walk to a piano bar that does not wind down until well after midnight. Add Oranjestad, the fishermen’s spots along the coast and the kitchens out in San Nicolas, and you have an island you can eat your way across in a week.
Kukoo Kunuku has been driving guests to the best places to drink in Aruba since 1996, which is long enough to know which spots are still worth the stop. Below are the bars, beach clubs and restaurants we actually send people to, and the tours that handle the driving.
Aruba Happy Hour, Nightlife and Live Music
Happy hour in Aruba generally runs somewhere between four and seven, and on Palm Beach it doubles as the sunset show. After that, things to do at night in Aruba come down to how loud you want it. There are tables on the sand with a band playing, and there are DJ sets that run until the bar shuts. Our tours are built for the DJ end of that, with a driver so the ride home is somebody else’s problem.
Live music in Aruba is easy to find once you know where to look. Sopranos has international pianists and a room that sings along with them, MooMba brings bands onto the beach, and the plaza in San Nicolas fills up most weekends. Our bar hopping route hits several in a night.
Kukoo Kunuku Bar Hopping: Four Bars, One Bus, Zero Driving
Dinner, an open bar of house cocktails, a set of maracas and a route through the best places to drink in Aruba with a guide who knows every bartender by name. Running since 1996 and still the loudest thing on the island. Eighteen and up.
Kokoa Beach Bar Aruba: The Best Pizza & Palm Beach Vibes
The pizza is the reason to come and it is genuinely good. Kokoa is casual beachfront dining by day and one of the best beach bars in Aruba after dark, with cold drinks and music right at the water line. Walking distance from the high-rise hotels, and a stop on our bar hopping route.
MooMba Beach Bar Aruba: The Best Happy Hour & Nightlife
This is the happy hour everyone tells you about before you land. MooMba is a laid-back beachfront restaurant in the afternoon and one of the best Aruba nightlife spots once the sun goes down, with DJ sets, live bands and dancing on the sand. A regular stop on our tours.
Sopranos Piano Bar Aruba: The Best Live Music & Nightlife
The best late-night room on the island. Sopranos flies in international pianists and the whole bar ends up singing along, whether or not anyone present can hold a tune. Locals and visitors shoulder to shoulder around the piano until closing. Our nightlife tours drop you here at exactly the right hour.
Our Favorite Restaurants in Aruba
Thirty years of driving guests around a small island builds a short list you can trust. These are the places to eat in Aruba we recommend by name, from beachfront seafood and an Argentine steakhouse to Dutch pancakes and a sing-along piano bar, plus a few spots most visitors never find. Book a table yourself, or let one of our food and bar tours handle the whole evening.
FAQs
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Aruban food is Dutch, Caribbean, Venezuelan and West African all at once. Start with keshi yena, a baked round of Gouda stuffed with spiced chicken or beef. Get pastechi for breakfast, the fried cheese or meat pocket every bakery sells out of before ten. Order funchi or pan bati alongside stoba, a slow-cooked stew. Then eat the fish, because wahoo, mahi-mahi, red snapper and grouper usually come out of the water the same morning they hit the plate. Wash it down with Balashi, the national beer, or an Aruba Ariba, the island’s rum-and-fruit house cocktail.
Our Island Sips & Night Bites tour puts several of these in front of you in one evening, and the Taste of San Nicolas Tour goes deeper into the local kitchens on the other end of the island.
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Eighteen. Bars often ask for photo ID, so bring a passport or a license.
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Keshi yena, pastechi, funchi, pan bati and stoba, plus fresh wahoo, mahi-mahi and red snapper. Balashi is the local beer and the Aruba Ariba is the island cocktail.
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Most of them are on Palm Beach. Kokoa and MooMba for beachfront drinks, Sopranos for late-night live music, Mambo Jambo for cocktails in Oranjestad. Our bar hopping tour covers several in one night.
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Some restaurants add a 10 to 15 percent service charge. Check the bill first, then add on top if the service earned it.
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Yes, however glass bottles are not allowed on most beaches. Beach bars serve in plastic for exactly that reason.
We Make Gift-giving Easy!
Gifting someone the time of their life is easier than you may think. Purchase a Kukoo Kunuku gift card online and have it delivered to your email! This is your chance to recruit some fun friends to the Kukoo family.
