Difference Between Palm Beach And Eagle Beach
Palm Beach Aruba
There is always the question about what the differences are between Palm Beach and Eagle Beach. In this post I’m going to address this, beyond the obvious.
Let’s start with the obvious.
What kind of resorts are to be found in Aruba?
On the Palm Beach strip there are the high rise resorts, big hotel chains, meanwhile on the Eagle Beach strip there are low rise resorts – not higher than 5 storys – and generally timeshare units. Currently a new form of construction is rising fast at the Eagle Beach: condos.
Which resorts exactly are there at Palm Beach?
High rise at Palm Beach (from north to south):
- Marriott Resort & Casino
- Marriott’s Ocean Club
- Marriott’s Surf Club
- Holiday Inn
- Playa Linda
- Hyatt Regency
- Occidental Grand
- Radisson Resort
- Riu Palace
- Westin
- Divi Phoenix
Low rise at Eagle Beach:
- Amsterdam Manor
- La Cabana
- Paradise Beach Villas
- Marine Verlofcentrum
- Costa Linda
What type of beaches are Palm Beach and Eagle Beach?
Both Palm Beach and Eagle Beach have clean, smooth, white and cool sand. Palm Beach is notoriously hard to park for non-guests. If you are a non-guest of a high rise resort somewhere remote, to walk then to the beach. Eagle Beach on the other hand is very easy to reach. There is parking space just in from of the beach and you can easily walk onto the beach and into the sea.
What’s the sea condition?
Palm Beach tends to have calmer waters and less wavy, plus the wind is less of a problem. There have been reports of a rocky sea floor by the Marriott as opposed to a pretty smooth sea floor from there on southward.
Eagle Beach is wavier, windier with a substantial more water scooter activities. This happen outside clearly marked safe-swim areas.
Following, the not-so obvious information – own research
How busy can it get at Palm Beach and Eagle Beach?
Amount of rooms at Palm Beach (from north to south):
- Marriott (all three buildings) # 1353
- Holiday Inn # 600
- Playa Linda # 216
- Hyatt # 360
- Occidental # 395
- Radisson # 355
- Riu Palace # 451 (not included in statistics, resort not opened yet)
- Westin # 481
- Divi Phoenix # 101
Total amount of rooms at Palm Beach: # 3861
Low rise at Eagle Beach:
- Amsterdam Manor # 72
- La Cabana # 449
- Paradise Beach Villas # 80
- Marine Verlofcentrum # 19
- Costa Linda # 175
Total amount of rooms at Eagle Beach: # 795
According to my measurements and estimates:
Size
- Palm Beach: 1,089,179 sq. ft.
- Eagle Beach: 1,162,308 sq. ft.
Open beach/occupied by hotel facilities
- Palm Beach: 34% open/66% occupied
- Eagle Beach: 80% open/20% occupied
According to official statistics on any given day Aruba has an average of almost 14,000 visitors. This amount of visitors divided by the total rooms on Aruba (around 7000) gives an average of roughly two persons per room. The yearly occupancy rate for the rooms on Aruba is 81.7%.
Conclusion
After given you all this valuable information, I won’t draw a conclusion as to how much people are using the beaches at any given time. Sorry. There is a reason for that. The amount of time people stay on the beach varies too much. Additionally, pool areas are highly popular as well. Others prefer to go on an excursion while some opt to go out shopping. Then there are those who just stay all day in their room watching TV, believe it or not. They suffered sunburn perhaps? Be that as it may, there are too many variables.
To draw somewhat of a conclusion, I have a final thought in the form of a question.
If Palm Beach has about 7,722 visitors on any given day, that can use only 34% of 1,089,179 sq. ft. of beach available and Eagle Beach has 1,590 visitors on any given day, that can use 80% of 1,162,308 sq. ft. of beach available, which beach do you think is going to be generally crowded?
Update
Since the article was written, the amount of rooms at Eagle Beach has increased quite a bit due to new construction of condos. Palm Beach has remained steady, however, a new large condo project is currently being build and Marriott International is going to develop a new 320-room luxury resort in Palm Beach. Riu Palace was inaugurated in June 2007.
Now what?
Top 5 Reasons Eagle Beach Is Better Than Palm Beach
Eagle Beach From A Catamaran
Watersports And Swimming On Eagle Beach
Hyatt Regency, American Airlines, Palm Beach
Playa Linda Beach Resort’s 25th Anniversary
Hi again,
I came up with Costa Linda because I’m on a wait list at Amsterdam Manor and can find nothing at Bucuti either. We want to stay on Eagle Beach but not at a real loud congested place and ideally not exceed $200 per night or at least not too much more. We also would like some minimal cooking facilities. We need help!
Teri
Hello Teri, thank you for your visit. Let’s get right to it. In my opinion the best resorts at Eagle Beach and area are Bucuti (18 years and up) and Amsterdam Manor. Costa Linda and La Cabana are also good options, where Costa Linda is nicer and smaller than La Cabana.
Locally there are no special offers for visitors, your chances of getting a deal is actually online. Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia, Hotels.com etc.
Travelocity and Hotels.com have Costa Linda for the week you want at $259 per night. Another option I found on Hotels.com is Divi Village Golf & Beach Resort at Druif Beach (close to Eagle Beach) for $168 per night.
This is what I could find on short notice. I’ll do my homework better and have other alternatives for you tomorrow if I find any.
After 15 visits to the island Palm Beach and having just completed our 16th and first time staying on Druif Beach, I can say WOW! There IS a huge difference. If you have only stayed at high rise resorts you will never have known what you were missing.
I agree with you. Palm Beach is changing rapidly, contrary to Eagle Beach and/or Druif Beach. I personally think that the resort which has the best piece of beach in Aruba is Bucuti Beach Resort.
We are looking for an all inclusive in Aruba and friends of ours recommended The Divi Divi. What is your opinion? We don’t want to be in a high rise and prefere an island atmosphere.
Hi Tricia, indeed the recommendation for one of the properties of Divi Resorts is a good suggestion. If somebody would ask me for I would suggest the same place.
All inclusive resorts are Divi All Inclusive (aka Divi Divi) or Tamarijn All Inclusive which are neighboring properties at Druif Beach (Grapes Beach).
[...] wrote a post on the fundamental differences between Eagle Beach and Palm Beach in a past post, which relates perfectly to this one. addthis_url = [...]
[...] Differences Between Eagle Beach and Palm Beach [...]