From the airport, a taxi is $41 (Afl 73.80) to the northern Palm Beach high-rises, $38 (Afl 68.40) to Eagle Beach and $26 (Afl 46.80) to Oranjestad, per car for up to 4 people. Add $5 (Afl 9) at night, on Sundays, on holidays and from December 24 to January 1, and $3 (Afl 5.40) for each 5th passenger or each bag beyond one piece and one backpack or handbag per person.
Walk out of the arrivals hall at Queen Beatrix and the heat finds you before the taxi line does. The line is right there anyway, a short stroll from the exit, cars with TX plates easing forward one at a time while somebody's suitcase wheel shrieks across the curb. A driver lifts your bag into the trunk, asks where you are staying, and pulls out. Nobody says a price. On this island nobody has to.
Aruban taxis have no meters, and the island has no ride-hailing app to open instead. What it has is a fare table. The Government of Aruba sets every taxi fare by zone, and since May 20, 2026 the whole table has been in force, and it lives on taxi.aw ↗, the official site, with a calculator that takes the pickup, the drop-off, the head count and the clock. It is a good tool. It is also a calculator, and at the rank you want a number before the door closes. This is that number, by hotel zone, with every surcharge in the rules and the arithmetic done.
The short answer
Quick answer
How much is a taxi from Aruba airport to Palm Beach?
$41 (Afl 73.80) to the Palm Beach high-rise hotels at the northern end (including Barceló and the Ritz-Carlton) and $40 (Afl 72) to the southern end (including Azure and the Hilton). That is per car for up to 4 people. Add $5 (Afl 9) between 11 PM and 7 AM, all day Sunday, on public holidays and from December 24 to January 1, and $3 (Afl 5.40) for each extra passenger or each bag beyond one piece and one backpack or handbag per person.
$41
Airport to the Palm Beach high-rises, per car (Afl 73.80)
$5
Night, Sunday and holiday surcharge, once per trip (Afl 9)
$10
Minimum fare for any ride, however short (Afl 18)
4
Passengers included before the $3 per head starts
The tariff is set by the Government of Aruba and run by the Department of Public Transportation, the DTP. The rules are short and the sentence that matters most is the one about the driver.
"The taxi driver is not allowed to charge higher fares than those approved by the Government."
From the airport, by hotel zone
The tariff does not think in beaches. It thinks in zones, and the hotel strip is cut into 4 of them. Palm Beach is split in 2, north and south, a dollar apart. Eagle Beach is split too, which is where most of the confusion online comes from: the hotels at the Druif end, the ones the tariff calls Low-Rise, are $37, and the Eagle Beach zone proper is $38. A page that tells you $37 to Eagle Beach is right for Bucuti and Manchebo and a dollar short for Amsterdam Manor.
| To | Hotels in the zone (examples) | Fare |
|---|---|---|
| Oranjestad | Renaissance Wind Creek, Harbour House | $26 (Afl 46.80) |
| Cruise ship terminal | $27 (Afl 48.60) | |
| Noord | $34 (Afl 61.20) | |
| Low-Rise (Druif end of Eagle Beach) | Bucuti & Tara, Manchebo, Costa Linda, Tamarijn, Divi resorts, Casa del Mar, Aruba Beach Club | $37 (Afl 66.60) |
| Eagle Beach | Amsterdam Manor, La Cabana, Eagle Aruba Resort, La Quinta, MVC Eagle Beach, JOIA | $38 (Afl 68.40) |
| High-Rise South (Palm Beach) | Hilton, Embassy Suites, Riu Palace, Divi Phoenix, Courtyard, Azure | $40 (Afl 72.00) |
| High-Rise North (Palm Beach) | Hyatt Regency, Marriott resorts, Ritz-Carlton, Holiday Inn, Barceló, Playa Linda, Radisson Blu | $41 (Afl 73.80) |
| Malmok | $44 (Afl 79.20) | |
| San Nicolas | $45 (Afl 81.00) | |
| Arashi Beach | $49 (Afl 88.20) | |
| Baby Beach | $60 (Afl 108.00) |
A few things in that table surprise people. Arashi, which feels like the end of the hotel strip, costs more from the airport than San Nicolas, the town at the other end of the island. Baby Beach is the most expensive common run on the sheet. And the florin column uses the tariff's own rate of 1.80, so the florin prices are the legal fares, not a conversion somebody did on a phone.
If your hotel is not in the examples, the calculator lists about 40 hotels and 35 restaurants by name and drops each into its zone. The rule of thumb holds anyway: the further north up the strip, the more you pay, in steps of a dollar or 2.
The meter in an Aruban taxi is a spreadsheet, and it was filled in before you landed.
The 4 things that change the number
The base fare is the floor. 4 rules sit on top of it, and they are what turn a $41 ride into a $52 one at midnight. None of them are hidden, and all 4 are on the same conditions page the drivers work from.
Night, Sundays and holidays: $5
A flat $5 (Afl 9) goes on top of the fare at night, from 11 PM to 7 AM, every day. The same $5 applies all day on Sundays, on official holidays, and on every day from December 24 to January 1. It can only be charged once per trip, so a ride at 1 AM on a Sunday in the last week of December is still $5 extra, not $15. The government names the holidays:
- New Year's Day, January 1
- Dia di Betico, January 25
- Carnival Monday
- National Anthem and Flag Day, March 18
- Good Friday and Easter Monday
- King's Day, April 27
- Labor Day, May 1
- Ascension Day
- Christmas Day and Boxing Day, December 25 and 26
The practical version: a flight on an ordinary weekday (not a holiday, and not December 24 through January 1) that lands before 11 PM rides at the base fare. The ride home from dinner after 11 PM is the one that picks up the $5.
Passengers: 4 included, then $3 each
Every fare covers 1 to 4 passengers. A 5th, 6th or 7th person adds $3 (Afl 5.40) each, and 7 is the legal maximum in a single taxi. That makes a full van strangely good value. 6 people from the airport to a Hilton cost $46 (Afl 82.80) in 1 car and $80 (Afl 144) in 2. Big families tend to discover this after they have already split up at the rank.
Bags: 1 suitcase and 1 small bag each
To or from the airport, and between hotels, each passenger rides with 1 piece of luggage and 1 backpack or handbag free. Every piece beyond that is $3 (Afl 5.40). The rules also list what can never be charged: briefcases, laptop bags, carry-ons, and any equipment a passenger needs to get around, so a wheelchair or a walker rides free.
Other trips work differently. If you are going from the hotel to a beach and the trunk gets opened for a cooler and a folded umbrella, that is a single $3 (Afl 5.40) for the trunk, not per item. The trunk fee cannot be charged on luggage, so it never stacks on top of the bag rule. There is a whole clause for this. Someone, at some point, argued about a cooler.
Waiting, hourly hire, and the wet seat
Waiting time is $1 (Afl 1.80) a minute, counted from the time you asked to be picked up or whenever the car is kept standing at your request. Hiring a taxi by the hour is $60 (Afl 108) an hour, 2 hours minimum. And then there is rule 8, which says that if the inside of the car gets wet from wet clothing, the driver can recover the cleaning or repair cost and the income lost while the seat dries.
Check the price inside the car
Every licensed taxi must display a QR code that opens taxi.aw, with the line "Visit taxi.aw for the official taxi fares" where every passenger can see it. Scan it before you set off and the price is no longer a conversation.A few runs, worked out
Here is the same arithmetic for 4 trips people ask about most. Each one uses the base fare from the table, then the passenger rule, then the bags, then the single $5 surcharge if the clock or the calendar calls for it.
| The trip | How it adds up | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 2 people, 4 suitcases, land 11:30 PM on a Tuesday, Ritz-Carlton | $41 base, 2 extra bags at $3, $5 night surcharge | $52 (Afl 93.60) |
| Family of 5, 5 suitcases, Sunday afternoon, Amsterdam Manor | $38 base, 5th passenger $3, $5 Sunday surcharge | $46 (Afl 82.80) |
| 6 friends, 6 suitcases, Saturday noon, Hilton | $40 base, 2 extra passengers at $3 | $46 (Afl 82.80) |
| Couple, 2 suitcases, Sunday at 12:30 AM, Costa Linda | $37 base, $5 surcharge charged once | $42 (Afl 75.60) |
Notice that the family on a Sunday and the 6 friends on a Saturday end up paying the same $46. Also notice that bags are counted per person, so 2 people with 4 big suitcases pay for 2 of them, while 4 people with the same 4 suitcases pay nothing extra. Packing for 2 like you are packing for 4 is an easy way to add $6 to the first ride.
From the cruise terminal
The cruise terminal sits on the edge of Oranjestad, and the tariff treats it as its own pickup point with its own prices. From there it is a short, flat run up the coast to the hotel beaches, and the numbers are lower than from the airport.
| To | Fare |
|---|---|
| Low-Rise (Druif end of Eagle Beach) | $26 (Afl 46.80) |
| Airport | Check taxi.aw |
| Eagle Beach | $28 (Afl 50.40) |
| High-Rise South (Palm Beach) | $32 (Afl 57.60) |
| Palm Beach (named stop) | $33 (Afl 59.40) |
| High-Rise North (Palm Beach) | $34 (Afl 61.20) |
| Arashi Beach | Check taxi.aw |
| Baby Beach | $68 (Afl 122.40) |
If your ship is in on a Sunday, every number in that table is $5 higher, both ways. 4 people splitting $28 to Eagle Beach is $7 each. On a Sunday it is $8.25, which is still a better deal than the walk.
Across the hotel strip, and down to Baby Beach
Once you are settled, the short hops are what add up. Anything inside a single zone, or between the 2 Palm Beach zones, is the $10 minimum, which is the price of not walking in the midday sun. The longer rides look like this:
| To | From Low-Rise | From Eagle Beach | From High-Rise South | From High-Rise North |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oranjestad | $16 (Afl 28.80) | $18 (Afl 32.40) | $22 (Afl 39.60) | $24 (Afl 43.20) |
| Airport | $37 (Afl 66.60) | $38 (Afl 68.40) | $40 (Afl 72.00) | $41 (Afl 73.80) |
| Eagle Beach | $10 (Afl 18.00) | $10 (Afl 18.00) | $12 (Afl 21.60) | $16 (Afl 28.80) |
| Boca Catalina - Lighthouse | $29 (Afl 52.20) | $29 (Afl 52.20) | $21 (Afl 37.80) | $18 (Afl 32.40) |
| Arikok park entrance (San Fuego) | $37 (Afl 66.60) | $39 (Afl 70.20) | $42 (Afl 75.60) | $43 (Afl 77.40) |
| Baby Beach | $67 (Afl 120.60) | $67 (Afl 120.60) | $69 (Afl 124.20) | $71 (Afl 127.80) |
Baby Beach is the run that changes the math. From the northern Palm Beach hotels it is $71 out, and the tariff is not always the same in both directions, so price the ride back on taxi.aw before you commit to a day at the lagoon. The other choice the tariff offers is the hourly rate, $60 an hour with a 2-hour minimum, which works for a loop with stops and not for a day on the sand. The guide's car-rental estimate is in the Aruba guide.
For the strip itself, the public bus is the other number to know. Arubus lists a single ride at $2.60 (Afl 4.50), a return at $5 (Afl 8.75) and a day pass at $15 (Afl 26.25) on its fares page ↗. For a hop to Oranjestad and back, 2 people on the bus spend about the same as a single taxi minimum.
Pros of Taxis for the whole stay versus renting a car
- The price is fixed before you get in, and it is the same price for every visitor.
- No parking, no fuel, and nobody has to stay sober after dinner.
- The airport run is 1 fare per car, so a group of 4 pays about $10 each.
- Up to 7 people fit in 1 fare, with $3 per head past the 4th.
Cons of Taxis for the whole stay versus renting a car
- Baby Beach from Palm Beach is $71 one way, before the ride back.
- Every short hop is the $10 minimum, and they add up across a week.
- Sundays, holidays and late nights add $5 to every ride.
- Payment is in US dollars or Aruban florins, and at night in high season you may wait for a taxi.
Calling one, paying, and the tip
There is no Uber or Lyft to open. At the airport there is a rank right outside arrivals. Everywhere else, you ask: the tourism board's advice is to have your hotel or restaurant call a taxi for you, which is usually faster than trying yourself. In high season, especially at night, the wait can be long, so ask for the car when the bill arrives, not when you stand up.
Pay in cash. The tariff says payment must be in US dollars or Aruban florins, and drivers may not be able to break big notes, so carry small bills. A $41 fare paid with a $100 note at midnight is a negotiation nobody wins. More on carrying the right mix of cash and cards is in the guide to spending money abroad.
"Rates in Aruba taxis are fixed. However, if your driver did a great job, shared useful information, handled your luggage carefully, and even provided great conversation, you might feel like tipping."
So the tip is not built into the fare and not required. The tourism board's tipping page gives no set amount, so rounding up is a fair rule of thumb. On the $41 airport ride that is a $45 handover, $47 if the driver hauled 3 suitcases up a flight of stairs and told you where to eat. Nobody will chase you for it, and most drivers will remember the people who did it.
Myth
Without a meter, the taxi price is whatever the driver says at the curb, so you should agree it first and haggle a little.
Reality
The price is set by the government by zone, and charging above it is against the rules. There is nothing to haggle down. What you can do is check it, on the QR code inside the car or on taxi.aw, before the car moves.
When the number is wrong
Most of the wrong numbers you will meet are online, not in the car. The tourism board's own taxi article, dated July 2025, still lists $31 to the Palm Beach hotels, $21 to Oranjestad and a $3 surcharge, numbers from before the May 2026 tariff. Older forum threads and transfer sites copy those numbers. If a driver quotes the current table and a website quotes $31, the driver is right.
If a driver does charge more than the tariff, the government asks you to report it to the DTP through the complaint form on taxi.aw, by phone on +297 594 8660 or +297 564 4050, or by email at complaints@dtp.gov.aw. Note the plate, the time and where you were going. The report is easier to make with a screenshot of the calculator from before the ride.
Every pre-2026 page about Aruba taxis is now a small historical document, and some of them are very confident.
Before the car pulls out
- Know your hotel's zoneLow-Rise, Eagle Beach, High-Rise South or High-Rise North. The calculator on taxi.aw names most hotels.
- Count suitcases against people1 suitcase and 1 small bag each ride free. Every extra piece is $3.
- Look at the clock and the calendar11 PM to 7 AM, Sundays, holidays and December 24 to January 1 add $5, once.
- Carry small billsUS dollars or florins. A $100 note at midnight is a problem.
- Scan the QR code in the carIt opens the official fare table.
- Dry off after the beachA soaked seat can cost you a cleaning charge.
What the table cannot tell you
The table is complete, and it still leaves things out. It does not tell you that the first ride is the one you remember, windows down along the coast road, the low-rise hotels sliding past and then the high-rises stacked up ahead like they are waiting for you. It does not say which driver will slow down to show you where the bus stops, or which one will tell you about a fish place nobody in the hotel mentions.
It is still worth having in your pocket. Taxis are the line in an Aruba budget that people underestimate, because each ride feels small and nobody adds them up until the last night. If you want the whole trip in 1 place, the method in the simple travel budget works here as well as anywhere, and these fares slot straight into it.
Small fees like the extra bag, the 5th passenger and the Sunday $5 are exactly the kind of thing that turns a careful budget into a surprised one. There is a longer list of them in the post on travel costs most people forget.
Our take
Aruba's taxis are expensive per mile and very easy to trust, and the 2026 tariff is the reason for both. Take a taxi from the airport, take one home after dinner, and do the short hops on foot or by bus. Once the plan includes Baby Beach or Arikok, look at a car for those days. Whatever you choose, check the zone, count the bags, and carry the small bills.
The last ride is the one to the airport, usually in daylight, usually a little quieter than the first. The driver lifts the same bags back into the same trunk. The number is the same as on the way in, give or take a dollar, and you already know it before he says it, which is a small and strange pleasure on an island where almost everything else is a surprise.
