Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Aruba Review: Casitas and BBQs

The Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Aruba is a 49-casita property in a former coconut plantation a few minutes’ walk from Palm Beach, and it is the opposite of the high-rise resorts along the same coast. Each casita is a standalone unit with its own kitchen, patio, hammock and charcoal barbecue, which is why guests here cook their own fish on the last night instead of queueing for a buffet. Two things have changed since I stayed: the hotel is now adults-only, and it has added a restaurant, a second pool, a spa and 2 Michelin Keys.

What the Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Aruba is

The Boardwalk is a boutique hotel of 49 separate casitas at Bakval 20 in Palm Beach, not a single building with corridors and room numbers. The hotel sits on the site of a historic coconut plantation, and the mature garden is the reason it feels nothing like the strip a few minutes away. Its own fact sheet lists the property as adults-only, 18 and over, so families who found this page looking for a two-bedroom holiday rental should know that up front.

The name has changed too. It traded as the Boardwalk Small Hotel Aruba and then the Boardwalk Hotel Aruba, and it is now the Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Aruba. Older reviews, including booking listings that have not caught up, still use the earlier names for the same address.

The casitas

Every casita is a fully air-conditioned, self-contained unit with a private patio, a hammock and a charcoal barbecue. Six types are on offer, listed below from smallest to largest.

1. Coco Casita: 1 king bed, kitchenette, 2 adults.
2. Deluxe Coco Casita: 1 four-poster king bed, kitchenette, private outdoor shower, 2 adults.
3. Plunge Pool Casita: 1 four-poster king bed, kitchenette, private plunge pool, 2 adults.
4. Palapa Lodge 360: 1 wooden king bed, fridge and microwave, wraparound balcony, 2 adults.
5. One-Bedroom Casita: 2 queen beds or 1 king plus a sofa bed, full kitchen, 3 adults.
6. Two-Bedroom Casita: 2 queen beds plus 1 king and a sofa bed, full kitchen, 5 adults.

I stayed in a one-bedroom casita with a large living area, a full kitchen, a separate bedroom with two double beds and a bathroom with a shower. The place was painted in bright colours and furnished to match, and it worked as somewhere to cool off in the afternoon and get some work done after dark, which a standard hotel room never does.

Book a minimum of three nights. The hotel states that a three-night minimum stay is typically required, which is longer than the two nights it asked for when I visited, and it is the single most common reason a booking attempt bounces.

The garden, the pools and the barbecue

The garden is the centre of the hotel and it now holds two pools rather than one. The property describes a lively main pool and a quieter garden pool, both ringed with deck chairs, plus a covered lounge area at the back of the garden that was my favourite corner of the place. The coconut palms are the giveaway that the site was a plantation before it was a hotel.

The barbecue on your own patio is the thing people remember. On our last full day on the island my fellow travellers Jens and Elise and I cooked chicken, fresh fish and vegetables on one of the patios and sat talking until late. It cost a fraction of a restaurant bill and it was a good counterweight to a week of eating out, which our guide to Aruba restaurants covers in full. Charcoal and firelighters are sold at the front desk, so there is no need to hunt for a supermarket that stocks them.

Getting to Palm Beach from the hotel

Palm Beach is a three-minute walk from the hotel, so the Boardwalk is a near-beach property rather than a beachfront one. The hotel gives arriving guests complimentary portable beach chairs, snorkels and a cooler to carry down, and it runs a beach service that brings food and drink from its own menu to the sand. Jens and Elise walked over one morning; another day we took the hire car and drove to quieter beaches along the coast to snorkel with the gear the hotel had lent us.

Parking is free for guests, which matters on an island where a car is the only sensible way to reach Arikok National Park and the north coast. Hiring one for part of the week rather than all of it usually works out cheapest, and DiscoverCars compares Aruba prices across the desks at Queen Beatrix International Airport in one search.

Breakfast and eating at the Boardwalk

Breakfast now runs through the hotel’s own restaurant, the Coco Café, and can be added to a booking. The Coco Café serves breakfast from 8am and stays open for food through the day and into the evening, which is a real change: when I stayed there was no restaurant on site, and breakfast was delivered to the casita if you ordered it a day ahead. If you are reading an older review that describes a breakfast tray arriving at your patio, that arrangement no longer matches the hotel.

The kitchens are the other half of the answer. Every casita has at least a kitchenette with a fridge and a two-ring stovetop, and the one and two-bedroom casitas have a full kitchen with a five-ring stovetop, so a supermarket run covers breakfast and any meal you would rather not pay restaurant prices for. Housekeeping cleans the casita daily.

The Treasure Box is now a Treasure Map

The Treasure Box has been retired and replaced by a paper Treasure Map handed over at check-in. When I stayed, every casita held a small wooden box of cards with island recommendations, and different casitas had different themes such as general tips, adventure and romance. The hotel says guests kept taking the cards and the boxes needed constant restocking across several departments, so it swapped them for a single illustrated map of the island plus a digital version sent with the booking confirmation. The recommendations survived; the box did not.

What I would change

The one thing I would change is the tea. There was coffee in the casita and no tea, and the breakfast I ordered came without any, which for a committed tea drinker is a small but daily annoyance. Everything else held up: the casita, the cleanliness of the whole property and the friendliness of the staff.

Is the Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Aruba worth it?

The Boardwalk is worth it if you want a kitchen, a patio and a garden rather than a lobby, a lift and a buffet. The hotel earned 2 Michelin Keys in 2025, which is the Michelin Guide’s hotel award rather than a restaurant star, and it is the kind of place where you cook one night and walk to Palm Beach the next. It is not the choice if you want a room on the sand, a large resort’s activity programme, or a hotel that will take children, since it is now adults-only.

Rates move with the season and the hotel does not publish them, so check current prices rather than trusting any figure in an older review. Check availability and prices.

The opposite kind of Aruba stay is a short drive down the coast in Oranjestad, where a large resort keeps its own marina, casino and private island. Our review of the Renaissance Aruba Resort and Casino covers that version of the island, and I stayed at both on the same trip.

Tours and day trips near the hotel

Palm Beach is the departure point for most of Aruba’s paid activities, such as catamaran snorkel trips, sunset sails, UTV runs into Arikok National Park and horse rides along the coast. Book the boat trips for early in your stay, because that leaves you a second chance if the wind gets up.

The hotel’s own beach kit covers the snorkelling you do yourself, so you rarely need to hire gear separately for a shore snorkel. For a boat trip, take a rash guard, water shoes and a hat with a strap, and leave the full snorkel set at home, since operators supply masks and fins. Our guide to what to pack for a week on Aruba has the rest of the list.

Getting to Aruba

Fly into Queen Beatrix International Airport at Oranjestad, which is the island’s only airport and a short drive from Palm Beach. I flew Amsterdam Schiphol to Oranjestad with KLM, which is the route most European travellers end up on. Fares swing hard by season, so it is worth comparing flights on Trip.com before fixing your dates.

Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Aruba FAQ

Is the Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Aruba adults-only?

Yes, the Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Aruba is adults-only and takes guests aged 18 and over. That is a change from the hotel’s earlier years, when the two-bedroom casitas made it a workable option for families, so listings and reviews written before the change are misleading on this point.

Is the Boardwalk Hotel on the beach in Aruba?

The Boardwalk is not on the beach; Palm Beach is a three-minute walk from the property. The hotel closes the gap by lending arriving guests portable beach chairs, snorkels and a cooler, and by running a food and drink service on the sand from its Coco Café menu.

How many nights do you have to book at the Boardwalk Aruba?

You normally have to book at least three nights at the Boardwalk, which the hotel states as a typical minimum stay. The requirement was two nights in earlier years, so a two-night attempt that fails is usually the minimum-stay rule rather than a sold-out date.

Do the casitas at the Boardwalk Aruba have kitchens?

Every casita has a kitchen or a kitchenette. The Coco, Deluxe Coco and Plunge Pool casitas have a kitchenette with a fridge and a two-ring stovetop, the one and two-bedroom casitas have a full kitchen with a five-ring stovetop, and the Palapa Lodge 360 has a fridge and a microwave only.

Does every casita still have a Treasure Box?

No casita has a Treasure Box any more. The hotel replaced the wooden boxes of recommendation cards with a paper Treasure Map handed over at check-in, plus a digital version that arrives with the booking confirmation, because guests kept taking the cards and the boxes were difficult to restock.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The 5 tips below come from my own stay in a one-bedroom casita and from re-checking the hotel’s current rules and facilities, and each one changes what you do on the day.

1. Book three nights, not two. The Boardwalk now states a three-night minimum stay as standard, up from the two nights it asked for when I visited. A failed two-night booking is almost always this rule rather than a full hotel.
2. Buy your charcoal at the front desk, not at a supermarket. Charcoal and firelighters are sold on site, and the patio barbecue is the reason to stay here. Ours fed three people chicken, fresh fish and vegetables for a fraction of a restaurant bill on our last night.
3. Pack your own tea bags. The casitas are stocked with coffee and not tea, and the breakfast I ordered arrived without any. The full kitchen has a kettle and a stovetop, so bringing your own solves it completely.
4. Collect the beach kit at check-in and use it away from Palm Beach. Arriving guests get portable beach chairs, snorkels and a cooler at no charge. We drove ours to quieter beaches up the coast, which is a better use of them than carrying them three minutes to the busiest beach on the island.
5. Ask for the Treasure Map at the front desk. The wooden Treasure Box that older reviews describe is gone, and the recommendations now come as an illustrated paper map at check-in and a digital version with your booking confirmation. Nobody hands it to you if you do not ask.

About the author. This review is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first-hand notes here come from the nights she spent in a one-bedroom casita at the Boardwalk in Palm Beach, including the barbecue she cooked on the patio with fellow travellers Jens and Elise. That trip was an invitation from Aruba Tourism to visit the island; the opinions, including the one about the tea, are her own. The team covers Aruba for independent travellers, including the hotels, restaurants, tours and car hire worth booking, and updates this page when the hotel’s rooms, rules and facilities change.