Bucuti & Tara Beach Resorts

My husband and i just got back last nite from staying at Bucuti and Tara Resorts and I have nothing but wonderful things to say. Where should i begin.......... our room was wonderful we had a Superior Garden Room with partial waterview and it was great so clean and spacious. The beach was wonderful large and quiet. In addation the pool area we found to be very comfortable also. The breakfast was more then we expected food was outrageous for a breakfast buffet. Above all your staff was beyond helpful. we fell in love with Leroy, Bjorn and Margereite, all of them helpfull in there own way. I have to say when my husband booked the trip i was so dissapointed we were not staying in the high rise big name chain hotel. Well iam so happy we didnt we went to see the high rise hotels and they were crowded and so noisy and rooms were just nothing special. I love Bucuti and Tara Resort and looking forward to coming back.

I love it here. We have been twice and our third vacation is booked. I am a neat freak and it is the cleanest hotel I have ever stayed in. I love the quiet beach. It is so relaxing and beautiful. The bar is a fun place to hang out for lunch or after supper. Everyone is very nice and as much as I love my son's the adult stay is great.

My husband and I stayed here for our honeymoon and it was fabulous! If you can, stay in the Tara Penthouse suit. The room is beautiful and you get your own extra large reserved palapa with a table and chairs. The beach is quiet and beautiful. We visited other areas of Aruba (high rise section) and the beach was smaller, not nearly as nice and very crowded with tons of kids. There were lots of other honeymooners at Bucuti also! My recommendation is to stay here and head to the other areas at night for dinner. Hands down the best beach in Aruba!!!

My husband and I stayed at Bucuti in June. There are so many great things about staying there. There are no children and they seem to cater more to couples which was perfect for our anniversary celebration. The beach is perfect, you can always get shade and its so quiet and peaceful. It is a green resort which I believe is so important. The rooms are clean and you have a nice balcony. The staff is so friendly and helpful. They have a decent breakfast in the morning as well. I highly recommend staying here!

If you're going to Aruba, you're probably going for the beach. Bucuti is on Eagle Beach, which is arguably the best stretch of beach on the island. Personal opinion, it is the best beach I've been to...and the Bucuti is on the prime spot.

We walked up and down the stretch of Eagle Beach which is all resorts, and Bucuti had the best stretch. It isn't crowded. The huts are very close to the water and spread far apart for privacy. It is quiet. There are no kids. Bucuti is not kid-friendly...so if you plan on packing up the little ones...most all the other resorts are very accommodating.

Bucuti is a Dutch hotel. A lot of the guests are European. Typical of European hotels, the accomodations are contemporary, nice, but fairly simple. If you're looking for a resort to lavish you...it's not that kind of place. However, they have excellent concierge services and the hotel staff is pretty good. There's no room service, but there is a full service spa offering massages, facials, etc. There is a complimentary European style breakfast buffet, which was just fine and dandy.

The resort is stylishly decorated and very cool. We were fortunate enough to be able to stay in one of the penthouse suites in the Tara building...and let me tell you...that was worth the trip alone. Incredible. Huge. Full kitchen. Even had a computer with this huge flat panel monitor. Balcony overlooking nothing but ocean. We will never go back to Aruba unless we stay in the Bucuti penthouse again...not because we didn't like Aruba...on the contrary...it's just the penthouse freaking ROCKS!

Overall the resort is a very quiet and restful place with a pristine beach that caters to couples and more worldly travel types. It is NOT all-inclusive. If you're looking to dump the kids, hit Aruba's wonderful restaurants, and get away from it all...Aruba...and the Bucuti is perfect...so easy. I think it could be classified as a "best kept secret." It is also one of the environmental hotels.

Contrary to what you may hear. Eagle Beach and the Bucuti is not a topless beach. If you stay at the Bucuti, you will see your share of fat European men in Speedos, browned like a roast Thanksgiving turkey...but that's it. You will like the feeling of being the "skinny one." Like I said...it's a stretch of beach with resorts and people walking up and down...just like the rest of Aruba....not the "Nudie Bucuti" as some may joke.

Their restaurant sucks. I can't lie. You can get beach service which is great...you never have to get up, but the restaurant is there for a utilitarian purpose...to eat in your bathing suit. The outside bar (there is no inside bar) isn't very good either. You can't expect good service in 100 degree weather, and they can't make a good drink...unless you like straight liquor with a splash of whatever else was supposed to be in the drink. Somehow, they actually make it not fun to drink...but they do have a Happy Hour, so you won't get ripped off if you stop by for a pina colada. Anyway, life is good in Aruba, so that eliminates most people's need to get drunk.

Their pool and hot tub are just there by default. I don't know what the pools look like elsewhere around town, but this one is pretty sad. However, you will almost always have it all to yourself. If you forgot to relieve yourself in the bathroom or the ocean...you can easily get away with doing it in the pool. Nobody will see you. BUT, if you want to hang out by the pool all day, you probably want to look at another resort or destination.

They do have a teeny problem of getting some of the rooms ready on time, but you can just hit the beach, while they finish vacuuming.

It gets two thumbs up from me for the beach, nice rooms (we did stay in another room as well), value, and having a spa....oh and NO kids....we went on vacation to get away from our kids...not hang out with other people's.

Five Nights in Heaven is exactly what I called this visit. To begin, the accomodations are world class but in this unique place these great accomodations pale in comparison to a staff that is second to none. One can expect daily for the resort's owner, Mr. Biemans, to personally inquire about your stay. Additionally, whether during lunch, dinner or simply while lounging on the beach one can expect to encounter the Resort Manager, Ms Deborah Dintelman, who will also expect a detailed report on your stay and who will do anything to assure your stay is great. In lieu of listing each and every one of the Resort personnel who were all fantastic in their respective fields, I would like to mention Juan who is the manager of the restaurant. In most environments the attitudes of the people are a reflection of the management and all one needs is to encounter any food service person to see that Juan is superb at what he does. From Housekeeping to Activities and anywhere else in this great resort one can expect to be treated as royalty. OH, and by the way, What a Beach. This was our first visit to Aruba and when we return it will be to the Bucuti. Thanks for a great stay.

Our first trip to Aruba was in October of 2003 and we stayed at the Bucuti because of what we had read about it! We loved it so much we chose to be Married there in October of 2005 right on the beach, it was better than we could have imagined.The Hotl is great, the people that work there are the best and we feel like they are all extended family now. We introduced 3 other couples to Aruba and the Bucuti when we got married there and they are all now as convinced as us that it is the only place to stay for a peaceful vacation (no kids).If you have kids you would want to go else where but for romance it is # ! We are going back in november of this year and plan to do it yearly! You will not be disappointed!

BUCUTI HOTEL-This was our 1st stay at the Bucuti. We were in a Tara Suite overlooking the beach- it was a very nice 2 room suite, with a king size bed, a TV in each room (with cable), a small fridge, a coffee maker with free coffee & filters, & microwave.
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The Bucuti also left us a gift bag in our suite with a congradulatory 25th anniversary balloon, a bottle of champagne and some chocolate-Nice touch!!
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We had a ground floor unit with easy access to the beach. FYI,the ground floor units are numbered 301 thru 309. This was great--we ran back to the unit for drinks, snacks, etc. Ground floor is the way to go! It was very quiet at the Tara suites-at times I thought we were the only ones in the building! The suites also have a seperate check-in and seperate concierge service.
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Housekeeping kept the place clean and neat. We left $5.00 per day for the housekeeper. They also left the daily Arubian newspaper at our door every day.
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The Bucuti has a business center with 3 PC's with high-speed internet access. Its available 24 hours at no charge. Fax service is also available-I dont know about the fax prices. Internet access is available from your suite at $0.25 per minute.
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The Tara Suites have their own all-you-can-eat continental breakfast available for $7.95 + 15%. It has juices, coffee, breads, danishes,etc. The Pirates Nest (thats the onsite restaurant) has a full-blown, all- you-can-eat breakfast for $13.95 + 15%. We tried neither; we just prefer coffee in the morning.
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The beach is quite large & the palapas are not cramped together.Getting a palapa was never a problem at any time during the day. Towel service is open from 8:00am til 7:pm. You can also get beach service, for drinks and or lunch. Just stick the red flag in the sand and a server will come right to your chair.
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The water is beautiful-but the waves were surprisingly high & rough, so high & rough that for 2 days it was impossible to get out into the water. The only ones using it those 2 days were the locals & their SURFBOARDS and boogie boards. The water never returned to its 'normal' baby waves before we left. I dont know whats causing it, but I prefer the baby waves. The Bucuti also has a typical non-descript,rectangular pool, along with an attached spa.
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The Sand Bar at the Bucuti is just that- a bar. You can have drinks and lunch there and they serve liquor until midnight. You can also have lunch at the Pirates Nest, which is right next to the Sand Bar, with either outside or inside seating.
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The Bucuti has an on-site mini mart- which is a complete ripoff. Some examples: a toothbrush was $4.75; the USA TODAY newspaper (normally $0.75) was $4.75. I know everything is imported, but this is riduculous.
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The Bucuti has an activities desk, where you can rent cars or make arrangements for horseback riding, snorkeling, etc. But if you make your own plans you can save some money. I made some plans before we left the USA, just to make sure I got exactly what I wanted.
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The prices for the mini-bar in our room were outrageous-so I went to the Hong King supermarket, which is about 2 miles from the Bucuti, on the main road to and from the airport. They have everything you need-bread, cold cuts, snacks,beer,liquor, etc. Prices are given in Florins,but at the register they convert it to USD and USD are gladly accepted there.
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My biggest complaint about the Bucuti: the Tara Suite guests DO NOT have access to the room thermostat. Thats right, Bucuti's management has decided that every visitor will be comfortable if the temperature is set between 75-77 degress F. A few times we woke up during the night 'cause it was too warm in the room. At times it was too cool during the day-- THIS IS B.S!! I paid a lot of money for this room-I expect to change the thermostat if I want to! They should address this issue ASAP.
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