Aruba vs St Petersburg, Florida

I recently spent two months on the beautiful Caribbean island nation of Aruba. Since I was there so long and had a car to use, I was able to explore most of the island’s many attractions & natural beauty spots.

I explored Aruba from its northernmost tip to its southernmost tip, from east coast to west coast, and most places in the interior. I can’t claim that I visited every single attraction on the island, but I did see most of them.

Aruba has stunningly beautiful beaches, unique topography & vegetation zones, some interesting historical and cultural points of interest, and lots & lots to see and do.

As for St Petersburg, I’ve had the exceedingly great fortune to have my mom & step-dad move down to St Pete in late 2010 (from West Virginia. Oooff). Ever since they arrived in Florida, I always eagerly anticipate my next US visit.

Of course, regardless of where my folks live, it’s always great to visit. But being able to now return to St Pete makes my family visits extra enjoyable. I can cycle, hit the gorgeous beaches, visit great museums & art galleries, do heaps of landscape gardening, and generally enjoy Florida’s amazingly sunny warm/hot weather (as long as it’s not July- August-September) and stunning scenery.

Simply put, I love St Petersburg!

When I headed to Aruba, I was really curious to find out what the famed Caribbean island was like. The island-nation is greatly beloved by many, many American vacationers, a big proportion of whom return to Aruba over and over again.

For me, arriving from St Pete, Florida, and also having spent heaps of time on many gorgeous islands & beaches around the world, I was especially curious to see how Aruba ‘stacked up’.

Short story: St Pete is better. In fact, on the day I arrived in Aruba, I called my mom and told her exactly that, “St Pete is better.”

However, that is not to say that Aruba is without its merits. Not at all. It is a beautiful island. And it has many great things to see & do. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if some other people prefer Aruba to St Pete, or to Florida in general anyhow.

In any event, following are more details about each place. You can decide for yourself which, if either, you’d rather visit.

Beaches

Aruba

I have to say that Aruba has absolutely stunning beaches. Easily some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve seen anywhere in the world.

The sand is that perfect powdery-white sand of tropical dreams. The beaches are both wide and very long. Many are backed by low dunes or trees, others lined by large resorts, restaurants & bars.

The sky is strikingly clear blue, nearly every day of the year, perhaps with a few fluffy white clouds drifting by. Aruba is one of the Caribbean’s most sunny islands, Math over 320 days of sunshine per year.

What really makes Aruba’s beaches so spectacular, though, is the bright aquamarine color of the sea. The mix of the three – white, powdery sand + bright blue sky + clear aquamarine sea colors is really quite phenomenal. Anyone who is remotely visually-oriented, like myself, will be awe-stricken.

At Aruba’s beaches I repeatedly felt like I had been dropped into a massive pastel painting. The colors are so vibrant, the scene so surreal, that it was hard to believe it was real most days.

St Pete

On the western outskirts of St Pete, there’s a chain of narrow offshore barrier islands, which are basically little more than big sand bars. They’re interconnected and lined by miles and miles of gorgeous beaches.

St Pete’s beaches also have that perfect powdery-white sand of tropical dreams. In fact, I was amazed to discover upon returning from Aruba that the sand at St Pete’s Gulf coast beaches has even finer powdery sand. I didn’t think it was possible, but yes.

The beaches are equally as wide and long as those on Aruba. And most are backed by protected low dunes, and accessed by long elevated wooden walkways. So in many places they are evern more ‘au naturale’ than Aruba’s beaches.

Where St Pete’s beaches fail to measure up to the beauty of Aruba’s beaches is in the sea color. The Gulf of Mexico water in the area is generally a slightly murky, muted blue. Nothing at all to compare with Aruba’s brilliant clear teal waters.

So for sheer over-all beauty, Aruba’s beaches win.

Nature

Aruba

Most of Aruba’s undeveloped land is filled with a unique, eye-catching cactus scrub. The densely-packed cactii soar into the sky for 10-20 feet, while at their feet, a prickly jungle of dense thorn trees, bushes and smaller cactii species make the whole mess inpenetrable. It has it’s own barren beauty, made more interesting because it’s so unique.

But aside from miles upon miles of dense cactus scrub, Aruba also has a quite surprising diversity of topography, habitats and natural spots. There are tall cliffs, huge masses of toppled boulders, open savannah, saltwater bayous, mangrove forests, natural sea pools, caves, coral reefs, sand dunes and a sole volcanic cone ‘mountain’.

For nature lovers, Aruba has many beautiful places to see and explpore.

St Pete

While Aruba’s vegetation and landscapes are arid, St Pete is very lush, sub-tropical and green. There’s a whole smorgasbord of palms, trees, flowering bushes, flowers, lush lawns and landscaped gardens. Many huge old trees are scattered throughout the city, parks and residential neighborhoods. It’s all very lush.

Also like Aruba, St Pete has great variety of topography & landscapes. There are saltwater bayous, mangrove-lined rivers, large shady parks, small ponds & lakes, a plethora of birds (both land birds and water birds) and the rare manatees.

For me, although Aruba’s amazing cactus scrub, cliffs, boulders and bayous were great to visit, over-all I prefer a wetter, more-tropical lush landscapes. I love St Pete’s ultra-green and huge old trees and variety of palms.

Climate

Aruba

Florida is notorious for its ridiculously hot humid summer climate, July to September, where day time temperatures are in the 90sF / 32-35C, but high humidity of 75=85% makes it feel over 100F / > 37C.

Well, that’s Aruba’s climate year-round! Every day, all year long, day in and day out. It’s so hot in Aruba that at night-time the coolest it ever gets – sometimes – is 80F / 27C. That’s the potential coolest. But often it doesn’t even cool down that much.

During the day, add Aruba’s ultra-intense sun and it feels well over 100F / 37C nearly every afternoon. Year round.

Sorry, but for me that is just too dag hot! In fact, Aruba’s ultra-hot climate was the main downside.

St Pete

Surely during July-September, St Pete faces the same God-awful humid heat as Aruba. However, the rest of the year, St Pete’s climate is much, much better. In fact, it’s fabulous weather in St Pete, nearly year-round.

In October it can still be nearly as hot in the day time, but it cools off significantly at night – down to the mid 70sF / 22-25C. Being able to cool off makes a huge difference.

From November onward, St Pete’s temperatures gradually cool off to mild winter temps in Dec-Feb. Day time highs are mid 60s-mid 70sF / 17-25C with a less intense, warm sun. Night time temps get down to the mid40s-mid 50sF / 12-14C. That is a bit cold at times, but for winter in the USA, that is mighty mild.

I’ll take St Pete’s climate over Aruba’s every time. In fact, due to the weather, I could easily live in ST Pete, but I would never choose to live on Aruba! Waaayyyyy tooo hot!

Culture – Arts – Things to see & do

Aruba

Aruba has a very interesting history, one that dates all the way back to over 2000 BC. It encompasses colonialism by three European nations, a flourishing aloe vera industry, an oil refinery era that lead to Aruba’s economic boom, then a flourishing tourist industry.

As a result, there are a variety of historic sites, beautiful colonial Dutch architecture, a few small museums, archeaological sites, an aloe vera factory/museum and other interesting cultural finds scattered around ARuba.

Nowadays, Aruba’s main source of income and jobs is the tourist industry. Therefore, a whole slew of tourist activities are available, from sea-based adventures to land-based ones, from casinos to restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

St Pete

St Pete’s post-American-Indian history dates back only to the late 1880s, but St Pete became a tourist boom-town at the turn of the century, when many huge hotels, government & public buidings, wealthy homes, neighborhoods and tourist infrastructure were built. Much of those historic buildings and homes still stand in St Pete, creating a history-rich city.

In much mre recent years, St Pete has acquired several large, world-class museums, most famous among them the Salvador Dali Museum. In addition, St Pete has developed a huge, diverse art scene, filled with dozens and dozens of artists & galleries. There’s a big glass-blowing scene as well as pottery, metalworks, wood-working and, of course, paintings & other fine arts.

Then there are the many yacht marinas & yacht clubs, unusual leisure sports like shuffleboard and lawn bowls, dozens of gorgeous parks, both large and small, and America’s third-longest city waterfront. Downtown St Pete sits right on Tampa Bay.

So, while Aruba’s history dates back considerably further, today St Pete has considerably more cultural, arts and events to explore.

Costs

Aruba

Aruba is a very expensive country. It has the Caribbean’s highest standard of living and best economy. Most of that today is due to tourism (originally thanks to the oil refineries).

Since Aruba is an island, an arid island with absolutely no fresh water, almost no industry, nearly everything must be imported. That goes for nearly all food, drinks & alcohol as well as daily needs, cars & other vehicles, Not surprisingly, then, Aruba is expensive.

During my two month stay on the island, I found most things cost from 50% more to double or triple the prices in the USA. That goes for groceries, fresh produce, gasoline, car rentals, daily needs, toiletries and so on.

Accommodation is also very expensive, marketed mainly to the luxury market. Restaurants and bars are ridiculously expensive.

St Pete

On a world-scale, the USA is also expensive. During my ongoing travels, in most countries I can eat much cheaper, find considerably less expensive accommodations, public tranportation and pay a lot less of daily needs and toiletries. Of course, some places, like Europe, Australia and New Zealand are more e xpensive, not less.

In any, the US is definitely a lot less expensive than Aruba. For everything.

Food

Aruba

As I’ve already alluded to, food in Aruba is very expensive. That goes for groceries and fresh produce as well as eating out at restaurants & cafes or going out drinking. Expect to pay 50% more to double or triple prices in the USA.

In terms of restaurant variety, being that Aruba is primarily developed for luxury tourism, there’s a decent selection of cuisines. Most restaurants are of the international cuisine sort, but there are also many seafood restaurants and steak houses. You can also find a few places specializing in Aruban cuisine and a couple Japanese, Italian, Dutch and sushi restaurants.

St Pete

In St Pete food is considerably less expensive, both at supermarkets and restaurants. In addition, there’s infinitely more variety of cuisines. St Pete has a very large Asian community, particularly Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese. As a result, there are dozens of excellent authentic Thai and Vietnamese restaurants, as well as many great sushi and Japanese steakhouse-style restaurants.

There’s also many choices for Cuban, Spanish, Italian, specific European cuisines and seafood. Dozens and dozens of independent coffee shops, breweries and bars are scattered around town. And there are some great live-music venues at night.

To sum it up, St Pete has considerably more variety when it comes to dining, and at lower prices.

Summary

Both Aruba and St Pete have beautiful beaches, diverse natural habitats, history, and some degree of culture and the arts.

Aruba wins hand’s down for the most visually stunning beaches, thanks in great part to the incredible aquamarine sea color. Hard to beat that anywhere in the world!

Quite unfortunately, Aruba’s weather is ridiculously steaming hot, year-round. And that, for me, is the island’s main downside.

Aside from the beaches, St Pete far outshines Aruba in all other regards – weather, lush tropical vegetation, the culture & arts scenes, historical interest, things to see & do and the sheer variety of cuisines.

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You might also like:

Introduction to Aruba

12 Reasons Aruba is an Easy Travel Destination

10 Surprising Facts about St Pete, Florida

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