Another great stay at Sunset Beach Studios to celebrate Christmas in Aruba. The rooms are nice, nicely furnished and have almost everything you need to prepare a meal. The pool and hot tub are always inviting, and provide a great spot to visit with other guest. The views off our porch are worth a "Million" and a breathtaking sunset ends every day. We enjoyed a glass of wine most evenings on the bench across the road to watch the brilliant display of colors as the sun slipped beyond the horizon.
The staff is amazing and so helpful....they make you feel so welcome. We arrived on Christmas Eve to find the grocery list we had sent earlier in our studio waiting for us. They also helped arranged our rental car, and it was waiting at the airport.
The staff also went above the call of duty when we had travel problems on the second leg of our vacation in Curacao and were quick to respond to our plea for HELP!
We would highly recommend this resort and look forward to our next visit!

Villa Calabas is a 3-4 bedroom Villa high up in the Calbas hills with a panoramic view of the ocean to the east and west. It is apart from the studios, about 6 minutes away. We wanted a vacation with our 20 year old son and 19 year old daughter before they headed back to the college slog. Aruba has a bit of a tequila shots/casino/late night sketchiness that followed the very undeserved and very incorrect publicity over Natalee Holloway's murder. But we wanted some action for the kids. After the first day at Villa Calabas, I began to appreciate the great natural beauty of this desert Island and recognised that the hype was completely exaggerated. Both Palm Beach and Eagle Beach have lots of watersports and Beach bars and restaurants and casinos and places that you can do shots. We were a five minute drive from the hustle but in a world apart.
JP and Eve were on a cruise when we arrived and Monique had the time wrong so there was no one to meet us at Sunset Beach when we arrived. We had just had a frustrating time trying to get our car and ended with one that was literally coming to pieces around us. Amigos did deliver a good car next morning but the vacation was not starting well. Soon we reached a housekeeper who contacted a friend of JP's, and Hank kindly took us to our Villa. The roof of the house is a series of palm fronded triangles and it looks very distinctive. We parked under the thatched port-cochere and entered through lovely heavy wooden doors into a manicured atrium with comfortable sofas and tables and chairs. The lockable front door was there. The kids went in and walked down the long tiled hallway which opened into a large great room with kitchen, dining area and sitting are. This opened directly onto a large covered patio with comfy armchairs and the pool and sunbathing patio. The eye was led beyond to the ocean filling the horizon. The kids spellbound, were running up and down yelling "Oh my good look at this" and checking out all the bedrooms. We had arrived in a magical place.
The villa has three bedrooms, two with a conjoining bathroom, perfect for the kids. My daughters room had a large queen bed and huge closet with full wall mrror. My sons room had two single beds and both rooms had tv's. Full WiFi throughout of course so lots of picture uploading to Facebook. Our room had a private bath with plenty of storage and counter space. Lots of hot water, lots of towels. An extra bedroom was connected with a curtained doorway and might be used for a younger child. We used it as a walk in closet as it had a huge armoire. If the curtain was replaced with a door it could serve as a separate bedroom. Our room had a large flat screen tv and we never even opened the tv cabinet doors as the reading lights were excellent. There was also a large tv out in the sitting area and a few times we all sat there to keep up with news and weather. There was also a powder room in the hallway.
All of these rooms had wooden jalousie sceens from floor to ceiling all along the outside wall and the whole house could be opened up to catch the trade winds. Wow! We did this if we were there in the day but my husband was a magnet for small biting flies by sunset so we closed up. The kitchen was equipped with everything (and I love to cook). Everything was very clean and high quality, plenty of linens and dishtowels.A large walk-in pantry gave us ample storage for our groceries. We ate out all over the island but ate in much more than we expected to because the setting was just so incomparable that we all chose to stay in and eat up on the second story dining loft under the palm fronds watching the giant orange sun slip into the ocean. My husband and I woke early and took breakfast up there every day and watched the cruise ships and tankers on the horizon. The villa is surrounded by giant cacti and low tenting trees that provided us with a congregation of incredibly beautiful birds that sang their hearts out morning after morning. I think that is what I miss most, early morning drinking my Smit and Dorlas coffee, watching the parrots and staring out at the ocean as the day unrolled before us. My son and I spent a week windsurfing at the north end of Palm Beach and the whole family paddleboarded there. We went to Eagle beach to walk the beach and to jetski and to Boca Catalina and Arashi for absolutely amazing snorkeling. All of these were a short drive away. We also toured Arikok park and loved the herds of wild goats and donkeys who came right up to check us out. We lunched in the park at Boca Prinz with the North coast waves slamming into the cliffs in front of us. We continued down to Baby beach where the snorkeling was like being in a National geographic special. The refinery is here and we learned all about the strategic importance of Aruba to the US during WWII.

Plenty of action and activities to be had day and night in Aruba but we loved arriving back at Villa Calabas, entering through the atrium into our own oasis of beauty and tranquillity. We would take a refreshing dip in our own private pool then I would get the blender going and put out the Gouda and we would all relax in our favourite spots and relive the highlights of our day. For our family this was perfect. No cramped stuffy hotel rooms or noisy hotel pools, just plenty of places to spread out and read quietly or have conversations.

Villa Calabas is a fairly new addition to Sunset Beach properties and I could see that some things have not been hooked up yet. The puck lighting over the master bath mirrors did not work and the light in there was too dim for this near sighted person to see anything. Also in the kitchen the outlets in the island were not hooked up so one outlet served the microwave, coffee pot, blender and all the electronic devices that needed charging every evening. It got a bit competitive. While both kids slept like babies, our bed was a bit hard for us. However, we have a very good bed at home so we have high standards. Otherwise we loved our time there and if I could leave the sleet and freezing rain of coastal Maine and hop on a plane right now I would throw the swimsuit and flip flops in the bag, grab a toothbrush and take off.

Rooms are clean and neat. Fridge, hot plates, & microwaves are in the rooms. We arrived on Dec 26, a Holiday. Not very many places were open so the owners emailed us and asked if we would like them to pick us up some groceries! This was so great! The place is so relaxing, within walking distance to 3 beaches with tiki huts to protect yourself under. Boca Catalina has good snorkeling. The studios offer snorkeling gear for $5 a piece and chairs for $5 a day. Staff is friendly and clean your rooms every day. Scenery is perfect from the rooms. Ask for an ocean view! They are worth it! Price is excellent! Possible downside, the beds are firm; in the Eurpopean style. However, after a day in the sun we fell right asleep.We loved our stay and would definately stay here again over the big resorts! We enjoyed the quite, relaxing, low key atmosphere.

Not wanting a typical, hotel resort type of experience, we found Sunset Beach to be the perfect accomodation for our desires. Its unhurried, peacful, laid-back surroundings provided the base-camp for our stay. We rented a vehicle in which we toured the entire island at our own leisure and encountered various experiences.
The owners were personable, friendly, informative; like old friends!
It was great to return after a day of adventure on the island, to the peace and quiet of our own little patio and overlook the ocean. Sunsets were beautiful!
For anyone desiring the alternative to a hotel/motel resort experience, this would be the PEFECT choice. It is close enough to anything one would need, yet far enough to provide tranqullity. WE LOVED IT!!!!!!