Aruba non-beach questions

[jbrinkm]

Looking for feedback on a number of places in Aruba to try to narrow down our sightseeing. We're doing diving & beach (different members of our party) in the morning and then have a rental car for the rest of the day for non-beach/non-water places on the island. We do love interacting with animals - but I'm just not sure we want to do the animal garden + the ostrich farm + the donkey sanctuary + the butterfly garden. I'd love feedback on any of the possible stops to help us narrow down what to do. If you went, did you feel that the time and admission cost was worth it?

Dutch Pancakes (which one?)
Butterfly Farm ($19/$16)
California Lighthouse ($5)
Alto Vista (free)
Philip’s Animal Garden ($10)
Ostrich farm ($15)
Natural bridge (free)
Donkey Sanctuary (donation)
Aloe factory (free)

[She Sails Away]

I've only gone to the natural bridge and the lighthouse. They were both interesting but honestly they were both 10 minute stops in my humble opinion. Nice photos, not much else to see.
 

for what it's worth, I heard the butterfly farm is nice, and the donkey farm is also nice but also something to be seen in under 30 minutes.

[AshleyDillo]

We've done a vehicle rental every time we have visited Aruba.  Our plans typically include a trip out to Baby Beach.  This is a more remote and less visited beach than Eagle or Palm Beach.  Then we visit Arikok National Park and go see the caves (there is a per person admission charge when you enter the park).  If you do seafood, we usually hit up Zeerovers for lunch which is very casual and very fresh. Those three are the must dos that we've taken all the newbies to when visiting Aruba.  We've never been to the donkey sanctuary or butterfly farm, but we've seen wild donkeys every time while driving out to Baby Beach and Arikok.

Driving out to Natural Bridge will show you the north side of the island where it is vastly different from the beaches on the other side of the island.  You won't spend much time there as there isn't much to do other than take in the sights and if you are daring, you could go down a ladder at some vantage points to the water.  Your rental car will also get quite the workout on the dirt roads out that way.

When we visited Aruba on a land vacation we actually got Dutch pancakes one day at a restaurant at The Dutch Pancake House (https://www.thedutchpancakehouse.com/) which is in the Renaissance Marketplace and walkable from the cruise port.  It can be tough to find a parking spot there and you have to pay for parking at a meter, so that may be something to do before/after the car rental.