select records from postgres where timestamp is in certain range

SELECT * 
FROM reservations 
WHERE arrival >= '2012-01-01'
AND arrival < '2013-01-01'
   ;

BTW if the distribution of values indicates that an index scan will not be the worth (for example if all the values are in 2012), the optimiser could still choose a full table scan. YMMV. Explain is your friend.