Turks and Caicos recommendations

[mikef]

I posted last year about flying to Barbados on air miles this winter and asked for recommendations for accommodation. You folks gave great advice on here and we stayed at Sugar Bay which we really liked (in fact we liked the whole holiday)

Looking forward to next winter, I've blown air miles on flights to Turks and Caicos, for the main reason that it's a direct flight to somewhere we haven't stayed before

If anyone has been recently, I'd be interested in recommendations for accommodation (all-inclusive if good, otherwise with nearby options for meals out) and anything else holiday-related.

I've been resident in the Bahamas nearby, so know what to expect in terms of climate and food costs (having to ship everything in gets expensive), your other tips more than welcome. When I was living in the region, T&C was more noted for political corruption than vacation infrastructure...

[Sport_Turismo_GTS]

mikef said:

I posted last year about flying to Barbados on air miles this winter and asked for recommendations for accommodation. You folks gave great advice on here and we stayed at Sugar Bay which we really liked (in fact we liked the whole holiday)

Looking forward to next winter, I've blown air miles on flights to Turks and Caicos, for the main reason that it's a direct flight to somewhere we haven't stayed before

If anyone has been recently, I'd be interested in recommendations for accommodation (all-inclusive if good, otherwise with nearby options for meals out) and anything else holiday-related.

I've been resident in the Bahamas nearby, so know what to expect in terms of climate and food costs (having to ship everything in gets expensive), your other tips more than welcome. When I was living in the region, T&C was more noted for political corruption than vacation infrastructure...

I’m off to Grace Bay Club next week, so will let you know how it is, once I’ve been there for a couple of days!

[mikef]

Cheers - that might be pushing our budget (but Beaches isn't so far away in price and looks bigger than we might like)

[Doggleg]

Assuming you're only interested in Providenciales, then all of the hotels are expensive I'm afraid, some of them are stupidly expensive. I learnt to kiteboard there years ago and have been back most years since then. Wife and I spend most of our time on Long Bay kiting so not really bothered about being on Grace Bay. We've stayed in Ports of Call several times. It's probably the best value, simple, breakfast included and close to the shops and restaurants. If you want Grace Bay beach then it's across the street.

In all the years I've been going, I never had any problems until the last time we were there when our hire car got broken into. They stole a half bottle of wine from the floor of the car and left $5k of kite gear which was in the back. If it was just the window it probably wouldn't have cost much but they tried to prise the door open and damaged the panels.

I've only been to the Bahamas a couple of times and Bimini a few times but Providenciales is more expensive than both, but also much nicer.

[mikef]

Thanks. Comparing to the Bahamas, I wouldn't really want to spend a holiday in Nassau or FreePort, but the Out Islands are amazing. Green Turtle Cay in particular was gorgeous, but I'm no longer up to overnight crossings on the mail boat, sleeping on crates of pineapples

[808 Estate]

We stayed at the Sands on a B&B deal. Lovely beach (and snorkeling) but the hotel food was expensive. However the local town is only a 10 minute walk away and has a few more options. Definitely visit Grace's Cottage restaurant. Its about a 5 min walk from the hotel. Absolutely stunning food and worth every $. There is also the Graceway Gourmet supermarket, although calling it that is an injustice. Huge salad bar and ready cooked meals for taking away as well as an amazing selection of fresh produce. We often got a salad or similar and took to the beach to eat. There are also several trips to BBQ evenings which are great if you like jerked chicken. Look for the stalls with the longest queue.

[davek_964]

Any chance you could add some comments to my thread for Barbados here? https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Sugar Bay is one of the places we're considering but it gets some quite mixed reviews - your recent experience would be handy.

[mikef]

davek_964 said:

Any chance you could add some comments to my thread for Barbados here? https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Sugar Bay is one of the places we're considering but it gets some quite mixed reviews - your recent experience would be handy.

Just done that - overall we liked Sugar Bay

[mikef]

808 Estate said:

We stayed at the Sands on a B&B deal

Thanks - we're currently weighing up the cost of all-inclusive vs self-catering or B&B - we do like to just let someone else do the catering, but it doesn't come cheap anywhere in the Caribbean

[Sport_Turismo_GTS]

Well, it’s been a few days, so a few observations on Grace Bay Club:

Excellent location, our room is great and close to one of the pools. The staff are excellent - friendly and enthusiastic. Some of the food here is exceptional and there is a decent amount of variety,

The main negative is the price - obviously the hotel itself is very expensive - we managed to get a deal with free breakfast, but lunch, dinner and drinks are all serious cash. The drinks do at least appear to be decent sized measures!

The cost wasn’t really a surprise as I’d done some research and seen some of the online menus, and I know Turks is pretty expensive anyway, however I’m sure there are probably better value offerings on the island.

It’s a very short walk to a range of local restaurants so we’ll be trying some alternatives in the next few days - looking at those menus, prices are not massively cheaper though.

There are some nice touches - unlimited bottled water in your room, fresh fruit brought to you by the pool etc, but the resort is actually quite big, so you don’t enjoy the personal touch that we’ve experienced in some high-end places. There are plenty of staff per person and they genuinely do their best to help you and make sure you are enjoying yourself.

Unfortunately we’ve not stayed elsewhere in Turks to compare against, so not sure how helpful this is?!

Finally, there are obviously a lot of Americans around - no major issues, but they don’t tend to speak quietly around the pool etc

Edited by Sport_Turismo_GTS on Sunday 4th February 23:15

[mikef]

Thanks. Good to know about Grace Bay. The missus is considering smaller all-inclusives like Alexandra Resort

To be honest, I can survive for a week on conch and grouper, I don’t need USDA steaks or gourmet cuisine in that part of the world

[Sport_Turismo_GTS]

mikef said:

Thanks. Good to know about Grace Bay. The missus is considering smaller all-inclusives like Alexandra Resort

To be honest, I can survive for a week on conch and grouper, I don’t need USDA steaks or gourmet cuisine in that part of the world

We’ve not gone for any steaks (yet), but have been hitting the Sushi menu pretty hard - expensive, but excellent!

There were no menu plan options here, otherwise we might have swallowed the cost upfront.

[omniflow]

Have you noticed anything untoward regarding security / safety?

The reason for asking is that a couple of people pointed out that the Bahamas had both a UK and US Government warning in place. When I dug a bit deeper, I found that this was indeed true and that they are currently a Level 2 security risk. This also applies to the Turks and Caicos.

I'd be interested to hear anything about what this actually means from a day to day perspective. I suspect in an AI resort in means very little in practice. There may be an extra guard on the gate to the compound but you're unlikely to notice this.

[mikef]

US Travel Advisory for both is Level 2 (exercise increased caution) - same as United Kingdom

[mikef]

omniflow said:

I'd be interested to hear anything about what this actually means from a day to day perspective

In Nassau, it means don't go "over the hill" to the south-east side of town, especially at night. You'd get similar advice about areas of any city

The Bahamas is a drug-trafficking route into the US, given its location. Turks and Caicos probably less so as it's further from Florida for a cigarette boat run

[omniflow]

mikef said:

In Nassau, it means don't go "over the hill" to the south-east side of town, especially at night. You'd get similar advice about areas of any city

The Bahamas is a drug-trafficking route into the US, given its location. Turks and Caicos probably less so as it's further from Florida for a cigarette boat run

Yeah - I'm not overly concerned, but it did have me take a quick look at alternative destinations (for an hour or so). We would probably stay on Eleuthera in a rental property (we're not into this whole AI thing) and would fly there directly from Miami or similar. Staying in a relatively isolated private rental does add a little bit to the risk profile, but I still think I'm ok with it.

I'm also trying to figure out whether to fly back to the UK from Nassau, or whether to go back to Miami and return home from there. We would be flying with Virgin. I am aware that flights from Nassau are only 3 times / week, but we could make that work. The lounge that Virgin use at Miami is pretty ropey, I can't imagine the Nassau one being significantly worse.

[mikef]

Eleuthera (the locals say "Lootra") is a nice choice. The pink (coral, so a bit scratchy) beaches are famous and in my recollection pretty much empty. Governor's Harbour was a laid-back small town to go drinking

That was one of my mail-boat destinations, about as far away from Virgin Upper Class as you can get

[JDiz]

Try to get down to Taylor bay in Turks. Very calm and warm water. Lovely beach.

For the Bahamas, Eleuthera is nice, I’d go Exuma over it though as more things to do.
Feed wild turtles at hoopers bay.
Feed wild sting rays at chat n chill, pig roast on Sundays too
Hire a boat to explore Elizabeth harbour.
Swimming pigs tour inc thunderball grotto, iguanas, nurse sharks.
And as with Eleuthera loads of empty beaches.