Grace Bay, on the north shore of Providenciales, is the main beach and resort area of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and this guide covers the whole territory. The islands are a British Overseas Territory in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic, southeast of the Bahamas and about 160 kilometers north of Hispaniola, made up of eight main islands and many smaller cays of low, flat limestone ringed by reefs and shallow banks.
Providenciales, known locally as Provo, is home to most of the population and most visitors. Its long Grace Bay beach is lined with resorts, condos and villas, with a protected reef just offshore, while quieter areas such as Long Bay, Leeward and Chalk Sound offer rental homes with more space. Grand Turk, the historic capital, has a colonial town and a cruise port; North and Middle Caicos are green, rural and full of caves and empty beaches; and tiny Salt Cay is known for whale-watching in winter. The islands suit families, couples, divers and kiteboarders looking for clear, shallow water.
Grace Bay is the most popular base: about 8 kilometers of beach with condos, resorts and villas, plus restaurants and shops along the road behind it, so you can walk to the sand and to dinner. It suits first-time visitors and families who want calm water and convenience.
To the east, Leeward and the area near the island's eastern tip are quieter and more residential, with villas close to the beach and boat channels. Long Bay, on Provo's southern, windward shore, has rental homes along a beach with steady wind and shallow water that has made it a favorite for kiteboarding. In the southwest, villas around Chalk Sound overlook a turquoise lagoon dotted with tiny islets, and Taylor Bay and Sapodilla Bay are small beaches on the nearby south coast.
For a different pace, North and Middle Caicos have a few cottages and villas for travelers seeking solitude, and Grand Turk has small guest houses near its historic town.
As recently as 1964, Providenciales had no wheeled vehicles, paved roads, telephones or electricity; development began in the late 1960s, when a developer flew in property buyers and opened the first small hotel in 1967, and the island is the most developed in the territory. Before tourism there were three small settlements, Blue Hills, The Bight on Grace Bay and Five Cays, and the main road, the Leeward Highway, still runs east to west across the island.
Much of the water off Grace Bay lies within the Princess Alexandra National Park, which protects the beach, nearby cays and reefs such as Bight Reef, also called Coral Gardens, a popular snorkeling spot reached straight from the sand. Chalk Sound National Park, southwest of Downtown, is a bay about 5 kilometers long whose milky turquoise water is studded with small rocky islets, best explored by kayak. At the western end, Northwest Point Marine National Park protects reefs and saline lakes used by waterbirds, and the ruins of Cheshire Hall, a Loyalist cotton plantation from the 1790s, recall the island's colonial past.
Grand Turk, about 18 square kilometers, holds the capital, Cockburn Town, which Bermudian salt collectors helped found in the 17th century and which has been the seat of government since 1766. Its streets keep colonial buildings, and the Grand Turk Lighthouse, put up in 1852, stands near the island's northern end. In 1962 the astronaut John Glenn was brought ashore here after splashing down nearby at the end of his three orbits of the Earth.
Middle Caicos is the largest island in the territory but has only a very small resident population. It is known for Mudjin Harbour on its north shore, the Conch Bar Caves and dozens of Lucayan archaeological sites, and a causeway links it to greener North Caicos, where ferries from Providenciales arrive at Sandy Point. Salt Cay, a tiny island of old salt pans reached by small plane or ferry from Grand Turk, lies on the migration route of North Atlantic humpback whales, which pass through in the winter months.
The first inhabitants were Arawakan-speaking people who arrived from Hispaniola between about AD 500 and 800 and became the Lucayan, part of the wider Taíno world; the name Caicos comes from their words for a string of islands. Juan Ponce de León, in 1512, is often named as the first European to reach the islands, and the Lucayan population was soon wiped out by slavery and disease. From the mid-1600s, Bermudians came to rake salt with enslaved Africans, and salt remained the main export for two centuries. The Turks Islands are named for the Turk's cap cactus, whose red top recalls a fez.
Britain annexed the islands as part of the Bahamas in 1799, and they were later governed from Jamaica until 1962; they gained their own governor in 1973. Local culture shows in ripsaw music, played with a saw scraped like a percussion instrument, and in the national love of conch, eaten as fritters or in a fresh, lime-dressed salad.
Providenciales International Airport (PLS), which the government has renamed Howard Hamilton International Airport, is the main gateway, with direct flights from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom; it lies about 15 to 20 minutes by car from Grace Bay. JAGS McCartney International Airport (GDT) serves Grand Turk, and the Norman B. Saunders Sr. International Airport serves South Caicos; small airlines fly between the islands, and cruise ships call at Grand Turk.
There is no public bus service on Providenciales, so visitors rely on taxis or rental cars. Traffic drives on the left. Grace Bay itself is walkable, but a car is useful for reaching Long Bay, Chalk Sound, Taylor Bay and the supermarkets. Ferries from Provo cross to North Caicos, where you can rent a car to drive over the causeway to Middle Caicos. The US dollar is the currency, so visitors from the United States do not need to change money.
The Turks and Caicos Islands have a tropical savanna climate with steady trade winds and little change in temperature through the year: summer highs rarely exceed 33 degrees Celsius and winter nights rarely fall below 18. The sea is around 28 to 29 degrees in summer and 23 to 26 in winter. The islands are relatively dry for the region, and the most popular season runs from about December to April, when villas and condos on Grace Bay book up early.
The Atlantic hurricane season lasts from June to November. In 2008 Hurricane Ike badly damaged Grand Turk and South Caicos, and in September 2017 Hurricane Irma passed just south of the islands as a major hurricane, causing damage across the territory. Travel insurance and some flexibility in your plans make sense in late summer and autumn. Late spring and early summer bring warm, calm seas and fewer visitors, while winter is the season for humpback whales off Salt Cay and Grand Turk.
Geographically the islands lie in the Atlantic Ocean, in the Lucayan Archipelago with the Bahamas, rather than in the Caribbean Sea. They are usually grouped with the Caribbean for travel and culture, and they share its warm climate, reefs and white-sand beaches.
Grace Bay on Providenciales suits most first-time visitors, with walkable beachfront condos and villas. Long Bay suits kiteboarders and those wanting more space, Chalk Sound suits travelers who want lagoon views and quiet, and Taylor Bay and Sapodilla Bay are small beaches nearby on the south coast. North and Middle Caicos suit those seeking solitude.
Providenciales International Airport (PLS) is roughly 15 to 20 minutes by car from Grace Bay, depending on traffic and where you stay along the beach. There is no public bus, so most visitors take a taxi or pick up a rental car at the airport.
December to April is the most popular period, with pleasant temperatures and the lowest risk of storms, and it is also humpback whale season off Salt Cay and Grand Turk. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June to November, while late spring often brings calm seas and fewer visitors.
If you stay on Grace Bay you can walk to the beach, shops and restaurants and take taxis for longer trips. A rental car is useful for reaching Long Bay, Chalk Sound and Taylor Bay, since there is no public bus. Traffic drives on the left.
The US dollar is the official currency of the Turks and Caicos Islands, even though they are a British Overseas Territory. Cards are widely accepted on Providenciales, but carrying some cash helps on the smaller islands and for taxis.
Yes. Grace Bay has clear water and lies within Princess Alexandra National Park, where Bight Reef, also called Coral Gardens, can be snorkeled straight from the beach. Many condos and villas are within walking distance of the sand and have kitchens and pools.
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