travel adventures: turks and caicos

We just got back from a dreamy family vacation in Turks and Caicos! We decided to go to the beach for Winnie’s 3rd birthday and as a little family vacation. We love going to new places, and hadn’t been to Turks and Caicos, but heard it was incredible. And truly…WOW! It was SO stunning! White sand beaches, crystal clear water – just perfect all around. In this blog post, I’m going to share all the details on our trip!

QUICK LOGISTICS/OVERVIEW

FLIGHTS / We flew from Nashville to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, with a connection in Atlanta. Providenciales, also called Provo, is the main island tourists would visit in Turks and Caicos. There’s also North Caicos, Middle Caicos, and East Caicos, but for the most part, when you hear someone going to Turks and Caicos, they are likely going to Provo.

GETTING AROUND / We rented a car and honestly, I absolutely would recommend doing this! You can definitely get a taxi to/from airport and out and about, but it was super necessary for us to have a car because we wanted to bop around to different beaches throughout the trip. This was our first trip not bringing our usual travel carseats (Cosco Scenera Next for Winnie, Cosco Finale DX 2 in 1 for Lucy). We ordered two RideSafer Travel Vests and they were awesome! I’d definitely recommend watching their YouTube videos to ensure you have it properly installed/a good fit. It was SO nice to not have to schlep a huge bag with two carseats through the airport and the RideSafer vests are just so nice for travel. They both fit easily inside a little bag inside Eric’s backpack! They would also be extra perfect for big city travel (like NYC, Mexico City, etc) where you are in and out of taxis/Ubers a lot.

LODGING / We stayed at an Airbnb in Grace Bay, just a quick 3 minute walk to the beach. The location was great and the girls loved the pool! It was also super well stocked with beach chairs, beach towels, cooler, umbrella, kitchen items, etc. which was so helpful. While we loved having the extra space, I think next time we’d stay at a hotel, simply for the amenities, more pools/hot tubs, and beach view.

BEACHES

All the beaches are public beaches, meaning the hotels can’t limit who goes on the beach! Anyone can go to any beach – yay! We obviously spent most of our time at the beach and only really scratched the surface of beaches to visit/explore in Turks and Caicos.

Here’s the ones we visited + loved!

GRACE BAY BEACH

This is one of the most popular areas of the island and for good reason! It’s a huge and stunning white sand beach on the northern part of the island. There are tons of hotels, restaurants, and things to do in this area. More about Grace Bay Beach HERE.

TAYLOR BAY

Ohhh this was SUCH a special spot! This small and quiet beach is on the southern, quieter part of the island (about a 20 min drive from Grace Bay). It’s the PERFECT for families with small kids as the water is super shallow and clear. So clear that we played with pool rings and could easily find them in the water/sand – crazy! The girls could walk so far out into the water and still be waist deep. More about Taylor Bay HERE.

SAPODILLA BAY

We loved our morning spent at Sapodilla Bay Beach! It’s super close to Taylor Bay, also on the southern end of the island. Sapodilla Bay is definitely more low key and quiet compared to Grace Bay Beach, but slightly more lively than Taylor Bay. There are a couple of beach vendors, including food, bars, and kayak/SUP/beach chair rentals. Similar to Taylor Bay, the water is super calm and clear — another great option for kids! More about Sapodilla Bay HERE.

HIDDEN BEACH

Super secluded and tranquil beach. The girls LOVED playing in this beach hut, too!

LITTLE WATER CAY (IGUANA IGLAND)

This was such a cool stop! The only way you can get to Little Water Cay (also called Iguana Island) is via boat. We stopped here on our 4 hour boat trip (via Caicos Dream Tours) and it was delightful! The girls loved seeing all the iguanas, and wandering in the shallow lagoon water. We walked across the island to what may be *the* most stunning beach ever! More about Little Water Cay HERE.

OTHER BEACHES

We also spent a morning at the beach near Smith’s Reef where we did our usual beach hang, wave jumping, swimming, sand play, but also got to snorkel, which was super fun! E and I took turns going out and we saw a ton of fish and turtles! Here’s a few other beaches we didn’t make it to: Bonefish Point, The Bight Reef (Coral Gardens – great for snorkeling), Malcom’s Road Beach, Sunset Beach, Long Way Beach, Leeward Beach

RESTAURANTS

We opted to lean into more casual dining vibes for this trip! I put a star* next to my top recommendations/favorite spots!

Cocovan* – casual and popular gourmet takeout food truck, right next to its fancier sister restaurant, Coco Bistro. The tuna with crispy rice was so delicious! We actually went here twice!

Da Conch Shack* – this was such a memorable dinner and our favorite spot. The restaurant is literally ON the beach (like picnic tables in the sand) and just such a great, laid back vibe. The food was delicious and the drinks were strong. They have live music on weekends and a Wednesday night band and DJ for a beach dance party!

Las Brisas* – another favorite from our trip was Las Brisas! The restaurant / hotel is located on the gorgeous Chalk Sound, and super close to both Taylor Bay and Sapodilla Bay Beach. The food was excellent, the staff was super attentive and nice, and the girls LOVED that we could use the hotel pool during/after we ate! We came after Sapodilla Bay Beach and stayed for several hours and it made for a really great day.

Castaway’s – casual dinner spot right in the main strip of Grace Bay area. Also had live music and that beach vibe (picnic tables in the sand) without being *on* the beach.

Omars – this was really yummy too! It was right on a bay beach and a pretty sunset view.

Flamingo Cafe – casual dinner spot right on Grace Bay Beach. We sat on the patio and saw a gorgeous sunset here. You can also sit on the beach and grab drinks from here.

Island Scoops – right next to Castaway’s was this great little ice cream shop!

Turkberry – frozen yogurt spot in Grace Bay area

Crest & Berry – smoothies and acai bowls! We came twice to get acai bowls and they were HUGE and delicious!

Turk’s Head Brewery – we actually didn’t plan to come here, but had extra time to kill on the way to the airport. It was a cute little taproom with lots of local beer. I

Here’s a few other restaurants that came recommended that we didn’t get to:

Infiniti, Coco Bistro, Mr Groupers, Bugaloos, Hemingways, Grace’s Cottage, Bay Bistro, Shark Bite, Magnolia Restaurant, Mango Reef

SHOP BEACH ITEMS

Hooded Towel Ponchos – SO glad I ordered these! They are super high quality hooded towel ponchos and the girls wore these daily. Highly recommend. FYI Lucy is newly five and in the 4-6 size and Winnie is newly 3 and in the 2-3 size.

Collapsible Sand Toy Set – the girls used this every single day! It was super small and easy to pack and comes with a water bag for easy rinse off.

Inflatable Body Boards – another HUGE hit for the girls, especially in the calmer and more shallow waters. They LOVED riding on these body boards and they were super easy to pack (just rolled out and inflated when we arrived).

Kids Water Shoes – glad we brought these too! While most of the beaches were super soft + sandy (vs rocky) it was nice to have something for them to wear on the beach/walking to and from the car.