The Turks and Caicos Islands are located in the Atlantic Ocean southeast of the Bahamas and are known as one of the 5 most beautiful diving areas in the Caribbean. The British overseas territory has a total of 30 islands. The largest and best known islands are Providenciales (called Provo for short) and Grand Turk.
Due to the available flight connections and the fact that Grand Turk is a popular cruise ship destination, we chose the island of Providenciales.
We booked a flight from Zurich via Toronto to Providenciales via AirCanada for around $800. We spent the 13 hours in Toronto at the airport hotel Fairfield Inn Suites by Mariott. In the landmark of Toronto, the CN Tower, we enjoyed a more or less delicious dinner in the 360Degree revolving restaurant. Massively overpaid average food, but the view at night over the whole city is worth it. Especially as a visit to the tower without the restaurant would also cost $40 per person. Flight duration:
Zurich - Toronto 8.45h
Toronto - Providenciales 3.50h Overnight stay at airport hotel: approx. $100 per night in double room
Travel distance airport hotel > downtown: approx. 24min
Uber costs: approx. $38 one-way
Entry into Turks & Caicos
The entry at the airport in Providenciales goes smoothly, the airport is small and manageable. The luggage is waiting right behind passport control and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth welcomes you. Most of the airlines landing are American and Canadian, which tells us a lot about the tourist clientele. Mainly Americans and Canadians (also French-speaking Canadians, which sounds a bit like Russian :)
The official currency is US dollars.
Rent a car in Turks & Caicos
Checking in at the car rental company is done without queuing. Most tourists are picked up by hotel shuttles or take a taxi. We get a small Kia, which is left-hand drive and automatically assume that this indicates right-hand drive on the island. Despite the British past. However, the joy lasts only for a short time. There is left-hand traffic. Some rental cars are left-hand drive, some right-hand. So are the rest of the cars on the island. A colourful mix of American and British vehicles. The roads are wide and well maintained. There is a lot of traffic on the main roads, but it quickly becomes quiet on the side roads. There are no traffic lights, here everything is solved with roundabouts (Attention: drive around on the left! :)
Cost per day: $50
Hotels in Providenciales
Providenciales' tourist hotspot is located at Grace Bay. Turquoise blue water and white sand as far as the eye can see. Most of the resorts fit the island very well in terms of style and blend charmingly into the landscape. The only incongruous concrete bunker is the Ritz Carlton, but you can overlook that. One can only hope that it will remain with this one building sin.
The best accommodation on Providenciales: Dream Villas Provo
As we prefer smaller accommodations to large hotel complexes, we looked for a place to stay a little away from the hustle and bustle, in the bay opposite Grace Bay, the Blue Hills. The apartment complex Dream Villas Provo is built directly on the sea and consists of 6 small buildings with 2 flats in each. There is a ground floor flat with a terrace and an upper floor flat with a balcony and a small pool on the roof. In the middle of the complex is a large communal pool with 8 comfortable sun loungers and 2 hammocks. On the beach there are additional sun beds and 4 showers.
The one-bedroom flats are spacious and nicely furnished. The kitchen is better equipped than some kitchens at home and has a huge fridge with ice compartment, a gigantic stove-oven-microwave combo and a dishwasher. There is even a washing tower with washing machine and tumble dryer. So there is really nothing missing (a can opener would have been nice and a possibility to hang up the wet bathing clothes outside on the terrace). Detail.) The manager, Cineas, is incredibly friendly and repaired our non-functioning toaster on the very first day. The rest of the staff, who take care of the maintenance of the complex, are also very nice and discreet (they usually disappear as soon as they see you).
Price of Beach Front Junior Suite: approx. 2500$/week
Grocery shopping in Turks & Caicos
Various larger and smaller supermarkets are only a few minutes away by car and offer everything your heart desires. However, you have to dig a little deeper into your pocket, as it's common on islands. You should be prepared to pay $3 for 2 litres of milk and $4 for a packet of toast. Alcohol is particularly expensive and can only be bought from Monday to Saturday. The supermarkets are open every day from about 7:00 to 21:00 or even until 22:00.
Restaurants in Turks & Caicos There are numerous restaurants on Providenciales. Here, too, you have to budget rather generously and expect a simple dinner for 2 people to cost a good $150.
The most hyped is the Conch Shack in the Blue Hills, known from the Real Housewife programme. The pink beach restaurant is fully booked every evening and is always busy during the day. Wednesday evenings in particular are full house, due to the weekly performance of a local dance and music group. At the Conch Shack, you pay $7 for a beer and $22 for a conch salad. The location is very nice and totally Instagrammable, but the food can't keep up.
A restaurant recommendation for Providenciales is Bella Luna at Grace Bay. The Italian restaurant consists of a beautiful garden pizzeria and a ristorante upstairs. Downstairs you enjoy delicious stone-baked pizza, upstairs you are treated to pasta of all kinds and seafood. An armada of well-coordinated waiters ensures that you want for nothing.
Another good address is Mango Reef at Turtle Cove Marina. Here you eat excellent tuna starters and, during lobster season, excellent lobster dishes.
Other recommendations:
Baci Ristorante: romantic Italian restaurant at Turtle Cove Marina. Tip: Definitely try the Gamberi con Salsa di Burro all'aglio.
Barbetta House: dignified, relatively posh restaurant at the Somerset Resort in Grace Bay. Tip: red snapper with herb and nut crust and coconut rice.
Mr.Grouper: simple seafood restaurant with delicious fish dishes. Tip: Coconut crusted grouper with fried plantain.
The Deck at Seven Stars Hotel: cosy beach-terrace restaurant. Tip: The mixed sushi platter for starters.
72° West at The Palms: upscale ambience between pool and beach. Tip: When booking online, specify that you are celebrating an "Anniversary". Champagne and dessert on the house.
Bars in Turks & Caicos
There are several great bars on Providenciales, especially in the Grace Bay area. If you like sports bars, don't miss Danny Buoy's on Grace Bay Road. I highly recommend the frozen strawberry margarita and the fish tacos.
We also loved the Somewhere Cafe in The Bight area. The staff is insanely friendly and they say that this bar is the best place to enjoy the sunset. We can confirm this.
On the other side of the island at Long Bay Beach is the unique floating bar, Captain Oaks Tikibar. You can only get onto the floating raft by jet ski or boat. There is a boat shuttle for $20 per person, but it is only on request. You can contact them by phone or via Instagram. The shuttle leaves from the end of the Technology Drive.
Scuba diving in Turks & Caicos
On Providenciales there are several dive shops that offer classic scuba diving. The two biggest are Big Blue Collective and Dive Provo. We chose the latter and were not disappointed. The organisation is professional and the rental equipment is in top condition. It pays to book early here. When we wanted to book our diving days on site on Wednesday, there were only free places from Saturday. The diving school owns two boats in the Caicos Marina and Shipyard, which hold a total of 16 people. We were about 10-12 people on the boat on both days, including the two dive guides.
The diving is mainly on walls at the Northwest Point of Providenciales. The reef is relatively well preserved, but the colourfulness is very subtle. There are numerous small and large fish, and there is no shortage of tunas and barracudas. We saw sharks on all 4 dives, and relatively large reef sharks at that. We also saw a large sea turtle and a huge lobster. All in all, it was four very nice dives, even if not the most beautiful of our lives (they still remain unbeaten in Misool Raja Ampat).
Dive Sites visited:
The Crack
Black Coral Forest
Eals Garden
Shark Hotel
1 day of 2-tank boat diving: $154
Conclusion
All in all, Turks & Caicos was an absolute dream holiday for us. The island is beautiful, the people extremely friendly and you feel safe everywhere. There is hardly any crime. The slightly longer journey was worth it from our point of view and we were able to enjoy the 10 days to the full. The island offers many opportunities to keep busy, especially with water sports. But horse riding and buggy tours are also offered. You will never get bored. And yet you can also relax incredibly well. Even the main beach at Grace Bay was not very crowded in March (one of the months with the predicate "best time to travel"). The local dive guide said that it was never really crowded on the island and there was always plenty of space everywhere. This probably also has to do with the fact that it is a rather expensive holiday destination and many guests stay in their large rented villas including their own pool and beach area.