Orietta Gaspari
Commonly called Provo, this 38-square-mile island is low, flat, and home to around 48,000 people as well as the international airport of the Turks and Caicos Islands. It´s also the country´s tourism powerhouse, known for some of the Caribbean’s most spectacular beaches, luxury resorts, clear turquoise waters, and fairly pricey prices – arguably second in the Caribbean only to St. Barts. Here´s a quick overview:
The main hub for T&C tourism is Grace Bay/The Bight, on Provo´s northeastern coast, facing the Atlantic Ocean but protected by a barrier reef. The beach here (top) is about 12 miles long, making it one of the longest uninterrupted white-sand strands in the Caribbean and giving it a spacious feel even during peak travel seasons, with long sections that remain quiet and uncrowded. Grace Bay´s bright white sand is soft and powdery, and its waters calm, clear, and shallow, making them ideal for swimming, standup paddleboarding, kayaking, and snorkeling. It´s lined with 20 or so hotels and resorts (out of around 50 on Provo as a whole), ranging from large luxury properties to boutique beachfront hotels and condo-resorts, and from major international luxury brands to independently operated upscale properties. Running parallel to all this is Grace Bay Road (above), home to various shops, restaurants, and bars.
Other parts of Provo with tourism developments include Leeward and Blue Hills, Long Bay, Northwest Point, and the Turtle Tail/Chalk Sound area, with other superb beaches including:
Long Bay Beach – known for kiteboarding and shallow waters (above).
Taylor Bay Beach – a quieter, family-friendly cove with shallow swimming.
Sapodilla Bay and Blue Hills Beach – peaceful, scenic and less developed stretches.
Pelican Beach – near the Bight area, popular for snorkeling and day trips.
Tim Sackton
There´s plenty to explore off the sand as well, such as:
Chalk Sound National Park – in the southwest, 20 minutes or so from Grace Bay, this striking, three-mile-long turquoise lagoon is dotted by tiny limestone islets, ideal for kayaking, paddleboarding, nature walks, and stunning photo ops.
Little Water Cay (Iguana Island) – a nature sanctuary near the Leeward area – and a 15-minute boat ride from Grace Bay - where visitors can stroll a boardwalk to see the endangered Turks and Caicos rock iguana.
Sapodilla Bay Hill Rock Carvings – On a small bluff in the south, a 20-minute drive from Grace Bay, these are historic inscriptions left by shipwrecked sailors mostly during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Cheshire Hall Plantation – Founded in the late 18th-century by pro-British refugees from the early United States, this 5,000-acre cotton plantation on a hilltop in central Provo just ten minutes from Grace Bay. Managed by the Turks and Caicos National Trust. It´s largely in ruins but still makes for a pretty interesting visit.
Junkanoo Museum – Stemming from festivals of music and dance held by African slaves in the Bahamas, it was brought here by Bahamians beginning in the early 20th century, and this museum in Five Cays (near the airport and about a 20-minute drive from Grace Bay) celebrates it through displays of costumes, music, and community arts.
Interested in more info? Check out TurksandCaicosTourism.com.
Comments