Why Visit the Turks and Caicos Islands?
The World’s Best Beach (everyone agrees)
The beaches of the Turks and Caicos Islands are consistently rated the best in the world. Grace Bay Beach has garnered TripAdvisor’s Best Beach Destination several years in a row and also top ranked the top beach by Conde Nast Traveller.
The Caribbean’s Best Diving (and exceptional snorkelling)
We have the third largest barrier reef in the world, and Scuba Diving Magazine readers have rated Turks and Caicos as the best diving in the Caribbean region.
Unfortunately, many reefs of the Caribbean have been killed by reckless environmental policies and pollution. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, nearly 90% of reefs in the Caribbean are dead.
Our reefs are among the least threatened in the entire region (according to the World Resource Institute).
The whole slew of water sports and activities
We have surfing, parasailing, kiteboarding, surfing, wind surfing, diving, snorkeling, stand up paddle boarding, kayaking, boating, sailing, snuba, jet skis (and jet boats), reef fishing, whale-watching, aqua-boats, bone fishing, deep sea fishing and boat cruises. (We’ve probably missed a few others.)
Providenciales (and our other islands) are each rather small, so if the wind isn’t right in one area, you can just drive to another area 15 minutes away on the opposite shore. If the wind is great, there’s a whole array of wind-based activities. If it’s calm, there’s snorkelling, diving and fishing.
There’s just always something to do. Or you could just relax on Grace Bay Beach, the best beach in the world.
Quick and Easy to Get Here
We’re located 1 hour and 9 minutes from Miami, or 2 hours and 36 minutes from New York City. You can’t get much closer than that. We have direct flights from New York City, Miami, Atlanta, Charlotte, Toronto, and London.
Let’s face it. If you have a week off for vacation, do you really want to spend 20 hours and 16 minutes flying from New York to Bali? Or 9 hours and 44 minutes flying from Miami to Honolulu? Doesn’t sound like fun to us.
Oh, and Americans and Europeans don't need a visa.
Excellent weather - all year round
The weather's in the 80s year round. We don’t get much rain, and its commonly said that we have 360 days of sun a year. Hurricanes tend to pass us on the south (and hit Hispaniola) or pass north (and hit the Bahamas or eastern US).
We’re hip, but not mainstream
We don’t have the crowds of Nassau or Montego Bay, and that’s not a bad thing. 20 years ago, nobody even knew where the Turks and Caicos was, and the first resort on Providenciales was only built in the 80s. We’re one of the countries where half the people you talk to won’t even know where it is, and 99% would never have been here.
Many celebrities own homes here (Bruce Willis, Donna Karan, Keith Richards), got married here (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie), honeymooned here (Eva Longoria and Tony Parker, Bruce Willis and Emma Heming), or just simply vacationed here (Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise, Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney, Britney Spears, Madonna, Donatella Versace, Greg Norman, Bill Gates, Hugh Jackman, Michael J Fox, Kristen Stewart, Mel Gibson and the list goes on).
Stable, English-speaking British colony (but we use the US Dollar)
We're a British Overseas Territory with our own culture and heritage. We’re not a third-world banana republic, with a foreign language, weird power sockets and Monopoly® money of dubious value. We have the Union Jack on our flag, we speak English, we use the good ol’ US Dollar, and we have US style power outlets and voltages.
We've never had a revolution or coup d'etat and we have never assassinated our governors or politicians. Just one less thing to worry about on your vacation.
Why not the Turks and Caicos Islands?
We don’t have a big nightlife scene and only one casino (go to Las Vegas). Drugs aren’t legal here (go to Amsterdam). The temperature is on average in the 80’s and we don’t have any winter sports (go to Canada). We don’t have any motels or super-budget accommodation (we can’t beat the US hotel prices, with their system of government-subsidized minimum wage employees).
If you’re into culture-shock or slum tourism, the Turks and Caicos Islands isn’t for you. Whereas we certainly have an abundance of poor civil planning and ugly buildings, it’s nothing like the squalor of other parts of the Caribbean, Central America, Africa or Asia.
