Indulge in the luxury resorts, turquoise waters and powder-white sand of your new island paradise.
You are fated to fall in love with a place where the sun shines 350 days of the year. Such is the case with Turks and Caicos Islands, a British territory – two sets of tropical islands tucked just underneath the Bahamas.
Characterized by a thousand different shades of blue, the cerulean waters – along with cloudless skies, soft trade winds and golden sand – anchor an incredible luxury beach vacation here, at Grace Bay Beach in particular.
Which way to the water?
Most of the islands’ top resorts call Grace Bay Beach home, a languid three-mile stretch of perfect sand – no rocks, seaweed or pollution – consistently voted into international top-10 lists. A barrier reef about a mile offshore keeps the waters safe and calm.
When you tire of staring out at the water, watching the colors shift – which you won’t – there are dozens of ways to directly engage. In addition to snorkeling, paddling, fishing, skiing, sailing and sand-castling, visitors to Turks and Caicos try their hand at various wind sports – kite-surfing, kite-boarding, wind-surfing, even electric foil surfing. The scuba diving is beyond incredible, the excellent visibility bringing the coral reefs and abundant marine life into crystal-clear view.
What is your pleasure?
Activity requires sustenance! Happily, the culinary culture here combines the tastes and traditions of numerous heritages – African, Jamaican, Hispaniolan and Bahamian, plus those of the Indigenous Taíno people.
The luxury resorts champion sustainable and locavore-forward menus, maintaining a constant supply of culinary innovation. And when it’s time to step out, local restaurants, of course, follow suit, with fresh grouper done in a myriad of ways, succulent conch ceviche and grilled lobster. Conch fritters seem to start every meal. Weekly fish fries throughout the islands draw people together on the beach, shoes kicked off, rosé in hand.
How far will you venture?
When the Tully Luxury Travel Designers are curating your luxury trip to Turks and Caicos, you will be certain to get back to nature. Straying off the beaten path brings a host of surprises. The caves and geological oddities that dot the northern coastline of both North and Middle Caicos provide ample opportunity to explore, as you sink into the serenity of secluded inlets. The ponds of North Caicos are protected wetlands for flamingos, egrets and herons, with deserted beaches right nearby. And December to March sees humpback whales making their annual way south via the Turks Passage.
Where are you staying?
Tully Luxury Travel is ready with a tantalizing list of properties to settle into, with Providenciales being the main island of five-star choice – including The Palms, The Shore Club and the Ritz-Carlton.
New to the scene, off to one side of Grace Bay Beach sits the Wymara Resort, its sand-coloured umbrellas awaiting the pleasure of your company, rafts of pink bougainvillea ringing the pool. Part of the Leading Hotels of the World collection, this is barefoot-chic appeal at its finest, elevated by 90 suites, each with opulent amenities, sumptuous furnishings and full kitchens.
For a shade more privacy and way more space, the Wymara Villas on the Providenciales south coast at Turtle Tail Bay sports a string of multi-bedroom apartments. You will have no trouble relaxing on front and back terraces and pools, and throughout the sun-drenched lounge nooks that cascade down the limestone cliffs to the water – which, astoundingly, is a different colour every hour.
