Turks & Caicos Recommendations, Tips, and Tricks

Turks and Caicos is one of the most luxurious and beautiful islands I have been to. Crystal clear waters, blue skies, amazing restaurants, and a tropical aesthetic. I recently visited Turks during the pandemic, and although we would have probably done more activities without a pandemic, we still had the most relaxing vacation.

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Things To Know Before Booking

You may have been to islands on your own travels and realized they are relatively cheap. Not Turks and Caicos. Turks is a luxurious island which is maybe more expensive than some may think. Cab rides, food, alcohol, and accommodations are quite expensive. For example, a 24 pack of beer at the grocery store was $70 USD and a pack of strawberries $12 USD. All the cabs we took were based on a per person pay structure. Usually an eight minute cab ride was $8 a person each way.

Pandemic Tip: You must provide a negative PCR COVID test before entering the country. I underlined PCR because a rapid test will not be accepted. You also will need to have insurance from one of the companies they recommend and fill out a profile on the tourism website. All this information can be found on their tourism website.

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Where We Stayed

Villa Islander was one of the most unique and beautifully designed villas I’ve stayed in. I would 100% recommend it to any luxurious travellers out there looking to stay in Turks and Caicos. Alessandro is an amazing host who personally greets you and sends you off. The villa accommodates eight guests and has everything you need for your stay. It includes a beautiful pool, kitchen, and a private walkway to the beach which is a one minute walk. Security, beach set up services, and daily house cleaning is provided in your booking.

My 1st recommendation for this villa is to book Arlene for as many meals as possible. She is the cook for the villa and some of our best meals on the island were made by her.

My 2nd recommendation is to allow Bear to stay around the villa with you. He is the villa dog, or “Potcake” as they say in Turks. He was so friendly and would go on daily walks with you all the way down the beach. We loved that he was a part of our vacation.

Here is the link for Villa Islander https://www.villaislander.com/thevilla2

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Favourite Restaurants

Coco Bistro

When I say we should have not waited for Coco Bistro for our last night, I mean it. We would have definitely dined here more than once. It is rated the #1 restaurant on the island for a reason. Everything about this restaurant is amazing. Awesome staff, beautiful scenery, and most importantly, amazing food.

Tip: Make sure to book your reservation ahead of time. They are always fully booked.

Coco Van

Not surprising that our second favourite restaurant was the Coco Van, which is located right beside Coco Bistro. The van is more casual seating with picnic tables. You order at the front and bring a number to your table. We went for lunch and the food was outstanding. It is definitely a must. We also went to the van before dinner at Coco Bistro to grab drinks while our table was getting ready.

Conch Shack

I would say The Conch Shack is more of a tourist attraction but it is also a must. It has an awesome vibe and is located right on the beach. Conch is one of the items Turks is known for and it actually was pretty good! We had it prepared in a few different ways and all dishes were pretty delicious (mostly deep fried). If you aren't into trying Conch, don't worry, there are other options on the menu as well. Overall great atmosphere and a cool place to check out.

Grace Bay Club- Infiniti Restaurant & Raw Bar

We went to Infiniti Restaurant & Raw Bar one night for dinner and it didn't disappoint. The food was very good, but I would say the best part of this restaurant was the décor. It was absolutely beautiful and you cannot beat the atmosphere.

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Favourite "Attraction" - Potcake Place

If you aren't a dog person I would just skip right past this part. Right when we got off the plane, we saw a stray puppy at the airport and our cab driver described it as a "Potcake". He characterized the dog this way because locals will always feed the dogs out of the bottom of the pots.

Then we arrived at our villa to our very own Potcake, "Bear"! He was found when they were building the villa and became the villa pet. Our villa staff saw how much we loved bear and recommended that we go to Potcake Place. It is an adoption agency for all the puppies on the island that they rescue.

Potcake place gives over 800 puppies a year new homes. They are a not-for-profit organization with volunteers working on a daily basis. The puppies are free to adopt, but you need to pay for them to be on the plane. A donation is also asked of you to cover all the puppies shots and food from Potcake place.

The best part about Potcake place, which I believe is a must do, is the daily walk program. If you line up outside Potcake place before 10am you get to walk a puppy for a few hours to get them socialized with humans before they depart to their forever home. We got to take Riley two days in a row to the beach and a local café. It is such an amazing program and we truly fell in love with Potcake place and everything they do. If you are a dog lover this is a MUST.

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Tips & Tricks

1. My first recommendation is to stay near Grace Bay Beach and the downtown area. Our villa was only around a 7 minute drive away from downtown and it’s the farthest I would want to be. This advice pertains to you if you know you want to go to all the best known restaurants and bars. If cabs were cheaper it would be a different story, but because rides are pricy it added up quickly as most of our places of interest were in the downtown area.

2. Secondly, make sure to negotiate each cab ride before you take the ride. We found the initial price wasn’t the price you had to pay if you talked them down.

3. Renting a car. You may think it’s a good idea to rent a car, but warning: they drive on the left side of the road and many cars had the steering wheel on the right side. We were thinking about renting a car but were glad we didn’t.

4. Ask your cab driver or local driver to take you to a liquor store that the locals go to. This saved us a ton of money when purchasing beer and liquor. At the grocery store we would go to for food (IGA), a case of beer was $70 USD and where we went we got two cases for $90 USD.