Turks & Caicos

Any recommendations for where to stay, villas to rent? We prefer the quieter places, not big on night life, ocean front, no all inclusive type resorts. Just the beach, nice restaurants, a place to recharge. We have been going to St. Barts for years and renting private villas through Wimco. We love SB but wanting to go someplace new to us.

Can’t go wrong with seven stars. Great location near lots of restaurants and shops, they have an adult pool now too just check with them about how construction of the Ritz next door might affect your room We also like the Somerset, though it’s a little further from the main restaurant strip. Both should be fairly quiet TBH there’s been a not-insignificant amount of crime reported lately so I’d be wary of standalone villas.

Grand Cayman.

:slight_smile:

George

Hotel/Airbnb rec for cayman?
We’ve been to Turks and Caicos 4 times in the last 5 years but thinking of changing to cayman next year.
Have 2 smallish kids.

At TC we stayed at Beaches resort which is super kid friendly but probably not what the Op is seeking :wink:

Cayman always seems insanely expensive to me whenever I look at hotels there.

Really for a relaxed beach for a trip without kids I don’t think you can beat cap jaluca in Anguilla.

Grand Turk would seem to fit the brief. I’ll post more comments when I get to a keyboard.

That’s on Provo?

With small kids a condo is a must. There are many along 7mb from $1000+ a night to $250 in off season. The north side is quieter but a car is needed.

start here.

George

Thanks George… is Cayman just that much more expensive than everywhere else? I mean $1000+ per night? is that outrageous? hahaha

is there a reason for that? is there something special about cayman vs say Provo (T&C), Negril, bahamas, etc…?

I don’t think Cayman is that much more expensive than T&C. Certainly more than Jamaica but I think that is obvious. I have not been to Bahamas. Cayman has a very high standard of living for the Caribbean. Good hospitals, infrastructure and low crime.
The West side (7mile Beach) is very built up with large condos, resorts etc. The East end is much more rustic. There are no all inclusive resorts. Cayman is really all about the water, with fantastic diving and snorkeling. The island itself especially the interior is pretty scrubby and flat.

George

We just got back from Grand Cayman. Stayed at the Kimpton Seafire. Very nice. Lots of families and kids. Good service. Pretty good food. I’d go back, but also swayed by the fact I love golf and there a couple decent courses on the island. Rumor is a four seasons is being built on seven mile beach, but seems like at least a couple years away.

Turks & Caicos felt a little more natural and unspoiled to me, for sure, when compared to something like Grand Cayman. We stayed there maybe 10 years ago at the Cuisinart, which was surprisingly great given the resort is named after a blender.

St. Barts is probably my favorite ever Caribbean trip though. Also been about a decade since we’ve been there. Next to St. Barts, Mustique was phenomenal. Similar to St. Barts in that many people rent villas and there are some lavish ones on Mustique. For a hotel option, Cotton House is good.

We also just returned from GC. Stayed at the Ritz…lots of families with kids of all ages…and the additional pool and kids play area helped to make it not seem crowded…only complaint is the beach, which we found to be very crowded compared to the Ritz Amelia Island.

I was unaware of a Kimpton location until we were there…would definitely look at as an option.

Compared to Bahamas, found prices to be high…is what it is.

The nice thing about Turks is that almost all of the hotels are actually privately-owned condos with a hotel company that runs services, takes care of renting the rooms, etc. So finding a multi-bedroom suite with a kitchen, etc is very easy and the upcharge is not as bad as at a normal hotel chain.

Also since owners don’t have to rent out their rooms, hotels can be “full” with many empty rooms (so crowds don’t get crazy). I know at the Somerset, for example, many of the largest suites are empty most of the time.

Turks & Caicos are on my list to visit. Been going to Cayman almost 20 years, very safe. A lot of the island has been bought up by Ken Dart’s companies. Dart Enterprises owns the Ritz, Seafire, Camana Bay, and I think the old Hyatt as well many commercial buildings/residential projects, etc. All his projects seem to be top notch…

I realize my.comments above are a bit off as there definitely seem to be a lot of condos available in GC at reasonable prices. Hotels seem pricey to me if you need suites. Of course I realize this as flights to GC are 1/2 that of Turks for my next trip, so I think we might give Cayman a try! Looking at Coral Stone club…
.

If budget allows look at. http://www.caribclub.com

Really phenomenal, great location.

George

Kind of late to the party here, but we really enjoyed our stay at Seven Stars, located on Grace Bay beach on Provo. It’s a condo-style property with large rooms and a fairly quiet vibe. We had a 1-br, 1.5-ba that was ~1800sq ft, and it was quite nice. I think the 2 and 3 br plans have the same core living area, but with more bedrooms on the other side of the main room. Be warned that "nice’ restaurants weren’t in ready supply when we were there a few years ago. I’d call it more “adequate”, though prices remain on the higher end. We did enjoy Kitchen 218 at the Beach House resort, but the other popular spots were just ok.

That’s the other one we are looking at. Price isn’t too bad, exactly the same as the similar setup we were looking at in Turks. Under 1k a night before tax for a 2 bed.

I really like it. The condos are huge. Very high end. Plus you have a really nice restaurant called Luca in the bldg. They will do room service and they have waiters on the beach for drinks. It is a nice hybrid of hotel/condo. Parking is simple and included (IIRC) also

George

The Meridian Club on Pine Cay in the T&C is quite nice.