Island Paradise

I’m finally getting around to recapping my trip to the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean. And let me tell you it was absolute paradise! The pictures do NOT do it justice at all. The water was gorgeous, the food was amazing, and the beaches were insane! If you are debating heading here on vacation, I highly recommend you take the jump and book the flight. I wanted to go ahead and break down exactly what we did on the trip. Everything from where we stayed, to what we ate, and all the activities in between!

Home Away From Home

We stayed at a gorgeous villa called Long Bay Beach club. We had all three conjoining villas : Villa Eos, Villa Hyperion, and Villa Helios, for a total of 15 bedrooms. The villa was insane! It was right on the beach with three infinity pools, decks on the beach to layout, and a full service staff at your fingertips. From oceanfront suites to suites overlooking the jungle side of the island, the views were gorgeous. I highly recommend doing a luxury villa if you can, having the private beach made it feel like we were the only ones on the island. It also was awesome to be so close to the house staff for them to give you a little bit of the local information and suggestions we wouldn’t have otherwise gotten. If you’re traveling on a budget there are some amazing resorts we almost picked that are pretty reasonable. A few of my faves were :

The Amanyara
Seven Stars Resort + Spa (Where we had dinner one night on the sand!)
Como Parrot Cay

The Eats

A private chef is the way to eat in Turks and Caicos. I worked super closely with the chef all the way up to our arrival on the menus for every meal and it was SO worth it. We tried to do a mix of the traditional island food with an American twist and let me tell you, every single meal was mouthwatering. From the charred island red snapper to the conch, I was in heaven the entire time. All of our meals were three courses and had a little bit of island flavor. And on top of awesome food, the chef staff was so accommodating and the staff were just super cool people. I felt like I connected so much with them by the end of the trip and was so sad to leave them and the amazing food!

We also went out to eat for a few meals to get out of the villa and experience a little more Turks + Caicos. All of it was We went to the Seven Stars Resort + Spa for dinner on the beach one night. They setup a super gorgeous dinner and bonfire right on the beach for us complete with all the good food and drinks you can imagine. I tried to eat as much fish as possible during the trip and the Chilean Sea Bass did not disappoint. We went to the Solana Restaurant as well for brunch which was so good. We all know I’m a little biased to a champagne brunch but this brunch was so good and so pretty. We had plates and plates of fresh fruit, pancakes, eggs, pastries, and about everything else you can imagine for brunch! Highly recommend both Seven Stars for dinner and the Solana for brunch.

All The Fun

Horseback Riding

The number one thing I would recommend doing in Turks and Caicos was the horseback riding on the beach. I absolutely loved it. So relaxing and peaceful being on the horses just walking down the beach and into the water to cool off. I may be impartial since I rode horses for seven years and love them so much, but it was honestly my favorite moment of the trip. It was so amazing just absorbing the beauty of the island while on our ride. We booked our ride through Heritage Tours and it was perfect.

Jet Skiing

Self-explanatory. We had the jet ski company deliver the skis right to the beach in front of our house, which made it so much more fun in my opinion. You could romp them around and then pull them straight up to the shore which was so convenient. Jet skiing on the waves in the ocean was so much fun, so different than on a lake which is where we usually ride them. Highly recommend for an easy adrenaline rush that you can do right from the comfort of your own villa. We used just a local small company on the island because a lot of the big companies would charge a much larger fee to have them delivered. I’d recommend asking your villa staff or the resort you’re staying at for recommendations.

Yacht Day

The best day of our whole trip by far. If you haven’t done a boat day on a vacation or just ever, I highly recommend it. We had the absolute best time on the yachts. We arrived to the dock and were greeted with glasses of champagne as we got on the boat. The crew then took us on a cruise for about an hour to a gorgeous private beach. We anchored right near the beach and were able to hang on the boat, the beach, or the sandbar that extended out from the beach. It was a freaking blast. Both boats were blasting music, the champagne bottles kept popping, and we had a delicious lunch served that we could grab at our leisure. Basically a dream day. Everyone said that day was definitely their favorite day of the trip.

The Itinerary

Day 1

Arrive at the Villa
Welcome dinner on the deck overlooking the ocean by Chef Tiziano

Day 2

Breakfast on the deck by Chef Tiziano
Parasailing
Light lunch served at the villa
Horseback riding on the beach
Dinner at Seven Stars Resort + Spa
Day 3
Breakfast at the Solana
Shopping in Grace Bay
Jet Skiis delivered to the Villa
Dinner prepared by Chef Celia at the Villa
Sunset yacht cruise
Day 4
Pillowtop brunch on the sand
Yacht Day
Dinner prepared by Chef Giacomo at the Villa
Day 5
Breakfast on the deck prepared by Chef Celia
Beachfront massages
Lunch at Vix in Grace Bay
Beach time
Farewell dinner on the beach
Day 6
Travel day home

Tips + Tricks

Bring cash. Whenever I travel I always bring cash no matter what and it came in so handy in Turks. They do utilize the dollar currency which makes life so much easier but there aren’t a ton of ATMs around the island. I definitely needed the cash to tip our service people, which is customary on the island.
Everyone is on island time and I literally mean everyone. So don’t come to the island expecting to be rushed along or have a “go go go” mentality. Everyone likes to do things slowly and on their own time. Trying to book excursions and activities can be challenging but it all wound up working out for me. Plus, it helps that the people on the island are some of the nicest I’ve ever met!
Avoid high season. Turks and Caicos is expensive as it is, let alone during high season. High season is from December to April. We went in June and the weather was perfect and the island wasn’t too busy (except for Drake being three villas down from us lol).
Plan a boat day. Self-explanatory.
Try the conch! It is SO good and an island favorite. You have to try it in Turks. Our chef included it in a couple of different dishes so we can try it multiple ways and it was all delicious!

Hope this helps if you are planning a trip to Turks and Caicos. If you have any questions, leave a comment below and I’ll answer it! You can check out all my highlights from the trip on my Turks and Caicos highlight on my instagram.

Cheers babes! xx