With its perfect climate, gorgeous white-sand beaches, and turquoise water, many associate Turks and Caicos Islands with luxurious celebrity vacations. Celebrity visitors have included Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Bruce Willis, Will Smith, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Beyonce and Jay-Z, Prince, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Janet Jackson, Lebron James, Rhianna, Lionel Messi, and even more recently, the Kardashian sisters. Needless to say, this gorgeous island has earned its place as the top beach of 2018!
Grace Bay Beach, specifically, has earned the coveted first-place position as the world’s best beach (check it out here), so of course, we had to check it out! We traveled to Grace 
Bay for a quick 30-hour trip (2.5 hour flight from Charlotte, NC…we arrived at 11 a.m. Saturday, and went through customs, got a cab for a 15 minute ride, checked in, and was on the beach by noon!) in July of 2018, and while expensive, we could easily see why this was voted the top beach of 2018!
Grace Bay is located just 15 minutes away from the international airport in Providenciales, which is an island in the northwest Caicos Islands, a portion of the British Oversees Territory that spans all of Turks and Caicos. The beach itself is somewhere between 3-12 miles long, depending on who you talk to and how they measure. Grace Bay is often advertised as “12 miles long”, however, that 12 miles only applies if you measure the entire northern coast of Providenciales, or Provo for short. Regardless, the beach is very long, which is helpful in that it spreads out the guest population so that no area of the beach is too overly crowded – a huge plus in our book!
We stayed at the Coral Gardens on Grace Bay (check it out here) in Povo for our 1-day weekend getaway trip and were not disappointed! This boutique resort is a 
condominium-styled resort and was more than we had hoped for when we booked a last-minute trip – literally 2 days before our arrival date. We stayed in an oceanview suite condo that had a full kitchen, complete with Keurig, coffee pot, blender, stocked cabinets of dinnerware, and all kitchen appliances. If we had stayed longer than the 1 day we would have gotten groceries at the local store and made meals and drinks here to save money since it would have been so easy to do so. Definitely a good option to have! The full master suite included a king bed, a small bedroom “deck”, TV, and spacious bathroom, complete with a Jacuzzi tub. The condo also had a half bathroom down the hall, a washer and dryer, a fully furnished dining room and living room, and a breakfast bar at the kitchen counter, 
allowing for lots of space in the condo itself. The condo was fully furnished and included multiple TV’s and wifi, and we felt right at home. The best part of the condo, was, admittedly, the large balcony, which looked out over the pool and the ocean. Most of our time that we spent in the condo was actually spent outside on the balcony, relaxing in the lounge chairs or at the balcony table, taking in the views. Not only did Coral Gardens come with a beach (as a beachfront property), it also has 2 pools for guests to use – TWO! The office provides fresh towels, free book rentals, and a small selection of sunscreen and toiletries for purchase if you need it – convenient if you want to get on the beach ASAP and don’t want to waste time stopping at the store for sunscreen! (Pro Tip: if you’re checking a bag, throw sunscreen in there to bring with you – sunscreen is always WAY expensive on islands, like $25/bottle expensive!)
Even more perfect than the lodging was the location. Coral Gardens has probably the best location on the beach, hands down. Not only is it a quick 15 minutes from the airport (which is important when you only have 30 hours on the island), but it also is 
located right in front of a reef (The Bight Reef) that provides amazing snorkeling! You really get the best of both worlds in that you have this incredible, pristine, white-sand, turquoise-water, smooth beach, and then just 50 feet from the shoreline is an amazing reef that provides awesome snorkeling! You don’t even need to spend money to book a tour and spend time on a boat 
to get there! We brought our own snorkel masks and snorkeled for free, but it looked like they had rentals available on the beach as well. The reef itself is protected by buoys and you can’t go into the protected area, but you can swim around it and see lots of wildlife and coral. Even swimming around the area still means swimming overtop of the “unprotected” area without buoys, so you still get to dive down and get up close and 
personal – just don’t touch! Coral Gardens offers guests fresh towels and lounge chairs, and the beach attendant will set up chairs for you. He’s also the guardian of the reef, so if you go into the protected area he’ll blow his whistle at you – don’t say you weren’t warned 🙂 The good news is, we talked to the beach attendant who said he has been working at Coral Gardens for 12 years and had never seen or heard of shark sighting in those 12 years. There are small patches of reef closer to the shoreline too, so it’s a perfect spot for kiddos to learn to snorkel in shallow water too. Be sure to bring or buy sunscreen that doesn’t damage reefs!
All in all, the condominium location was perfect for us! While the accommodations were amazing as well, the location was really the sweet spot for us, and we would 100% return to Coral Gardens again and again! With only a quick 15 minute ride from the airport, ocean front views and access, and a protected reef it really was everything we could have wanted! We were also pleasantly surprised to find that it really wasn’t super crowded and we were really only sharing the beach with Coral Gardens guests. Coral Gardens is kind of off to itself, so we weren’t sharing the beach with resorts on either side of us because there were none 🙂
We would highly recommend Coral Gardens to anyone visiting Grace Bay. Pro Tip – go during “off season” when it is cheaper and less crowded. June-November is typically regarded as off season due to the potential for rain and hurricanes, so you do run that risk, however, when we went in July the weather was perfect and we had no rain. The temperature stayed around a perfect 88 degrees, sunny with a breeze, and amazingly refreshing water. For it being off-season the weather was pretty perfect!
If you’re headed to Turks, or thinking about heading that way be sure to check out Coral Gardens on Grace Bay in Providenciales! Their suite options include 1, 2, or 3 bedroom suites, all ranging from $260-$900/night depending on the room and season – truly something for everyone!
A few other things to note:
- As you have probably heard, Turks and Caicos is pretty expensive as far as islands go. We loved having the convenience of having Somewhere Café located right next
to Coral Gardens, and while we utilized that advantage, it was more expensive than the US. Since we were prepared for this it was fine, but it is something to note to be prepared for. At
Somewhere Café we had breakfast for $51 (before tip), which included a breakfast sandwich, burrito, side of potatoes, and 2 coffees. We also got virgin Pina Coladas for about $6 each and put our own rum in them. (Pro Tip – buy alcohol at Duty Free airport stores in the US before you leave…it’s WAY cheaper, and then all you have to pay for are mixers when you get to the island! We paid $16 for rum in the Charlotte airport, and then $2 on the island for every glass of coke we got to mix it with. Alcoholic drinks on the island looked like they tended to range between $12-$16 each.) - We had dinner down the street at Mr. Grouper for $78 (before tip), which included a coconut grouper plate and a coconut snapper plate, conch fritters, and 2 water bottles. Again, definitely a bit pricey, especially for a plate that doesn’t include steak or lobster.
- Taxis are typically large vans on Turks and Caicos. For the 15 minute ride to and from the airport we paid about $25 each time. For a ride home from dinner that was only a mile or two away it was about $14. The taxi from the airport was actually a shared taxi van with another couple, so don’t be surprised if they group you together when you get there for taxis.
- As mentioned before, we had a fully functioning kitchen with all the appliances. Had we stayed longer, we would have gotten groceries and made a few meals ourselves instead of eating out. Definitely a good option to have! Since we had a blender we also would have picked up Pina Colada mixes and made our own to bring to the beach with us if we had made a trip to the store – gotta take advantage of your options!
- Conch is a staple food in Turks and Caicos – they even have their very own conch
farm, which is the only one in the world! Be sure to check their conch out in some form while you’re there, whether that is conch fritters or ceviche or something else! Lobster is also big here, unfortunately, the season that we went was not lobster season, and as such, it was illegal to catch lobster at that time, so no restaurant served it. If you end up going to Turks and getting a chance to try it please let us know what you thought!
*This post was a collaboration with Coral Gardens on Grace Bay, but all opinions and photos are my own.
sure that you get some type of truck/SUV type vehicle that can handle uneven/unpaved roads. The resort is about 1.5 hours away from the main international airport in Belize City, and is smack dab in the middle of the jungle. It really is a mountain jungle retreat and it was absolutely incredible! In addition, the grounds are absolutely breathtaking and are beautifully manicured and well-taken care of. There are gorgeous flowers and plants everywhere and you really feel like you have escaped into an Eden oasis. We were originally concerned about the jungle being buggy, but April is the beginning of the dry season and the bugs really weren’t bad! They were definitely present, but we wore bug spray and didn’t have a problem at all!
view does come with a price. Not a steep one, and definitely not a deal-breaker, but there are about 4 flights of stairs to get up to that Mountain View building….a total of about 78 steps. It makes sense, as you normally have to get higher for a view, but it is TOTALLY worth it (attendants will carry your bags for you). The room itself was absolutely unbelievable….it included an enormous balcony with a private mini pool, a 2-person hot tub, and patio furniture set, complete with a balcony hammock. Most of the time we spent at the room was spent outside on our balcony. The room does not have WiFi or a TV, (none of the individual rooms do) in order to complete the jungle “escape”, which was actually really cool to fully unplug from the world. Both TV and Wifi are available down in the lobby building if you need them though!
a main lobby with TVs and WiFi available, free bike, kayak and paddleboard (SUP) rentals, amazing jungle hiking trails, and a ton of additional tours and activities available. Activities range from about $35-$175/person and you can experience anything from jungle safaris, cave expeditions, ancient ruins tours, horse riding, zip lining, rappelling, bird watching tours, and more! The resort will set all of these different activities up for you and arrange transportation if needed as well. We chose to go to the ruins of Xunantunich on our own since we had a rental car, which was about an hour and 45 minutes away (read more about that and what else to 
activities are fabulous! We took advantage of all the free options available at the 
resort as well, all of which were amazing! We did the Gazebo Hike one day to see the outstanding views at the top of the mountain. The hike only took us about 15 minutes, but was straight uphill, so we got a good workout. We were told it normally takes about 25-30 minutes to get to the top. It takes you right through the heart of the jungle, which is super cool. We were afraid it would be really hot and muggy, but it was surprisingly not – the foliage creates a canopy that shields you from the sun which was a lifesaver! We wore bug spray and were totally fine from bugs during the hike, so I would recommend planning for that. There was a secluded little gazebo at the top (we were the only ones up there) with spectacular 360-degree views of the Maya Mountains and Sibun River. This hike is a must-do while you stay at the resort – ESPECIALLY if you aren’t staying in a Mountain View Suite already! Another free activity that we loved was biking through the 
orange groves. The resort has their own orange grove on the premises at the base of the Sleeping Giant mountain, where they harvest and serve their own oranges. Their breakfast includes fresh-squeezed orange juice every morning that is absolutely INCREDIBLE that comes from their own groves. We borrowed the resort bikes and biked the 1-1.5 mile path to the end of the grove, stopping to pick fresh oranges off the trees for a refreshing snack. Something to note – this path is not 
through the 
jungle and therefore does not shield the sun, so be sure to wear sunscreen! We topped off our bike ride with a refreshing paddleboard trip up the Sibun River with the resort’s free SUP rentals. The river is safe to swim in and was clear all the way to the pebble bottom. The river runs right down to the base of the Sleeping Giant mountain, so you get that spectacular view the whole way.
down meal. The open-air seating area is on the top deck of the building, so you get to feel like you’re eating outside, and again, offers an incredible view. The menu features lots of local products, including cheese from the Mennonite community down the road, oranges from the resort trees, and veggies and herbs from the resort garden. Dinner is served at 6:30 and 7:30 every night. We tried coconut shrimp, mozzarella sticks, ribeye steak with onion rings, potatoes, veggies, shrimp bisque, papusa (an El Salvadorian dish of dough filled with beans/cheese/pork/shrimp and grilled), shrimp linguine, pollo asado (chicken/cheese), cheesecake, chocolate lava cake, and ayote en mile (traditional Belizean dessert of pumpkin slow simmered in 
cinnamon and spiced syrup). I know that sounds like a lot – but that was for 2 people for 3 3-course dinners 🙂 The continental breakfast buffet is about $12/person and includes a typical spread of eggs, bread, beans, potatoes, fruit, yogurt, cereal, and of course, fresh-squeezed orange juice. They seem to mix it up each morning by offering a different variety of eggs each day….spoiler alert: they’re all good! They also have a full bar that serves drinks all day, and are also available for some food throughout the day. Just a head’s up though, there is a 12.5% tax on all expenses, plus an additional 9% resort tax on all goods, so the bill will be a bit higher than what you expect unless you are factoring those additional taxes in on the front end. This restaurant is the only food option around unless you want to drive into town, but the prices were reasonable and we loved eating at Grove House every night so we didn’t feel the need to go elsewhere!
ourselves! There is a full bar on site that also serves food, complete with a taco bar that you just won’t be able to get enough of. We loved topping off our night with a huge ($7) plate of nachos, and starting the morning with their enormous footlong breakfast burritos ($6). They even have a reserve osmosis water system that filters and cleans the water so that you can drink it….it was the only place on the whole island where we actually drank non-bottled water.
Vieux Port is the main harbor and marina of Marseille, which is guarded by Fort Saint-Nicolas and Fort Saint-Jean. It’s the perfect place to eat, stop for a cappuccino (or glass of wine), or just spend time meandering through restaurants and shops. We did every Marseille meal here, and none of them disappointed! French food is absolutely AMAZING, the rumors are true 🙂 But more about that later….. (you can read about our favorite French foods to try 
Marseille, so you’ll find lots of adorable little soap shops with walls full of colorful bars of soap. One thing that DID surprise me was 
the lack of bakeries around town. Not that they weren’t there, but I was fully expecting to see a bakery around every turn with lots of bread and pastries, which was not the case. So, word to the wise, when you do find a bakery be sure to stop because you may not see another one for a while!
back to the 19th century. Situated on a hill that overlooks the city, the view from here offers amazing panoramic views of Marseille and is definitely worth carving some time out for. Be sure to look out over the Bay of Marseille at the Frioul archipelago from the vantage point of the basilica. One of the four islands that makes up this archipelago is If, which is the location of Chateau d’If, from the novel The Count of Monte Cristo. Admission is free and you can get to the basilica 
by walking, driving, or bus. Keep in mind that it is on top of a hill though, so if you’re walking you’ll probably get a pretty good workout, so maybe don’t wear heals that day 😉 The intrinsic artistic detail that adorns the entire church is simply breathtaking, and is worth a visit just to view the inside of the basilica alone. Colorful mosaics adorn the walls and ceiling, priceless paintings hang from the walls, pillars of marble run all throughout the interior, gold is present around every turn, and statues of gold, silver, and bronze live inside the magnificent halls. It is unlike anything I’ve seen before, and I would highly recommend checking it out!
on the water, near Vieux Port. As you may have guessed, it is devoted to the history and culture of European and Mediterranean civilizations. This museum is split up into 3 different sites, the J4 building, Fort Saint-Jean, and the CCR (Center for Conservation and Resources). The CCR houses the museum’s actual collections and requires a paid ticket to explore. We explored Fort Saint-Jean (free), and the (free) J4 building, which is an astounding concrete cube that forms a perfect square. It is a see-through lacy screen made of concrete that you can’t miss. It’s actually super hard to explain, so PLEASE do your due diligence and google photos of it because it really is an amazing architectural feat. The J4 building is known as the “heart” of the MuCEM, and hosts permanent and temporary exhibits (although, we didn’t see many – but that may be because we were too interested in the building structure itself). Please do yourself a favor and walk through this unique building if you find yourself in Marseille – you won’t regret it. Be sure to come back and see it at night too, as it is lit up from the inside!
century and is just a short walking distance from the MuCEM. We just walked over to the 
outside of it, took a quick peak inside and left. It was cool to see, but small compared to Notre Dame de la Garde. If you’re only going to do one historic site I’d definitely recommend choosing Notre Dame, but if you’re visiting the MuCEM too it’s worth a quick walk to check this one out as well. However, I probably wouldn’t make a point to go out of my way to see it if I wasn’t already in the area.
to get this far down! Calanque de Sugiton is a portion of France’s Parc National des Calanques, which lines the Mediterranean coast from Marseille to Cassis. Calanques are rugged coastal areas interspersed with narrow, steep-walled inlets developed in white limestone or other similar rock. Think the fjords of Norway… these are dry limestone cliffs that jut into the water. Sugiton is the most
popular area of the park because it is the calanque that is most easily accessed by hikers and is open even during the hot season. During the summer some of the other calanques are closed due to high fire risk, so if the calanques are in your travel plans be sure to do some research to see which ones are open during your visit! Sugiton is the one closest to Marseille, but if you end up staying closer to the town of Cassis you’d probably want to visit a calanque that is closer to that town. If the trail is open, you can actually hike from Marseille to Cassis through the park along all the calanques. We didn’t have time to try this, but I’ve heard it’s a rather strenuous and sometimes dangerous hike at parts, so be sure to do your research ahead of time if you decide to go this route! You can access Sugiton through Luminy College, which you can GPS to.
and the city itself was actually kind of dirty. In fact, we ran into a family from Paris on our hike who just talked about how dirty Marseille was and how it was nothing like Paris. Honestly, it wasn’t THAT bad, it’s not like we saw rats running around or anything, it’s just a normal city. While the port and the history make this an interesting city, it’s still a city and isn’t designed specifically for tourists. The family that we met on our hike were shocked to find out that we were from the US and visiting on vacation since Marseille isn’t a typical vacation destination. However, the beauty of a non-touristy area is that you get to immerse yourself in the real culture of a French city, not just a watered-down tourist version with astronomical prices. And while we loved our visit and we were glad that we did it, we probably won’t put it on our return-to list now that we’ve done Marseille already. We WOULD, however put the Calanques on our return-to list for SURE 🙂
Pilot Life for Me 