Here are some tips for visitors to Grace Bay and our places:

1. Bring your own ground coffee, sun screen, snacks for the first day and mild insect repellent.

2. Do not fill your suitcases with food before you leave home. You can get almost everything you need at the grocery store here. Quality is good except for the coffee. Groceries are more expensive than back home. The Graceway Gourmet in central Grace Bay is more suited to the needs of visitors than the larger Graceway IGA and the prices are the same. You can get smaller containers of items like mayonaisse and other staples at the Gourmet store. The grocery stores open at 7 and it is good to go early before it gets hot outside.

3. Use the bicycles to get around Grace Bay. Some resorts provide bicycles for guest use. They do not have bikes at Coral Gardens unfortunately. You can rent bikes, e-bikes and mopeds that are of good quality near the Ports of Call or at the Salt Mills Plaza in Grace Bay.

4. If walking somewhere nearby, the beach route is usually quicker, cleaner and more scenic. Walking along the beach at night time is not recommended due to lack of lighting and normal safety concerns.

5. Cabs are not cheap but unless you are driving around a lot it is easier and cheaper to take a cab on occasion than to rent a car. There are many car rental companies but the most recommended one for service is Grace Bay Car Rentals. We recommend the hotel shuttle at $20 a person to get to and from the Airport to where you are staying. From Coral Gardens there is a greater need for a car as there are less things in walking distance. Resorts have free guest parking. Driving on the left here with traffic circles is stressful until you get used to it.

6. Many excellent restaurants are in central Grace Bay such as Coco Bistro, Coyaba, Aziz, Caicos Cafe and Seven. Walking north along the beach, at Ocean Club just the other side of Club Med, there is Opus for beatiful fine dining. They also have the friendly Cabana Bar with good food (best fish tacos) at Ocean Club. Going the other way walking down the beach there are restaurants at Grace Bay Club including the amazing Infiniti Restaurant and Bar. Pelican Bay Restaurant famous for its all you can eat lobster buffet is right on the Royal West Indies property. It is good for 3 meals a day and you can get meals at the bar including at the two for one happy hour.

At the west end of Grace Bay Beach there is Somewhere Cafe right at Coral Gardens. From experience we caution against drinking Mescal with your breakfast if you are Somewhere. Near Coral Gardens there are two nice restaurants at Windsong, and the magnificent top rated Indigo for fine dinign is close by at Wymara Resort. We look forward to great new places at the Andaz next to Coral Gardens once it opens. There is very high quality and value with authentic Italian food at the Baci restaurant right by the water at Turtle Cove not far from Coral Gardens. Turtle Reef is also home to the informal and very good, reasonably priced, extensive menu Mango Reef and Shark Bite Bar and Grill. Up the hill from Turtle Cove is Magnolia, a great restaurant with amazing sunsets and martinis.

7. See if your restaurant bill has a service charge on it. If it does still tip but tip more if it does not.

8. Unless you do not like lobster come during lobster season which is from August until early April.

9. Bring US cash with both large and small bills. People do not like to give you change. If you need more cash there are ATMs at Canadian banks on the island. Visa and Mastercard are generally accepted. Do not rely on American Express.

10. Do not try to do a lot on your first trip as you are likely to want to come back soon. Just enjoy the nice place you are staying at and the beach. Save big excursions for future trips. A sail or snorkel half day trip is the best excursion for a first visit and the sunset cruises are great. There are clear kayaks at the Leeward area for guided wildlife tours of the Mangrove area. If you can afford it take the Lady Grace sunset sail from the Ritz Carlton. It is worth it because it is a great sail, with Ritz Carlton quality food including sushi.

11. Do not pack a lot of clothes as we do have a washer and dryer available. You will not need dressy clothes. Leave your winter coats and warmer clothes at home. Be sure to have one or two extra bathing suits.

12. If you are here on a Sunday you can not buy alcohol products at the grocery store but no problem with restaurants, bars and L & M Convenience in the Caicos Cafe Plaza, where our friend Mario has a great selection and is open every day.

13. The French bakery in the Caicos Cafe Plaza is great, but go early as they do sell out of many items before 11 AM most days. The Graceway stores have very good locally baked bread. We especially like the multigrain and sour dough sliced loaves.

14. Talk to local people. They are mostly friendly, intelligent and helpful. Treat everyone as your equal.

15. Set your phone to Airplane Mode and Wifi unless you need it away from the resort or have an international cellular service plan. Set up Wifi calling so you can call and receive calls as if you were at home. Use WhatsApp for local calling in Turks and Caicos. Download maps of the area from Google Maps before you go on your trip so you can access them offline.

16. Watch the sky for beautiful sunsets and it is very clear for stargazing too. You can not take too many sunset photos.

17. Visit other islands of the Turks and Caicos for day or overnight visits on second or later return trips to Provo. There is so much more to see and do. Middle Caicos is the ultimate destination with the main attractions being Dragon Cay and Bamburra Beach.

18. If you have a late flight home at the end of your trip and need to check out at 11, go to a restaurant for lunch such as Hemingways, Bugaloos or Omars. You can trust a taxi driver to hold your luggage and pick you up to get you to the airport on time. They say you should be at the airport three hours before your flight which is excessive but especially on a Saturday when it is busiest be there at least two hours ahead. The Duty Free shops at the airport are good.

19. Book your return trip accommodation at least a year in advance unless you are coming back between June and October when it is less busy.

20. Write an online review for the place where you stay and places you visit. It helps others and you can learn a lot by reading reviews by other people, ahead of your arrival as well. When you see a lot of positive reviews and a few bad ones you can usually disregard the bad reviews, but if reviews are consistently bad on the same points take that seriously.

21. Where to stay. Most hotels at Grace Bay are condominiums and you can do better with rental by owner. We support using services like AirBnB and VRBO to find a place you like and if you want to return you then have a contact for future direct rentals. With rental by owner you do not receive hotel services and you do not have to pay for them. If you wish to have hotel services like daily maid service you should rent directly from a resort hotel, or rent from them using services such as Expedia, Trip Advisor or Priceline to possibly get a discount. If you have the money we recommend booking at some of the more expensive and spectacular places in Providenciales such as Seven Stars, The Palms, Wymara, Windsong, Sailrock, Shore Club, Amanyara or Grace Bay Club. Rental by owner is not allowed at these places. For those on a budget you can rent at hotels like Oasis or Ports of Call where you are not on the beach but have public access to it.