In this Beaches Turks and Caicos review post you will learn more about Beaches Turks and Caicos, Get family vacation resort clothing ideas, check out the fun activities at this Sandals resort and learn why Beaches Turks and Caicos is one of the best family vacations! I will also be including tips to get the most out of your stay. This post also includes island wear and favorite accessories.
You know those holidays that you dream about, the ones where you and your children are smiling, holding hands, no one is fighting and there’s just a beautiful willingness for adventure and togetherness scented throughout the air. Your soul is enveloped by the laughter of your children and the lit up eyes of your children sending you constant validation that this is the most magical trip ever! That is exactly what I imagined our trip to Beaches Turks and Caicos would be and I’m excited to say, it lived up to that times ten! It was truly one of the best family vacations we’ve been on, and if you’ve been following my blog for a while (or know me personally) we travel A LOT. (Check out our family vacation ideas here.)
I have also included a list of items that you see in this post. It includes clothing and vacation items that you will find useful. It is at the bottom of the post.
Please note that we were invited to attend the Beaches Mom Social Media on the sand 2018 conference and therefore, we received a few discounted conference day hotel nights. (Flights, extras, hotel and other days were all paid for by ourselves.)
Beaches Turks and Caicos
An island vacation for me, is the epitome of what a family vacation should be. It is one that should be relaxing and one that doesn’t make me tired when I come back. It has minimal touring unlike a city vacation (Traveling To New York With Kids, Traveling to Miami With Kids, Dubai With Kids) and should be almost like a cruise on water.
My husband and I find cruising amongst our favorite holidays because they are really relaxing and give our family special quality time together. (Royal Caribbean Harmony Of The Seas Review , 10 Magical Disney Magic Cruise Tips, Secrets and a Review! and Disney Dream Disney Cruise Ship.)
For us, Beaches Turks and Caicos is like a cruise on land! No need to worry about rough waters, so it’s even better.
Beaches Turks and Caicos Review
Before we get started, I am going to give you a small warning here.. this post is picture heavy. Why? Because Beaches Resort is one of the most picturesque destinations I have EVER been to and I feel like pictures will do Beaches Turks and Caicos more justice than words.
We live in California and Providenciales (where Turks and Caicos is located) cannot be flown to using a direct flight. California is far from EVERYTHING. That means we had to make a stopover. We chose a quick stopover in Miami. We stayed at the Miami Airport Hotel so that we could lay down, get a short rest, shower if we needed to and then we were ready for our flight from Miami to Providenciales. Sure, we had a very short few hours of a stop over.. but for me, any amount of flying makes me incredibly tired. I love airport hotels for this reason. I packed our usual kids travel activities bag to keep the kids happy and entertained.
Turks and Caicos Tip 1: If flying tires your body like it does mine, book an airport hotel during your layover. If you are a go getter and have energy after a flight, go have a look around Miami!
I always notice those bloggers who dress their kids in the most gorgeous outfits during their flights. Cute dresses all styled to the brim are pleasant to look at but for me, they are terrible to watch over! I can’t tell you how many times my kids drop something on their clothes while we are flying, especially drinks! Thats why we have extra clothing listed in our travel packing tips. So for us, my children travel in tracksuits. It’s comfortable, thick enough to prevent the feeling of being cold up in the air AND…. it doesn’t matter how they sit. They can sit however they can get comfortable! If not a tracksuit, they wear jeans. I try to get as close to the feel of “pajamas” as possible. If my kids wore dresses, you can only imagine how many times I’d have to scream, “Sit like a lady!”
Tip #2 – Send your flight details to the hotel. They will make your airport transfer go smoothly.
After our short 2 hour flight from Miami to Providenciales, the hotel had a taxi waiting for us to transfer us to the hotel. The taxi driver drove a bit wildly, as do most taxi drivers all over the world, he may have driven on the wrong side of the road for a little while… but, we did finally get to our destination in tact! After checking in the kids immediately put on their swim suits and we went straight to exploring the resort.
Tip #3 – Make your meal requirement requests before you get to the hotel (e-mail them) and once you check in.
If you have meal requirements or allergy requests: At check in, ask to be taken to the person in charge of food. You can then make your requests. I needed to opt for particular meat to be served to us. How this worked is that the day before, I would have to let the food manager know which restaurants I would be eating at, what I planned to eat and at what time so that they could ensure I had the correct meat waiting for me. They really do try to make your stay as pleasant as possible.
About Beaches Turks and Caicos
There are two Sandals hotels in Turks and Caicos, Providenciales. The Sandals resort is more adult orientated whereas Beaches is more family orientated. Beaches resorts are ALL inclusive resorts. That means that all your food, kids clubs, tips and some water sports are included in your hotel fee.
We stayed in the Caribbean Village by the seaside villas, which was steps away from the Sesame Street kids club. That means, we could wake up.. drop my 5 year old, Didi, into the kids club and go back to the room for a little while to chill.
Tip #4- Always explore your hotel/resort as soon as you get to there. You may find some hidden gems.
Note that Beaches Turks and Caicos is HUGE. There is a 45,000 square foot waterpark, a 12 mile beach and 4 different villages; Key West Luxury Village, Italian Village, French Village, Caribbean Village.
Turks and Caicos was also named the best beach in the world! The resort offers tours 2 times a day, but we opted to go on our own schedule.
Camp Sesame (kids club) is BREATHTAKING. It is a kid sized mini island vacation in there! Beaches Turks and Caicos child minders are trained to work with children with autism too. That means, it is a true vacation for ANY parent! Put on your kids swim suits and your resort wear and go check it out.
Tip #5: Sign up for the kids camp (Camp Sesame) as soon as you get there. There is some paperwork involved. Your children’s passports are required during this process too.
Make sure to find out about the daily schedule so you can discuss with your child which activities they want to go for. It really is amazing and my 5 year old daughter wanted to be in there ALL the time. If we got busy and she didn’t get to go for the evening, she would be really upset.
/ My green dress water outfit is from Cabana Life / The girls swim suits are here. /
Most of our swimsuits are from Cabana Life. I love that they have SPF built in and that the rash guards protect my kids from the sun’s harmful rays. Their styles are so cute and I love that they have Mommy and me styles. They are by far my favorite brand of swimwear.
The life size chess board was a favorite with my kids. Every time we left the room they’d play around with this game board.
Besides all the wonderful water features and fun slide, my children were absolutely thrilled by the beach bar. They can make you fancy drinks, mocktails, sodas and then you can drink it in the pool.
Tip #6 – In the restaurant in the Pirates Island Waterpark they serve popcorn and cotton candy in the afternoon. My kids loved this!
They also have burgers, fries, ice cream, etc. Make sure to find out the hours this is available. Unlimited popcorn and cotton candy means that for the kids, this is the best kids vacation!
Beaches Resort has a partnership agreement with Sesame Street, which means that there is quite a bit of Sesame Street theming going on. We loved that the Sesame Street characters were always roaming around the resort and they made the kids feel SO special. I definitely think that this is the ultimate kids vacation.
Tip #7 – If you want Elmo or other Sesame Street characters to tuck your child into bed and read them a story, book this at the beginning of your stay (or before).
It is an extra charge. I decided on this at the last minute and unfortunately, I couldn’t get Elmo for a tuck in. 🙁 He was too busy tucking in other kids.
Tip #8 – Bring your camera!!
Beaches Turks and Caicos will be one of the most beautiful places you will ever see in your lifetime. Take pictures! I include camera details at the bottom of this post.
There is a build a bear store in the little shopping area with tons of Sesame street dolls too.
Tip #9 – Make your Kimono’s dining reservation when you check in.
Doesn’t it look like it’s about to pour in the picture below? We would get a nice overcast sky, a quick rain and then quickly peeking through would be a rainbow. Then the sun would come out. It was the most pleasant short rain!
/You can find the striped jumpsuit above here. /
Food Choices
There are many restaurants and you definitely wont get to all of them during your stay. You will have to pick and choose.
The ones I enjoyed were Kimono’s and Barefoot By The Sea. Unfortunately, I found out about the delicious mediterranean food at Barefoot By The Sea on my last day… which means, I only got to eat there once.
Kimono’s is another nice restaurant with a fun atmosphere.This is like a Benihana’s type of restaurant where they cook your food in front of you. Running a bit late? Hop on the go cart to be taken directly to your restaurant of choice! Kimono’s is the only restaurant that requires a reservation.
If you are looking for indian food, Bombay in the Italian Village is good too. It has a small opening window (6.30-9.30 pm when we went there) so make sure to keep updated on the times.
Dino’s has good pizza and they also do burgers, salads, fries, ice cream, etc.
If you need a coffee fix check out Cafe de’ Paris. You can take your coffee to go.
Places that I heard were good but that I didn’t get to try: Neptunes in the Key West Village, Bayside and the Soy Sushi bar.
During this trip Didi girl finally got to try a virgin Pina Colada, and it became her favorite drink for the rest of the trip. It was DELICIOUS. Not everyone does a Pina Colada the right way, but Beaches Resorts does.
When I looked at the weather forecast before our trip, it showed rain and storms. I was really worried about this due to last years hurricane in the area. However, I was surprised by how pleasant and short these rain storms were. It would rain for a few minutes and then stop, leaving behind it to the most gorgeous overcast sky to give us a natural shade.
Grace Bay is truly one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. The sand is white and beautiful and the ocean looks surreal. The natural beauty presented in Turks and Caicos is unmatched!
You can find the my white beach cover up here.
As soon as we were done we had a few minutes before we our photo session so we had to run back to the room, get changed and ready, hence why my Aalz doesn’t have dry hair yet. 🙂 Oh well!
Tip #10 – Book a photo session with a professional photographer. You don’t have to buy any of the pictures if you don’t like them but it’s great to have that as a memory of your fabulous trip.
Tip #11 – Choose outfits for this photo session before you arrive at the resort!
This was difficult since I didn’t choose outfits for my husband and son…. Therefore, my son didn’t get the color theme memo. Oh well, I’m still happy to have these pictures of our family. Pretty soon, my eldest child is going to be taller than me!
The picture set below were taken by the resort photographer.
White dress is from here. / Black and white leotard dress was purchased at Remie Girl. My black dress was purchased at Truworths years ago in South Africa.
The other pictures are taken by me, my husband and son. We had a lot of fun with my cameras. I brought along three cameras, one for water pictures that is water safe, my DSLR camera to handle different lighting situations and my new walk around easy to take with camera. My kids could easily use the Fuji camera and the GoPro too. Cameras and memory keeping are a must for me and that’s why it is a MUST HAVE tip for my Beaches Turks and Caicos review.
We took a Sunset cruise to watch the sunset on the beach, it was absolutely beautiful.
One of the most amazing things that my 9 and 11 year old did on this trip was the Scuba diving class. This was a separate fee and was not included, but it was worth every penny. They had A LOT of fun going underwater and learning how to use the scuba equipment. I think it may have been the highlight of their trip.
Tip #12 -If scuba diving interests you, make sure to sign up and do the class at the beginning of your stay!
I couldn’t leave my sadness about missing out on the ocean scuba dive out of my Beaches Turks and Caicos review.
As part of your all inclusive stay, you can scuba dive daily into the ocean! There’s no extra charge for this. The only requirement is that you’ve taken a scuba class or are scuba certified.
My husband and I did the Scuba course too, but unfortunately I didn’t know that you couldn’t fly within 24 hours of scuba diving in the ocean. I booked our scuba session for the last day and we had an 8AM flight.. this made it virtually impossible to do the dive. Apparently something happens to your blood when you go that many feet under water and it becomes dangerous for you to fly. I wish I had an underwater GoPro picture of my husband and I in our class. You can also check out this post from a fellow blogger that talks more about the scuba diving experience.
The kids went snorkeling one of the days. (That was included too.)
Tip #13 – There is a beach night party one night in the week at Treasure Beach. My kids LOVED this. Have your children join the parade by letting the kids camp staff know they want to be in it. Kids will sit in the train during the parade and wave at you.
Have you ever seen water as blue as this? Sand as soft and as white and a sky as gorgeous as this?!
/ My blue swimsuit top can be found here. Shorts can be found here. The kids outfits are here. /
Tip #14 – Do the included water sports!
The water sports are included in your hotel stay, so try all of them!
At Beaches Turks and Caicos they have the glass bottom boat, snorkeling, Hobie Cats, Windsurfing, paddleboarding, kayaks, laser bug boards, bodyboarding and aqua trikes.
There was a float party on the last day as part of the conference I attended, which was AMAZING!!
Tip #15 – Check out the tours before you go so you can determine which ones to check out.
These tours are not included in the resort fee, but they look like a lot of fun! I did the sunset catamaran cruise. It was a beautiful sunset, thats for sure.
Tip #16 – You can rent out board games during your stay at the Activity Hut in the Caribbean village.. It’s free.
They had games like Battleship, Yahtzee, mastermind, Pictionary, Connect 5, Taboo, card games, Tri-ominos, Chess, Monopoly and more.
Tip #17 – Be ready to deplane and board the airplane using stairs. Providenciales has a really small airport.
How to get the best deal
To learn more about Turks and Caicos vacation packages and find the best deals keep checking their website, linked below. They run specials!
Book your stay here to find the best deals! —–> Beaches Resort
Beaches Turks and Caicos Review
This is one place I HAVE TO GO BACK TO. My kids, husband and I loved every single second and wish we would have booked more days. We didn’t want the kids to miss too much of school so we had to make the trip short. We flew in on Tuesday afternoon and left on Sunday morning. I would have preferred to leave Sunday afternoon but there weren’t any flights.
If I could do it over, I would have done 7 days total. This would give you enough time to be able to do more!
Things that I didn’t get to do that I wish I did:
- Scuba dive in the ocean.
- Horse rides in the water. This wasn’t a part of the Beaches Resort water sports, but I’ve seen pictures of it and I NEED to do this!
- Eat at more of the restaurants.
- Get a massage!
- Book more days so that I could get more romantic dinners in.
- Probably separated my Beaches Turks and Caicos review into multiple posts! Haha.
Shop my Turks and Caicos vacation items:
1. For Underwater video I used my GoPro Hero 6 with a wrist strap – I do not plan to travel to islands or water destinations without a GoPro EVER! It was one of the BEST gadgets!! You need to use a wrist strap to use it on rides, slides, etc.
2. Most pictures are taken with my Canon 5D Mark III, with a Canon 24-70 f2.8L II lens OR my new Fujifilm X100F ((I love it!)
3. My black and mustard jumpsuit.
4. Travel steam iron
5. Goggles and more goggles
6. The girls white dresses
7. My greenish beach cover up
8. My white beach cover up
9. Crab swim arm guards
10. Heart shaped sunglasses my 5 year old was wearing.
11. All swimsuits were from Cabana Life.
12. Sunblock – Aveeno Sunblock and Dermalogica for myself.
13. Rayban sunglasses for kids.
14. Kids and my holiday sandals are all Haviana’s. They are the best for beach vacations, easy care and low maintenance.
I hope you enjoyed my Beaches Turks and Caicos Review!
