Garie Beach

Is Turks and Caicos very commercialised?

Or can you still get away from it all there and find secluded beaches and good snorkelling off the beach? Not interested in any horrible big hotels on the beach/condos/nightclubs etc but just somewhere with a few nice rustic restaurants/bars but generally quiet and relaxing.

Public Comments

1. Those islands shouldn't be too commercialized, but I'm sure there is the "downtown" too. I hear it has one of the best snorkeling beaches...so bring your own snorkel gear so you won't have to rent it. Try this site for some good travel deals. iBtraveling.com. I usually find something there and it usually has lots of deals for the Caribbean.
2. You certainly can get away from it all, despite the great frenzy of building condos and resorts on the beaches. My favourite beach, Malcolm beach, which used to be utterly peaceful because it was so hard to get to, now has a resort built on it, but it is a very exclusive resort attracting well behaved people and one can always walk away from the resort and have utter peace and quiet. There are many little beaches where one does not encounter a soul. You just have to know where to go. And quite honestly, even the "busy" beaches are not full of people -- you will just see a few, here and there, behaving themselves and relishing the peace and quiet as you do. I answer your question sitting in a quiet spot a very short walk away from a cluster of rustic restaurants and bars on the one hand and five minutes' walk away from the beach voted "the best beach in the world", with apparently the best snorkelling on the island, on the other. I may take a stroll there later on and in all probability will either see very few people or nobody at all. I can't think of anywhere brash and noisy on the island (and I've tried hard). There are no nightclubs either, although one restaurant has a karaoke evening on Thursdays. No, one thing you can say about the Turks and Caicos is -- they're quiet.
3. Providenciales in Turks and Caicos is starting to get built up. Grace Bay is loaded with condos. Thank Goodness, there are laws and you have to built so many feet back. There are still many beaches that are secluded. Sapadilla Bay is beautiful and only a few homes there.Smith's Reef is good but you have to watch out for small boats. You can snorkel off shore in front of Coral Gardens. My husband and I went last year and I'm glad we went then because, they are building so many new condos. Who knows what they will do to Lovely Grace Bay. The water is awesome. They have some great places to stop for lunch. If you love conch, you have to eat at the "Da Conch Shack" Fresh conch right out of the sea and prepared so many different ways. Yummy....Blue Hills area Smokey's in Blue Hills another great place. Yummy chicken, grouper, fried bananas, cole slaw and a cold beer. I think it's not completely commercialized but getting there. Go soon. s