Visiting Turks and Caicos With Kids

We took several awesome trips the last year. And one of the ones that really stands out to me I’m yet to write about… until now. You’ve probably heard of Turks & Caicos. Seen pictures of the gorgeous beaches. And trust me, it’s one of those places you need to visit at least once in your life to experience just how unbelievably gorgeous those beaches are. If I could go back right now I totally would. However, it never seemed to me like the ideal place to travel with children. But Tom and I being, well, us, we took our kids (a 2.5 year old toddler and a 9 month old baby at the time) because we take them everywhere. And we had the most amazing time. So here is my guide for visiting Turks and Caicos with kids:

Where to Stay Whilst Visiting Turks and Caicos:

There are plenty of resorts on Turks & Caicos, but not all are kid friendly. Perhaps the most kid friendly is the well known Beaches resort. We chose not to stay there for several reasons. First of all was the price – it was insane. Second was that our kids actually couldn’t do most of the activities there. I also read really mixed reviews on how toddler and baby friendly it was. So we looked around some more and found Ocean Club West using Expedia and we absolutely loved it and decided hands down we would stay there again in the future. I would recommend this place for anyone traveling with kids.

The rooms are set up suite style which is awesome. We sprung for a 2 bedroom 2 bath oceanfront condo. It was plenty of room. We ended up hardly using the second room and kept saying how we should have invited friends to come and stay with us. I loved that the suites have full kitchens. Food in Turks & Caicos is crazy expensive (okay pretty much everything there is expensive) so we found it helpful to be able to store groceries in the fridge and be able to do some of our own meals in our room. It also came in handy for storing breastmilk since we wanted some nights out without the kids. We had a huge living area, and also a huge screened oceanfront porch. The space made it really easy for our kids to feel comfortable in the suite

Another thing we loved about Ocean Club West is that they have a babysitting service. And while me being the worrier I am was still a little hesitant to use it at first, but once I learned the rigorous screening and training they put their babysitters through felt totally comfortable. We used a babysitter for two nights and she was great with our kids and both times we came home to asleep kids which was great.

The resort is on the prettiest beach ever – Grace Bay, and offers chairs and umbrellas for its guests. The resort also boasts 2 pools. one with is a little kid friendly zero entry pool with a lazy entry feel. They also have an oceanfront restaurant and a fancier restaurant, and an awesome bar, tennis courts, a spa, fitness center, and even a library. Ocean Club West offers a free shuttle to Ocean Club East (and taxis are expensive) where we found ice cream, a grocery store, and more restaurants. Oh and the Wifi at Ocean Club worked great so I was able to blog a little bit too.

What to Do Whilst Visiting Turks and Caicos:

Uhhhh the beach. Relax. Soak it in. Build sandcastles. Swim. Make sure you catch one of the amazing sunsets. I mean look at this sunset on our last night.

As far as activities go, most of what Turks & Caicos has to offer aren’t little kid friendly. Older kids would love the adventurous stuff but our 2 year old wasn’t quite ready for scuba diving and we weren’t really in the mood for a ‘party boat’ trip with the kids.

We did find one great excursion where we spent a day on where we visited Iguana Island and went snorkeling and ended at a gorgeous beach. We really loved Iguana Island. Maddie Grace got so excited to see “LIZARDS!” and she even picked up on which lizards were girls and which were boys. Both of the kids also thought the speed boat we were on was a ton of fun.

Maddie Grace wanted to try snorkeling and to our surprise they did have a mask and flippers that fit her. She didn’t really like it (I think she had a hard time breathing) so then Tom and I took turns snorkeling.

You can also buy a day pass to Beaches Resort to experience it if you choose to stay in a less expensive resort. We chose not to do this because of those reviews I mentioned above.

Where to Eat Whilst Visiting Turks & Caicos:

Honestly I don’t have much to add here because we almost always ate at Seaside Cafe at Ocean Club West. The food was just soooo good and we loved that we could sit oceanfront. The first night we had lobster and it was amazing. Another favorite of mine was the fish wrap. I’m not sure why but their fish was so amazing and just melted in my mouth. I wouldn’t mind one of those right now actually… But we also liked that the Cafe seemed to have the most reasonable prices for good food that we found anywhere on the island. Even if you don’t stay at Ocean Club it’s worth visiting the Seaside Cafe for a meal or two. They also had the best prices on drinks that we found and offered a daily happy hour and extra special deal on the ‘drink of the day’.

Another hot spot on Provo is Da Conch Shack and we ate there one night for the rehearsal dinner of a wedding we were attending. Everything we had there was out of this world. Fish, and oh the conch. So good.

The only other place we ate was at Grace Bay Club for the wedding. They served steak and lobsters and it was beyond delicious so I have a feeling the food at their restaurant is good too!

And of course more pictures…

*Ocean Club West provided me with a media rate and food discounts in exchange for this review. Regardless all thoughts and opinions are my own and I only recommend places I truly love,