Best Beaches in Providenciales

With over three miles of dizzyingly pretty, talc-soft white sand and clear, bright turquoise sea, you’ll struggle to find a list of the world’s most beautiful beaches that Grace Bay isn’t on. Protected by a barrier reef, the water is calm, clean, and perfect for swimming, paddle-boarding and kayaking in. Most of the island’s hotels have set up shop here, and you’ll find dozens of restaurants and activity companies too (the boat trips out to snorkel the reef are very popular). Grace Bay also Merges onto Leeward Beach one way and Bight Beach the other for fabulous beach walks.

Up on the north-eastern coast, Leeward’s an extension of legendary Grace Bay – you can walk west via Grace and Bight Beach to Turtle’s Cove, for a spectacular seven-mile beach walk. Things are a little quieter in these parts but just as pretty, with water that seems to glow a luminous turquoise in an ocean swell and soft, pale sand dotted with washed up conch shells and views out to Little Water Cay and Mangrove Cay.

On Provo’s mid-north coast, Bight has a wide stretch of white sand and calm, clear water between Grace Bay and Turtle Cove. Small coral reefs lie within easy reach, including the incredible Bight Reef where you can snorkel amongst green turtles, hawksbill turtles, eagle rays, stingrays, starfish and more.

Taylor’s further away from the main hotel hub – you’ll need to drive down on the south coast in Chalk Sound. It’s a charmingly small, white-sand cove, where the shallows go on for ages letting kids (and big kids) have a whale of a time. Come here at dusk a few days after a full moon you can see glow worms like tiny dots shining in the water.

Off the island’s south coast in Chalk Sound, Sapodilla is worth hunting out. If you can drag yourself away from the deliciously secluded 275m of fine white sand and still water (where tiddly sandbar islands poke out at low tide), walk up to the abandoned Marina Inn on the hill where you can spy stone carvings from shipwrecked sailors yonks ago

Rather than one beach, this is a set of diddy beaches - some sandy, others rocky - on the south coast, near the Little Five Cays (Bristol, the Dick Penn Cays and the Bird Egg Cays). You can walk through the water to the Dick Penn Cays at low tide, which really is something special. With mangroves, rugged iron shore and all kinds of bird and sea life, the area’s brimming in natural beauty and feels wonderfully secluded.

Feeling far, far away on the south coast, this beach belongs to the village of Five Cays. It’s made up of a kilometre and a half of soft, pale sand, bright greenery and calm, shallow water which sometimes gets choppy when the eastern trade winds are blowing. All in all, this place is perfect for kiteboarding – a lot of kiters come here downwind from Long Bay. At the southwest end, Bugaloo’s Conch Crawl is a super restaurant serving fresh conch dishes (try the spicy buffalo one), burgers and seriously tasty key lime pie.

On the island’s northwest coast, Long Bay is kiteboarding and windsurf central – the water is shallow, lagoon-calm, and bright, bright blue, with consistent south-easterlies providing good onshore and side on conditions. Horse rides lead past palm trees, over white sand and into the sea, while one of Provo’s natural wonders (a limestone chimney called The Hole) is within easy reach if you fancy exploring.

Hidden away on western Provos behind rugged rock and cactus trees, Malcom’s has just over a mile of cream-coloured sands and crazily clear waters to snorkel and dive in. There are reefs within 150 metres or so of the beach (plus more artificial ones growing close by), and seasoned scuba divers can shore dive to a stunning wall nearly 500m out.

Part of the Princess Alexandra National Park, Babalua’s 900m of very white sand feels terrifically deserted. It’s closed in on one side by the channel into the Turtle Cove Marina, while the other sides shielded by rugged cliffs. Our favourite thing to do here? Sit back, enjoy the island’s almost constant sunny weather and watch the boats sail by.

Blue Hills village was one of the island’s original settlements. Its local beach is well worth a visit, reachable via the coastal Blue Hills Road which passes palm trees, parish churches and brightly painted houses and sailboats. Come here hungry or thirsty and you won’t be disappointed – Kalooki’s do a delicious mix of fish, meat, and veggie cuisine (favourites include lobster mac n cheese and the Kalooki’s beach burger) and you’ll find fresh conch served every way possible (plus jerk chicken and awesome rum cake) at da Conch Shack.

Babalua Beach on one side, Blue Hills on the other, this is a fabulously peaceful part of Provo – having the beach to yourself is highly likely. Bring a good book, relax, and enjoy the sunshine. The snorkelling isn’t bad, but swimmers might want to keep shoes on to avoid the crunchy broken coral.

Aka Split Rock and Pirate’s Cove, this is a gorgeous area on the southwest of the island. Reached by a long, rugged road, it’s adventure central – a small, secluded beach near cliffs, sinkholes, and caves where Lucayan artefacts have been found as well as historic rock carvings possibly indicating where pirate treasure’s hidden…

Reachable by boat, kayak or paddle board from Provo, Half Moon’s a 1200m x 110m sliver of beach between the desert islets of Water Cay and Little Water Cay. The sea is clear and still, and on still days when the tide’s coming in, you can see the curious phenomena of floating sand. Kiteboarders in the know head to the south side, where the wind conditions are almost perfect. The cays on either side are worth exploring – Water Cay has a spectacular white sand beach backed by rugged cliffs, while Little Water’s home to the endemic Turks and Caicos Rock Iguana, which can sometimes be seen scattering through the dunes.