Top Caribbean Beaches
Almasalla Travel News – Beaches have always been prime ingredients in vacation travel, especially when it comes to the Caribbean. You, as travel agents, most likely know this from firsthand experience, but we have statistical information to back that up.
According to MMGY Global’s 2013 Portrait of American Travelers, nearly one-third (31 percent) of leisure travelers surveyed responded “beach” when asked about the primary purpose of one or more trips during the past 12 months. When it comes to the fantasy/ambiance dimensions of a vacation, better than six in 10 (65 percent) consider a beach experience “extremely or very desirable.”
Beautiful stretches of sand and sea abound in the Caribbean and it’s hard to go wrong wherever you send your clients there, but Travel Agent took a good, long look at the best of the best and chose the following 10 as the top beaches of the region. We’ll tell you why we think they’re great and also point out some fine hotels that call these magnificent patches of paradise “home.”
Grace Bay Beach, Turks & Caicos, offers sugar-fine sand and clear water that makes for excellent snorkeling conditions.
Grace Bay Beach
Providenciales, Turks and Caicos
What Makes It Great: Grace Bay, which graces the cover of this issue, may be the most gorgeous beach that Travel Agent has ever seen. All the attributes you would expect the best beaches to have are found here: white sand with the texture of sugar, blue-green water, and a dash of local culture such as spotting local conch fishermen catching fish and cleaning shells. So besides getting a bragging-rights-worthy tan, clients can get a dose of experiential travel to boot. It doesn’t get any prettier here than it does around sunset, so we recommend taking a stroll (with a loved one, perhaps) at that time. Grace Bay Beach is also home to excellent snorkeling and is never overly crowded. Note, however, that this beach can get pretty windy at times, so be sure to have your clients check the weather before planning a picnic here.
Best Hotels Nearby: For affluent clients, or those willing to spend a little more for that long-awaited getaway from the workaday world, we recommend the Regent Palms Turks & Caicos, which hosts a nice mix of families and couples. The resort recently added butler service for clients staying in the Penthouses. This year, it also decided to stop charging fees for kids’ use of its Conch Kritters Club.
If you have couples or other clients looking for a place with no children, there’s the Grace Bay Club’s Turks & Caicos Hotel. This hotel has a range of accommodations from Junior Suites to Two Bedroom Suites that offer up to 2,200 square feet of luxurious appointments. Each suite has at least one private balcony or patio, along with a kitchenette and twice-daily maid service.
Also nearby is one of the best all-inclusive, family-friendly resorts in the Caribbean: Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort Villages & Spa, a Sandals Resorts International property. And it should be getting even better later this year as Sandals recently purchased The Veranda Resort & Residences All Inclusive, a luxury property with oceanfront views along Grace Bay. It will be an expansion of Beaches and be introduced as the Key West Luxury Village.
