We visited Providenciales with 5 couple couples in mid May 2013. The island is basically flat, barren and gets only 30 inches of rain per year. We rented an estate house on Chalk Sound, nice view but 30 minutes from the primary restaurants and activities in the Grace Bay area. The best area to stay is Grace bay at a resort. Purchasing food in the primary supermarket (IGA) is basically 2 times that in the US and limited selections. Restaurants are 1.5 to 2 times. Expensive restaurants are connected to primary resorts. Best places to eat are some of the beach bars ( a place called Somewhere by Coral Gardens was excellent). Except for Grace Bay and a few small areas the island is dirty with dogs running loose and junk cars, etc. If your going try to negotiate a good deal at a Grace Bay resort. If you can go and return on a weekday you will avoid the disastrous Airport congestion that takes place on Saturday when the flights are packed!

The most AMAZING CLEAR WATER & Tranquil Beaches!!!!!!!! The sand is softer than powder, if you can imagine that!! The water so clear and calm one could read the newspaper even if it were on the ocean floor knee deep 10 yards from shore. Snorkeling couldn't get any better than here, even right in front of any of the hotels. We didn't even get to Pricess Alexandra National Park. (Trunk Bay, St. John's, BVI may come close) People friendly and accommodating. Food is pricey since most everything must be imported. Restaurants comparable to major city quality, selection and pricing with seafood entrees to die for, our favorite was The Mango Reef. Don't expect to have many tourist shops selling glitzy wares, they DON"T exist. But then again, bring back your experience of the beach because there isn't anywhere you will duplicate it. This is truly a piece of HEAVEN ON EARTH!!!!!!!! An excellent isn't enough to rate the peacefull shores of Grace Bay, Provo.

I have deemed my time with TCI like an awesome relationship with a terrible breakup. My husband and I could not say enough nice things about the island, the beach, the people, the hotel, and the trip in general. Then we had to leave... and the trouble began.

Upon our arrival to the airport, the American Airlines attendant said her system was down so she couldn't print our boarding passes even though we had already checked in online. The line through security was short and we were there really early (4 hours prior to takeoff) so we didn't mind at first.

Then an hour went by and the line for security was getting longer and our patience was running out. We tried to talk to the people at the desk and their attitude was "this doesn't happen often and there's nothing we can do but wait". It was terrible service.

When we finally got our boarding passes, the line to get through security wrapped itself OUTSIDE of the building. Then we got through security to find all four gates together and every passenger for the 4-5 flights in the same room. There were only enough seats to accommodate maybe half of the people that were in there.

We hadn't eaten lunch as we were told by our hotel that there was a restaurant at the airport but it was outside of the gate before security. The only thing on the inside was a bar with $10 grilled cheese sandwiches. The gift shop made you buy $20 worth of items to use a credit card and wanted to charge the 3% fee that they're supposed to pay. There wouldn't have been any place to seat and eat anyway. We didn't eat that day until 8pm since our flight was also delayed.

It was so overcrowded that they had to open the Sky Lounge which is usually reserved for First Class/Business travelers to everyone. We got up there and found a seat but within 20 minutes, it too was overcrowded. There was very little air conditioning or maybe it was just too crowded to notice that air was trying to circulate. The air lounge was outside and it was raining. It was a TERRIBLE ending to a fabulous vacation.

My advice: do NOT to arrive too early for your flight and eat something before you get there. Bring some snacks and wear comfortable shoes because most likely you'll be standing around. Pay attention to what flight is being boarded because we couldn't understand the overhead announcements. I wish I had this advice so our trip didn't end on a sour note.

We are beach lovers. We have been to Hawai, Tahiti, Fiji, Seychelles and this was even better! Only Bora bora was better. Provideciales Turks and Caicos Islands left us speechless