Last week mon-thurs we went to this beautiful island and I cannot overstate how amazingly exquisite it is! We met several other frum tourists and between all of us, we’d been to Kauai, Jamiaca, Bahamas, Cancun, aruba St. Marten… and we all agreed that T&C was the best.
Booking the ticket:I used AA miles and paid 35k points to redeem on Jetblue. With all the taxes+fees it was under $100+miles. Booking a jetblue mileage fare through AA allows for the traveler to choose a seat and get a free carry-on bag (in addition to a personal item).
The flight was around 3.5 hours from NYC, and the “Flyfi” (Jetblue’s free wifi) didn’t work on the way there, which was frustrating.
Upon arrival we waited over an hour in the customs line and there was no AC (just fans). The airport in general looks 100 years old, but everyone there was super kind and helpful, so who cares lol.
Booking our Accommodations:https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/39530035?check_out=2023-03-02&check_in=2023-02-27&adults=5&guests=5&s=13&unique_share_id=96d05c98-7ca8-4a04aa662a03d8f36161&_branch_match_id=1162230893188058105&_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAA8soKSkottLXT0zKS9LLTdUPNzXNcS81cHWsSAIAop9gUhsAAAA%3D&source_impression_id=p3_1678335666_bd3BDsk8dAfo1k55To be honest, it didn’t make sense pricewise to book a hotel. Anything that looked halfway decent was like $1k per night and it was 5 of us which meant we needed to get multiple rooms. We ended up getting a stunning AirBnb in the Chalk Bay area. The house was so large and pristine, with a private pool, massive hot tub, huge kitchen, tons of privacy, that I highly recommend staying in an AirBnb. You just cant get that kind of space/pool privacy in a hotel.
Chalk Bay is very quiet and quaint. I think this is the very wealthy part of the island, as the homes there were gigantic and stunning. It’s about a 30 minute drive from the tourist hub of Grace Bay (where Chabad is located). This is both good and bad. It’s good because it’s “off the beaten path” and serene. No noise or crowds. However, there is no public transportation on the island, and no uber, so getting a car service is a hassle and not cheap. We rented a car.
Car Rental:We ended up booking our car online and were beyond shocked! We got a ~15-20 year old car with 175k miles on it. The muffler and AC were broken so it was boiling and noisy the entire time lol (it was significantly cheaper than other rental places so “if it sounds too good to be true it usually is”). The wipers went on whenever we turned on the left blinker, and the horn didn’t really work. We actually didn’t mind and found it quite hilarious! I guess it was just part of the experience lol
The driving is a bit weird. Steering wheel on the opposite side, as well as the roads, like in Europe. Takes about 5 mins of driving to get used to. Interestingly, I don’t believe we saw a single traffic light on the entire island. Just roundabouts. It was very interesting, and I personally found it more stressful/annoying (though it was cool that the flow of traffic never stopped).
It was $5 extra per day for each additional driver. Gas was roughly $7 per gallon. Parking was no issue wherever we went.
Beaches:No words can possibly describe Taylor Bay. Its pretty much the first beach that comes up when you search “top beaches in turks: It is otherworldly, and even though it’s not exactly a “secret gem” that no one hears of, it’s in the Chalk Bay area not in Grace bay near the tourists. In the 4 hours we spent there, there were probably less than 2 dozen people there, coming and going. And if you walk far off along the bay it is empty. You’re probably wondering what makes this particular beach so amazing?
- The water is shallow, and there are no waves or undercurrents. This means you can go very very deep and the water will still be only waist high. This
is the perfect place to go with kids. Bring them some water floaties, tubes to sit in… we saw other couples spend hours at this beach with their kids…
They even brought Bluetooth speakers and played music.
- Pretty much empty
- Faces west so sunset is unbelievable.
- The only thing I must warn, is that there are rocks. Large ones under the sand in certain areas, so take caution where you decide to lay your towel
down and make sure its soft sand.
If you take a day trip to snorkel (which I highly recommend) they give you an hour to explore Iguana Island. Walk across the island to the otherside (5 mins) and you will see a gorgeous beyond gorgeous beach. The only place I can compare it to is Polihale Beach in Kauai. Unlike in Taylor Bay, there are foamy waves, deep blue waters… an entirely different experience at these 2 beaches. Each incredible in its own right.
Food:We brought in tons of things that we were worried would be a customs issue, but they didn’t ask us to declare it on the customs form, and didn’t stop us at all when we arrived (in contrast, my coworker was saying that Cancun has dogs smelling for food and they don’t even allow cheese or fully cooked chicken due to the avian flus?!).
TBH, I was kind of disappointed in the pomegranate meals we got. Besides for not tasting good (and granted, we may have just chosen bad meals…) the main issue was that, despite following their microwave directions to a T, the plastic covers cracked upon warming, and shards of plastic wound up in our food. In addition to possibly being a kashrus issue, since there is no longer a double seal as the container was broken, it was just plain annoying. I read reviews on these meals and never heard of this being an issue. The next night we warmed our food for way less time than recommended time and had the same issue. Was our microwave just too powerful for these thin plastic containers? I don’t know.
Food on the island was outrageously (but expectedly) expensive ($9 a dozen eggs, $9.75 for a pack of 30 Solo cups, $8 a box of cereal..). Bring whatever you can from home!
This is getting a bit long, so I’ll end here, but if anyone has any questions feel free to reply and I’ll do my best to answer.
TLDR, this island is incredible and I cant think of a nicer place to visit if you have a quick few days to spend on a vaca!
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