Welcome to our visit to Turks and Caicos. We went to Providenciales island where we spent an amazing time near the beach and enjoyed some happy hours and amazing food. In the blog, we tried to give you guys an idea about the expenses on the island. For instance, we discuss accommodation prices, car rental and taxi costs, as well as food and drinks. We also speak about tours and excursion costs. We hope our information and tips will be helpful.

Accommodation cost

On our visit to Turks and Caicos, we stayed outside the main area of Grace Bay which was less expensive. The cost of living depends on the season, typically it would be more expensive in the high season and is less expensive in lower and less busy seasons. The hotels are extremely expensive here, we found prices in the range of $500 to $1000 (all prices are in USD). The cheapest hotel we could find was $200 per night. Thankfully, the place we stayed in doesn't cost that much. We stayed at an Airbnb in a condo area building. The building had two pools and a pretty waterfall. The studio apartment has a queen size bed, a coffee table, a sofa, a flat-screen television, a dining table and a desk. The studio also had an amazing kitchen that had everything, even a dishwasher. The bathroom is quite spacious and it has a nice shower, a toilet and a vanity. In the hallway, there is a closet that has beach chairs, an umbrella, snorkel gear and a cooler. There is also a laundry room. This place was about $150 per night. Find our our AirBNB here: https://abnb.me/0v76J5myIrb.

Would you rather stay in a hotel? We always use Booking.com when we’re travelling and highly recommend them for the best prices and availability:

Booking.com

Driving and taxi costs

Coming to visit the island, we did not intend on renting a car. However, it took us no time to realize that we have to have a car since the island is not very walkable. The cost of renting a small car ranges from $35 to $50 per day. We ended up paying about $350 per week. It is a little bit pricey, but at home in Canada, it can cost around $100 or more a day in the summer. Moreover, taxis are expensive as well. It is around a dollar per minute so a 10-minute drive can cost about $10 to $12. If you're going long distances, it is gonna add up quickly. We also tried to order a taxi by phone but they were either busy or didn’t show up. Therefore, it is more convenient to rent a car.

Restaurants/Lunch Costs

For lunch, we came to a place called Turks Kebab which serves Greek and Turkish food. We ordered a Gyro Kebab Wrap and a chicken shish wrap .Each wrap cost $12. These are typical prices you can expect to pay while in Turks and Caicos for lunch.

Beach Chair costs

When you come to Turks and Caicos, you go to the beach pretty much every day. On the beach, you will find people renting umbrellas and chairs. However, the cheapest price we found for an umbrella and two chairs was $40. We also dropped by a hotel a hotel to check the cost, and the same setup was $75, not including any food or drinks. We were told that many hotels allow you to use their beach chairs if you’re having food and drinks but we didn’t come across that. Some people just choose to buy over renting because it is still cheaper. We were lucky that our AirBNB came with beach supplies.

*Diving and snorkelling tours on Turks and Caicos*

Tours and excursions

There is no shortage of excursions and tours on the island. There is parasailing, boat, diving and snorkelling tours. You can even get a private charter and go out with your friends for about $600 a day. We did manage to find shared half-day tours to go snorkelling for about $125 a day. So it is not that bad. However, you may as well be prepared to pay maybe a little bit more than usual. Especially, when it comes to excursions.

Happy Hour Prices

Thankfully Turks and Caicos has no shortage of Happy Hours. We evening we went to a place called Somewhere that was recommended to us. The craft beer cost $5 but if there is no happy hour a beer can cost $10 to $12. Mixed drinks and beachy cocktails can cost from $9 to $12 and upwards from there. A glass of wine is about $10 to $12 and the cost of a bottle starts around $35. Somewhere seems to have happy hour every day at certain times. They also have half-priced bottles of wine on Wednesdays. We also went to a place called Mango Reef, which is close to where we stayed and they also have a daily happy hour.

Grocery Costs

We did not buy a ton of groceries but we did go to an IGA one day to get a few things. We found that most stuff is quite expensive. So for everything that you buy at home, you may expect to pay at least a few dollars more than you would there. This is because they import products that are not from the island such as peanut butter. However, there are some reasonable prices.

Travel Insurance

If you’re travelling to Turks and Caicos (or anywhere for that matter) on thing you’ll have to budget for is travel insurance (you should never travel without it). We always use SafetyWing when travelling. Their prices are great, plus it’s perfect for long term travel (as well as short trips). It’s also super easy to get set up.

Mobile phone plans

Finally, one of the important things while travelling is a cell phone plan. We decided not to go for one this time. As Canadians, we pay the most and we have the worst cell phone plans in the world. Unlike American roaming which can be well priced. For us, we have to pay about $15 extra per day to use roaming, and It is just too expensive. That is why we have to be strategic about what we do. So since we are here for just a week we decided to depend on the Wi-Fi here. Fortunately, it works pretty well. We did a little research into local plans on Turks and Caicos and they seemed quite expensive as well.