hotel under $200 in Providenciales?
 

My husband and I are taking our first trip to Turks and Caicos in late March for 3 days/3 nights. We're trying to keep this somewhat inexpensive and would like hotel advice. Has anyone stayed at Grace Bay Suites (www.gracebaysuites.com)? We want low-key, walk to beach, and don't want to rent a car...and ideally stay under $200 per night. Can we do it? The Sibonne is booked. It looks like Turtle Cove Inn or the Comfort Suites are in our price range. The Alexandra is slightly above, but may be worth it. From the websites (which I know can be deceiving) Grace Bay Suites looks like the nicest. Thanks for any advice.

The Alexandra is nice enough mid range resort for that price. Has a nice swim up pool bar and a shaded deck for drinks and light lunches. If you need to know more let me know. I also have pictures posted on www.gracebaypaintings.shutterfly.com in one of the albums listed as where we stay
Caribbean Paradise INN www.paradise.tc short walk to the beach. Not as new as Grace Bay Suites, but worth a look.
It's too bad Sibonne didn't have anything, It's in such a great spot.

Look at the Sibonne. Small beach front hotel directly on Grace Bay. 26 rooms and next to the Sands. We walked to various places. Used a cab a few times to Turtle Cove. We went in May and got it less than $200 night. Don't know about March. That's still high season.

If you can swing something on the beach ( Alexandra you mention) go for it. The others may have beach access but that means a few chairs thrown on the beach, no shade, etc If you stay at a beachfront location the extra $ is so worth it...can run to room etc for snacks/drinks

Thanks for the advice. This is a quick trip so we're not going to be using a pool or worried about fine dining. We want 3 days of sitting on a beach with a book and not having to interact with the outside world too much. We would want beach chairs....hadn't thought of that yet. How crowded are sections of Grace Bay Beach? The Turtle Cove Inn sounds like it's within walking distance of a less crowded portion of the beach, whereas The Alexandra, Grace Bay Suites, and the Caribbean Paradise Inn may be more populated. Also, we've never snorkeled and would like to try it. Any good place for first-timers? We'd need to rent equipment.

Try the condos under www.VRBO.com

You might find something in your price range.

You don't need a car, and should be able to walk to many restaurants. We enjoy every minute we spend there.

I found the Sibonne available using Travelocity, so booked it. (Rather odd since the hotel website as well as a few other hotel websites were showing no availability.)
I think we'll be glad to be on the beach and are not expecting anything fancy based on the reviews.
Thanks for all the advice.

Hotels allocate rooms to online agencies until a certain date when left unbooked, they get returned to the hotel for direct booking. It is always good to check the popular online agencies when the hotel is showing no vacancy. This is most likely the reason why. You may find hotels able to release rooms allocated to agencies if you speak to them directly. I guess it would depend on how sophisticated their online reservation application is. I am not a travel agent, however, so I this a conjecture at best.

Best breakfast spot, Bay Bistro at Sibonne.
Enjoy your vacation
3 day and 3 nights that's going to be rough.... I have to say,.. is like going into an ice cream shop and only taking one lick of your favorite flavor.
You are going to want more...

We loved the Sibonne. They upgraded us to a 2 room Deluxe on the second floor without asking. If your interested we have our pictures at:

http://community.webshots.com/user/kvrlvn

The hotel is very small, intimate and quite. There were no children when we were there. Bay Bistro was good. Our package included a continential breakfast, but you could add on a meat or an egg for like $2.00.

Grace Bay is gorgues. There are not many papalas on the beach and we found people dumped there stuff early in the morning and left it there for most of the day. There is really no snorkeling out front but walk to Coral Gardens about 20 minutes away down the beach for really nice beach snorkeling.

Thanks for all the advice. Turksoldtimer, I guess this will be my diet trip.....I'm sure I'll want more, but this will have to do:) KVR, I think I had read some of your previous posts and you had done a 2 hour jetski thing. What company did you use? Does this harm the coral reefs?
Thanks.

We used Sun and Fun. There were no coral reefs where we went. We did not do any snorkeling. It was more a sightsee trip. We did go to a shallow area where we looked at a few star fish. The sand was so white and the water so clear from a distance it looked like snow. Their site is:

http://www.tcimall.tc/sunandfun/

I highly suggest takng the 2 hour guided tour over just the jet ski rental. The rental you are only allowed in a very small circular area close to the dock.

Here's the link to the Trip Report I posted in Trip Advisor if your interested:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...nd_Caicos.html

Thanks KVR. A great trip report on tripadvisor. This is a quick trip for me and hubby, so we won't get to do nearly as much as you did. The jet ski tour sounds great. Did you need reservations? Were you able to walk to their location or did you take a cab? Is it 2 people on a jet ski or one on each? Also, what is Coral Gardens? I keep seeing that mentioned and it sounds like an area that you go to swim/snorkel. I appreciate all the help as this is our first trip, and unfortunately it's only 3 days so we want to use our time wisely.

Yes, we did have to make reservations with Sun and Fun. I e-mailed them our request from the address on their web-site. We did have to take a cab to their docking area. It wasn't that much. It was 2 people to a jet ski. My husband drove and I rode on back. It was just us and one other couple on the tour we took.

Coral Gardens is a name of a hotel and out front on their beach is a live reef. It's circled off with rope in like a half moon shape. You have to swim on the outside of the roped circle as there is fire coral within. Lots to look at, but I admit, we didn't see as much as some others have reported. From the Sibonne facing the water, go to the left down the beach about 20 minutes. We took some plastic beach mats and towels since we're not allowed to use the hotel's chairs.

3 days will be a short trip. I hope you have fun.

I just realized that the room I've booked at the Sibonne is on the first floor. Is it worth it to upgrade to the 2nd floor?

The main difference in the standard room (first floor) and the oceanview room (second floor) is that the first floor rooms have no private patio area. They have a sliding glass door to the back of the room, but the patio area is open for anyone walking by. There are a couple of chairs and a small table.

The building is shaped like an open square. We had a room along the back of the square and not down the two sides. Most hotels would consider it an oceanfront room. However, the garden area in the middle of the square was so overgrown we only had a partial oceanview. Our room had a huge balcony that fit a table and 4 chairs and a love seat all made out of wrought iron. We got a room with a second sitting area. I don't know if all the second floor rooms have those or not. It's not mentioned in the descriptions on their web-site. The extra space was very nice. If the price difference isn't significant, I would recommend getting the 2nd floor room.

I'd recommend the second floor too; I stayed at the Sibonne two years ago. We enjoyed it--low-key, not a ton of people. I liked that it was literally a 30 second walk to the beach from our room. We were also on the top floor--I think we upgraded to a suite after we looked at how much we were saving by staying there. I think you'll enjoy it.

The only drawback I think is the lack of a larger pool--though with water like that I don't know why anyone would want to actually swim in a pool.

I also went snorkeling at Coral Gardens. We spotted a stingray and a fair amount of other fish. It was my first time snorkeling so I don't know if we saw more or less than one normally sees. I just liked that it was so easy to swim out to it.

Thanks for jogging my memory KVR; it's nice to "relive" a trip.

Sibonne is a very quaint motel level accomodation RIGHT on the most gorgeous beach. It is perfect for the budget minded that want to share the same beach as guests at The Somerset and Palms- 2 resorts nearby. No frills but clean modest rooms.
Perfect for some travelers who spend their day outside their rooms.
Nice restaurant right on the property that is very good.

Thanks. I was able to upgrade to the 2nd floor. This sounds like the perfect place....laid back, no kids (we're leaving ours at home:)), and right on the beach. We want to put our swimsuits on, grab a book, head to the beach and come back when it gets dark for some drinks on the balcony.

At Salt Mills Plaza there is a liquor store. It's within walking distance of the Sibbone, but I would take a taxi back with your supplies. About $6.00. The 2nd floor rooms have a small frig. We were able to get a 30 pack of beer and a few of things in it.

If you walk to either Salt Mills or Ports of Call. Walk down the beach to the Sands and then cut through their resturant and parking lot to the main road. Turn left at the main road. When we where there, they we supposably buiding a condo unit between the Sibonne and the Sands, which I don't believe ever happened. There were no street lights on the road between the Sands and Sibonne. We walked it in the dark several times, before we figured out the shortcut of going through the Sands resturant and parking lot.

There were only 8 papalas at the beach and no other shade. Go early to get one. We found many people dumped their stuff on the chairs and disappeared for most of the day. I personally don't have issue with moving other people's stuff, but some might.

Hope you have a great time. You're going to regret only going for 3 days and start planning your return before you leave. ;)