If you’re looking to take the fam or gather a group of friends to enjoy some time on the beach alongside world-class pampering, let us introduce you to The Reserve at Grace Bay by Beach Enclave. Located on Turks and Caicos’ Grace Bay, The Reserve comprises three adjacent villas, each offering from 13,800 to 15,100 square feet of indoor and outdoor living space, not to mention a host of exclusive facilities, in-villa services and more.
Luxury Travel Advisor was on-site in late October with a small group that was the first to experience the new villas. Each of these accommodations is designed for entertaining, gathering and just about any other verb you can think of that means bringing people together and having a good time. We stayed in Villa 2, which has a large, open-plan living room and kitchen with a dining table that can accommodate 14 people. A separate game room, just off the entrance, offers a ping-pong table, card table, an L-shaped couch and a large, flat-screen TV with a host of already-downloaded streaming services.
The standout space, however, was the outdoor pool patio. Here, another large table was located next to an outdoor kitchen complete with a Wolf gas barbecue grill. On the opposite side of the patio were lounge chairs surrounding the infinity-edge swimming pool. Across the walkway was a plenty-large hot tub for any chilly nights. Good to know: Each of the villas offers direct access to the beach. Just below the pool is a second wooden deck, closer to the beach, with its own set of lounge chairs. While the beach is public, the location is fairly secluded and there was hardly anyone even in sight during our stay.
Good to know: Vasco Borges, founder and CEO of Beach Enclave, says they eventually plan to expand the beach to give guests much more room to relax or play. (There currently isn’t a lot of room, which also helps with keeping unwanted beachgoers at bay.)
Back inside, one bedroom was located on the ground floor, with the remaining six bedrooms located on the second floor. Three of these rooms are identical and are best for a single person or couple; they have a king bed facing the ocean, a wall-mounted TV, plenty of closet space, and an en-suite bathroom with an indoor and outdoor shower and a double vanity. These three rooms also connect a shallow balcony. The top digs in Villa 2 is the primary bedroom, which has a slightly larger bedroom space but a significantly larger bathroom, complete with a bath tub, as well as its own terrace.
There are also two bunk bedrooms, each with two bunk beds. What stands out in these rooms, however, is each bed is a queen. Yes, queen-size bunk beds. While these would work best for kids, if you have some folks who are willing to share a room, adults can just as easily make these rooms work due to the size of the beds.
Lastly, there is a small rooftop terrace that is the perfect spot for a sundowner.
Villa 1—like Villa 2 and most other Beach Enclave properties—has a welcoming but ultra-modern design. This villa also has seven bedrooms, but two are located separate from the main building in a detached guest house. There is also an open living and dining room on the ground floor, but in lieu of the first bedroom like in Villa 2, this villa has an office space and small media room with a TV and couch.
On the second floor are four bedrooms that are all roughly the same size. On the third floor, however, is the primary bedroom, which is the largest of any in the complex. It has a large balcony and direct access to the rooftop lounge.
Outside is a covered dining terrace, an infinity pool lined with loungers, a hot tub and a sunken lounge space with a fire pit, not to mention that second wooden deck on the beach.
Villa 3 was still under construction during our visit but will be approximately the same size and will offer much of the same—an infinity pool deck, seven bedrooms, a media room, a rooftop lounge and direct beach access. The villa is expected to debut no later than in March 2025.
Good to know: Just about every wall across the villas—especially if they face the water—are floor-to-ceiling windows, providing plenty of natural light and amazing views no matter where you are. The challenge with this, however, is these giant, hurricane-proof windows also function as the sliding doors to connect inside and outside. If you’re not tracking, let us say: they are very heavy (and take some time to even distinguish from the non-sliding windows).
Also on the design front: With so many windows (which includes the bathrooms) there are some interesting sightlines that are afforded to guests of the neighboring villas. The Beach Enclave team is well aware of this and said they were working on a fix (which includes adding frosted glass and decorative wooden slats that provide privacy).
While the villas are very impressive in their own right, what makes The Reserve at Grace Bay stand out from even the other properties in the Beach Enclave portfolio are its inclusions—namely a dedicated butler for the duration of your stay, as well as a private chef who is on-hand to cook three meals a day.
Our butler, Sonam, was extremely helpful and friendly. He was able and ready to assist with unpacking (and packing), cooking breakfasts of eggs, bacon and blended green juices, and more. Beach Enclave’s butlers can set up any of the included water sports activities, make craft cocktails and other drinks during the day and in the evenings, serve snacks, take care of room service, handle turndown and help with kids activities.
All the food prepared by our chef, Oliver Gayen, was also fantastic; many dishes were locally inspired but what was truly impressive was how Chef Oliver and his team accommodated everyone’s allergies and dietary restrictions. There were those in our group (we took over both Villa 1 and 2) who were gluten-free, lactose intolerant or had nut, shellfish or seafood allergies. And Chef was not creating meals per person; he made sure that each of the family-style dinners were able to be eaten by all. And, best yet, the food was delicious every time. The tenderloin Chef Oliver prepared was simple but perfectly cooked and easily ranked among the best steaks we’ve ever had.
Beyond the villas, guests can make use of kayaks, stand-up paddle boards and assortment of other water sports, all readily available. A particularly popular option is the included kite surfing lessons. Turks and Caicos (Long Bay Beach, specifically) is a great destination for kite surfing due to its shallow waters and favorable wind patterns. Grace Bay isn’t too bad, either. The Reserve complex also offers guests exclusive use of a gym and yoga pavilion, a putting green and chipping range, basketball, pickleball, beach volleyball and tennis courts, lawn games like corn hole and bocce ball, and more.
We also really enjoyed the many thoughtful touches provided by Beach Enclave, such as the basket in each bedroom with three different SPF levels of Beach Bum sunscreen, bug repellent, bug bite soothing spray and after-sun lotion. Beyond these, the villas are virtually plastic-free (bathrooms had full-size toiletry bottles), not to mention some rooftop space is even dedicated to solar panels.
Travel advisors should contact Keyona Coward (experiences@beachenclave.com), executive director of sales.
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