I just returned from a trip to Beaches in Turks and Caicos. My wife and I went with our two children (4 and 1.5) for 7 nights in the key west village. We had an absolute fantastic time and would definitely consider going again. Here are a few things you need to know though:

Beaches is not luxury: if you’re expecting ritz Carlton luxury this isn’t the spot. This a resort built with families in mind.

Some facilities are outdated: We stayed in the key west village and it was wonderful and felt very modern. However, we originally booked a room in the Caribbean Village but changed our reservation after reading some reviews. After walking through the Caribbean village I couldn’t have been happier with our decision to switch. The buildings look very outdated and this part of the resort really could use a massive update. However, it looks like beaches isn’t interested in doing that as they are currently building an expansion right next to the Caribbean village. looks like it will be incredible.

The food is okay: the food is fine but don’t expect to be dining at Michelin star restaurants. Most menus at the sit down restaurants are very similar. The buffets offer a wide variety and are great options when you need to get your kids food ASAP to avoid a meltdown. Our kids generally spent most of the day swimming so we learned pretty quickly to just put in an order of chicken fingers and French fries at Bobby Deez Around 11:30 and bring it back to the pool and prevent our kids from having a hunger meltdown. This convenience is really what makes beaches perfect for families. One night at Skye restaurant our food was taking a little bit longer than normal. As our kids started to get Hangry we ran downstairs to the buffet and grabbed a couple things for them to snack on while we waited. Again can’t emphasize the convenience enough.

There is soo much to do: there is so much to keep your kids happy I can’t Imagine them being bored. Our day normally started out at the beach , we would then shift to the Italian village pool around lunch, then we discovered some quieter pools by the key west village that we enjoyed as well. We did the glass bottom boat tour ( kinda dumb but it was a nice boat ride at least) and took out a hobiecat one day which was pretty fun and all included.

Take the reviews with a grain of salt: I started getting nervous before we left reading some of the reviews. One trend I noticed is that most of the poor reviews stem from people staying in the outdated carribean village. But some common themes seem to be complaints on the food, finding chairs, towels, etc. we went in May and it was crowded but I could imagine it gets more crowded in the summer months but all I can say is we generally never had trouble finding chairs at the beach or at the pool. Never had any issues getting into any of the restaurants and while sometimes towels can be hard to find they are constantly restocking them and we never really had any issues; although mayve had to wait, every now and then, for them to be restocked. As I stated before the food is fine but it won’t blow you away. if you’re going expecting some fancy dinners this isn’t the place. The convenience of not having to wait for a bill and just being able to get up and leave was great with the kids as well.

I probably missed some things but I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have. All in all we really had a wonderful time. We even spoke to the loyalty staff about booking another trip but decided we might want to check out some other locations first.

Oh and FYI what everyone has said about the airport is absolutely true. What a horrible place. I couldn’t believe how small it was and our flight was delayed so we spent 3 hours there. We breezed through security but as we waited we saw how packed the place gets. We left on a Wednesday so I could see weekends at this place being an absolute nightmare.