Grace Bay — located on Providenciales, Turks and Caicos’ main island — is teeming with luxury hotels. In 2021, The Ritz-Carlton opened the island’s first major internationally branded luxury hotel and — at 12 stories — its only high-rise. The big-name brand brought more eyeballs to the island: The Luxury Collection by Marriott Bonvoy opened a resort in March, and Hyatt plans to debut an Andaz boutique early next year.

Meanwhile, the original hometown purveyor, Grace Bay Resorts, is constantly pumping money into a wide-ranging portfolio crowned by its flagship Grace Bay Club. But the local hotelier’s best-kept secret isn’t even on Grace Bay. A 10-minute drive to Provo’s untamed northern coast takes you to Rock House, a first-of-its-kind hamlet carved entirely from limestone.

© Rock House/South Bank

Sited on 14 rolling acres, the European-styled eco resort is a textbook study in melding luxury with conservation. The resort’s 46 sprawling accommodations range from poolside studios to five-bedroom, stand-alone oceanfront villas with butler service. Most have private plunge pools — all the better to enjoy sweeping Caribbean views.

© Rock House/South Bank

Meanwhile, the landscaping emphasizes indigenous foliage, including centuries-old Joewood trees and the rare medicinal lignum vitae known as the “tree of life.”

“We’ve moved roads because there was a tree there for a couple hundred years, and we want to respect that tree,” said Nikheel Advani, COO and co-founder, Grace Bay Resorts. “We’ve put a lot of local vegetation into nurseries so that we can plant it back once the development is done.”

© Rock House/South Bank

Rock House is now at work on its next phase: boosting its eco cred with a yoga pavilion, a butterfly sanctuary and a preserve for native species. Inspired by the beaches of Capri and the South of France, developers used the rocky terrain to their advantage.

Social life centers around the hotel’s grotto-like Vita Restaurant eponymous Cave Bar, and 100-foot infinity pool. The pool — the longest in Turks and Caicos — overlooks the Atlantic and the hotel’s jetty, where you can alight the latest fleet of vessels from Caicos Luxury Charters for snorkeling, sunset sailing or Sunday brunch.

A sleek Axopar 37-foot powerboat delivers you to the star of the fleet: Princess Grace. The custom-built, 65-foot catamaran arrived in June and is outfitted with a full-service bar, private dining tables and plenty of indoor/outdoor lounge space.

© Rock House/South Bank

Cruising the south side of Providenciales will bring you past La Famille Express, a rusty Cold War-era cargo ship that ran aground off the coast of Long Bay Beach during Hurricane Frances in 2004. Less certain but no less thrilling is a glimpse of the island’s most famous dolphin. JoJo, a wild Atlantic Bottlenose dolphin, is a fan favorite with nearly 100,000 Instagram followers.

Rock House Resort

1 Blue Mountain Road, TKCA 1ZZ
Turks & Caicos
tel 888 969 8455