City overview
The Turks & Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory of about forty islands and cays at the southeastern end of the Bahamian chain, best known for Grace Bay Beach on Providenciales and for the reef that runs the length of the archipelago. Providenciales holds almost all of the country's resorts, restaurants and shopping, while Grand Turk, North, Middle and South Caicos and Salt Cay stay quiet and largely undeveloped. Jewish life in the country is young and centres entirely on Providenciales: Chabad of Turks & Caicos Islands, founded by Rabbi Shmulik and Chaya Berkowitz at the end of 2019, is the only Jewish congregation anywhere in the islands. The resident community is small and expatriate, and it swells through the winter season with second-home owners and visitors. Kosher food on the island is limited but real, and everything Jewish sits within the Grace Bay area.
Salt Cay Salinas and Balfour Town
Turks & Caicos · Free
The remarkably intact remains of a 19th-century salt industry, with evaporation ponds, dividing walls and canals, the 1820s White House and a colonial Bermudian-style settlement.
Time needed
2 to 3 hours
Tips
Town Salina, right beside the main road, gives the clearest view of the historic stonework and canals, including the junctions where wind-powered pumps once stood. The White House still stands but is uninhabited and cannot be entered. Walk the residential streets for the cut-limestone architecture and the oceanfront church. Steer clear of the abandoned Windmills Hotel, which has been structurally unsound since 2008.
Neighborhood
Balfour Town, Salt Cay
Activity providers
Kosher map of Turks & Caicos
Pick a place on the map or search an address or hotel to see what is kosher around it.