The Somerset on Grace Bay

Where Grace Bay's Architecture Meets the Caribbean Shore

Approaching The Somerset on Grace Bay along Princess Drive in Providenciales, the property's European design sensibility registers before you reach the entrance. New York-based Rosenberg Kolb conceived the architecture and interiors, and the result places The Somerset in a category that diverges from the low-rise, sand-and-shingle vernacular common to Caribbean resort design. The European touches, from the structural lines to the material palette, create a visual context that feels more considered than the typical beach hotel formula, situating the property closer in spirit to Mediterranean coastal estates than to the neighbouring Bight Settlement.

This design distinction is not incidental. Grace Bay's premium resort tier has, over the past two decades, sorted itself into broadly two camps: large-format hotels that compete on amenities volume, and properties with more architectural specificity that compete on atmosphere and accommodation quality. The Somerset sits firmly in the latter group, and its 53 all-suite residences, rather than conventional hotel rooms, determine much of what makes a stay here different from the broader Grace Bay offering. For comparison, Grace Bay Club and Seven Stars Resort & Spa operate along similar suite-forward principles, while Amanyara and COMO Parrot Cay occupy their own more secluded niches across the archipelago.

The Somerset's Position on the World's Most Remarkable Stretch of Sand

The 12-mile Grace Bay beachfront is broadly acknowledged among Caribbean beaches for a physical characteristic that distinguishes it from most of its regional peers: shallow, calm water that extends the reef-filtered turquoise and green colour patterns unusually far from shore. The effect is not subtle. Unlike beaches where depth drops quickly and the water turns dark within a few metres, Grace Bay's gradients allow the full colour spectrum to register across a wide band, which is why satellite images of this coastline circulate as widely as they do. The Somerset sits directly on this shoreline, and that positioning determines a large part of the property's value to its guests.

The water access from the property supports snorkelling, sailing, stand-up paddleboarding, windsurfing, and kayaking, placing it in the activity-rich tier of Grace Bay accommodation. For guests calibrating between options in this area, Windsong Resort in Grace Bay and Wymara Resort and Villas represent proximate alternatives with their own beach access and water sport programmes. What The Somerset adds to the standard Grace Bay activity menu is a SUP yoga offering, paddleboard sessions conducted on the water as an alternative to conventional studio practice.

The Residence Format and What It Changes About a Stay

Somerset operates on a residential model: 53 suites and villas ranging from one to five bedrooms, with floor areas between 1,400 and 5,300 square feet. There are no standard hotel rooms. Every unit functions as a self-contained residence, with full kitchens equipped with granite countertops, Viking appliances, and refrigerators with icemakers, alongside marble bathrooms with soaking tubs and rain showers. Washer and dryer units are included in each residence.

This format changes the guest calculus in a specific way. Families travelling with children can maintain domestic rhythms, including meals prepared in-suite, while couples can treat the larger villa categories as private beach house rentals with resort services attached. The residential scale also means The Somerset competes with private villa rental markets in Turks and Caicos as much as it competes with conventional hotels, which positions it differently from a pure-hotel property like The Shore Club Turks & Caicos in Long Bay Hills. Guests who want the villa-rental experience with the infrastructure of a full resort property, including pools, spa, fitness centre, and programmed activities, will find this format harder to replicate elsewhere on the island.

The pools at The Somerset carry a detail worth noting: the pool tiles are custom-made from recycled glass imported from Spain, designed to absorb sunlight during the day and emit a green-tinted glow after dark. It is an architectural specificity that reflects the broader design attention brought to the property by Rosenberg Kolb, and it gives the evening pool experience a different visual character from the standard illuminated resort pool.

Family Programming and the Caicos Kids Club

Grace Bay's family market is substantial, and most of the upper-tier properties in the area have responded with some form of children's programming. The Somerset's Caicos Kids Club operates with daily activities including treasure hunts and sandcastle construction, and extends into evening programming with movie nights and supervised dinners. This evening component is operationally significant: it means parents can access the property's dining and social offering after dark without the logistical constraint of young children. The programming architecture here echoes what Beach Enclave in Providenciales and other family-oriented Provo properties have built, though The Somerset's residential suite scale gives families more room than most hotel-room formats allow.

The Spa, Wellness, and One Anomaly on the Island

The spa operates with two treatment rooms. For guests seeking open-air treatments, the property's inspector notes that outdoor massage in the tropical conditions is worth prioritising over indoor treatment rooms. This is a meaningful preference signal: the environmental setting of Providenciales, particularly the prevailing trade winds along the Grace Bay shoreline, makes outdoor treatments a genuinely different experience from the same service delivered inside.

The Somerset holds one facility that does not exist anywhere else in Turks and Caicos: the only regulation croquet lawn on the islands. In a destination where water sports dominate the activity conversation, the croquet lawn is a deliberate land-based anomaly, and one that speaks to the property's European design references as much as its practical amenity value. For guests arriving from European resort contexts, the Badrutt's Palace Hotel in St. Moritz or Castello di Reschio in Lisciano Niccone, The Somerset's continental reference points in both design and amenity selection will register as familiar signals.

Planning a Stay at The Somerset

Property is located on Princess Drive in The Bight Settlement, Providenciales, the main island of Turks and Caicos. Providenciales International Airport serves the island with direct connections from multiple North American and European gateways, making Grace Bay one of the more accessible premium Caribbean destinations from both continents. The peak season on Grace Bay runs from December through April, when trade winds keep temperatures moderate and rainfall minimal. Shoulder season, particularly May and November, offers meaningfully lower rates with largely comparable weather conditions.

For guests comparing Grace Bay properties at similar price points, Point Grace Resort and Spa in Grace Bay - Providenciales and The Palms Turks and Caicos in The Bight Settlement both operate within the same neighbourhood corridor. Guests seeking more remote Turks and Caicos experiences should look at Pine Cay in Pine Cay, Ambergris Cay in Ambergris Cay, Sailrock South Caicos in South Caicos, or Villas of Salt Cay in Balfour Town for a different context entirely. For the full range of properties across the destination, see our full Grand Turk restaurants guide.

Booking for The Somerset is leading handled through the property directly or via a travel specialist with Turks and Caicos expertise. Given the suite-and-villa format, unit selection matters considerably: a one-bedroom residence at 1,400 square feet and a five-bedroom villa at 5,300 square feet represent different products within the same property, and the distinctions between categories, floor level, beach proximity, and villa configuration, are worth discussing with a booking contact before confirming.