The Location of Grand Turk
Grand Turk is an island in the country of Turks and Caicos, which is located between the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. Grand Turk is the home of Cockburn Town, which is the capital city of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Grand Turk is about 650 miles (1046 km) distant from Miami, Florida, and 450 miles (724 km) from the city of Nassau in the Bahamas.
Grand Turk has an airport, the Grand Turk JAGS McCartney International Airport (GDT), yet there are currently no scheduled international flights that fly to the island. Most visitors to Grand Turk arrive via cruise ship, which docks at the Grand Turk Cruise Center, and a comparative minority of guests, which tend to be scuba diving enthusiasts, fly into the Turks and Caicos via the Providenciales International Airport (PLS), and then take a domestic island hopper flight to Grand Turk.
As our country name may suggest, our archipelago is made up of two island groups: the Turks Islands, and the Caicos Islands. The Turks Islands consist of the relatively small islands of Grand Turk, Salt Cay, and a handful of tiny uninhabited cays, and the far more extensive Caicos Islands are home to more than 90 named islands, cays, and rocks, and has seven inhabited islands. Our two island groups are divided by a 6000-foot-deep (1829 m) and 20-mile-wide (32 km) rift called the Turks Island Passage.
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Cruise Ship Guests
Nearly all visitors to Grand Turk arrive by cruise ship for the day, and ships dock at the Grand Turk Cruise Center. We highly advise that cruise ship guests do a little research prior to landing so as to make the most of their visit to the Turks and Caicos.
Grand Turk is a safe and fun island to explore on your own, and one of our top recommendations is simply to rent a car, scooter, or golf cart and explore! For information on great things to do and attractions, see Things to Do and Beaches of Grand Turk.
How to Get to Grand Turk by Flight
If you’re interested in staying overnight on Grand Turk, there’s a small collection of quaint boutique hotels and villas. As there are no international flights to Grand Turk, it’s necessary to enter the Turks and Caicos through Providenciales, and then take a domestic flight via a small aircraft to Grand Turk. We have two local airlines that offer regularly-scheduled service. Immigration and customs clearance takes place upon landing at Providenciales.
The Grand Turk Airport is small and quaint, and is located on the southern end of the island near Governor’s Beach and English Point Beach. Rental cars can be picked up onsite, which makes it easy to visit Grand Turk via a day trip from Providenciales.
Locations on Grand Turk
Grand Turk isn’t extensive, yet due to the sea salt industry that once operated, there are fascinating and beautiful historical buildings to discover. Salt production primarily took place on Grand Turk, Salt Cay, and South Caicos, yet the center of trade and government largely took place on Grand Turk, resulting in some of the best civic and infrastructure of the period being built on the island. There’s the iconic Grand Turk Lighthouse, the scenic beachfront Front Street, the Turks and Caicos National Museum in historical Guinep House, Her Majesty’s Prison, the Victoria Library, and many beautiful colonial homes.
In addition to the sights and attractions on land, the island offers the incredible Governor's Beach, Pillory Beach, English Point Beach, Cockburn Town Beach, and the Cruise Center Beach.