Beaches Turks & Caicos in 48 Hours

With a resort as big as this one, you'll feel like you're on your own island. The property spans across 12 miles of beach, with 10 pools scattered throughout the villages and, the part you really care about, 22 dinning options.

However, let it be known that not all all-inclusive resort restaurants are created equal.

Our flight arrived just before lunch-time, so as soon as we were greeted with a rum punch and checked in, we darted to the "most authentic" sounding lunch spot we could find: the Jerk Shack. Despite it being on the opposite side of the property as pretty much everything else, it was amazing. Picnic tables lined the edge of the beach throughout the sand, and all the food poured out of tin foil (that's how I knew it would be good). The festival is a traditional local food, it wasn't my favorite, but I quite enjoyed the fish & yam.

Afterwards, we walked around a bit to familiarize ourselves with the resort - it's huge. We stayed in the Caribbean village, but there's also a French, Italian and Key West village - each with at least two pools.

We had dinner at Schooner's Seafood Grill, and it was so good we contemplated going there the next night. Mussels, scallops and crab cakes for appetizers + tuna and steak for dinner. Every restaurant (and room) has Robert Mondavi wine, but there was always a wine list for extra.

After dinner, we went straight to one of the many bars, Turtles, where we creatively took espresso from the machine in the lobby and asked the bartender to make us espresso martinis, which he did beautifully. We may or may not have accidentally fallen asleep super early that night, but when I woke up at 2 a.m., I snuck over to Bobby Dee's for french fries, and they were surprisingly good.

The next morning, we were in a bit of a hurry to get to our snorkel excursion, so I'll admit we ate breakfast at Reflections - the buffet, but we also got coffee from Cafe de Paris. The snorkel trip, however, was fun but only about an hour, so I would recommend booking another aquatic activity.

We also spent some time along the beach, which had these fun floats about 20 feet from the shore, but I didn't spend much time in the ocean as we went in December, and I'm a Floridian. The pool, however, was much warmer and included bars.

Through all the relaxing, I made sure we made time for snacking. Pictured above is the shrimp bruschetta from Neptune's Mediterranean Seafood, and it was super fresh, but we also had less fancy snacks (curly fries) from Arizona's.

The last night was two-night dinner night.

We started off at Sapodillas Caribbean Cuisine, and I must say, the grouper carpaccio was delicious! We also got lobster, which was a little dry, but still very good.

Dinner #2 was Soy, which was fresh sushi, and it was, again, amazing. Later that night we went to The Cricketers Pub for some drinks, which weren't different from any other bar, but the atmosphere was really fun! We definitely didn't hit every restaurant during our stay, but I think we got the majority of the highlights.

Rule #1: Don't bother with the buffets.

There is simply no reason unless you're looking for a quick and easy way to accommodate a large group.

Rule #2: There is no reason to not have a drink in your hand.

With fan-favorites like the Dirty Banana and bartenders with a million different blenders at their fingertips, there's always something new to try, and there's usually a bar in every pool (so about every 50 feet).

Have you been to a Sandals or Beaches resort? Comment about your stay!