BY ALEXANDER BRITELL

The impossibly-white sands of Grace Bay Beach in Providenciales are lined with myriad resorts and hotels, each offering a gateway to one of the world’s greatest stretches of sand.

But one is different.

The Sands at Grace Bay is one of Turks and Caicos’ venerable resorts, an institution of the tourism product on the island. And there’s a reason for that.

The 114-studio-and-suite resort has distilled the art of the beach hideaway, thanks to that remarkable alchemy that turns a great beach into a great beach resort.

This pool is lined with waterfalls and little nooks perfect for relaxation.

There’s a level of overarching calm here you simply won’t find at many other places on the island or the Caribbean; an extremely quiet, almost meditatively relaxed atmosphere that is delivered without pretension or arrogance, a rarity these days.

Here, the formula is simple: spend the morning in your oversized studio or suite; take a lap at one of two pools (the second happily lined with small waterfalls); head for the mini-palapas on Grace Bay and then order some drinks at Hemingway’s, the resort’s on-site restaurant that’s one of Provo’s best beach eateries.

Hemingway’s, a popular spot for guests, locals and travelers on the island, has some of Provo’s best seafood.

While The Sands has long been one of the best places to stay in Turks and Caicos, it’s recently gotten even better, thanks to a $4.5 million resort upgrade project that transformed much of the property, from the rooms to Hemingway’s.

Plainly, this is a special resort — it’s a place offering the true Caribbean vacation experience, the one without noise and crowds and the inauthentic.

Here, it’s all about quiet enjoyment of a beautiful place. And that’s the way it should be.

See more in the video at the top.