North Carolina travellers are getting two new ways to escape the cold this winter. BermudAir is launching seasonal nonstop service from Raleigh-Durham International Airport to both Providenciales in Turks and Caicos and Belize City, with flights starting in December and running into early May 2027.

The Providenciales route begins December 20, flying Thursdays and Sundays. Southbound flights leave Raleigh-Durham at 6:05 p.m. and land at 8:55 p.m. — an evening departure that means you can sleep in your own bed and wake up on Grace Bay. Returns run Mondays and Fridays, departing Providenciales at 10:05 a.m. That schedule lets you build a four-night trip (Thursday out, Monday back) or a five-nighter (Sunday out, Friday back), and it pairs neatly with the island's other new North American connections this winter.

Belize runs on a different rhythm. Southbound flights start December 21 on Mondays and Fridays, departing at 1:45 p.m. and reaching Philip Goldson International Airport outside Belize City at 4:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. after the US clocks change in March). Return flights operate Thursdays and Sundays, arriving back in Raleigh-Durham at 5:20 p.m. If you're heading inland or to the coast, plan your onward transfer around those afternoon arrivals — the earlier the better in peak season.

Both routes are operated on Embraer 190 jets and form part of BermudAir's push beyond Bermuda into the wider Caribbean.

Where to stay? In Turks and Caicos, Kokomo Botanical Resort offers private two-bedroom cottages in a garden setting with a shuttle to its Grace Bay beach club — good for travellers who want independence. Windsong Resort sits directly on the beach with a snorkelling reef just offshore, so you can swim from sand to coral with your mask on.

In Belize, the draw is the interior. Blancaneaux Lodge, Francis Ford Coppola's former retreat in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve, spreads thatched cottages along Privassion Creek, with the Jaguar Bar and the Montagna restaurant anchoring the evenings. Nearby Gaia Riverlodge perches above Five Sisters Falls, and its funicular carries guests down to the river and swimming pools below — the little waterfall-side "beach" is the highlight. Both lodges sit well inland, so book transfers from the airport before you fly.

The two routes suit very different trips: Providenciales is classic beach-and-reef R&R, while Belize mixes rainforest lodges, rivers and Mayan country with a Caribbean coast. Because the departure days differ between the two destinations — Thursdays and Sundays for Turks and Caicos, Mondays and Fridays for Belize — check both directions before locking in dates, and you can shape anything from a long weekend to a proper two-week winter escape.

For anyone in the Research Triangle who's been routing through Charlotte, Miami or New York to reach the Caribbean, this is the rare case of the airport coming to you.

Story first reported by Caribbean Journal.