While Tahiti and Fiji receive most of the attention, it\u2019s the lesser-known Cook Islands which epitomize that South Seas destination you always dreamt of. With no traffic and fewer tourists to contend with, visitors have their very own islands to lose themselves in.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of islands in the South Pacific, but only one of them is\u00a0that island. It\u2019s that one you\u2019ve always wanted to find: all big, green mountains spilling down into blue lagoons with barely a house in between; that\u2019s big enough to get lost in, but small enough you\u2019ll know your way around in a day or two.<\/p>\n
I grew up on Rarotonga and always wondered why so few travelers came \u2013 how it\u2019s flown under the radar is anyone\u2019s guess. Fiji can get crowded, Tahiti\u2019s expensive \u2013 but the Cook Islands are neither.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the beauty of the place. Sure, there\u2019s five-star hotels on lagoons but there\u2019s still more pigs on the roads than cars. There\u2019s no high-rise anywhere \u2013 no building\u2019s taller than a coconut tree, it\u2019s the law. There\u2019s no traffic lights and the speed limit is set at 30mph. On Rarotonga you won\u2019t find a chain hotel, nor will you be transported to a private island resort by helicopter \u2013 as is often the case in Fiji.<\/p>\n
For a tiny island that\u2019s 27-square-miles in size, and circumnavigable in barely 40-minutes, you can still get lost.All it takes me is a small detour from the main coast road to the 1000-year-old inland road,\u00a0Are Metua\u00a0to leave the modern world behind. Here locals farm taro plantations, with their pigs tied to coconut trees. Every time I return, I discover a new path into a valley I haven\u2019t seen before.<\/p>\n
The Cook Islands are as sophisticated as any South Pacific destination. Tourism is its staple industry, and you\u2019ll find everything from luxury safari tents to romantic five-star villas. Rarotonga also has the best nightlife in the South Pacific, though it never comes at the expense of its sleepy lifestyle.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s home to the best sunset bars and restaurants in the whole Pacific set on the sand on Rarotonga\u2019s west coast at Aorangi. They\u2019re all located close to each other \u2013 like the Waterline Restaurant & Bar, Wilson\u2019s Bar and the Shipwreck Hut.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s the locals that have always made the Cook Islands special. Crime is almost non-existent, and you won\u2019t find friendlier souls. Family is sacred (yours are just as important), and the Cook Islanders are the extroverts of the South Pacific \u2013 they love to socialize, so it\u2019s little wonder there\u2019s every type of restaurant, caf\u00e9, and bar. You can try everything from fish caught that morning at a caf\u00e9 16-feet from the lagoon, to gourmet Polynesian-fusion meals in restored colonial buildings.<\/p>\n
The best plan to enjoy Rarotonga is to have no plan. Hire a scooter (there\u2019s no safer place to try it for the first time) or car and follow the road right around. Rarotonga\u2019s encircled by a barrier reef, so there\u2019s safe swimming options all over. Many visitors prefer the widest section of the lagoon at Muri \u2013 it\u2019s where you\u2019ll find some of the fanciest accommodation options (and a bustling night market). You\u2019re surrounded by four tiny, uninhabited\u00a0motu\u00a0(islets) you can swim to.<\/p>\n
Though you need never leave Rarotonga, it\u2019s worth taking the 45-minute flight north to Aitutaki. Travelers wanting to get away from it all can lose themselves here amongst the island\u2019s eight tiny, peaceful communities (there\u2019s just 1,400 locals) and on one of the South Pacific\u2019s most celebrated lagoons. This lagoon (unlike Bora Bora\u2019s) isn\u2019t home to five-star chain resorts, instead it\u2019s home to uninhabited\u00a0motu\u00a0(islets) owned by locals where there\u2019s no-one around but the occasional fisherman. Aitutaki is a honeymooner\u2019s dream: the Cook Islands\u2019 most awarded romantic resorts can be found here, and most activities revolve around escaping to someplace of your own within the lagoon.<\/p>\n
For Robinson Crusoe bragging rights, consider flying just a little further (but still under an hour) to little-visited gems like Atiu and Mangaia \u2013 both islands receive less than 100 visitors a year, and you\u2019re almost guaranteed to have the island for yourselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While Tahiti and Fiji receive most of the attention, it\u2019s the lesser-known Cook Islands which epitomize that South Seas destination you always dreamt of. With no traffic and fewer tourists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islands"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n