Alys Colayera

The Cook Islands Travel Expert

Castaway in the far reaches of the world, the Cook Islands cannot be beaten when you simply need to switch off and get away from it all. Washing up on these untouched shores amid a remote cluster of cayes and atolls, you get a sense of being in a place where lost is better than found and isolation is better than cosmopolitan. A luxury holiday in the Cook Islands is your own castaway paradise.

Alys Colayera

The Cook Islands Travel Expert

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The Cook Islands Highlights

Think palm flanked desert islands and fascinating Polynesian heritage, all experienced in blissful seclusion. We didn’t think you needed anymore persuasion to visit The Cook Islands.

Explore the Cook Islands

MORE ABOUT THE COOK ISLANDS

Fifteen islands festooned across a wild acreage of the Paficic ocean, the Cook Islands – despite their true remoteness from, well, everything else – are a castaway’s delight. Fusing Polynesian traditions (tktk) with an emerging artisanal food scene, the islands – with their makatea, or raised coral cliffs, and underground cave pools – never fail to surprise. Tuck in to your arrowroot and suckling pig and get ready to experience a rare and truly kaleidoscopic culture.

Private tours of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands

POLYNESIAN CULTURE MEETS MODERN CONVENIENCE

A private tour of the island of Rarotonga will bring you face to face with historic Polynesian culture and 21st century convenience, where bright new cafes ply their trade in a country where bush-beer drinking clubs and spectacular, secluded lagoons – such as beautiful Aitutaki – are found once you wander off the well beaten path.

Best hotels on the Cook Islands

LUXURY WITHOUT A HORIZON

Do you get tired of breathtaking views? Probably not. Luxury, beachfront bungalows and villas where cocktails – the ice, rattling in the glass like dice! – are always a call away. Again, probably not. Do you like sunbathing among acres of lush, tropical gardens? Again, probably not. The Cook Islands, whichever tiny atoll you choose to explore, are literally stuffed with such experiences. Lucky you.

Honeymoons on the Cook Islands

A CASTAWAY HONEYMOON

We don’t know how to define romance. Is love a thing intangible, that might dissolve were we to attempt to squeeze meaning from it? Perhaps! But we do know that the jaw-dropping surrounds of the Cook Islands, all fifteen of them, are a perfect place to waltz through a luxury honeymoon. Think Castaway, starring Tom Hanks, but not like that film at all. Just look at the bits with nice sand and palms and ocean. There.

The Cook Islands Highlights

Think palm flanked desert islands and fascinating Polynesian heritage, all experienced in blissful seclusion. We didn’t think you needed anymore persuasion to visit The Cook Islands.

Where to stay on the Cook Islands

WHERE TO STAY

Where indeed. The Cook Islands might have been created by a particularly amicable god-like AI in the interest of creating Luxury Islands. With so much dripping indulgence every which way you look, you’ll want a good hotel to cap it off. Luckily there are many. Here are the best.

Stay on the beautiful beaches of the Cook Islands

ON THE BEACH

The Aitutaki Resort - across its enviable nineteen acres of lush tropical garden - is what happens when you mix tropical languor with high class luxury and style. A mint julep finds its way into your hand. The palms sway and arch over your head. The beds and cool and soft and look out onto the startling ocean. Located on the shores of the Rapae Bay Lagoon, you’ll have the entire bountiful region to explore on your meandering days and nights.

Luxury hotels and pools on the Cook Islands

ON THE CASTAWAY ISLAND

Raratonga island is home to Rumours luxury spa and villas. The name - to be fair - says it all. The waters of the neighbouring lagoon are incredibly turquoise. The Waterfall spa within the hotel is peerless. You’ll also be only a short, contented amble from the quite simply amazing Muri beach, where island life is at its most laid max and luxurious.

  • Population Population 19,569
  • Capital Capital Avarua
  • Language Language Cook Islands Maori, English
  • Currency Currency NZ Dollar
  • Time Difference Time Difference GMT-10 | ET+5
  • Expert Tip Expert Tip

    "Dive in the crystal blue lagoon of Aitutaki island."

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