Beautiful Pacific

Cook Islands Beach Holidays

Beautiful Cook Islands Beach Holidays is a dedicated south pacific islands travel expert offering personalized holiday planning with a reliable and unbiased south pacific resorts booking service. We are based in the South Pacific. It is our aim to help you select the ideal destination and resorts for your holiday.

cook islands travel

cook islands resorts

fiji beach holidays ; tahiti beach holidays ; tonga beach holidays ; samoa beach holidays ;

Call Us Now:

England: 0208 123 8622
USA: 619 618 0229
Australia: 02 8005 1232
Fiji: 672 2600

Cook Islands beach holidays are ideal for those looking for a laid back holiday atmosphere, not too commercialized but not too undeveloped. Here is a happy mix of tourism and traditional living, of beachcombing, snorkelling, swimming, sightseeing, shopping and dining out. Many regard the Cook Islands as the Hawaii of 40 years ago - an idyllic holiday paradise yet to be discovered and be spoiled by mass tourism.

Rarotonga is the main tourist destination, a high volcanic island with rugged mountains covered in dense tropical rain forest. The coast has flat plains with two roads circling the island, one along the coastline and one slightly inland. Between these roads the entire population live and the thin stretch of land between the coastal road and the beachfront is where the majority of resorts and bungalows are found. The island is easy to explore taking only an hour to travel around by car although most of the islands population and tourists travel by moped. The road is lined with flowers and shrubs with small settlements, private houses, art galleries and restaurants in between. It is an attractive island, full of life and scenery.

A sandy beach circles almost the entire island with only a few stretches having a rocky coastline or pebble beaches. These rocky beaches are found only along the north and east coast of Rarotonga but these have their own attractions - a wild coastline with crashing surf and excellent beachcombing. The most popular sandy beach is at Muri on the south east coast which faces four small uninhabited islands on the reefs edge making for a protected lagoon with sandy bottom. This is a great spot for water activities, swimming and snorkelling, although the beach faces the trade winds and can often be windy in the afternoons. The south coast is the least developed stretch of beachfront and here you'll find a handful of small beach bungalows as well as some of the best snorkelling in the Cook Islands. This is a good spot for secluded beach walks. There's another popular swimming beach at Aroa on the south west coast and this beachfront continues unbroken along the entire west coast which, north of Arorangi Village, is the second busiest tourist stretch on Rarotonga. The lagoon here though is very shallow and full of coral heads - at low tide you can wade ankle deep to the outer reef spotting corals and fish as you walk. Swimming and snorkelling is not great but there are plenty swimming holes to submerge yourself. This is the leeward side of the island with less wind, more sunshine and great sunsets.

The most picturesque beaches in the Cook Islands are found on Aitutaki, a 40-minute flight north of Rarotonga. However, the main island of Aitutaki has only one decent stretch of beach along its north west coast, similar to those found along the west coast of Rarotonga - picturesque to look at but not great for swimming. The best swimming beaches are on the uninhabited motu islands that surround the lagoon on the fringing reef. These are accessible on day cruises and include snorkelling in the lagoon and a few hours lazing on some breathtaking picture-postcard beach settings.

Search for Cook Islands Beach Resorts