No building on Rarotonga may be taller than a coconut palm. It is a planning rule rather than a saying, it has held for decades, and it is the reason the island looks the way it does — a ring road with houses, churches and small resorts along it, and nothing rising above the trees anywhere.
Rarotonga is thirty-two kilometres around and the road takes an hour to drive. There are two bus services, clockwise and anticlockwise, and they are labelled exactly that.
Aitutaki
Forty-five minutes north by air is a lagoon that people who have seen a great many lagoons tend to rank first. Aitutaki is a partly sunken volcano with a triangular reef enclosing about fifty square kilometres of water in colours that photograph badly because nobody believes them.
The motu — small sand islets on the reef — include One Foot Island, which has a post office on it that will stamp your passport, and which is otherwise uninhabited.
Where the canoes left from
The Cook Islands are central to Polynesian navigation history. Rarotonga is, in Māori tradition, the departure point for the great migration canoes that reached New Zealand, and several of the vaka are named in genealogies still recited there. The Cook Islands and New Zealand Māori languages are closely related and mutually intelligible in parts.
The islands are self-governing in free association with New Zealand, use the New Zealand dollar alongside their own coins, and Cook Islanders hold New Zealand citizenship — which is why a very large number of them live in Auckland, and why the resident population of around 15,000 is smaller than the diaspora.
The six below are split between the two islands.
Aitutaki
The lagoon.
Pacific Resort Aitutaki occupies a beachfront position on Aitutaki with an adults-only policy, thatched bungalows on the sand and a lagoon that starts at the step. It is the best hotel in the country.
Pacific Resort Aitutaki
Aitutaki · 5★ · $$$$
Adults-only bungalows with the lagoon at the step
Check availabilityAitutaki Lagoon Private Island Resort sits on its own small island in the lagoon, reached by boat, with overwater and beach bungalows and nothing else on the island.
Aitutaki Lagoon Private Island Resort
Aitutaki lagoon motu · 4★ · $$$$
Its own island, reached by boat
Check availabilityRarotonga
The main island, inside the ring road.
Nautilus Resort occupies a beachfront site at Muri with an adults-only policy, a pool and the lagoon and its motu in front.
Nautilus Resort
Muri, Rarotonga · 4★ · $$$
Adults-only, facing the lagoon and its motu
Check availabilityPacific Resort Rarotonga sits on the quiet western coast with garden and beachfront rooms, a pool and the sunset side of the island.
Pacific Resort Rarotonga
Muri, Rarotonga · 4★ · $$$
Garden and beachfront rooms on the lagoon
Check availabilityLittle Polynesian Resort occupies a small property on the south coast with a handful of thatched bungalows, an adults-only policy and a deliberately unhurried operation.
Little Polynesian Resort
Titikaveka, Rarotonga · 4★ · $$$
A handful of thatched bungalows, adults only
Check availabilityTe Manava Luxury Villas & Spa sits on the west coast with villas, private plunge pools and a spa.
Te Manava Luxury Villas & Spa
West Rarotonga · 4★ · $$$
Villas with plunge pools on the sunset coast
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The self-catering bungalows and family-run places around Rarotonga's ring road are excluded, and on an island this size they are most of the accommodation and much of the charm. They are guest houses rather than hotels.
What to do
Take a lagoon cruise on Aitutaki with a snorkel stop and a motu lunch, which is the single reason most people come and it does not disappoint.
Walk the Cross-Island Track on Rarotonga, three to four hours over the middle of the island past the Needle, which is steep, muddy and the only way to see the interior.
Go to Punanga Nui market in Avarua on a Saturday morning for the food, the ei katu flower crowns and the music.
Go to church on a Sunday. The singing in the CICC churches is extraordinary, visitors are genuinely welcome, and it is the central social event of the week. Dress properly.
Eat ika mata, raw fish cured in lime and coconut cream, which is the national dish and better than most versions of it elsewhere.
Practical notes
Rarotonga has direct flights from Auckland, Sydney and seasonally from Los Angeles. Aitutaki is a forty-five minute domestic hop and the aircraft are small.
May to October is the drier, cooler season. November to April is warmer and wetter with a cyclone risk. The islands are quiet in any month.
Sunday is genuinely observed. Many businesses close and some activities do not run.
Every hotel bookable in the Cook Islands
Is the coconut palm rule real?
Yes. Nothing on Rarotonga may be built taller than a coconut palm, which is why nothing rises above the treeline.
Rarotonga or Aitutaki?
Rarotonga for the island, the market and the walking. Aitutaki for the lagoon, which is the better reason. Forty-five minutes apart by air.
Do you need New Zealand dollars?
Yes, alongside local coins. Cook Islanders hold New Zealand citizenship and the currency is shared.
How many nights?
Eight. Three on Aitutaki and five on Rarotonga, given the distance.