{"id":28177,"date":"2018-10-01T06:00:17","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T13:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wearetravelgirls.com\/?p=28177"},"modified":"2025-08-24T07:04:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T14:04:21","slug":"rarotonga-cook-islands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wearetravelgirls.com\/rarotonga-cook-islands\/","title":{"rendered":"TOP 10 THINGS TO DO ON RAROTONGA – COOK ISLANDS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lush green jungle, dazzling white sand beaches, endless amounts of swaying palm trees, aquamarine lagoons with colourful fish, a mountainous backdrop, warm and welcoming people with flowers in their hair (or on their shirts) greeting you with a big smile \u201cKia Orana\u201d from afar\u2026 Sounds like a paradise to you? Well, as Belinda sings in her most famous song – \u201cHeaven is a place on Earth\u201d – I found heaven on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, a collection little gems on the indigo blue South Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

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The Cook Islands are a small Polynesian archipelago in the heart of South Pacific, consisting of 15 islands whose land area combined makes up only 240 square kilometres. However, they are scattered far and wide in the vast ocean, covering the total area of 2.25 million square kilometres. The Cook Islanders<\/a> regard themselves as the true and first Polynesians; voyagers of the immense Pacific who, thanks to their perfect navigation skills searched for new lands. They arrived on their Vakas (big double canoes) to Rarotonga around 800 AD.<\/p>\n

We spend one magnificent week on beautiful Rarotonga \u2013 the biggest island of the fifteen. Even though the Cook Islands are the perfect place to relax, there is so much to do and to explore. Here are my top favourite things to do in \u2018Raro\u2019.<\/p>\n

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1) SNORKEL<\/h3>\n

Living in Australia, I have developed great respect and equally great fear towards the ocean, because of all the dangerous creatures that can live there. Here, on the Cook Islands, there are only fish, sea turtles and maybe some eels (no big sharks or jellyfish). The whole island is surrounded by reef, so even though the ocean can be wild and cold, the lagoon is mostly calm and shallow. It\u2019s the perfect place to enjoy the crystal clear water!<\/p>\n

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2) WATCH SUNRISE AND SUNSET IN RAROTONGA<\/h3>\n

Rarotonga has some of the most amazing sunrises and sunsets in the world. If you stay on the East side of the island, it is almost too easy to wake up for this amazing natural performance! (It\u2019s also easy because there are plenty of wild chickens and roosters running around and their crowing will most probably wake you up anyway).<\/p>\n

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Our Top Places To Stay In Rarotonga, Cook Islands<\/em><\/h4>\n