Rarotonga Cook Islands
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The Cook Islands
Pacific Travel Guides
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Rarotonga
Travel Guide
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Rarotonga travel is a unique experience - the island is extremely beautiful and small enough to explore with lush tropical mountains, pretty coastal scenes, sandy beaches and a very slow pace of life.
Getting around Rarotonga is easy - it takes just 45 minutes to go around the island by bus and is possible to cycle in a day. The most popular way to travel is by moped and for just NZ$55 for four day moped hire, most tourists give it a go.
more about Getting Around
Avarua Town on the north coast, minutes from the international airport, is the administration centre of the Cook Islands. It's a good place to stay if you want to make a base for exploring the island and as it does not have a swimming beach, properties in and around town are much cheaper than elsewhere. The north east coast of Rarotonga is the quietest side of the island with impressive mountain scenery but just a few places to stay. The reason being the pebble beaches here have rough seas and are not good for swimming.
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Accomodation on North and East Coast
Muri Beach on the east coast is the busiest stretch for tourism on the island and has lots of beach activities, restaurants, beach bars and crowds on Sundays when the locals get together. The uninhabited islets facing Muri can be waded to at high and low tide or explored more easily by renting a kayak. Muri Lagoon has a sandy bottom making it good for swimming but not for snorkelling. There are several reasonably priced beach bungalows along Muri Beach as well as some nice resorts and motels.
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Accomodation around Muri Beach
The south coast is very quiet with only a scattering of small beach bungalows and vacation homes. The beaches here are very picturesque and snorkelling is generally excellent - this is a great choice for those looking for a quiet holiday away from the large resorts.
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Accomodation on South Coast
The west coast of Rarotonga is dominated by Arorangi Village which offers several family owned accommodations. North of the village is the second highest concentration of accommodation from small boutique resorts, one large hotel and lots of self catering bungalows. The beach here is sandy and extends unbroken right along the west coast, with swimming at high tide and reef walking at low tide. This is the leeward side of the island with more sunshine and sunsets.
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Accommodation on West Rarotonga
Several tours explore inland Rarotonga, including Pa's cross island trek and the Takitumu Nature Reserve with its unique species of birds and tropical flowers. There are lots of other tours around the island from historical circle island tours to aerial sightseeing.
Top 10 Sightseeing Tours
Readers may also be interested in the following destinations:
Cook Islands Travel Guide
Fiji Travel Guide
Samoa Travel Guide
Tonga Travel Guide
Tahiti Travel Guide
Hawaii Travel Guide
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