Things to do in Cook Islands

Float above vibrant coral gardens and colourful reef fish in one of the world’s most spectacular lagoons.

Sample fresh tropical fruits, fragrant local dishes, and browse handmade crafts while live music fills the air.

Climb through lush jungle and along razorback ridges to a dramatic rock pinnacle with panoramic views of the entire island.

Stand among the stone platforms and upright coral slabs of a sacred royal court once used for ceremonies and gatherings.

Relax on white sand fringed by coconut palms and wade into the warm, turquoise lagoon dotted with small offshore islets.

Drift over colourful coral heads and spot giant clams and tropical fish without getting wet.

Paddle across calm, shallow water to a tiny uninhabited motu where you can picnic and snorkel in complete seclusion.

Explore a limestone cavern with a subterranean lake and hear the clicking calls of the rare kopeka, a swiftlet that navigates entirely by echo-location.

Stroll a rugged shoreline where raised fossil coral meets empty sands, often without another person in sight.

Savour Pacific Rim dishes like seared tuna and coconut-crusted fish in a beautifully restored colonial house with ocean views.

Follow an underwater trail of coral bommies teeming with parrotfish, butterflyfish and giant trevally in a protected lagoon.

Tour rows of climbing vanilla orchids and learn how delicate pollination by hand creates some of the world’s finest beans.

Watch fire dancers, drummers and hula performers while enjoying a meal cooked in an earth oven at Te Vara Nui Village.

Trek through verdant forest to a slender waterfall that plunges into a cool, deep swimming hole.

Bounce along dirt tracks through dense rainforest and past panoramic lookout points, offering a glimpse of the island’s wild, mountainous heart.

Examine intricate carvings, traditional vaka models and pre-contact artefacts that trace the archipelago’s voyaging and cultural heritage.

Wander through terraced tropical gardens with lotus ponds and flowering gingers, then find a spot to watch the sun dip into the Pacific.

Walk along sheer limestone ramparts carved by millennia of erosion, a dramatic geological testimony to the island’s raised atoll origins.

Drop through a coral archway into a canyon where schools of fusiliers and trevally swirl in 30-metre visibility.

Taste the national dish prepared fresh with lime, chilli and creamy coconut milk at this casual harbourside shack.

Walk a historic path to where the great migration canoes are believed to have departed for New Zealand centuries ago.

Walk barefoot on a powdery sandbar that slides into a radiant blue lagoon, and get your passport stamped at the tiny post office.

Sit in a white coral-stone church and hear the congregation’s powerful four-part harmonies resonate through the wooden interior.

Glide over mirror-flat water as the sky turns pink and orange behind the rainforest-clad mountains.

Enter a deep grotto where ancient human remains rest in hidden niches, revealing the island’s burial customs.