Aitutaki, the small lagoon paradise of the Cook Islands. It really is a paradise island – surrounded by beautiful blue reefs it is almost a retreat in itself. Walking around the lagoon and beaches you scarcely run into anyone else. You are simply surrounded by the crystal blue lagoon waters and white sandy beaches. There are so many great activities and day tours from Aitutaki into the lagoon that make this cook islands destination one of the best for a tropical escape.
Here is the ultimate guide to visiting Aitutaki lagoon, the Cook Islands. Including:
- How long should you stay on Aitutaki
- When is the best time to visit?
- How to get from Rarotonga to Aitutaki
- Eating out on Aitutaki
- Where to stay on Aitutaki
- Things to do
Planning your trip to Aitutaki Lagoon
How long should you stay on Aitutaki Island?
We stayed on Aitutaki island for 4 nights and 5 days. It was quite a long time and we had sort of run out of things to do by the third day. If you’re after a trip where you want to do activities it would be best to do 3 days on Aitutaki and then return to Rarotonga or go to another island such as Atui. We found after day 3 we were on complete island time and were happy just to lay around in the sun. Some days our biggest activity was the morning cycle to the grocery store to stock up on water.
I would recommend staying on Aitutaki island for around 3 – 4 days. Make sure to plan activities and tours for some of these days. Most of the beaches on the island are not the best for swimming so day trips out to One Foot Island are worth it!
How to get from Rarotonga to Aitutaki
Travelling from Rarotonga to Aitutaki was truthfully one of the best parts of the trip. The only way to get from the big island to Aitutaki lagoon is by taking a direct flight from Rarotonga. The planes are quite small, with max 15 seats onboard, and give some of the best views over Aitutaki Lagoon you can get! These flights only go two to three times a day with Air Rarotonga and it costs around $150 to fly to Aitutaki depending what time of year you travel.
The best time to visit Aitutaki Lagoon
The weather on Aitutaki Island is beautiful all year round – hot, humid and sunny. However, it is much hotter and rainier in the summer that the rest of the year. The rainy seasons runs from late January to April . This means the best time to visit the Cook Islands is from May to October.
The Best Restaurants on Aitutaki Island
Buying groceries on Aitutaki
There are only a handful of “grocery stores” on the island. Each has a very small, slightly bizarre assortment of dry goods and locally grown fruits and vegetables. You have to make sure you arrive at the store in the morning otherwise you might miss out on the produce as the demand is high. Some mornings they have a market in the main town where the locals sell their fruit and vegetables.
The Best Restaurants on Aitutaki, Cook Islands
Eating out is slightly harder, as there are mostly only expensive hotel restaurants or the takeaway restaurants where the locals go to get their food. These all close around 8.30 for dinner so you have to eat early. There are a few cafes and afternoon tea/ markets that are not advertised that you drive by on the main road, which may be worth a stop.
The Boat Shed
We mostly ate out at The Boat Shed, just at the edge of the lagoon right next to the airport. It was only a short ride from our accommodation and had reasonably priced, good quality food. They also had great quality service that made you feel like you belonged there – especially from Freder!
Tamaru Resort
We also went to an island night at Tamaru Resort that runs every Thursday evening. There was an absolutely incredible buffet different types of salad, ceviche, and noodles as well as a whole tray of meat and a slow cooked pork table. Following this came desert it was amazing! Following this was an Island Show with adults and kids hula dancing, fire dancing and flame throwing it was incredible! The kids were so sweet. At the end they all chose a partner to learn how to dance in the front of the stage! It was so much fun. That was $75 per person that included one drink!
Koru Cafe
Another great, flight unexpected spot on the island is Koru Cafe. This is a great place for brunch and lunch with a great menu that serves 7am – 2pm. It is reasonably priced and the staff were great!
The Best Aitutaki Accommodation
We stayed at the Aitutaki Seaside, and it was paradise. We had our own little bungalow on a private beach right at the edge of the reef. The view was amazing. They are self-serviced apartments right on the beach, secluded from other accommodation and the small island villages. The only problem we found was that the beach itself wasn’t the nicest, the sand was covered in coral and the reef was very shallow so to be able to swim you had to go very far out.
I think next time I would stay at either The Aitutaki Lagoon Resort and Spa, on the other side of the island, or the Pacific Resort, which was further down the beach than us. The reason for this is that both of these areas have a better beach, a pool, are not self-serviced and are less secluded.
Things to do On Aitutaki:
Exploring the Aitutaki Lagoon
Tip: When you are on the island, locals are adamant that everyone wears reef shoes, or thongs in the water at all times. This is because there is a risk of stepping on a stonefish and being poisoned. This did put me off swimming quite a bit as there were lots of rocks and coral in that area, especially where we stayed.
Aitutaki Day Tour
We went on an Aitutaki day tour which included island-hopping around the lagoon with a local company called Teking Tours. This was a really good way of seeing the Aitutaki lagoon and stopping off at a number of different islands. The tour was quite small which we loved as there were only about 9 other people with us on the boat.
The most popular and well-known island in the Aitutaki lagoon is One Foot Island. During our Aitutaki day tour, we stopped here for around an hour and had time to walk around and take a swim. During the day tour, we were also provided with a delicious lunch of local foods based on traditional recipes from Aitutaki.
Aitutaki Lagoon Cruise
If you want to do less of an island-hopping cruise and more of a sightseeing trip, The Vaka Cruise came very highly commended to us. This tour is on a bigger style of boat that cruises around the lagoon and gives people the opportunity to snorkel at One Foot Island but not so much in-between.
How to get around Aitutaki Lagoon
Scooters are the main form of transportation here. You can hire one easily from many hotels and restaurants and all you have to do to get the license is drive it to the Police Station and pay. We decided to opt for bicycles, a slightly more strenuous option, especially in the 30 degree humid sun. Saying this, it was an easy way to get around the island. The round trip of Aitutaki Island took us about 1 hour! With the moonlight we were able to ride these at night time also.
Road safety is a little relaxed in Aitutaki. Everyone laughed when we asked about helmets for our bicycles. The same goes for scooters. The speed limit is around 50km an hour or less on the whole island and there is hardly any traffic. They also laughed at us when we asked about seatbelts in the shuttle bus and we got into and told us no one in the Cook Islands wears a seat belt.
The highlight of the trip was definitely when we got picked up for our lagoon cruise in a truck where the driver just yelled “hop in the back’ and expected us to sit on this wooden bench balanced in the back of the truck. It was actually a whole lot of fun, when you weren’t ducking to dodge coconut tree leaves or holding on for dear life when you were speedily turning a tight corner.
Traveler's Itch says
OMG these photos are amazing! How does one get to a place like this?
katiesaway says
Thank you so much!! You can only fly to Aitutaki from the Cook Island’s main island Rarotonga! In normal times there are quite regular flights from Australia and NZ to Rarotonga!