At a Glance
- Visited: Last visit Aug-24, with kids (previous Oct-00 – no kids)
- Location: South Pacific, 4-hour flight from Auckland
- Population: Rarotonga has about 8,000 people – tiny and extremely friendly
- Best time to visit: May to October (dry season/winter). We went in July – 50% rain. I’ve been in October – similar 50/50 rain/dry
- How long to stay: 7-10 days for Rarotonga. Add 2 days for Aitutaki
- Getting around: Hire car or scooter. Public bus also runs the ring road
- Budget (family of 4): NZD $13,000 for 10 days all in including flights, accommodation, activities – this includes 2-day Aitutaki side trip at c. NZD$3,500
- Best beach: Muri Lagoon
- Don’t miss: Aitutaki lagoon tour – one of the best family experiences in the Pacific
- Family friendly rating: 8/10 – stunning but expensive and weather is a little unpredictable which can make rainy-day activities challenging
Quick Picks
This post contains affiliate links – full disclosure at the end
‘Welcome home,’ said our taxi driver, grinning broadly as she drove us from the airport in the pitch black of a Rarotongan wet, but warm, winter night. Twenty-four years since my last visit, it was a warm welcome back.
Then she charged me $60 for a five-minute drive and brought me firmly back to earth.
Ten days in Rarotonga and Aitutaki with two kids, a lot of rain, two extremely vocal cockerels outside our hotel room, and some of the most beautiful water we’ve ever seen. This is our honest family guide to the Cook Islands with kids.
In This Article:
- What is Rarotonga like for families?
- When to visit the Cook Islands with kids
- Getting to Rarotonga
- Getting around Rarotonga with kids
- Where to stay in Rarotonga
- Where to eat in Rarotonga with kids
- Things to do in Rarotonga with kids
- Aitutaki mini guide – the world’s most beautiful lagoon
- Costs and budget
- Is Rarotonga worth it for families?
- Frequently asked questions
What is Rarotonga Like for Families?
Rarotonga is a tiny volcanic island – you can drive the entire ring road in 45 minutes — with a lush, mountainous rainforest interior and lagoon-fringed beaches that look picture perfect. On a wet day though, it can look like the west coast of Scotland.
The Cook Islands are not cheap by any measure – similar prices to New Zealand, even more if eating at resorts all the time.
For families, the island works well. It’s safe, English-speaking, genuinely warm-hearted, and the pace of island life – known locally as ‘Island time’ – is infectious and great if you’re needing a reset. Just don’t arrive expecting cheap cocktails or budget dining. And pack for rain regardless of when you go.
Our honest take: We had four days of sun in ten days. We still loved it despite some challenge on those rainy days. That tells you something about the place. Go with low expectations of the weather and high expectations of the people, the lagoons and the island spirit.
When to Visit the Cook Islands with Kids
Dry Season (May to October) – Best
The Cook Islands winter – which sounds alarming but means 22-26 degrees rather than the summer’s 28-32 with high humidity. Supposedly drier, lower humidity, cooler evenings. We went in July and still got significant rain. But this remains the recommended season. We were just unlucky. I’ve also been in October, and it was 50/50 wet/dry for ten days.
Wet Season (November to April) – Avoid with Kids
Hot, humid, and cyclone season. Cyclones are rare but possible between November and April. The humidity makes active exploration uncomfortable and many facilities scale back. Not recommended for families with young children because you may really struggle with things to do if the wet days outnumber the dry.
Getting to Rarotonga
Rarotonga’s international airport is tiny but efficient. Most visitors from New Zealand fly direct – Air New Zealand operates the route from Auckland in about 4 hours. The flight crosses the international date line which means you arrive on the same day you left or a day later depending on direction (see tip below). From Australia’s East Coast, it’s about 3 hours. Rarotonga also serves other South Pacific destinations.
Our flights cost: NZD $2,000 return for the family from Auckland – book well in advance for best prices.
Book a flight here
⭐Our tip: When booking your accommodation and any other bookings – make sure you get the date right! The International date line change can really mess everything up. I’ve made the mistake and I know others who have too.
Getting Around Rarotonga with Kids
Hire Car – Our Recommendation
We hired a car for NZD $210 for two days (including one-way drop to the airport). For a family with young kids and luggage, a hire car is the most practical option. The ring road is one lane in each direction and easy to drive. Take your time.
Important: You drive on the left in the Cook Islands. You’ll need a Cook Islands driving licence which costs a few dollars from the police station – don’t forget this, it’s actually enforced. Getting it is a formality.
Book your car hire here
Scooter
The Cook Islands runs on scooters. At NZD $25-30 for a full day, they’re affordable and perfect for getting around. But you need to decide if this can work for you as a family (i.e – most likely needing both mum and dad to ride). On Raro, you need to do a short test before jumping on a scooter. Aitutaki, they don’t care, it’s so quiet.
Public Bus
A bus runs the ring road in both directions – clockwise and anticlockwise – and stops anywhere on request. Cheap and useful if you don’t have a car – it worked for us for several days. Check the schedule as frequency varies – but there will always be one coming along in one direction or the other, as the journey is just a complete loop. It does finish early so make you take that into consideration if going out late.
Where to Stay in Rarotonga with Kids
The Edgewater Resort – Our Base
We stayed at the Edgewater Resort for our time on Raro – see the box below
Other Options
- The Rarotongan Beach Resort – Our kids made friends with an Aussie family who we met up with several times. We visited them at this place. They had a nice pool and bar area, but the dad said the rooms were not as good as ours. Similar price point.
Book your Rarotongan Resort stay here
Book other Rarotonga accommodation here
📍 Where We Stayed: The Edgewater Resort & Spa
We stayed at the Edgewater Resort for our time on Raro – Raro’s largest resort with around 180 rooms, set on the western side of the island. It has a large pool, kids club, several restaurants and direct beach access. Perfect for families.
Our honest assessment: perfectly comfortable, decent facilities, good location. Not luxury but well run. The kid’s club was a lifesaver – whilst we didn’t use extensively – this trip was for all of us; it did give us 45-minute windows of actual peace a few times.
We scored a free upgrade to a seafront room for our final nights on our return from Aitutaki – one day, waking up to humpback whales migrating past from the balcony was not something we had factored into the itinerary and was an awesome experience for all of us.
Cost: NZD $2,300 for our stay for 9 nights
Read out more detailed review of The Edgewater Resort here
Where to Eat in Rarotonga with Kids
The Cook Islands is expensive for food – this was the single biggest budget shock for us – given we usually travel on a budget. Restaurant meals are pricey and portions can be disappointing relative to cost. Our honest approach was to eat at the hotel when tired, hit the night markets when possible, and use the supermarket for lunches and snacks.
Best Options
- Muri Night Market – open several nights a week, excellent street food, good variety and much better value than restaurants. We had awesome stir fry noodles for $28 for the family. We went a couple of times. Worth a visit even if it’s raining as a large part of it is undercover so don’t be put off.
- Spaghetti House – right by the entrance to the Edgewater on the ring road – solid pasta restaurant. $101 for four including drinks. Good value.
- Marie Nui Garden and Cafe – lovely setting in a garden for lunch. $78 for the family, fairly good spot.
- Hotel restaurants – reliable fallback, not cheap, but convenient when the kids (& parents) are done for the day
Save Money – if on a budget
- Stock up at the supermarket on arrival, even if just for snacks – it’s significantly cheaper than eating out for every meal
- Happy hour at local bars – Vaiana’s bar runs a happy hour with a 1.5L jug for $22. Excellent value right on the beach. Plenty of places do happy hours.
Night markets are your best budget dining option
Things to Do in Rarotonga with Kids
1. Muri Lagoon – The Highlight of Rarotonga
When the sun finally came out on day five, we headed to Muri Beach and it was immediately clear why everyone talks about it. Rarotonga’s most stunning beach sits on the eastern side of the island where the lagoon is at its most dazzling – a colour of blue that looks fake, protected by a reef and dotted with tiny motu (islets) in the distance.
We hired tandem kayaks for $20 each and glided across the silk-like crystal clear water – great fun for the kids to try spot turtles.
And we also tried paddleboarding.
Plenty of places to eat line the beach here.
2. Island Night Cultural Show
Several resorts including the Edgewater run Island Nights – an evening of traditional Cook Islands dance, music and a buffet dinner. Loud, colourful and entertaining. The kids get a chance to take part too if they want.
3. Drive the Ring Road
The full ring road takes just 45 minutes without stopping – but stopping is the whole point. We drove around in an hour and a half, pulling over wherever the lagoon looked beautiful or something interesting appeared. Parts of the lagoon look spectacular even in overcast conditions. The western and southern stretches have some lovely quiet beaches.
3a. Drive the (secret) INNER Ring Road
There is an inner ring road that runs adjacent to the main ring road. Not many people know about but it’s there and is pretty much continuous around the whole island save for a few breaks. Much narrower, much slower, and much less traffic, it offers a glimpse in traditional Cook Islands life, as you drive past people’s homes, vegetable gardens, churches – all with the backdrop of the interior mountains. For us, this was a good rainy-day activity.
4. Discover Marine and Eco Wildlife Centre
About 15 minutes from the Edgewater – a small marine discovery centre with starfish, a stonefish, a whale video, the chance to blow a conch shell and the undisputed star of the show: a coconut crab in a cage. Coconut crabs are the world’s largest land crustacean and are massive. Worth the $48 family ticket for the coconut crab alone. Don’t go expecting an aquarium – it’s small and basic – but it’s a good 45-minute activity for kids. One to keep up the sleeve for a rainy day.
5. Punanga Nui Market
Saturdays only. A colourful market in Avarua. Mainly for tourists – with many souvenir and good options – all good quality, if a little pricey. Live music is usually playing somewhere. Very chilled vibe and a good to spend an hour or two with some good food options and a playground nearby.
6. Te Ara Museum
Another good rainy-day option. Te Ara Museum near Muri costs $45 family entry. Whilst we didn’t think it was worth $45, it was interesting enough for an hour. Good exhibits on Cook Islands history, culture and traditional navigation. Fine for older kids with some cultural curiosity, probably too slow for very young children.
7. Other activities
- Coconut opening class – run at the Edgewater – how to husk, crack and open a fresh coconut using traditional methods. Fun for the kids
- Feed Fish in the Hotel Lagoon – Several hotels including the Edgewater have a section of the lagoon where fish congregate and can be hand-fed by the kids.
- Souvenir Shopping – There are some excellent souvenir shops on Rarotonga — particularly in Avarua. Cook Islands black pearls, traditional tivaevae quilts, wood carvings and local art. The kids will enjoy a browse.
Aitutaki - The World's Most Beautiful Lagoon
If Rarotonga is the main event, Aitutaki is the encore that everyone remembers more.
A 40-minute flight from Rarotonga (we paid a whopping NZD $2,000 for family return – book early, it’s not cheap), Aitutaki is a different island in every sense. Smaller, quieter, more remote, and home to a lagoon of such extraordinary colour and beauty that it was once voted in the world’s top 3 lagoons.
We were lucky. Of only four sunny days in our ten-day trip, two of them fell on our two days in Aitutaki. It could’ve been a whole difference experience otherwise.
Aitutaki Mini Guide
Getting to Aitutaki
Air Rarotonga operates the 40-minute flight from Rarotonga. Flights are expensive so book as far in advance as possible. The flight itself is an experience: a small propeller aircraft, low altitude, breath-taking views of the lagoon as you come into land.
Our flight cost: NZD $2,000 return for the family.
Book a flight here
Where to Stay in Aitutaki
Tamanu Beach Resort: We stayed here at NZD $1,100 for one night – yes, $1,000 NZD per night for the 2-bedroom villa. We have never spent anything like that before, but this was a one-off. It was a stunning villa. Right on the beach, beautifully designed, large deck, hammocks and with a pool, shared with just a few other villas. If budget allows, do it for at least one night. Breakfast was a full cooked affair and excellent.
Book your stay at Tamanu Beach Resort here
Where to Eat in Aitutaki
Tava’e Restaurant: Next door to the Tamanu Beach Resort. Fish of the day at $28 each with a beautiful sunset view. The best restaurant meal of the entire trip. So good, we came twice.
Getting Around Aitutaki
Hire car: NZD $100 per day from the airport. Worth it for flexibility as a family as other options apart from scooters are limited.
Scooter: NZD $25 for a full day. On Aitutaki this is our recommendation but only if it works for you as a family. We hired but that’s because I love riding scooter everywhere I go on my travels. I got our 8-year-old on the back and she loved it – we brought our speakers and cruised around with tunes blaring, watching land crabs duck for cover, with the breeze in our hair and sun on our face. A memorable time. As there’s hardly anyone there and the speed limit is 40kph, it’s very safe to ride. Just take it island time easy.
Things to Do in Aitutaki
The Lagoon Cruise – The star of the show
The lagoon cruise is the reason to go to Aitutaki. We booked with Bishop’s Lagoon Cruises – NZD $550 for the family of four – and it was worth every dollar.
The boat takes you out to several of the 15 uninhabited motu (islets) that dot the lagoon. The lagoon colour is an insane blue – the kind a five-year-old would use with that pen that looks too blue to be real. We stopped at Akaiamai Island, then at the island where Survivor TV series was filmed (genuinely stunning), then at a shallow reef for snorkelling.
The snorkelling stop produced the trip’s great wildlife moment – giant trevally, approximately one metre long, circling us in the crystal-clear water. Our daughter overcame her genuine fear of these massive fish and kept snorkelling. It was her first time snorkelling. Such an experience.
The final stop was One Foot Island – a tiny sliver of white sand and palm trees where you can get a Cook Islands passport stamp (bring your actual passport). Other boats were there when we arrived making it crowded. Then the clouds parted, the sun came out, the other boats left, and we had One Foot Island entirely to ourselves for ten minutes in perfect sunshine. One of those travel moments that stays in the memory forever.
💡 Aitutaki: Book the lagoon cruise for your first full day so if the weather is cloudy you have a backup day. We got lucky with sunshine on both days but go in knowing clouds are possible
Drive the Island
Aitutaki takes about 20-30 minutes to drive round – just cruise around and stop at wherever looks beautiful, which is everywhere. The lagoon views from the roads are incredible.
Costs and Budget for the Cook Islands
Expense | Our Cost (NZD) |
Return flights Auckland to Rarotonga (family of 4) | $2,000 |
Return flights Rarotonga to Aitutaki (family of 4) | $2,000 |
Edgewater Resort (Rarotonga, most of trip) | $2,300 |
Tamanu Beach Resort (Aitutaki, 1 night) | $1,100 |
Aitutaki lagoon cruise (family of 4) | $550 |
Car hire Rarotonga (5 days) | $540 |
Car hire Aitutaki (2 days) | $100 |
Other spending (food, activities, souvenirs) | $4,400 |
TOTAL (10 days, family of 4) | $13,000 |
The Cook Islands is not a budget destination. NZD $13,000 for ten days for four people is significant by any measure. You can reduce costs considerably by choosing self-catering accommodation, eating at markets rather than restaurants, and skipping Aitutaki (though we’d argue that would be a genuine mistake – but it was a tough decision, but we don’t regret it).
Is Rarotonga Worth It for Families?
Yes absolutely – but go in with honest expectations about cost and weather.
The Cook Islands is one of the most expensive Pacific destinations. The weather is genuinely unpredictable even in the so-called dry season. The food outside the night markets can be overpriced.
Muri Lagoon on a sunny day is one of the most beautiful places we’ve been. Aitutaki’s lagoon is world-class. The people have a warmth and genuine island happiness that is hard to describe but immediately felt.
Whilst there’s not masses amounts of activities – most things evolve around the beaches – kayaking, paddleboarding, snorkelling. Aitutaki was totally worth it, despite the cost. There are a few good rainy-day options – the museum, the wildlife centre and the inner ring road drive were all good back up options.
Most resort hotels will have heaps of activities all day for the kids.
Useful Links
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Rarotonga good for families with young children?
Yes – Rarotonga is very family-friendly. The island is safe, English-speaking, and the Cook Islands culture is very warm towards children. The Edgewater and several other resorts have kids clubs. The main challenges are cost and unpredictable weather. Muri Lagoon is calm and safe for young swimmers.
When is the best time to visit Rarotonga with kids?
May to October is the dry season with lower humidity and cooler temperatures. We visited in July and still had significant rain, so go prepared regardless. November to April is hotter and cyclone season – not recommended for families as rainy day activities are limited.
How much does a family trip to the Cook Islands cost?
Our 10-day trip with 4 people cost NZD $13,000 all in including flights (from Auckland), accommodation, car hire, the Aitutaki flights and lagoon cruise, food and activities. Self-catering accommodation and skipping Aitutaki would reduce this significantly – but we’d recommend against the latter.
Is Aitutaki worth the extra cost?
Yes – without question. The Aitutaki lagoon is genuinely one of the world’s great natural wonders. The lagoon cruise is the best family activity in the Cook Islands. The extra flights and one night at Tamanu pushed our budget significantly but produced two of the most memorable days of the entire trip.
What are the best things to do in Rarotonga with kids?
Muri Lagoon is the highlight – kayaking, paddleboarding and beach time on the most beautiful part of the island. The Island Night cultural show, driving the ring road and inner ring ‘back’ road, the coconut opening class, the Discover Marine Centre (for the coconut crab alone) and the Muri Night Market are all excellent family activities.
Do you need a hire car in Rarotonga?
It makes life much easier, especially with young kids and luggage. You’ll also need a Cook Islands driving licence (available from the police station for a small fee – don’t skip this). The public bus runs the ring road and is a reasonable alternative for shorter trips. On Aitutaki, a car or scooter is also needed.
How do you get to Aitutaki?
Air Rarotonga operates regular 40-minute flights from Rarotonga. Book well in advance as the flights are expensive and sell out during peak season. Allow at least 2 days in Aitutaki to justify the cost of getting there – one of those days should be the lagoon cruise.
Have you been to the Cook Islands with kids? Drop a comment below – we’d love to hear about your trip. And if you can recommend any tips, we’re all ears.
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