If you’re lucky, it takes around 24 hours to get to a South Pacific island
from London, so it’s not ideal for a quick trip, but then it is paradise
when you get there. If you’ve got time on your hands, go island hopping.
If not, just head for one and the delights of guaranteed coconuts, tropical
sun, warm lagoons, fantastic coral and wild dancing…
All prices are approximate, depending on season, for a couple for a week.
COOK ISLANDS
Rarotonga
Air New Zealand has a direct flight to Rarotonga, the main Cook Island, so
it’s one of the easiest to get to. It’s a circular island with a volcanic
cone in the centre and perfect coral beaches all around the coast. It’s at
that happy stage of being reasonably well developed for tourists but not
remotely over-run by them.
Visit Highland Paradise for an overview of what Cook Islands culture is all
about, go to a Friday night Island Night show to see the best dancers in the
Pacific and check out the Punanga Nui market for the best pareus (Cook
Island sarongs).
There are lots of good places to eat. Trader Jacks on the harbour is
outstanding, Sails is right on beautiful Muri Beach and the Little
Polynesian has an excellent chef from Chile. As with restaurants, you’re
spoiled for choice with hotels – Crown
Beach (£1,300) is a boutique hotel with 36 villas, some with plunge
pools on the sunset side of the island.
Or if you want the most upmarket self-catering ever go for Rumours
of Romance - private pools and gardens, mosquito-netted four posters and
one with its own movie theatre ).
Aitutaki
The ultimate honeymoon island, Aitutaki is a huge triangular turquoise lagoon
with a few scraps of land attached to the reef. Quieter than Rarotonga and
with few shops, the main attraction is the lagoon – swimming, canoeing,
coral and fish that come up and feed from your hand.
Take a day cruise on the lagoon with snorkelling, visiting uninhabited motus
(islets) and beach barbeque – you eat at a table in the water to keep cool –
with Teking Cruises. If you can keep up with the locals, go dancing at
Spiders nightclub and for a change of pace have dinner at Pacific Resort’s
great open-air restaurant.
The main resort is Aitutaki
Lagoon Resort (£480) for an over-water villa with stairs down into the
lagoon. Alternatively, you can stay with the Queen
of Aitutaki who has self-catering villas in her garden and a beach
lodge.
french polynesia is one of rare french stuff I literally adore
edoardo chioni, Rome, ITALY
Samoa. Went there on honeymoon 10 years ago. I cannot sum it up in such a small space except to say that it is absolute paradise. I have never met a more friendly and happy race of people.
I want to go back there... A month is not long enough, a life time probably wouldn't be either!
Richard, Jersey, Channel Islands,