Rarotonga

A fascinating place to stay.  Quite a strong Christian element from the missionaries who landed 200 or so years ago.  The locals have a wonderful sense of humour and love for life - they find it difficult to take themselves seriously which is a breath of fresh air.  Restaurants of various types dotted around the 32kms of main road - from high end to street food.  Cocktail bars everywhere, ones which locals patronise, ones which are good for tourist watching, the west coast obviously gives you the sunset to go with your sundowner.

The dogs tend to be all collared and owned, cared for, but wander around as they wish.  I found this 'dogs in the community' aspect fascinating as you read about that sort of thing in history books but don't often get a chance to see it working, and working well.

The fruit - as you'd expect - are excellent, and we used passionfruit and coconut on many homemade cocktails.

In terms of exceptional activities - it has to be swimming with turtles and spending time learning about the culture.  There's a local master carver on the island - Mike Tavioni who is also well worth a visit.

There's a gentle sense of respect on the island which gets into your bones and slows you down to be a better version of yourself.

My recommendation for a longer stay would be to rent a villa and live like a local.  For the shorter stay I would choose hosted accommodation as you won't have too much time to explore and find your favourites.

In terms of where to stay there is a decent amount of choice, although occupancy levels are high (they average 80%+ year round), so it's worth booking early.

There is one villa we're aware of which is beautifully hosted and appointed.  Four sleeping pavilions, an open living area, pool, and of course beachfront.  This is our favourite.

There are other villas at various levels - from reasonably well appointed through to more basic.

In terms of resorts, for our clientele we would recommend avoiding the bigger touristy ones and instead head for the Little Polynesian or the Motu Art Villas or a number of others.

There are a number of styles which would suit different people, from full service to half-board through to room/pavilion rental.

It's an easy place to get around, so we'd suggest renting a car or a moped depending on how casual you'd like to be.  If you don't have a motorbike license, you need to pass an exam to be able to rent a moped.

We're continuously developing our network on the island, so if you have any special requests, talk to us and we can find the right person for you.