Considering Christmas in Rarotonga? Are there any reasons not to?!
Since our kids were born, we have loved any opportunities for focusing on family time and ‘doing’; as opposed to emphasising a focus on ‘stuff’.
We find it harder and harder at Christmas time in New Zealand. The growing pressures of society becoming ever more and more about presents… It’s everywhere! It’s hard to escape from consumerism at normal times of year. But it’s near impossible at Christmas.
So we made the decision to trial a family Christmas away from home. Rarotonga was a new destination for all of us. Santa even brought tropical fruit and coconuts this year!
- Update: Note this was our first Christmas in Rarotonga in 2017. We’ve since done Christmas in Rarotonga twice more!
Quickly, about Rarotonga
The Cook Islands is a self-governing island country in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. Rarotonga is the biggest of the 15 islands, and home to the capital Avarua.
- Area: 67.39km²
- Max length: 11km
- Population: 17,564
- Language: English and Cook Island Maori
- Currency: New Zealand Dollar
Rarotonga at Christmas time.
These are the highlights of our trip to Rarotonga at Christmas.
Punanga Nui Market
The local markets of Rarotonga are abuzz with all kinds of handicrafts, souvenirs, food, fruit and vegetables, music and wares…
An accurately colourful representation of the culture of the Cook Islands!
The market is open Monday to Friday from 7.00am–3.00pm, though Saturday is the main market day, opening from 7.00am-12.00pm, with all the stalls, shops and huts occupied with vendors, and a live music and cultural show on stage.
Swimming, snorkelling and exploring the beaches of Rarotonga
We drove a full loop of the island a couple of times stopping at various little beaches that were signposted on the way around.
Some beaches on the island are private, so definitely check ahead where you are going.
Muri Beach is in a beautiful lagoon on the eastern side of the island, and is certainly the most popular beach. We spent a day there, took a picnic, and hired paddle boards to enjoy the calm and shallow waters there.
Aside from Muri Beach and a few random others, we spent most of our time on the little beach right outside our accommodation! It was perfect for the kids, and fairly sheltered.
Sunset on our side of the island was stunning!
Hiking Te Rua Manga (The Needle) mountain walk
This is Rarotonga’s most popular walk, passing through incredible natural scenery following a track from the north to south coast of the island.
At the time we didn’t do this walk with the kids as the top of the track it is quite rugged and overgrown in parts (and climbs to 413m to the base of Te Rua Manga (The Needle) – but they were only two and four back then.
Since then we have had great experiences of climbing the Needle in Rarotonga with the kids.
Definitely do the walk from a south to north direction, so that you finish down on the coastal round-island road. Wear sneakers or walking shoes, and take plenty of drinking water.
The track ends at Wigmore’s Waterfall and it’s about a 15-minute walk from there to the coast road, where you can flag down the circle-island bus or hitchhike (we did!) back towards town.
An evening at Te Vara Nui Village
This is Rarotonga’s most well known cultural show, and we reckon definitely worth booking ahead for.
Te Vara Nui is set up as both a cultural village for daytime exploration, and also opens in the evening with an over-water, nighttime cultural performance with music, dancing, and fire-dancers, as well as a Rarotongan style buffet… Delicious!
Nightime hermit-crab hunting
This warrants it own spot in our list of favourites from Rarotonga…
We were staying right on the beach and every evening as the sun went down, the kids loved taking torches out and hunting for hermit crabs in the sand with Granny!
One challenge about Christmas in Rarotonga…
If you are there for Christmas in Rarotonga; EVERYTHING is closed on Christmas Day.
Like Tonga, Samoa and other islands in the South Pacific; the majority of the Cook Islands celebrates Christmas Day and so it is reserved as a public holiday.
Things may also potentially be closed the day/days following if it falls with a Sunday before or afterwards.
Definitely do your research and check ahead about dates to public holidays to make sure you are adequately stocked up for your stay.
Accommodation over Christmas in Rarotonga
We loved our stay at the Rarotonga Backpackers.
Paul went out of his way to welcome us and make our stay as enjoyable as possible. And if you are looking for accommodation right on the beach that doesn’t involve a resort (or breaking the bank); then this is the place for you.
They have beachfront self-contained apartments, rooms in the hostel, and dorm-style accommodation.
We loved being right on the beach and enjoyed having our own kitchen to cater for ourselves.
More about travel planning for Rarotonga and beyond…
These are the companies we use while traveling fulltime as a family and that we would recommend to anyone planning and booking travel.
- Booking.com – The best all-around accommodation booking site that constantly provides the cheapest and lowest rates. They have the widest selection of budget accommodation and it’s easy to filter and sort into price and availability with all the extras you are looking for personally.
- Skyscanner – This is by far our favourite flight search engine. They are able to search small websites and budget airlines that larger search sites often miss. We book all our flights through Skyscanner.
- GetYourGuide– Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace for tours and excursions offered all around the world including everything from walking tours, to street-food tours, cooking classes, desert safari’s and more!
- SafetyWing – A global travel insurance that covers people from all over the world while outside their home country. You can buy it short or longterm; and even if you are out of the country.
- World Nomads – Travel insurance tailored for longterm travel and nomads (including those who have already left home).
