Has anyone been to Rarotonga?

I am looking at eloping to Raro (with my fiance in tow) ha ha, wondering if anyone has been lucky enough to visit Raro and if you have any advice?

Just thought I'd chuck this out there, as to be honest I am baffled by the amount of info out there... it would be nice to have some honest opinions...

Thanks in advance, soon to be wed...
Sundays [:X]

We love Raro. We've been four or five times and are planning to go again later in the year. It's not the sort of place you'd want to go to for much more than a week but if a week of blobbing out, beautiful beaches, friendly people, great restaurants and lovely weather is what you're after then it would be perfect

We stay at the Rarotongan Beach Resort mainly because it's one of the few places with tennis courts. The Raro Beach Resort also has the best snorkelling (IMHO).

There are lots of good places to eat - or there have been every time we've been and the locals are happy and friendly and don't harrass tourists like so many other places.

It's tiny and is easy to cycle around in a day - even stopping frequently for drink breaks [] You don't need to worry about transport as there is one main circular road and buses leave clockwise and anti-clockwise regularly, or you can hire a scooter.

Okay, rave over.

Cheers
Kate

Oh Kate, you've done the place an injustice! And, I beg to differ

We, too, love Raro and have been a number of times.

Whether you will enjoy it, Sundays, is dependent on what type of person you and your partner are. Do you enjoy not doing much, or do you enjoy going, going, going? Raro is a pretty laid-back type of place, although it's certainly changed since we first visited there (1990). And, depending on what sort of people you are and how much you have to spend, will depend on the subsequent advice I give! We went first on our honeymoon and the travel agent suggested that Raro was the type of place that you wld only want to spend a week to ten days in, and then we shld head to Fiji. Our experience at the time was that we disliked Fiji and wld have rather spent our entire time in Raro. Just my two cents worth.

If you enjoy not doing too much, then it's a great place to visit - for as long as you are able! We wld live there if we cld!!! If you enjoy your comforts then you will probably more like enjoy yourself if you stay somewhere like the Raro Beach Resort, the Edgewater or even the Pacific Resort. IMHO the beach at the Edgewater sucks. The beach at the Club Raro is nonexistent. The beach at the Raro Beach Resort is ok, the beach (again, IMHO) at the Pacific Resort (Muri) is fantastic. But, truly, it doesn't matter where you stay. You can rent a home (a friend and her family did this) and/or rent a car or m/bike for your own transport, or go by public bus (goes around the Island once each hour) to anywhere. There are also taxis. Do you have kids? Are you taking them? I wld suggest the Raro Beach Resort - they have a kids' club and some great organised things for them to do. Do you dive/snorkel? It's worth going out for a dive!!! I personally think the beach off of Titikaveka is great for snorkeling. Muri is great too - you can wade across at low tide to the 'island' (or snorkel at high tide) and sometimes be the only ones over there. Any of the motels are ok, really. Do try to make sure you have airport transfers organised/included. Flights are oftentimes at dog hours, and it is just a little peace of mind to not have to organise, although it may pay to remind at reception!!! Also, try to get their reasonably early (airport, that is) if you're keen to get off of the island/home. We have been bumped off (by choice) a couple of times - Air NZ come to NZ via Raro ex LAX and the LAX flights are s/times overbooked. But the times we done it it's been financially worth our while to stay, it was only for a day or two, and truly, we found it no hardship - an extra day in paradise.

Of course, if money is no object go to Aitutaki!!! If you're into adventure and the back of beyond traveling, try to get to one or more of the outer islands. I haven't done this, but will get there one day.

Honeymooning? Don't forget to have your new husband buy you a beautiful black pearl. I got mine on our tenth wedding anniversary, and just the thought of it makes me smile.

I love Raro. I truly, truly, truly can't wait to get back there.

If you want to stay somewhere kinda expensive and want to lower your costs (and you're heading there straight from here) consider taking your breakfast cereals with you (boxed, still sealed, declared). Buy milk or juice or whatever you put on it once you're there, and keep it in your room fridge. Saves on breakfast. Buy your lunch stuff at the supermarket and do the same. Eat out at night-time - there are some great places to eat! Do check with a travel agent, and do check direct with where-ever you're looking at staying. You can sometimes get airfare and accommodation packages that are very reasonable. They often include breakfast and dinner.

{Sigh} ... wish it were me!

Let us know if we can help you further

Great advice Prim...I'd live there too if I could But I know for a lot of people a week is enough. We're happy without clubs and TV but not everyone is. Living as we do in Te Miro most places have more night life

Last time we spent some time in Aitukaki - it was expensive but amazing!

While I agree that the beach at Muri is fantastic I don't think it's as good for swimming or snorkling. The Raro Beach Resort is very average accommodation but the lagoon has been rested from fishing for a long time so the marine life is amazing... I swim like a brick and usually will not go more than knee-deep in the sea but can snorkel for hours in Raro.

We hope to be there for our 20th anniversary this year and a pearl (or some pearls [}]) are definitely on the cards []

Thinking of Rarotonga helps me through the NZ winter...

Cheers
Kate

We went there for our honeymoon...many years ago now. Beautiful place and friendly people, but for us the best memories are from the days we spent at Aitutaki. We were there a few weeks after a hurricane had been through and the place was still gorgeous. Enjoy
Maddy

If you are on a budget this is a nice place. www.arerenga.com/accommodation.html

It is across the road from the lagoon so you have to walk across the road to the beach but I liked having my own cooking facilities and laundry facilities

The gardens were really nice to

Hi Sundaysbest

I got married in Rarotonga 3 years ago, had an awesome time. I will have to agree with Kate on the one week stay though, we're not really used to sitting around and doing "not much" for that length of time. We were there for 10 days and it was enough for us. Would definitely go back though.

We stayed at Club Raro for a few days (wouldn't stay there again), got married at Edgewater (that was nice) then on our travels around the island (doesn't take long) we saw lots of houses available for rent (all our guests had left for home by this stage). So after a quick phone call to the owner a little beach house was ours for the rest of the honeymoon and that was fantastic. We now wouldn't arrange any accommodation before we got there again, would wait until we arrived (unless it's the middle of the night of course) and do the same again. There are plenty of places to rent and you can negotiate the rent as well. The little house we were in was very modern, had all the mod cons (and a dog, but they all seem to) and was just great. It also meant that if we didn't want to go out for dinner etc we could go to the local supermarket and cook for ourselves.

There isn't a huge amount to do unless you are into watersport (which fortunately we are), but you can do lots of walking and chilling out. There is little to no shopping except for souvineirs, but lots of eating out.

Oh we also went on a fishing trip and my husband caught a massive fish (can't remember what it was).

The wedding itself was a laugh, Raro time is the real deal, don't be in a hurry for anything. If you can be relaxed about that sort of thing you'll love it. I had a wedding planner that "organised" everything over there for me, it was included in the package, we had a small intimate wedding with only a few guests. Us Kiwi's must seem so highly-strung to them, she kept telling me "chill out, everything is sweet." In the end everything went well and it is a story to tell the grandkids!

If you want any more info re the wedding etc feel free to e-mail through my profile, the websites are really good and I can give you first-hand info on what to expect of the whole wedding deal if you like (my opinion of course).

Hi there, yep we went to Raro too. We hired a bach between 4 of us for $800/week, $200 each! just over the road from the beach, which was fine, hired scooters, cooked every other night, tried different restaurant the others. Plenty of food at supermarkets and reasonable price, look on baches & holiday homes or just put in 'accomodation in Rarotonga' and see what comes up. Muri definately best swimming snorkling area. 1 week about right. enjoy, wish we were there!