Aitutaki is stunning. It is every postcard designer’s dream.

Everywhere you look is a photo opportunity. It is a very special place, and I will go back again someday, hopefully it doesn’t change before then.

Aitutaki is an atoll with 15 islands, one being a big island which has the towns, airport, and a lot of churches on it.

We stayed at the Aitutaki Lagoon Resort and Spa, the service was flawless. We were overwhelmed by how friendly the resort staff were, nothing was too much trouble, and big smiles and greetings every time we saw them. The resort is on it’s own little island and a ferry takes you across the waterway when you need to get to the other side.

Our little hut was adorable, hibiscus everywhere, my favourite flower, how did they know? It looked out through the coconut trees to the lovely water separating us from the main island.

We hired scooters, I haven’t ridden a scooter since I was 13, and that was racing through a kiwifruit orchard and wasn’t confident then either. So at 30km/hr, I was slowly getting more confident at riding on straight roads, corners were a little more difficult. One of the wonderful things about Aitutaki is that the roads are very new, no need to dodge potholes or get covered in dust if you were on the main roads.

There were not many cars, and those that passed me as I was crawling along at 30km/hr went on the other side of the road and I was quite fine taking up a whole lane.

The main town is cute, a few shops set next to a little port and morning market. The houses around the island were pretty basic, but what is impressive is how tidy the lawns were kept. My landlord could learn a thing or two from them.

Apart from it’s beauty, Aitutaki is well known for is being the location for the TV show Survivor in 2006. The competitors lived on these deserted islands competing in tasks so that they are not sent home and leave these beautiful islands, and whole lot of money too I am sure.

We went on three boat trips while we were in Aitutaki, two were in the lagoon and one outside.

We were so impressed by our first trip out inside the lagoon, we decided to delay our flight so we could have another day in the lagoon. I recommend going out with a couple of different lagoon tour groups, they take you to different spots, tell you lots of interesting information and you get to try more local food.

One of the many beautiful islands is Honeymoon Island, on a windy day there are bright eyed excited kite-boarders enjoying their passion in paradise. And on a still day it has a few tourists wandering around on it with big smiles on their faces taking lots of photos and some hermit crabs and birds. It is very picturesque.

 

The next island over was Maina. One of the things the locals mentioned was great about it was there were no mosquitos. But during our lunch there a lot of flies were looking for lunch too, so I don’t know what is worse, flies or mosquitos. It was another beautiful tropical island ready for me to take tonnes of photos of. It was one of the islands used in the Survivor TV show too.

 

One Food Island is a lovely island, another one of the Survivor show locations. There are basic buildings still there which are used for meal preparation for people doing lagoon boat trips. A wonderful place to have lunch and walk around the island.

The snorkelling was fabulous, there were many tropical fish, clams of all colours and huge lumps of coral for the sea life to live around.

Aitutaki is a 40 minute flight from Rarotonga, both in the Cook Islands. We went to both islands but enjoyed Aitutaki more. It is a lot quieter, more relaxed, prettier beaches, nicer roads (scooter riders will appreciate this) and fewer people.

My trip to Aitutaki for three nights was too short, I could have stayed there for weeks, and if you go, make sure you treat yourself to at least a week there, you will love it.