Cook Islands Highlights: Rarotonga & Aitutaki

Today you circle Rarotonga on a guided island tour that reveals its lush beauty and warm culture. Following the single coastal road that rings the island, you stop at scenic lookouts, ancient marae ceremonial sites and tiny village churches, learning the legends of the Polynesian voyagers who settled here centuries ago. You visit a local plantation or cultural centre to taste tropical fruits and see how coconut, taro and pandanus shape island life, and browse for black pearls and handicrafts. The afternoon brings time at the Punanga Nui Market in the capital, Avarua, a colourful hub of produce, crafts and island food. Everywhere you are met with genuine friendliness, and by day's end you have a real feel for the rhythm, history and hospitality of Rarotonga.

A day devoted to Muri Lagoon, the loveliest stretch of water on Rarotonga, a shallow, brilliant-blue expanse protected by four little motu islets. You spend the morning snorkelling straight off the beach over coral bommies busy with parrotfish, wrasse and, if you are lucky, a passing turtle, or paddling a glass-bottom kayak out to the motu. The water is warm, calm and crystal-clear, ideal for swimmers of every level. Ashore, the beach bars and cafes along the shore serve fresh fish, cold coconuts and cocktails, and you can simply laze in the shade of a palm with a book. As the afternoon fades, an optional sunset sailing cruise glides across the golden lagoon with a drink in hand. It is the pure, barefoot pleasure that defines the Cook Islands.

A free day to enjoy Rarotonga at your own pace. You might hike the cross-island trek to the towering Needle and Wigmore's Waterfall, cycle or scooter around the island stopping at hidden beaches, snorkel the marine reserve at Titikaveka, or simply relax by the sea with nothing to do at all. Rarotonga is small, safe and easy to explore, with the two circle-island buses making it simple to get around. This evening is a highlight, an 'island night' feast of island food cooked in an underground umu oven, followed by a spectacular show of Polynesian drumming and dance. The Cook Islanders are the finest dancers in the Pacific, and the thunderous drums, hip-shaking hura and fire-knife performances light up the night in an unforgettable celebration of island culture.

This morning you transfer to the airport for the short, scenic flight to Aitutaki, one of the most beautiful islands in the world. As the plane banks low over the lagoon, its astonishing palette of turquoise, jade and sapphire unfurls beneath you, dotted with palm-topped motu, a view that alone justifies the journey. On arrival you are garlanded and transferred to your beachfront or overwater retreat, opening straight onto the lagoon. The rest of the day is yours to sink into paradise, swimming in the bath-warm shallows, snorkelling off the beach, or lazing in a hammock as the reef murmurs beyond. Aitutaki is tiny, sleepy and utterly unspoiled, and the sense of having found somewhere truly special settles over you as the sun sets in a blaze of colour over the water.

Today brings the experience that draws travellers from across the globe, a full-day cruise on the Aitutaki lagoon. Aboard a local boat you glide across water in a hundred shades of blue, stopping to snorkel over coral gardens alive with giant clams, rays and clouds of tropical fish, and to wade the impossibly clear shallows between deserted motu. The crew share island legends, strum ukuleles and crack open fresh coconuts as you go. The highlight is One Foot Island, a tiny, palm-fringed islet with a perfect beach, where you can have your passport stamped at the world's smallest post office, swim in dazzling water and feast on a barbecue of freshly grilled fish. Utterly relaxed and impossibly beautiful, it is the kind of day that recalibrates your idea of paradise and stays with you for a lifetime.

A final full day to savour Aitutaki at the gentlest of paces. You might take a kayak or paddleboard out across the lagoon, snorkel the coral straight off your beach, join an optional bonefishing trip or scenic flight over the lagoon, or cycle the sleepy island past taro fields and village churches. Equally, you might do nothing more strenuous than move from hammock to sun lounger and back, cocktail in hand, watching the light shift across the water. On Sunday, a village church service reveals the Cook Islanders' extraordinary four-part harmony singing, a moving and unforgettable experience. Wherever the day takes you, the warmth of the welcome and the beauty of the surroundings make it hard to imagine anywhere more relaxing, and a farewell island dinner sends you off in the best of spirits.

After a final barefoot morning by the lagoon, perhaps a last swim or snorkel in that unforgettable water, you are transferred to Aitutaki airport for your flight back to Rarotonga and onward international departure. You leave with sand between your toes, an ei of shells or flowers around your neck, and the warm 'kia orana' of the islands ringing in your ears, already dreaming of a return to these enchanted specks of paradise in the vast blue Pacific. The images stay vivid long after you land, the astonishing colours of the Aitutaki lagoon, the harmony singing drifting from a village church, the warmth of every 'kia orana', and the deep, restorative calm of island time. Few places deliver such a complete escape, and fewer still such genuine hospitality, and you carry the spirit of the Cook Islands home with you.