Explore the 11 must-do activities in the Cook Islands

Rarotonga is the archipelago's largest island (67 km²) and its heart: the capital Avarua, the international airport and most accommodation are here. A 32 km coastal road, the Ara Tapu, circles the island, doubled in places by the Ara Metua, the old inland road paved by the Polynesians.

The interior is a jungle-covered volcanic mountain dominated by Te Rua Manga ('The Needle', 413 m), reached via the Cross-Island Track. On the coast, Muri lagoon in the south-east is the favourite for swimming, kayaking and snorkelling, while the west coast (Aroa, Black Rock) offers sunsets and, from July to October, passing humpback whales.

In Avarua, the Saturday-morning Punanga Nui market, the Cook Islands Library and Museum Society and the coral churches of the villages show a Polynesian island that has kept a human scale.

Aitutaki, a 45-minute flight north of Rarotonga, is the picture-postcard Cook Islands: an atoll whose shallow, triangular lagoon of unreal turquoise is scattered with some fifteen white-sand motu. The volcanic main island rises to Maunga Pu (124 m), with a view over the whole lagoon.

The star activity is the full-day lagoon cruise: snorkelling in the coral gardens, stops on several motu and a barbecue lunch on board or on the beach, with a visit to One Foot Island (Tapuaetai), whose post office stamps passports with a footprint. Kayaks, paddleboards and bicycles let you explore at your own pace.

You either come on a day trip from Rarotonga (return flight and cruise combined) or stay several nights in one of the lagoon-front lodgings: it is the archipelago's most expensive island, so book early.

Te Rua Manga, nicknamed 'The Needle', is Rarotonga's iconic rock spire: a volcanic-breccia pinnacle rising to 413 m above the lagoon.

It is reached via the Cross-Island Track, the trail that crosses the island from the Avatiu valley to the south coast and the Wigmore (Papua) Falls. Allow about 1h20 to climb to the foot of the Needle through dense tropical jungle, for a panoramic view over the mountainous interior and the reef. It is the island's most popular hike.

One Foot Island, Tapuaetai in Māori, is the most famous motu of Aitutaki's lagoon, sitting on the south-eastern reef. Its white-sand beach runs out as a spit into turquoise water less than a metre deep, so you can walk to the neighbouring sandbank at low tide.

The motu holds the smallest post office in the Cook Islands, where passports get a footprint stamp. It is reached only by boat: almost every Aitutaki lagoon cruise stops here, often for the barbecue lunch.

Atiu is a makatea island: a volcanic island ringed by some thirty metres of fossilised-coral cliffs, with dense vegetation. It is one of the most authentic Cook Islands, away from mass tourism.

Here you explore the Anatakitaki Cave, home of the kopeka (an endemic swiftlet that navigates by echolocation), taste locally grown Atiu coffee, and share a tumunu, the traditional 'bush-beer' circle. Access is by Air Rarotonga flight, and most cave visits are done with a local guide.

Black Rock (Tuoro), a pile of black volcanic rocks jutting into the lagoon near Nikao in north-west Rarotonga, is in Māori tradition the place from which the souls of the dead leave the island for Avaiki. It is also one of the best swimming and snorkelling spots on the west coast, with deep water right from the shore.

From July to October, humpback whales pass off Rarotonga to calve in the warm water: the reef drops away quickly here, and blows and breaches can be seen from the beach without a boat. In the evening, the west coast from Black Rock to Aroa has the island's sunsets.

Punanga Nui market, on the Avarua waterfront, is Rarotonga's Saturday-morning meeting place: the island's growers sell taro, pawpaw, bananas, coconuts and fish alongside stalls of cooked food and crafts (pareu, pandanus hats, shell necklaces).

It is the easiest place to taste Cook Islands food: ika mata (raw fish marinated in lime and coconut milk), rukau (taro leaves cooked in coconut milk), chicken or pork from the umu (earth oven) and banana fritters. Dance and ukulele groups play through the morning.

On weekdays a few stalls stay open, but the atmosphere and choice belong to Saturday; on Sunday everything is closed.

The Cook Islands Library and Museum Society in Avarua is a volunteer-run library and museum a few minutes' walk from the centre of the capital. Two modest buildings gather objects of Polynesian life: tools, engraved weapons, musical instruments (ukulele, pate drum, vivo nose flute, conch), shells and a large tivaivai, the hand-sewn quilt typical of the Cook Islands.

The library lends books to passing visitors for a temporary membership fee and sells titles on the archipelago's history and culture. The visit is short, but it is the only place on Rarotonga that puts context on what you then see in the villages and on the marae.

Moturakau is part of the Aitutaki atoll, whose lagoon holds some fifteen motu. Situated in the southeastern region of Aitutaki Lagoon, it lies between the larger islands of Rapota and Tekopua, approximately six kilometers southeast of the main Aitutaki island.

With dimensions of 460 meters in length and 120 meters in width, Moturakau served as a leper colony from the 1930s until 1967. In more recent times, it gained recognition as the location for the 'Sharks' during four seasons of the UK reality TV program Shipwrecked: Battle of the Islands and also hosted the 13th season of the Survivor franchise.

Mitiaro is one of the makatea islands of the southern group, about 250 km north-east of Rarotonga. A ring of fossilised coral encloses a swampy interior with two freshwater lakes, Rotonui and Rotoiti, known for the eels (itiki) that islanders still fish.

Fewer than 200 people live here, in four adjoining villages on the west coast. Visitors come for the caves and freshwater pools cut into the makatea (Vai Nauri, Vai Tamaroa), the marae and the welcome of the families, in a setting where tourism is almost non-existent.

Mauke, the 'garden island', is the easternmost of the makatea islands of the southern group, an hour's flight from Rarotonga. Small (about 18 km²) and flat, it is ringed by fossilised-coral cliffs pierced by caves and freshwater pools where you can swim, such as Vai Tango.

The main village, Kimiangatau, is known for its 'divided church': two rival parishes built it together in the 19th century, then each decorated their own half to their taste. Taro plantations, tiare maori and slow village life make up the stay, in one of the island's family guesthouses.