Of all the South Pacific destinations, it is arguable that the Are Tamanu Aitutaki, one of the top Cook Island luxury resorts is in fact the most romantic hotel in the South Pacific.
If you are going on a romantic vacation, or your honeymoon for that matter and you have in mind a South Pacific destination, then in my opinion the Are Tamanu Aitutaki ranks amongst the top five worlds best beach resorts, and I hope to be able to convince you that this is the case from my own personal experience.
Are Tamanu is not a five star resort, and I am accustomed to this type of hotel, so I was somewhat apprehensive before setting out, despite the fact that my husband was absolutely certain that I would think it was the most romantic resort in the South Pacific.
The first thing to know is you have to arrive at Rarotonga and then catch another short flight to Aitutaki. You quickly realise you are in another world, not only because of the spectacular views from the aircraft, but also because in the very few minutes it takes you to get to the hotel you realise that what they mean by a road is really a sand track.
I found this whole environment so much more romantic that Tahiti, so much less commercialised, so much more the authentic South Pacific of my dreams.
It is the colors that hit you first, the shockingly bright blues, turquoises, greens, and the white of the beaches, it is extraordinary.
The huge beautiful lagoon is almost beyond description, and there was our resort sitting right next to it!!
The rooms were large, and clean, and comfortable, but not modern. Having said that they were what I’d always imagined South Pacific to be, and I just fell in love with the place, the people, just everything. No TV or radio was another bonus, this was just bare feet paradise – my husband couldn’t spend his time on the phone to the office, or his laptop for that matter.
The food in the restaurant was good and reasonably priced, we went for a cruise around the lagoon, and I got to go to islands with wonderful names like One Foot Island where we had a superb BBQ lunch. I also discovered this is where they film Survivor, and also visited the beautiful Honeymoon Island.
The whole vacation at Are Tamanu was just so relaxing, but to me the real highlights were the local people, so genuinely friendly, the clors, and the snorkelling right in front of our door so to speak.
I definitely think we stayed in one of the most romantic hotels in the South Pacific if not the most romantic
Word count: 456