Travel in Cook Islands

It's officially fall and that means travelers have plenty of shoulder season deals to choose from.

It’s being hailed as the “Great North American Eclipse.” The longest since 1806, in fact, the best since 2017 and the last until 2033 in Alaska, and 2044 in Montana and the Dakotas.

When is the eclipse? Everyone is talking about Monday, April 8, when a total solar eclipse will see the moon’s central shadow create a 115-mile wide path of totality across parts of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada.

Scattered and remote in the South Pacific, the Cook Islands are a taste of tropical perfection.

New Zealand's biggest and most cosmopolitan city, Auckland, is a year-round destination.

Tea leaf-picking near Tokyo with views of Japan’s Mount Fuji, exploring breadfruit and banana plantations on Cook Islands in the South Pacific, or harvesting grapes in the Douro Valley in Portugal – annual harvests hold a seasonal promise for travelers who want to connect with their destination through a different, sensory experience.

On Monday 14 August, when the tide is right, an antique sailing ship will manoeuvre through the lock of Plymouth’s historic Sutton harbour and point herself south-west towards the Canary Islands. It will be the start of a two-year voyage around the world taking in 32 ports and involving thousands of people in a groundbreaking geographical project, Darwin200, which aims, among other things, to inspire the environmental leaders and scientists of the future.

A vacation to the Cook Islands is guaranteed to be heavy on “pinch me” moments. Made up of 15 tiny islands and atolls dotting the South Pacific waters some 2,000 miles northeast of New Zealand, the Cooks has managed to escape crowds, chains, and skyscrapers, causing many to say it feels like Hawaii — 70 years ago.

There are few tourism destinations out there that have avoided the scourge of high-rise condos, Quarter Pounders, and traffic lights. And if that destination happens to be our planet at its most beautiful? Forget about it.