Planning a 2022 Cook Island holiday? Read up on what you need to know before you go. Photo / Getty
Planning a 2022 Cook Island holiday? Read up on what you need to know before you go. Photo / Getty
If last year's travel situation was a word, it'd be something short and expletive, littered with exclamation marks and @ signs. As for a sound, the whiny, overly-prolonged wheeze of a deflated balloon seems fitting.
Last year, after just three months, the New Zealand/Cook Island travel bubble rather unspectacularly burst.The nation sighed... a whiny, overly-prolonged wheeze that, well, you get the metaphor.
But let's not dwell.
January 14 proved something of a whizz-pop. The puncture covered, the bubble resumed.
Rarotongan Beach Resort at Aroa Beach, Rarotonga Cook Islands. Photo / supplied
With the island nation vaccinating close to 100 per cent of its eligible population and NZ not too far behind, there's every reason to be feeling good about a 2022 Cook Island holiday. But knowledge is power, people and a little prep before departure will serve you well.
Here is everything you need to know, get clued up about, and yes, get excited for.
New requirements for Cook Island travel in 2022
After short intervals of quarantine free travel last year, this time the islands are determined to keep the bubble afloat. This includes new travel conditions such as proof of vaccination, pre-flight testing and more...
Firstly, you see the glistening ocean, the lagoon and the reef.
Then there's the island hospitality, the slower pace of life. An abundance of tropical fruits, fresh fish marinating in coconut cream. Lingering sunsets, sandy feet. A holiday in the Cook Islands is many things, and they are all beautiful things.
Planning a 2022 Cook Island holiday? Read up on what you need to know before you go. Photo / 123rf
What to do in the Cook Islands
White sandy beaches and languid blue lagoons are just some of the reasons why the Cook Islands was crowned by Lonely Planet as the No 1 country to visit in 2022. And when it comes to treating yourself, you're spoilt for choice in the Cooks.
It's not really a Rarotonga holiday unless you're stuffing yourself silly with the flavours of the land and the fruits de la mer. Rather than waste any time dilly-dallying between places and Googling where's good, Travel's Editor Stephanie Holmes has done the hard yard for you and rounded up a collection of the island's best eats.
The New Year doesn't just bring new travel bubbles, it brings new resolutions and affirmations to do better and be better. With sustainability top of mind these days, there are plenty of ways to travel green in the Cook Islands...
Rarotonga's Tik-e Tours electric fleet also includes a white tuk tuk for weddings. Photo / Supplied
What it's like to stay on Aitutaki Island
Aitutaki: the most precious of jewels in the crown of the Cook Islands. Few destinations offer the bewitching spectacle that Aitutaki does on final approach, on a 45-minute flight from Rarotonga.
Even the most worked up hype can't do justice to the gazillion dollar view emerging out of the endless blue ocean.
