Southern Cook Islands

The Southern are a loose group of mostly volcanic, hilly islands and a few coral atolls. It is home to most of the islands' population, and to its capital and largest town, Avarua.
Wikivoyage
Photo: Mr Bullitt, CC BY 2.5.
Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Rarotonga and Aitutaki.

Photo: Robert Engberg, CC BY 2.0.
is the largest and by far the most populated of the , and is known as 'Raro'. It is the easiest to get to, with direct international flights from several countries, and has the most attractions and accommodation of the islands.

Photo: Pbsouthwood, Public domain.
is an island in the Southern Cook Islands. lagoon and its islands are breathtakingly beautiful. The classic picture postcard of small palm tree fringed tropical island, with shallow, warm turquoise waters, corals, tropical fish and blue skies is taken here.

Photo: NASA, Public domain.
is a coral atoll which includes five small island groups. It is one of the Southern Cook Islands. It has no airstrip; access is by sea only.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as Mangaia and Mauke.

Photo: KennyOMG, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is the most southerly of the and the second largest, after Rarotonga. Geologists estimate the island is at least 18 million years old, making it the oldest in the Pacific.

Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain.
is an island of the archipelago, lying in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. Part of the Nga-pu-Toru, it is 277 km northeast of .

Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain.
is an island in Southern Cook Islands. It is the third largest, third most populous, and third most visited island in the Cook Island group. It is 27 km2 and has a rapidly decreasing population of 434, of which most are children and elderly.

Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain.
, the fourth island in the Cook Islands group, is of volcanic origin, standing in water 4500 m deep. It is 6.4km across at its widest point. is part of the Nga-Pu-Toru island group formerly, a volcano that became a coral atoll.

Southern Cook Islands

Latitude of center
-20° or 20° south
Longitude of center
-159° or 159° west
Geo­Names ID
4035674
Wiki­data ID
Q11826289
This page is based on GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Southern Cook Islands from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Cebuano to Swedish—“Southern Cook Islands” goes by many names.
  • Cebuano: “Lower Cook Islands”
  • Chinese: “南库克群岛”
  • Czech: “Jižní Cookovy ostrovy”
  • Finnish: “Eteläiset Cookinsaaret”
  • French: “îles Cook du Sud”
  • French: “Îles Cook du Sud”
  • Galician: “Illas Cook Meridionais”
  • Indonesian: “Kepulauan Cook Selatan”
  • Italian: “Isole Cook meridionali”
  • Polish: “Południowe Wyspy Cooka”
  • Slovak: “Južné Cookove ostrovy”
  • Slovenian: “Južni Cookovi otoki”
  • Slovenian: “Spodnji Cookovi otoki”
  • Swedish: “Lower Cook Islands”

Cook Islands: Must-Visit Destinations

Delve into Northern Cook Islands and Suwarrow National Park.

Explore These Curated Destinations

Discover places selected for their distinct character and enduring appeal.