Northern Cook Islands

The Northern Cook Islands are a loose group of low, coral atolls that see little tourism.

Understand

Islands

• Manihiki — the easiest to get to island of the Northern Group.
• Nassau Island — a small island governed by Pukapuka.
• Penrhyn (Tongareva or Mangarongaro) — the northernmost of the Cook Islands.
• Pukapuka — an island culturally closer to Samoa than to the rest of the Cooks.
• Rakahanga — an island only accessible by boats from Manihiki.
• Suwarrow (also called Suvorov or Suvarov) — an uninhabited island home to the only national park in the Cook Islands.

Get in

By plane

There are Air Rarotonga flights from Rarotonga to Manihiki once every two weeks and flights to Pukapuka and Penryhn less frequently. All flights from Rarotonga to the Northern Group are so expensive they may as well cost an arm and a leg.

Get around

By boat

There are some (infrequent) boats going between the islands.