While many visitors come to the Cook Islands and Rarotonga for a laidback and tranquil vacation, this tiny island offers a pretty good nightlife and plenty of lively entertainment as well. With more than enough to keep your nights busy while you stay here, the entertainment and nightlife on Rarotonga is remarkably diverse and vibrant. There are a number of fine dining establishments around the island as well as a range of clubs and bars, all just a short drive away from one another.

An ‘Island Night’ performance is perhaps one of the best ways to enjoy a night out on Rarotonga. Combining a traditional Polynesian buffet dinner with a dance and music performance, an island night is a great way to absorb the local culture and at same time have some fun. With the dancers in the Cook Islands regarded as the best in the Southern Pacific, this performance is an experience not to be missed. The food served here is known as umukai and involves chicken, pork, fish and various vegetables being baked in an underground oven called an umu.

Avarua has the widest selection of places to eat on the island, with a handful of restaurants and cafes scattered elsewhere. Offering superb high quality local and international cuisine, most of the restaurants on Rarotonga are located along the island’s western and northwestern coast. Influenced by New Zealand cuisine as well as traditional cooking, the food here is unique and distinctive, with a taste all its own. You can find plenty of Italian, Indian, Chinese and Japanese restaurants around the island, however, do keep in mind that since many of these places are small dining establishments, making dinner reservations is a good idea. Rarotonga also has a wide assortment of wines and spirits easily available, in addition to a popular locally brewed beer. Trader Jacks, Banana Court, Mama’s Café, The CocoBar, and Da Carlo are some of the well known places to eat on Rarotonga.

With plenty of bars and clubs, the nightlife on Rarotonga is quite happening. Clubs here are mostly located in Avarua and are generally open till midnight throughout the week, except on Fridays when they are open till 2 am. Often many hotels and resorts offer a guided tour of the various nightclubs around the island and are a great way of meeting the locals. Colorful and energetic, the club DJ’s here often mix music with a local Polynesian touch. Many of the resort bars on Rarotonga are also open to non-guests.