your guide to Atiu 🏝️

1️⃣What is it?

Atiu is known as the Cook Islands’ “bird island” because it’s home to 19 different bird species. The island is so quiet that when you stay still, all you can hear is either silence or the occasional bird call.

2️⃣What to do:

🪺Go bird-watching

Nature/ bird lovers would have a great time here - there are so many birds but they’re pretty quiet most of the time. We spotted 1) swiftlets (which live in Atiu’s caves), 2) kura (brightly coloured parrots), 3) doves, 4) a kingfisher, 5) a few spotless crakes, 6) white tern, 7) noddies. Just keep an eye out for them in the trees as you explore the island, even while driving!

There’s a cave exploration tour to visit the swiftlets in their home, but the tour guide wasn’t available when we visited. We heard that it’s a pretty good tour and that the caves can be dangerous to explore on your own, so it may be best to join it if it’s available while you’re there!

There’s also an “eco-tour” with Birdman George which comes with a dinner. Though it was marketed as a bird watching trip, it turned out to be more of an island history tour (95%) with only the last bit focused on bird watching when we stopped at a forested area to try to spot them (5%). We actually spotted more birds on our own while exploring the island, so I was kind of disappointed about the tour and I don’t really recommend it 😅

🐋Whale watching 

We went during whale season and there are quite a few great spots to catch the whales! Two great places are:

1. the “harbour” (2nd photo)

2. Matai beach

This is still dependent on luck though but these spots have a higher chance than other spots due to the depth of the water in those parts.

🌊Visit the beach!

Atiu is so deserted that you’re almost completely guaranteed to have the beach all to yourself when you visit. We visited two beaches: Matai beach and Taungaroro beach.

Matai beach is the most popular beach for the coral and rock formations in its shallows (so we were told), so you’ll get the chance to spot tiny fish. However I felt that the chances of finding things are quite negligible ): we only spotted 2 things in the water that day. The waves there are beautiful though and it’s a great place to get a suntan. We also spotted some kura in the trees near the beach entrance.

Taungaroro beach was so spacious (1st photo) - it’s a great place to walk along the shore and just admire the waves. There are plenty of coral and rock formations here too if you want to keep an eye out for creatures. There’s a nice little hut near the beach entrance where you can have a picnic under the shade while watching the waves, so we had a picnic breakfast there one morning.

🏠 Where to stay:

We stayed at Atiu Villas, one of the few accommodation places on the island. Each villa is spacious and comfortable, and has both insect nets on windows and mosquito nets around the beds to keep you protected. There’s a really lovely patio at the back overlooking the garden and even comes with hanging wires and clips for you to dry your clothes/ swimsuits. The villa cat even came by to visit, but if you’re afraid of cats and ignore her she will get the hint.

The villa owners are always hanging around to tidy the place and are friendly, and the manager (Jackie) is so extremely friendly and knowledgable. We learnt so much about the island and the villa just through chatting with her, and she just made us feel so welcome there.

Do note that there’s no aircon, but the ceiling fan is pretty strong and it’s cooling at night so I don’t think this was an issue.

The villa’s tap water is also filtered so it’s possible to drink it, but you can also buy the bottles they place in the fridge for convenience.

🍽️What to eat:

There are only 2 public cafes/ restaurants on Atiu and we only tried one of them - Areora cafe. It’s run by a really lovely Balinese couple and their food was delicious (and very affordable)!! The portions were generous too, so a couple can share 1 meal. They also make fresh fruit smoothies (made with seasonal fruit) which are refreshing and really tasty.

We had our other meals in the restaurant at Atiu Villa. The food here was good - there’s no fixed menu as they serve whatever they have fresh. This means you get the usual meats like chicken and lamb, but also more interesting fare like coconut crab.

🚗Getting around:

Atiu is even smaller than Aitutaki - it’s possible to walk the entire island on your own and some people have… but I really don’t recommend it. It’s tiring, the weather can be erratic (when we arrived it alternated between light drizzle and bright sun) and the roads outside of town aren’t all smoothly paved.

Your place of accommodation will pick you up from the airport. I recommend getting a car through them so that it’ll be easier for you to get around the island with your gear. Like with the other islands, the roads aren’t that smooth (this place is the most bumpy and hilly as it’s more or less the “countryside”) so a scooter could be dangerous in the parts outside of town.

✈️Getting there:

Atiu isn’t a common tourist destination, so there’s only one flight every few days. A tiny propeller plane will bring you there - it basically felt like we were in a private jet because there were only 12 seats and we only had 4 people (incl us) on board when we flew over!

I hope you guys found this helpful! Let me know if you’ll ever give Atiu a try.

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