How to add a South Pacific island to your Australia or New Zealand holiday

Telegraph

3 days ago

I have to start this round-up with a lament. The halcyon days of Air New Zealand's unique and wondrous Coral Route are long gone, but I remember them fondly from the first time I visited the South Pacific (now nearly 30 years ago).
It then meant that you could fly between the island groups across the Pacific. So, my first journey was: London-LA-Tahiti-Cook Islands-Tahiti-Fiji-Samoa-New Zealand-Tonga-home (admittedly, I was there for a year). It was the perfect way to get to know the islands.
Today, it takes a little more effort to reach paradise – but it's still incontrovertibly worth it.
Polynesia was one of the last places on the planet to be discovered by Europeans and, over centuries of isolation, it developed a fascinating and unique culture that's still in rude health today – albeit now lightly layered with western influence (the Pacific is a devoutly Christian region) and comforts (lovely hotels, excellent food and wine, Wi-Fi freely available).
Island life centres around perfect white beaches bordered by coconut palms, warm, clear lagoons full of dazzling fish, and people whose charm – and dance technique – are legendary. Laid-back doesn't begin to cover it.
It is, though, a very long way indeed from the UK – too small and too far, by most estimations, to justify a standalone holiday. But plenty of us – more than 800,000 in 2024, in fact – choose to gladly trot half way around the world for holidays in Australia or New Zealand, and herein lies the ideal way to discover the Pacific islands with minimal effort.
Choose to tack on just a few days of barefoot luxury to your Aussie or Kiwi odyssey, or really make the most of having flown all that way and spend a week or two really getting to know these wonderful little outposts.
The conundrum is, of course, which one to visit? Here are some of the best – all relatively easy to reach from our favourites Down Under.
French Polynesia
Tahiti and the Society Islands
The Tahitian islands are legendary for their beauty – saw-toothed mountains, coral atolls and impossibly blue lagoons. The Tahitian capital is Papeete and from here you can go by boat or local plane (Air Tahiti has an inter-island pass) to the neighbouring Society Islands, the most popular destinations in French Polynesia with the best infrastructure and resorts.
Mo'orea and, particularly, Bora Bora have dramatic volcanic landscapes and some top resorts that combine Polynesian beauty with French flair (and some very fine cuisine). Expect over-water villas with steps down into a lagoon full of coral, kaleidoscopic fish, water with bath-like temperatures and breakfast delivered by canoe.
You can island hop to Huahine and Taha'a and there are plenty of cruises between the islands too.
Back in Papeete you'll find the best market in the South Pacific – an excellent place to buy beautiful and comparatively reasonably priced South Sea black pearls. Go for barefoot luxury, lagoons and utter indulgence.
Book it
Turquoise Holidays has a 10-night trip from £6,795pp, including three nights at Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort & Spa (with breakfast), three nights sailing with Tahiti Yacht Charter (from Raiatea to Bora Bora on a private catamaran with all meals), and four nights at Conrad Bora Bora Nui Resort (with breakfast). Includes all transfers and domestic flights within Tahiti.
The Tuamotus
The Tuamotus are the world's largest group of coral atolls, covering an area the size of western Europe but with a total land area of just 850 sq km. Uninhabited or sparsely populated, many have vast lagoons. Rangiroa's (the name means 'extended sky'), for instance, is 1,020 sq km of aquamarine, while Manihi's lagoon is home to some 50,000 oysters (their pearls are renowned). Here, it's all about the water – diving, snorkelling and teeming marine wildlife (turtles, rays and dolphins as well as a few sharks). It's the place to go for would-be Robinson Crusoes.
Book it
The Ultimate Travel Company has a 19-day trip from £12,500pp, including 10 nights aboard the Paul Gauguin visiting the Tuamotu and Society Islands, and stays on Tahiti and Moorea. Includes all transfers, full-board cruising and island
accommodation.
The Marquesas
It gives you some idea of the distances involved in the South Pacific when you realise that flying to the Marquesas from Papeete (both part of French Polynesia) takes just under four hours.
Nevertheless, if you'd like to see French Polynesia as it used to be, the Marquesas' two principal islands of Nuku Hiva and Hiva Oa are worth every moment in the air.
They both have populations of around 3,000, as well as mountainous landscapes, marae (ancient sacred sites), animals – especially horses – roaming free, plus waterfalls and rainforest. There are no lagoons here – in all likelihood, one of the reasons they have been so little discovered – but they have some of the region's most pristine landscapes.
Hiva Oa has a Gauguin Museum and the artist's grave is here alongside that of French singer, Jaques Brel; while Nuku Hiva's volcanic caldera, grasslands and waterfalls that plunge 1,000ft make this a hiker's Eden.
Book it
Go the DIY route and fly to the Marquesas from Papeete with Air Tahiti (then hop between the main islands), and stay at Le Nuku Hiva (rooms from £561). Alternatively, Audley Travel has a 12-day Discover the Marquesas Cruise on board the Aranui 5 coming in 2026, costing from €5,012pp (£4,375) and including accommodation, all meals with wine, taxes and scheduled excursions. Excludes international flights.
The Cook Islands
All 15 of the Cook Islands are tiny, and even the biggest, Rarotonga, takes less than an hour to circumnavigate on the local bus.
Less developed than French Polynesia, the Cooks are renowned for the best singing and dancing in the Pacific and the warmest of welcomes. Make sure you're there for an Island Night performance (usually on Fridays) and be ready to join in.
If perfect, white sand beaches, swaying coconut palms and pellucid lagoons with a clarity unsurpassed are your wish – it's granted here.
Once in the Cooks, there are flights with Air Rarotonga to Atiu, Mangaia, Mauke, Mitiaro and Manihiki subject to demand but, for Pukapuka and Penrhyn, you'll have to charter a small prop plane from them (minimum four passengers).
Rarotonga
The main island in the Cooks, Rarotonga has mountainous jungle at its heart surrounded by a fringe of white coral beaches and warm, clear lagoon. Cruise across it with Captain Tama (stopping off for a BBQ on a motu, one of the tiny islands inside the reef), buy a pareu (Cook Island sarong) at Punanga Nui Saturday market, go on a 'progressive dining tour' (one course each at the houses of local families) or go to church on Sunday for four-part harmony singing and the whole island dressed in white.
Aitutaki
The Cooks' second island, Aitutaki, has a vast triangular lagoon so wondrously turquoise most people assume it's been photoshopped. It is, thankfully, real and you can spend all day swimming and snorkelling in the warm water. Visit One Foot Island to have a footprint stamped into your passport (it's the world's only uninhabited island with a post office) or go to an umu feast (traditional food cooked in an underground oven). There are lazy lagoon cruises or you can picnic on an island of white coral sand that emerges from below the water for a few hours a day – truly walking where no foot has stepped before.
Book it
A 12-night Luxury Cook Islands itinerary with Audley Travel costs from £6,700pp, including six nights on Rarotonga (at the Little Polynesian) and six nights on Aitutaki (at Pacific Resort), both on a B&B basis, as well as transfers.
Samoa
One of the most traditional islands in the Pacific, Samoa is a must-visit for those keen to get under the skin of Polynesia's fascinating culture, known here as the fa'a samoa.
It was adopted by Robert Louis Stevenson as his own treasured island and his home, Vailima, is a stunning colonial-style villa and surely the only place in the region to have two Scottish baronial fireplaces (never lit for obvious reasons).
Samoa is also a place of extraordinary natural phenomena, with volcanic peaks covered in rainforest, explosive blowholes, a vast area of lava floe (it engulfed five villages in 1905 and a ruined church still stands in its midst) and the To Sua Ocean Trench, where you climb down a very long ladder to swim from an inland pool some 30m deep, then through caves to the sea.
Hotels on both islands (Upolu and Savai'i) are usually small and locally owned, or you can stay in a beach fale where you'll find a platform with a mattress, a mosquito net, a thatched roof… and that's about it. It's basic, but means you'll wake up on a mile of white sand, steps away from a warm lagoon, its floor scattered with bright blue starfish.
Book it
Intrepid has a nine-day Samoa Adventure trip From £2,295pp, including all accommodation, island transport and some meals. It encompasses sandy beaches, snorkelling, swimming at the Giant Clam Sanctuary, exploring Samoan culture through storytelling and legend, visiting villages and learning about the local culture.
If you'd prefer to travel independently, you can also fly to Samoa with Air New Zealand (10 flights a week) and stay at Sinalei Reef Resort (as Charles and Camilla did last year). If you book before the end of August, Luxury Escapes has a special offer for a six-night stay: £830pp including tropical breakfasts, two lunches, a 60-minute massage, and daily afternoon tea.
Tonga
Named the Friendly Isles by Captain Cook, Tonga still lives up to that reputation and visitors, though relatively rare, are royally welcomed. For this is indeed a monarchy and there's a royal palace, a particularly splendid wooden colonial house built on the waterfront in 1867.
Tonga is scattered over 700,000 square miles of ocean with 176 islands, only 40 of which are inhabited, and visiting one of the empty ones for a picnic is a much-loved pastime in the capital Nuku'alofa (a name which means 'Safe Haven of Love').
You can take a local flight (with Air Tonga) from Nuku'alofa up to the northern group of islands and Vava'u, which is famous for the whales which visit from June to October.
If you get invited to a kava ceremony, say yes – it's a great honour. Made from a pepper plant pounded to a powder, kava is served in a communal wooden bowl (the effect is to numb the mouth and tongue and make you, ultimately, sleepy). It's a very relaxing place, Tonga…
Book it
Tonga is one of the four countries which Cruising Holidays visits on its 14-day Lautoka to Papeete itinerary (it runs September 29 to October 12 2026; the extra day comes courtesy of crossing the international dateline).
The cruise costs from £10,000pp (all-inclusive with butler service in every suite), and includes four stops in Fiji before going to Neiafu, Eueiki and Uoleva Island in Tonga. It then sails on to the Cook Islands and finally to Bora Bora, Tikehau Atoll, Rangiroa and Tahiti.
Fiji
Strictly speaking, Fiji is Melanesia rather than Polynesia but, as one of the most popular and accessible countries in the region, it just has to be included. At the last count, Fiji had some 333 islands, though it may be more, as coral atolls constantly rise to the ocean surface.
There are several outlying archipelagos as well as the main island of Viti Levu where you'll find most of the country's population (nudging a million, which is huge in Polynesia) and a taste of city life.
Viti Levu's major tourist area, Denerau Island, is formed by reclaimed land and home to big name hotels, spas, shops and even a golf course.
Further afield, you can visit super-luxury resorts on small islands or visit whole archipelagos by boat. The Mamanucas and Yasawas are easily and regularly accessed by local cruise companies, and a week on board introduces you to a way of life that has changed little over decades.
These are very traditional islands so you'll need to cover up (no bare shoulders or knees), but the locals are very welcoming and take great pleasure in showing visitors around their villages and schools (take books, pencils, crayons and spectacles as gifts).
Further on still and you'll reach the southern Lau group, beautiful islands with a mixed Fijian-Tongan culture. Be prepared to stay a while, though, as flights (with Fiji Airways) are infrequent.
Book it
Six Senses Fiji has Beachside Pool Villas from £800 per night (B&B); alternatively, Captain Cook Cruises has a week in the Mamanuca and Yasawa islands from AU$7,693pp (£3,760).
Norfolk Island
In 1774, Johann Forster, Captain Cook's botanist, arrived at Norfolk Island aboard the Endeavour, declaring it to be an 'unexpected and agreeable island'. It still is.
Briefly a Polynesian outpost, it was later a notorious prison island and there are remarkable remains from that period in Kingston, known in the local dialect as 'Daun'taun'.
This is a language that knits together old English and Tahitian Maori – a result of the resettlement of the Bounty mutineers here from Pitcairn Island in 1856. These days, around a third of Norfolk's 2,000 inhabitants are Bounty descendants (eighth generation or so). It's a very popular destination for Australians, with excellent restaurants, hotels and a pleasant, year-round warm climate – though none of the uncomfortably high temperatures experienced in islands closer to the equator.
The bird life is astonishing (tropic birds, assorted terns, shearwaters, noddies, petrels and boobies) and there are numerous walks through lush subtropical forest with stunning coastal views.
There are also plenty of historic buildings, including St Barnabas' Chapel, a wooden church with beautiful stained glass windows – designed by the Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones – which travelled by sea from England in casks of molasses to avoid breakage.
As Forster said, a very unexpected island.
Book it
Expedia has a Norfolk Island package from £883pp, including flights from Sydney and seven nights at Cumberland Resort and Spa in a one-bedroom Executive Cottage.
Getting there
A number of airlines offer flights to Australia and New Zealand from the UK, as well as onwards to various Pacific islands: Qantas, for instance, has flights from Australian hubs to several Pacific destinations including Norfolk Island, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga; Virgin Australia flies (from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane) to Vanuatu, Samoa and Fiji; and Air New Zealand flies from Auckland to Samoa, Fiji, the Cook Islands, Tahiti, Niue and Tonga. Air New Zealand no longer flies from London to Auckland direct, but does code share with the likes of Singapore Airlines.
There are no direct flights from Pacific islands to London (you'll need to return to a major hub like Sydney or Auckland first), though Air Tahiti Nui does fly from Papeete (Tahiti's capital) to Paris via Los Angeles.
If you want to island hop, Air Tahiti and Air Moana both have multi-island passes, while Air Rarotonga flies from Tahiti to Rarotonga, the largest Cook Island.
From there, there are nine flights a week to Auckland with Air New Zealand, as well as three with Jetstar New Zealand, and three flights a week to Sydney with JetStar Australia. For a very different route, Hawaiian Airlines also has a weekly flight to Rarotonga from Honolulu.
Fiji Airways also has an extensive network across the region (with Nadi as the hub), including numerous flights to Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Los Angeles and London. Within the region, there are flights to Fijian destinations including Cicia and Lakeba in the Lau group, as well as to Samoa, Vanuatu, Tuvalu and Tonga.