Muri Beach, Rarotonga: A Slow Guide to the Lagoon, the Motu and the Night Market

Kia Orana from Paul, Shona and Manine at Cook Islands Holiday Villas

There is a particular hour on the east coast of Rarotonga, just after the sun has cleared the horizon, when Muri Lagoon turns from grey to green to a blue so pale it looks lit from underneath. The trade wind has not yet picked up. The four small islands across the water sit perfectly still on their own reflections. Somebody paddles a kayak out towards the reef, and the only sound is the drip of the blade between strokes. If you have stayed at Muri before, you already know this hour. If you have not, it is the reason people come back.

Muri is the stretch of coast on the south eastern side of Rarotonga where the fringing reef swings wide of the shore and leaves behind the widest, shallowest, clearest lagoon on the island. It is the most searched, most photographed and most talked about part of the Cook Islands, and it deserves to be, but the version of Muri that shows up in a two-day itinerary is a thin one. This is a slower guide, written by the people who live here, for travellers who intend to wake up at Muri for a week or two and want to know the lagoon, the motu, the market and the village well enough to feel at home.

Muri at a Glance

Reading the Lagoon: Why Muri Is Different

Rarotonga is a volcanic island wrapped in a coral reef, and for most of its coastline the reef hugs the shore so closely that the lagoon is little more than a wading pool. At Muri the reef bends out to sea, and the water inside it spreads into a broad, sandy-bottomed lagoon that stays waist to chest deep for hundreds of metres. That is what makes it swimmable at any tide, safe for children, and calm enough for a paddleboard even when the wind is up.

The water is warmest and clearest from May through October, the dry season, when the south east trade winds keep the humidity down and the days sit comfortably in the mid twenties. Those same trade winds blow straight across the lagoon, which is why Muri is the kitesurfing capital of the island through the winter months. From November the weather turns warmer and wetter, the lagoon takes on a deeper green after rain, and the afternoons are for the hammock. Either way, the lagoon is the centre of daily life here, and a villa on the sand at Muri puts it at the end of the garden.

The Four Motu: Small Islands, Big Afternoons

Look out from any point along Muri Beach and you will see them: Taakoka, Koromiri, Oneroa and Motutapu, the four motu that shelter the lagoon and give it its postcard skyline. They are tiny, uninhabited, thick with coconut palm and ironwood, and ringed with sand bars that appear and disappear with the tide. Koromiri, directly opposite the main beach, is the one most people paddle to first. It takes about fifteen minutes in a kayak, less on a stand up paddleboard when the wind is behind you, and the water the whole way across is shallow enough to see the bottom.

Once you are on the motu, the trick is not to hurry. Walk the perimeter, which takes twenty minutes on Koromiri, and find the side facing the reef, where the water goes from turquoise to navy in the space of a few strokes and the surf breaks white on the coral. Bring water, a hat, and reef shoes, because the coral rubble on the seaward side is sharp. Leave nothing behind. The motu are cared for by the people of Ngatangiia and treated as part of the village, not as a theme park.

Kayaks, Paddleboards and the Art of Drifting

You do not need to be sporty to enjoy the lagoon, but you do need to get out on it. Kayaks and paddleboards can be hired from operators along the beach, and our villas keep them for guests. The best plan is the simplest one: paddle out in the still of the morning, drift for an hour, and paddle back before the wind fills in around midday. The lagoon is shallow enough that if you tip a paddleboard you stand up, laugh, and climb back on.

For snorkelling, the lagoon at Muri is more about the light than the fish. The reef edge near the motu and the deeper channels have parrotfish, wrasse, the occasional turtle, and giant clams with lips of electric blue and violet. For a denser reef, drive ten minutes south to the marine reserve at Tikioki, where the coral gardens are some of the best on the island and the fish are used to people. Our guide to the best swimming and water sports in Rarotonga walks through the spots by tide and ability.

Lagoon Cruises: Glass Bottoms, Ukuleles and Fresh Fish

If you only do one organised activity at Muri, make it a lagoon cruise. The operators leave from the beach mid morning in glass bottomed boats, motor out to the reef for a guided snorkel, then land on a motu for a barbecue lunch of fresh fish, taro, breadfruit and fruit, all cooked on the beach while somebody plays ukulele and somebody else climbs a coconut palm in a way that seems physically impossible. It is joyful, unhurried and very Cook Islands, and it is the easiest way to see how the lagoon, the motu and the food all belong to each other.

Cruises run most days in the dry season and are worth booking a day or two ahead in the school holidays. Wear swimmers under a shirt, bring a towel and reef safe sunscreen, and do not eat a big breakfast. The lunch is the point.

Muri Night Market: Island Food Under String Lights

Several evenings a week, from about five o'clock, the Muri Night Market fills a small patch of grass behind the beach with trestle tables, gas burners, string lights and the smell of garlic, coconut cream and grilling fish. It is a local food market first and a tourist attraction second, which is exactly why it is good. Stallholders sell ika mata (raw fish cured in lime and coconut cream), rukau (taro leaves simmered in coconut), curries, chow mein, grilled tuna, coconut pancakes, fresh juices and whatever the fishermen brought in that afternoon. Plates are generous and cheap, seating is on shared benches, and dinner is over by half past seven.

Go early, because the popular stalls sell out. Bring cash, small notes. Try one thing you cannot name. Then walk back along the beach in the dark with the lagoon glowing faintly beside you, which is the kind of evening our guide to Rarotonga by night was written for.

Drums and Fire: The Cultural Shows of the East Coast

The cultural performances near Muri are among the best on the island, and they are worth seeing even if you are the sort of traveller who avoids anything with the word "show" in it. The evening usually begins with an umukai, a feast cooked in an earth oven of hot stones and banana leaves, followed by a performance of drumming, dance and legend that is fast, loud, athletic and utterly sincere. Cook Islands drumming is famous across the Pacific for its speed and complexity, and the dancers who grow up with it move in a way you will not forget.

Book ahead, particularly for the over water shows, which fill up in the peak months. If you want to go deeper than one evening, our guide to cultural immersion in the Cook Islands covers the festivals, the church singing and the village events that visitors are welcome at through the year.

Eating Well in Muri Without Leaving the Village

For a small stretch of coast, Muri eats well. There are beachfront restaurants where you can have your feet in the sand at dinner, cafes doing proper coffee and fish sandwiches at lunch, a handful of casual bars for an evening drink, and roadside stalls selling bananas, pawpaw, limes and whatever is in season. The fish is the thing to order, whichever way it is cooked. Tuna, wahoo and mahimahi come off the boats at Avana Harbour a few minutes up the road.

If you are self catering, and most people in a villa are for at least part of the week, the roadside stalls and the Saturday morning market in Avarua are where the good produce is. For the restaurants themselves, and which nights they are open, our food lover's guide to the restaurants near the villas is kept current by the people who eat there every week.

Avana Harbour and the Ngatangiia Passage

Walk or cycle five minutes north of Muri and the beach gives way to Avana Harbour, a small working harbour at the mouth of the Ngatangiia passage, the one gap in the reef where the ocean comes right into the lagoon. This is where the fishing boats come and go, where outrigger canoe crews train in the late afternoon, and where, according to tradition, the great vaka set out on the voyages that settled New Zealand. There is a memorial on the point listing the names of the canoes. It is a quiet, moving place, and most visitors drive straight past it.

Sit on the harbour wall around five o'clock and you will see the paddlers go out, six to a canoe, in perfect time. Between July and October, look further out. Humpback whales pass close to Rarotonga on their winter migration, and the deep water off the passage is one of the places they are seen from the shore.

Cycling the Ara Metua: The Inland Road Behind the Beach

Rarotonga has two roads that circle the island. The coast road, the Ara Tapu, is the one the bus uses. The inland road, the Ara Metua, is older by centuries, laid by the island's first settlers, and it runs quietly behind Muri through taro plantations, lime groves, family gardens and the occasional grazing goat. A bicycle is the right speed for it. Hire one in the village, head inland, and follow the Ara Metua north or south for as long as you like, then cut back to the coast road wherever a track appears. You will pass through a Rarotonga that is very different from the beach one, and you will be back for lunch.

The island is only thirty two kilometres around, so a full circuit is a comfortable day for a reasonably fit rider, with plenty of cafes and swimming stops along the way. Our guide to cycling the island on two wheels has the route, the hills (there are almost none) and the places to stop.

Sunrise at Muri, Sunset Across the Island

Muri faces east, which means it gets the sunrise, and the sunrise here is worth setting an alarm for at least once. The sky behind the motu goes from indigo to rose to gold, the lagoon takes the colour, and the whole thing is over in twenty minutes. Take your coffee down to the sand. For the sunset you need the west coast, and the good news is that on an island this size the west coast is twenty minutes away. Arorangi and the beaches around it face straight into the setting sun, and there are bars and grassy verges along the coast road where people gather for it every evening. Our guide to the best sunset locations in the Cook Islands picks the spots by season.

A Day Away: Aitutaki From Muri

Once you have settled into Muri, there is a temptation never to leave it, but Aitutaki is forty five minutes away by air and its lagoon is, by general agreement, one of the most beautiful stretches of water on earth. A day trip is possible, leaving early and returning at dusk, and it is a long, wonderful day. An overnight or two is better, because it gives you the lagoon in the early morning before the day boats arrive. Either way, Muri is the sensible place to base yourself for the Rarotonga part of the trip, close to the airport road and with the lagoon to come home to. Our Island Hopping 101 guide weighs the day trip against the overnight in detail, and there is an Aitutaki holiday villa in the family if you decide to stay.

Muri With Children

Muri is the part of Rarotonga that families choose, and for good reasons that have nothing to do with kids' clubs. The lagoon is shallow and calm, the beach is sandy rather than coral, the motu are a real adventure within sight of the towel, and the night market solves dinner three nights a week. Children who can swim can snorkel here with a parent from about six or seven, and children who cannot swim yet can stand in the water up to their waist and watch the fish go past their knees. A villa with a kitchen, a washing machine and a garden that runs down to the water takes most of the friction out of a family week. Our guide to family friendly activities in the Cook Islands has the full list, from the lagoon to the waterfall.

Practical Tips for a Week at Muri

Getting thereMuri is about twenty minutes from the airport by road, anticlockwise around the island. We can arrange a transfer, and the island bus runs both directions around the coast road on a schedule that is more of a suggestion than a timetable. Hiring a car or a scooter for at least part of the week is worth it for the west coast sunsets and the inland road.

When to comeMay to October is the dry season: cooler, drier, clearer water, trade winds for kitesurfers, humpback whales offshore. November to April is warmer and wetter, with lush green hills, lower prices outside the Christmas fortnight, and afternoon showers that pass quickly. Check the current villa specials before you book, particularly for longer stays.

Money and shoppingNew Zealand dollars are the currency. There are small supermarkets in Muri for the basics and a large one in Avarua for a proper shop. Cash is useful at the market and the roadside stalls. Sundays are quiet: most shops close, the churches fill, and the singing is reason enough to go.

What to bringReef shoes, a rash shirt, reef safe sunscreen, insect repellent for the evenings, and a dry bag for the kayak. Snorkelling gear and beach towels are at the villa, so leave those at home.

So, Is Muri the Right Base for You?

The Real Muri: Living at the Pace of the Lagoon

Muri gives up its best self slowly. The first day it is a beautiful beach. By the third day you know which motu the sun rises behind, which stall at the night market runs out of ika mata first, and which paddleboard is the one that does not drift. By the end of the week you have a morning routine that involves coffee on the sand and nothing else, and you are already working out how to come back.

That is the Muri we built our villas for. Not a base for ticking things off, but a place to wake up in, again and again, with the lagoon at the end of the garden and the day entirely your own. Whether that is the Muri Lagoon Villa or the house on the beach itself, the lagoon will be there in the morning, turning from grey to green to that impossible pale blue, waiting for you to walk down to it.

Frequently Asked Questions