island holiday for a 3 1/2 year old

hello everyone

I am looking for some advice as to the best place to take our very active 3 1/2yo son on a pacific island holiday. We are based in Australia and are looking to go for about 2 weeks but don't know exactly when yet (climate the main consideration). My husband and I are not into the 5 star resort scene but realise staying somewhere with some kids facilites would be very handy. We would prefer to stay in just one or two places for the whole time and take day trips rather that drag our son and luggage all over the place. We would like to see some rainforests and coral reefs but in a way that our son can cope with (eg - short walks/drives and perhaps glass bottom boat trips etc). We are also interested in other cultures/foods/history.

A rough guide to costs would be highly appreciated.

Sorry I can't be more specific as this is hoiday is just an idea at the moment. Thanks in advance.

Maribel

I think Samoa would be too basic for your needs. There are pretty well 2 kinds of resorts here... High end and rather basic beach fale.

Some of the resorts like Virgin Cove, Sieneli, and Coconuts do not take (or will not be taking) children under 12 or so.

The Cooks islands or Fiji sound like they have much more good accommodation for families with young children.

Thanks for the info. I'd love to hear from anyone who has taken children to the Cook Islands. Would 2 weeks be too long to stay there?

The Cooks would be a good choice. The lagoon on Rarotonga is fairly shallow, easy to play with a kid (bring or rent reef shoes for all).

check out www.ck .

The Rarotongan Resort and a few others like Lagoon Lodges have kids' areas, etc.

You can all do a side trip to Aitutaki for a few days as well, if you can afford it. That website has fares, etc.