Islands - Let's compare!

Hola-

I'm beginning to plan my destination wedding/honeymoon, with hopes to spend a month in one of these locations: Tahiti, Fiji, Maldives, Cook/Solomon Islands. Never having been anywhere near any of these places.....they all look FANTASTIC online and somewhat similar.....what are the basic differences? Price, weather, surf, enough exploring to keep busy for a month, any other criteria that comes to mind? Thanks, this will give me a little direction to start the planning.

~E

Maldives offer NOTHING besides beautiful beaches and very expensive rersorts.
You are only allowed to stay on special tourist islands and can not even go to ones where locals live, bar a few - forget culture and exploring.

Tahiti has the greatest scenery and diverse islands, but also very high prices.
Good infractructure, easy to get around (even by boat), but French-speaking (away from resorts).

Cooks have been described here as the "poor man's Tahiti" - not quite as beautiful, but cheaper - and English-speaking. To explore away from Rarotonga, you will have to take pricey flights though.

Fiji is very diverse and the cheapest country on the list, though less dramatic scenically than Tahiti. Easy and cheap to get around both by air and sea. Good for exploring.

The Solomons offer the greatest diving and are furthest off the beaten track.
Upper-end resorts are few and getting around can be somewhat difficult.
It would offer the most exotic/traditional local cultures/lifestyles.

Thanks Laszlo, this was very helpful!

You can go to the Cooks (Aitutaki) or Fiji (Yasawas) for two weeks on a budget of US$5,000 to 7,000 roundtrip from LAX or SFO.

My wife and I usually spend less that US$10,000 (all expenses) for 4-5 weeks taking in 3-5 islands in the Cooks.

I have never spoken with anyone in person that has been to Aitutaki and was not planning on returning there some day.

It's one of those places that when the time comes to go home, you won't want to leave.

Edited by: H2ooh

There are great surfing places just being discovered in Solomon Islands, but mostly quite off the beaten track.
However, local transport is gradually improving, so they are becoming a bit easier to get to.

These countries are actually quite different - culturally, cost-wise, activity-wise, access-wise and lots of other "wises" that don't come to mind immediately ;) You don't say where you are travelling from, but guessing from your profile that you are coming from the States, there would also be a major difference in travel time between say Fiji, Tahiti or Cooks ) who have direct flights from USA, to Solomons or Maldives, which you will have to access through other countries (Australia / Singapore?). I'd agree with Laszlo - except for the comment about Cooks being not as beautiful as Tahiti. Hmmm, dunno about that. Aitutaki, on a beautiful day, is absolute heaven.

You'll find surf, if you're lucky, whichever of these places you choose.