Recommendations for Muri Beach, Rarotonga

I'm off to Rarotonga next weekend for a week. I'm staying in Muri Beach. I'm looking for recommendations for restaurants, markets, locally made souvenirs, any nice walks/hikes, any other tips. I wont' have transport but may hire a scooter for a couple of days.

Thanks

Kia Orana hereandthere.

Have you taken a look at the TA reviews for dining and attractions in Muri yet? A couple of personal recommendations for dining include LBV for coffee, cake, light meals and their deli selection/baked goods; Barefoot bar and café at Pacific Resort for a sand between your toes dining experience and lagoon views; the Rickshaw for Asian influences.

Tokerau Jim in the nearby village of Matavera for black pearls and jewellery settings - take the local bus if no scooter; Te Rito for locally produced coconut oils and also Matuku boutique brewery - both are located nearby Muri towards Tikioki (walking distance).

The main market is held in town on Saturday mornings. Take the local bus. Occassionally there are night markets in Ngatangiia (where Muri village is located). More recently these are being held at Pa's new palace near Avana harbour (walking distance). Not sure if they are a weekly event however.

Hiking - go up Avana Stream (near Muri) or walk towards Tikioki (southern end of Muri) then turn inland just beyond the stream bed onto the back road. There are numerous side roads branching off the back road to get you onto the main ring road. Otherwise at low tide, walk along the beach as far as Titikaveka on the southern side. Maire Nui botanical gardens with its delightful garden café is located in Titikaveka (opposite Little Polynesian).

Enjoy our fabulous island.

Edited by: lagoon

Thanks lagoon! That's great information and I will do my very best to enjoy your fabulous island.

The local Cooks Passenger buses offer a great service for a population shy of 12,000 on Rarotonga. Single trips cost $4.00, and a 10 trip ticket $25.00 - buy from driver. You can get almost anywhere on Raro using the buses. Daytime services are more frequent (clockwise & anticlockwise), with night-time having a clockwise service only.

If planning to hire a scooter, take both your PASSPORT and your home driver licence to the Licencing office based inside the Police HQ in Avarua. Minimum cost to apply is $20.00 for a one year issue. Office opens at 8am until 3pm (5pm on Mondays) and from 8am til 1pm on Saturday.

For an island night choice, I love the dinner-show at Te Vara Nui located in Muri village. The setting is spectacular, and this group has several top national performers.
Kia manuia.

Thanks for the recommendations, lagoon. We had a great week. Marie Nui gardens were lovely and worth the $5 cost. My mum would have liked signs with the names of the various plants but I was quite content not knowing. LBV is a very very good bakery (and they are at the Saturday market as well), but I thought the coffee was better across the road at Deli-licious.

The Barefoot bar and cafe has GREAT food and a very nice setting. Some of the menu is very expensive but there are also some great meals for around $20. Happy hour was also very good for a pina colada.

There was a night market as well on the Thurday night, but this was the night we went to Te Vara Nui and so we missed it. Te Vara Nui was a good show and an ok buffet.

We also did a very nice quick walk up the hill behind the hospital for some great views.

I hired a place through homeforhire.com and this was just as good (and a lot cheaper) than the resorts in the area.

My advice to anyone going is to take plenty of mosquito repellant and consider taking ear plugs. The roosters are vocal and all hours of the night and day, and there is also quite a few dogs barking. If you're going to hire a scooter in Muri, go early as they tend to run out. I hired a car for a day instead which actually worked out better. The rental place was able to write me out a driver's licence at no charge. It wasn't the nice souvenir one you get at the Police station but I was quite happy not to have this.

Hi H&T,

Lovely to read your Trip Report! Great information posted and which I'm certain will be useful to future travellers. I forgot about hospital hill! When you spend time in a place you overlook the obvious, and forget how this could be an attraction for others rather than a functional health centre.

Hope you make a return trip - Aitutaki is stunning. As are the other outer islands if you can afford the airfare to visit.