Cook Islands Travel Forum

Does anyone have any ideas on budget car rentals in rarotonga? Will we need a car to get around? Appreciate your help.

There is no problem to rent a car on Rarotonga. There are rental offices at the airport, in town (Avarua) and at Muri. You can even book them online.
We stayed one week on Rarotonga and did not rent a car: we always used the public bus service. There is a bus leaving every hour from the center of town, clockwise around the island and one anticlockwise. On Sundays clockwise only.
There are no fixed stops: you just wave down the bus whereever you are and it will stop to pick you up. Same to get off: just tell the driver where to stop.
If you like to visit the inner road (which is not served by the public bus), you might consider renting a "funcar" for a day to tour the island: http://www.funrentals.co.ck/

I also did not rent a car, used the local bus service, rented a pushbike and a scooter. And hitchhiking is very commmon and safe also.

Rarotonga is not big, it takes the bus 1 hr to circle around the island.....by car you can be even quicker if you dont stop.

Thanks for your replies and sorry for the delay. We are back now and we did end up renting a car for a few days. Not too expensive as it is low rate season / We're back in the snow now anyway!!

Thanks for getting back to us.
Hope you enjoyed your stay.