Rarotonga & the Cook Islands Work & study

Work

Business hours

The usual business week is 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday, and most shops also open on Saturday morning until noon. Small local grocery stores keep longer hours, often from around 6am or 7am until around 8pm or 9pm. The banks in Avarua are generally open till 3pm on weekdays, but only the Westpac Bank is open on Saturday morning.

Nearly everything is closed on Sunday - bars close at midnight on Saturday and even Air Rarotonga doesn't fly. The only exceptions are the small local grocery stores, some of which open for a couple of hours very early on Sunday morning and for a few hours again in the evening. A couple of shops are operated by Seventh-Day Adventists, who celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday rather than Sunday, so they're closed on Saturday and open on Sunday. It's very handy to find out which are the Seventh-Day Adventist stores! Many restaurants are closed on Sunday, except for hotel and resort restaurants, which are open seven days a week. On Rarotonga, several of the larger hotels serve up special Sunday meals - brunches in late morning, barbecues in late afternoon.

Opening hours in the Cook Islands are notoriously variable.