The mid-range Tamanu Beach Resort on Aitutaki. Picture: David May Source: National Features

The luxurious Aitutaki Lagoon Resort and Spa. Picture: David May Source: National Features

LITTLE specks in a vast seascape, the Cook Islands are a collection of 15 atolls, cays and volcanic islands, and extravagantly beautiful.

They are a Gauguin palette of handsome Polynesians, craggy mountain peaks, dense jungles, turquoise lagoons fringed by reefs and some of the best white-sand beaches imaginable.

TripAdvisor has just released its travellers' choice survey of the top beach destinations for 2012. It ranks three Cook Islands beaches among the best 10 in the South Pacific, up against those of Tahiti and Australia. Judged by fellow travellers, five Australian beaches and one in Fiji made the list. The winner, if you can afford it, was Tahiti's Bora Bora.

But it was the three lesser-known gems of the Cook Islands that raised many eyebrows.

The beaches around the lagoon on Aitutaki scored second place. On the main island of Rarotonga, Titikaveka Beach ranked No.3 and Arorangi No.10. And there's a range of affordable accommodation at each.

Titikaveka stretches around the southeast corner of Rarotonga and is home to out-of-the-way boutique properties such as the elegant Little Polynesian Resort or self-contained villas at Royale Takitumu and Makayla Palms.

Coconut palms fringe the beach on the edge of the magnificent lagoon, where local fishermen wade waist-deep every day with spears and nets almost to the line of surf breaking on the outer reef.

Over on the west coast, it's much the same story at Arorangi, but there are also larger resorts such as the Edgewater, Sunset Resort and Crown Beach Resort, with arguably Rarotonga's finest dining at its Windjammer Restaurant.

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Cook Islands shimering gems