Imagine having an intimate honeymoon with your loved one on a breathtaking tropical island, surrounded by palms and colorful flowers stirring in the warm breeze. With soft sand beneath you and perfect blue as far as the eye can see, there’s little evidence of others save for singing birds…if there was a beach near the Garden of Eden, it probably looked like this.

One of the best ways to honeymoon in the Cook Islands is with convenient weekly flights from California on Air New Zealand, leaving every Sunday. Once you’re here you’ll find a cluster of little paradises in the Pacific with a total population of just around 20,000. The people are incredibly friendly, and yet each island has its own unique and special qualities.

But it’s not just the dream-like beaches and lagoons that couples can explore. The islands have caves, villages, cloud forests, rocky peaks, surreal reefs and artisan markets. The island of Rarotonga is home to the international airport and the capital city of Avarua, where there are the most restaurants and nightlife in the Cook Islands. The local restaurants and cafes serve fresh local seafood and simple native cuisine with the kind of warmth that radiates naturally when you’re living on islands like these.

Couples can start the morning sipping coffee in an open-air tropical cafe, then spend the day fishing, shopping, hiking to see the awe-inspiring scenery or just relaxing and romancing on a remote beach. By night you can dine by the water and shake your hips to the beat of Polynesian drummers. When you honeymoon in the Cook Islands, time stands still…later, you’ll need photos to be sure it was more than just a perfect dream.