Fiji is the easiest family island trip in the Pacific, and the reason is that the resorts on the Mamanuca islands were designed by people who understood that a parent on holiday needs an hour off. The kids’ clubs here are the best in the world, and the kids beg to go.
The Mamanucas are a chain of small islands an hour west of Nadi by catamaran, and each one has a resort. Malolo island has Malolo Island Resort, family run, with a kids’ club from four years old and a nanny service. Castaway is on its own island with a village feel. Plantation is the bigger one with the pool. Mana has the beach. Pick by budget, and every one of them puts the reef off the beach.
The kids’ club runs morning and afternoon, free, with Fijian staff who sing, weave, crab hunt, paint coconuts and take the children to feed the fish. The kids are called by name from day one. Parents get the snorkel trip, the massage, the book, the sleep.
The nanny and the rest
Book a nanny for one evening. A Fijian woman comes to the room at seven, the kids fall asleep to her singing, and the parents have a dinner on the beach. It costs very little and it is the memory of the trip for the adults.
The reef is off the beach, and the kids snorkel from the sand. A boat trip to Cloud Nine, the floating bar and pizza platform in the middle of the sea. A village visit with a kava ceremony, where the children sit on the mat and the chief welcomes them. A day trip to the sandbar.
Five nights on one island. A night at Denarau either side for the flight. Then, if there is time, the Coral Coast on the mainland for a resort you can drive to.
Planning Fiji with kids? Start with the full Fiji family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.
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