🇫🇯Fiji

This is what people picture when they say Fiji, and for once the picture is accurate. What the picture does not tell you is which island it is on, and that is the whole decision

Destination Guide

Fiji Family Travel Guide

“Families do not choose Fiji for the beaches. There are better beaches closer to home. They choose it because it is one of the very few places on earth where the whole culture is delighted to see your children.”

By Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor and Certified Travel Advisor.

Nicole’s Perspective

What families book Fiji for is almost never the beaches. It is that Fiji is one of a very small number of countries where children are treated as a joy rather than a complication, and where the resorts have built entire operations around that.

The word people learn on day one is bula. It is hello, it is welcome, it is how are you, and staff will say it to your kids about four hundred times a day and mean it every time. Fijian culture is child centered in a way that is difficult to explain until you are in it, and for parents who have spent years apologising for their children in restaurants, that lands hard.

The other reason to book Fiji is more practical, and it is the one I push hardest. Nadi sits on the flight path between the US and both Australia and New Zealand. Almost nobody should fly to Fiji and only Fiji. Almost everybody flying that far should stop in it.

Fiji Place by Place

Fiji is over three hundred islands and about a hundred of them are inhabited. These are the eight names you will actually see when you start booking.

Nadi

Denarau

Two Fijian men in traditional dress on the beach at Beachcomber Island in the Mamanuca group of Fiji

Mamanuca Islands

A resort pool among palm trees on Yasawa Island in Fiji

Yasawa Islands

Coral Coast

Taveuni

Suva

Savusavu

Why Families Actually Choose Fiji

The brochure says beaches. The real answer is childcare, and nobody says it out loud.

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Free kids clubs are standard, not a luxury add on.At a great many Fijian family resorts the kids club is included in the rate, runs most of the day, and is staffed by people who are good at it. In most of the world you pay per hour for that. Here it is part of the deal, and it is the single biggest reason a Fiji week costs less in real terms than it looks.

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Some resorts include a nanny.A handful of the family focused properties assign a nanny per family at no extra charge. For parents of small children this is the difference between a trip and simply parenting somewhere hotter.

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Kids eat free is common.Many properties include children’s meals in the rate. Check what age the cut off is, because it varies wildly and it is the number that decides if your twelve year old is a child or an adult.

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The culture is the product.Staff learn your children’s names on day one and use them all week. Fijians are not performing warmth at children, they simply like them. Families notice this within about an hour of landing and talk about it for years.

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Which means the adults only resorts are a trap.Fiji also has a large luxury adults only market, and some of the most beautiful properties in the country will not take children at all or only in certain months. Filter for that before you fall in love with a photo.

A resort swimming pool beside the sea in Fiji

This is the Coral Coast and Denarau version of Fiji. A pool, a kids club, a beach, and a road you can drive out on. It is the sensible first trip and there is no shame in it

The Main Island or the Outer Islands, and Why the Transfer Matters

This is the decision that makes or breaks a Fiji trip, and it is decided by how you get there, not by how the resort looks.

Viti Levu is the main island. It holds the international airport at Nadi, the capital at Suva, the resort strip on Denarau, and the Coral Coast running along the south. Everything on Viti Levu is reachable by road. Denarau is fifteen or twenty minutes from the airport. The Coral Coast is roughly an hour and a half to two and a half hours by car depending how far along you go. That is it. No boats, no small planes, no schedules.

The outer islands are the postcard. The Mamanucas sit just off Nadi and are reached by a catamaran that takes anywhere from twenty five minutes to about two hours depending on which island. The Yasawas stretch further north and the same boat keeps going, so the far end is a four or five hour run. Vanua Levu and Taveuni, out to the east, need a domestic flight.

Here is why the transfer decides everything. A boat transfer is a fixed schedule with limited daily sailings, and it does not care what time your international flight lands. Land at Nadi at ten at night, as many flights from the US do, and you are staying near the airport regardless. Then you take the boat the next morning. That is a whole day of a seven day trip gone, and another one going back, because you must return the day before you fly.

So my rule. If you have five nights or fewer, stay on Viti Levu. Denarau or the Coral Coast, no boats, straight into the trip. If you have seven nights or more, the outer islands are worth the transfer and the Mamanucas are the sweet spot because the boat is short. If you have ten nights or more, go further, to the Yasawas or across to Taveuni, and let the journey be part of it.

One more thing nobody mentions. Many outer island resorts are remote, which means no shops, no restaurants except the resort, and full board rates that are not optional. That is fine if you knew, and a shock if you did not.

Nadi Is a Transit Point, Not a Destination

I want to save somebody three wasted days.

Nadi is a working town built around an airport. It has a busy market, a large and beautiful Hindu temple, and a lot of shops selling the same souvenirs. The beach at Nadi itself is not the beach you came for. It is gray, tidal and not a swimming beach.

None of that is a criticism. Nadi does its job, which is to be the place your plane lands and the place your onward boat leaves from. Plan one night there on arrival if your flight is late, and one night at the end if your return flight is early. Do not plan three nights in Nadi and expect a beach trip, because you will not get one.

Denarau, which is technically its own small island joined to Viti Levu by a causeway, is fifteen minutes away and is a completely different proposition. It is a purpose built resort strip with a marina, a golf course, big family hotels and a boardwalk of restaurants. It is not the real Fiji and it does not pretend to be. It is also the single easiest place in the country to land with tired children and immediately be at a pool.

The Stopover Play, Which Is How Most Americans Should Use Fiji

If you take one thing from this page, take this.

Fiji sits almost exactly on the line between the US west coast and both Sydney and Auckland. Nadi is roughly ten to eleven hours from Los Angeles, then about four hours on to Sydney or three to Auckland. That geography is the whole opportunity.

Break the journey. Fly to Nadi, spend four or five nights, then carry on to Australia or New Zealand. Or better, do it on the way home, when your family is tired, sunburnt and full of a fortnight of driving and sightseeing, and what they need is a pool and nothing to do.

It costs far less than people assume, because a stopover is often free or nearly free on the fare, and because Fiji is cheaper than either of its neighbors once you are there. It also cuts the worst leg of that journey in half, which is worth real money in how your children behave for the following week.

The version I would book for a family doing three weeks. Two weeks in New Zealand, one island, done slowly. Then five nights on the Coral Coast or in the Mamanucas. Then home. Everybody arrives back sane.

Food

Fijian food is two cuisines sitting side by side. Indigenous Fijian, built on root vegetables, fish and coconut, and Indo Fijian, brought by indentured labourers from India in the late nineteenth century and now completely its own thing. Two dishes I could not photograph honestly. A lovo is the underground oven, meat and fish and root vegetables wrapped in banana leaves over hot stones, and most resorts run a lovo night once a week. And palusami is taro leaves baked in coconut cream, which is the one dish everybody comes home talking about.

Raw fish cured with lime and coconut cream served in a bowl

Kokoda.Say it ko kon da. Raw fish cured in lime juice then finished in coconut cream with chilli, onion and tomato. It looks like ceviche because it is, and it is the national dish.

Grilled walu.Walu is Spanish mackerel and it is the fish you will be served most often. Firm, mild, and cooked simply over coals. Easy for children who claim not to like fish.

A pile of freshly harvested taro roots, called dalo in Fiji

Dalo.Taro, and the staple of the Fijian table. Boiled or roasted and served alongside almost everything. Starchier and denser than a potato and much better than it sounds.

Cassava.The other root, sweeter than dalo and often fried into chips. Cassava chips with a beer at the end of the day is a very Fijian thing to do.

Roti and curry.The Indo Fijian half of the country and, honestly, some of the best eating in it. A roti parcel from a roadside shop costs almost nothing and will feed a hungry child completely.

An aerial view of an island and lagoon at Oarsmans Bay in the Yasawa group of Fiji

A lagoon out in the Yasawa group. Fiji is one of the easiest places in the world to teach a child to snorkel, because the water inside the reef is shallow, warm and calm

What It Costs

The cheapest of the three countries on this continent, and the one where the headline rate hides the most.

Resort rates cover a very wide range, from modest family hotels on the Coral Coast to some of the most expensive private island properties anywhere. The middle of that range is good value for a family, and the included kids club and included children’s meals move the real number further than people expect.

What catches families out is the extras. Boat transfers to the outer islands are charged per person each way and are not small. Remote resorts require a meal plan and the meal plan is the real cost of the week. Drinks and activities on a private island are resort priced with no alternative. Read the transfer and meal plan lines before you compare two properties on nightly rate, because a cheaper island resort with a two hour boat and compulsory full board is often the more expensive week.

Off the resort, Fiji is inexpensive. Roadside roti, market fruit, a bus along the Coral Coast, all of it costs very little. Tipping is not expected.

When to Go

Fiji has a dry season and a wet season, and the wet season is also cyclone season. This one is worth planning around.

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May to October

The dry season and the best window. Cooler, less humid, low rainfall, and outside the cyclone risk. July and August are the busiest because Australian and New Zealand school breaks land there, so May, June, September and October are the value months with the same weather.

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November to April

Hot, humid, wet, and officially cyclone season. Rain tends to come in heavy bursts rather than all day, and prices drop a long way. It is a real option if you are flexible, but buy proper travel insurance and understand that a cyclone can close an airport.

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School breaks matter here

Fiji’s peak is driven by Australia and New Zealand, not by the US calendar. Their winter break in late June and July and their Christmas break fill the family resorts. American families have more flexibility than they realize.

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It is warm all year

Daytime highs sit in the eighties almost every month and the sea stays swimmable. There is no cold season. The choice is only about rain and crowds.

Doing It With Children

Poppy marks the family parts. Wherever you see her, that section is written for travelling with children.

Easier than almost anywhere, with a short list of practical things to get right.

English is an official language and is spoken everywhere you will be, so there is no language barrier. Resort staff are exceptional with children. The lagoons inside the reef are shallow and calm, which makes Fiji one of the best places in the world for a first snorkel. Most resorts have shallow pools, and many have a dedicated children’s pool.

The practical list. Reef shoes, because coral and sea urchins are the most common minor injury. Rash guards rather than relying on sunscreen, because the sun near the equator is fierce and your children will be in the water for six hours a day. Drink bottled or filtered water outside the main resorts. And take a basic first aid kit, because on an outer island the nearest pharmacy is a boat ride away.

A cultural note worth teaching your kids before you go. In a Fijian village, hats and sunglasses are removed as a sign of respect, shoulders and knees are covered, and you wait to be welcomed. Village visits are commonly offered and they are a real experience rather than a staged one, but they are somebody’s home.

Who Fiji Suits, and Who Should Skip It

The honest version.

Go if what your family needs is a week of nothing, with the children happily occupied and the adults actually resting. Go if you have small children, because Fiji is the easiest of these three countries with a toddler by a long way. Go if you are already flying to Australia or New Zealand, in which case stopping here is close to a free upgrade on the whole trip. And go if you want your children to experience a culture that is warm to them without any of it being difficult.

Skip it if you need a trip full of things to see. Fiji is not a sightseeing country. There is no great city, no famous museum, no ruin to walk around. The days are the beach, the reef, the pool and the village visit, and if your family gets restless without an itinerary you will be bored by day four. Skip it if you want to move around, because inter island travel here is slow and expensive. And skip the outer islands specifically if your trip is short, no matter how good the photographs look.

Compared to the neighbors. Australia is the big varied trip and needs three weeks. New Zealand is the driving and scenery trip and works beautifully in two. Fiji is neither. Fiji is the week where nobody drives anywhere and the children are looked after. Most American families should not treat it as a destination on its own from this distance. They should treat it as the second half of an Australia or New Zealand trip, and it will probably end up being the part their kids talk about.

Things That Surprise First Timers

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Not every Fijian beach is a swimming beach.Much of the Coral Coast is shallow and heavily tidal, so at low tide the lagoon can be too shallow to swim in. Resorts work around it with pools, but ask about tides before you pick a property if swimming off the beach matters to you.

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Kava is offered and it is a real ceremony.The mildly sedating drink made from a root, served in a coconut shell. Clap once, drink it in one, clap three times. Accepting it politely is the single easiest way to be a good guest.

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Fiji time is real and it is not a joke about service.Things happen when they happen. If that will irritate you by day two, this is not the right country for your family.

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The boat timetable outranks your plans.Outer island transfers run a couple of times a day at fixed hours. Build your arrival and departure days around the boat, not the other way round.