Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Travelling to Denarau Island with young children Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Fiji
pstreet 12:50 UTC 09 Jun 2011 | Hi, I am planning to travel to Denarau Island to stay at Radisson Resort for 5 days in August. Will be travelling with my 2 children aged 2 and 4 and was looking for ideas of what to do with them to give them an idea of Fiji culture and experience without spending a fortune or stressing them too much (ie lots of travel. The flight from Oz will be enough!) Don't want them to think overseas travel is just lounging around a resort pool, plus I want to have a look around too. Never been to Fiji before. Are there markets, or walks etc? Thanks Peta |
kruegs 00:39 UTC 10 Jun 2011 | Hi Peta,. We travelled with our 18month old to Denarau (stayed at the Hilton Hotel) last year, and it was good. Fijians love kids, and you shoudl find all the hotels have supervised and coordinated activity schedules designed for kids. The Fijian coordinators are great, and your kids will meet and play with other children of other nationalities as well. One good idea is to go into the markets at Nadi. Only a short trip from Denarau, and quite safe. Browse all the interesting foods and fresh fruit, seafood and Kava stands. Your kids will enjoy tasting or trying some of the new fruits and talking to the stall keepers as well (and so will you!). Another option is to go over to one of the nearby islands on day trips, or travel down the South coast for a look at more provincial areas. You'll find plenty to do and will no doubt enjoy yourselves. Cheers Kruegs | 1
jaded1720 17:16 UTC 11 Jun 2011 | Don't stress yourself! Your 2 and 4 y.o. will recall or appreciate bugger all of the trip-they'll be happy to play. Assemble a scrapbook that the 4yo can contribute to. Plenty of photos, as well, will give you all an idea of Fiji culture and experience to look back upon. | 2
peter_n_margaret 09:15 UTC 13 Jun 2011 | Just a couple of points..... Denarau Island is not really an island and nor is it really Fiji. Denarau is a man made tourist precinct, a walled city, that is well protected from Fiji which is a third world country fighting poverty. Your dollars will help a little, but you won't experience Fiji there. You can't even catch a local bus or a local taxi there. They are not allowed inside the "wall" except to drop off passengers in the case of the taxis. Take a yellow West Bus to Nadi town and then get on local bus to Lautoka for the day (Thursday, Friday or Saturday is best). Have a wander around the town and the market and see a bit of country side along the way. Cheers, Peter | 3