Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# honeymoon - best snorkling, hiking, semi active retreat Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Fiji
ipt 08:52 UTC 09 Dec 2011 | My wife to be an I will be going to Fiji in mid April. I am looking for recommendations for a island (and or resorts). Mostly snorkling, kayaking, and hopefully some hikes (waterfalls etc). She is certified to dive, I am not. We would like to be away from the main hub-bub but still have some nice accomdations. Hopefully beachfront. I know a lot of islands are very small. We are active people and can't sit on the beach all day every day and do nothing but chill everyday. Would love to snorkel at will (I keep Salt Water Reef Tanks so am excited to see the corals live). We are financially secure so all though we don't want to break the bank we have some wiggle room for the right place. We are thinking to stay 4-5 days in one place and 3-4 at another. Any and all suggestions welcomed and very much appreciated! |
newfie43 21:09 UTC 10 Dec 2011 | I can recommend Mana Island - there is great snorkeling with healthy reefs. The island is larger than some of the islands with a number of beaches to explore - it would take awhile to hike around. We also liked the Octopus Resort on Waya Island - much larger with good hiking. Again, some great snorkeling right off the beach and the opportunity for diving. Neither of these places are noted for waterfalls - Taveuni would be good for that(as well as diving) but not having visited there I have no other information to pass along. | 1
kenko 19:03 UTC 11 Dec 2011 | I'd echo Waya Island as a good place for you- it's large enough to stay for 5 days and not get rock fever- has beautiful reefs for both skin and scuba diving, and 4 Fijian villages to visit. The island's center has the Yalobi Hills. Hike up here and you can see the entire Yasawa island chain. The south tip of the island exposes a land bridge at low tide- a sand bar which makes it possible to actually walk to the next island over- Wayasewa. Octopus Resort is on Waya Island. Wayasea Island has the Wayalailai Eco Haven Resort which is a cultural immersion because the Fijians of Wayasewa both own and manage the resort. Since you mentioned kayaking, I'd have to recommend Nacula Island. I kayak and after seeing the aerial views of Nacula on GoogleEarth, it looks like an incredible tour. It has the "Blue Lagoon Beach Resort" run by the same management as the Octopus, and is getting similar rave reviews (see TripAdvisor) Less costly and right next door is the Oarsman's Bay Lodge. Nearby islands are Tavewa and Nanuya Lai Lai. Nanuya Lai Lai is where the original Blue Lagoon is. It's where the 1980's movie "The Blue Lagoon" with Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkkins was filmed. A nice resort right on this beach is the Nanuya Island Resort (www.nanuyafiji.com). From Nadi, the Yasawa Flyer catamaran takes about 2 hours to get to Waya Island. It's about 2 additional hours- but past spectacular scenery- to get to Nacula Island. While many of the resorts have dormitory accommodations, the $160 and upward expense of boat transfers usually puts off many budget travellers. | 2
Taimarilyn 20:36 UTC 11 Dec 2011 | I'd recommend Blue Lagoon Beach Resort on Nacula Island, Yasawas. Your only problem might be getting beachfront accommodation at such short notice as they have become very popular - if it's within your budget their new Palm Villas are amazing. Good food, great snorkelling - with several boat trips to optional reefs, good walking - either with a guide or on your own. We recently had 11 days there and it wasn't long enough to fit in all we would have liked to do. You get there on the Yasawa Flyer boat, 4 and half hour trip but goes past lots of other islands along the way. Other option for transport is the floatplane - definitely have the resort arrange that if you like the idea, dealing with Turtle Airways by email is difficult to say the least! | 3
ipt 04:10 UTC 14 Dec 2011 | awesome - thank you all for the input. Yes, I realize I really need to get on this as it is coming up pretty fast! | 4
ipt 08:47 UTC 14 Dec 2011 | Seems like we will have to arrive in Nadi. Is there much to do there or is it just an overbuilt toursit mecca? Our flight time (22+ hours each way) to get to Nadi, time to get from the main island to a remote one (several hours - effectively a day), and wanting to be home a day early, we effectively have 9 days "in Fiji". Since we would like to see two places maybe it would be best to spend some time right where we arrive rather than trying to get somewhere else. Or maybe there is another great Island right near Nadi to spend a few days before going off to a more remote one? Any thoughts or comments about this? Just to clarify the reason I say Nadi is because there are some Honeymoon packages that include airfare there. I suppose we could privately arrange it and go via Taveuni. Thoughts on that? Edited by: IPT | 5
kenko 17:52 UTC 14 Dec 2011 | There's very little of interest in Nadi other than Jack's Handicrafts (buy all your souvenirs here just before flying out) and a Hindu temple at the edge of town. It's very small and probably would not exist were it not for the international airport- a couple hours and get out of town! Lautoka is more of a real town. Yes- Taveuni is a great destination for scuba and skin diving, hiking the National Park to Bouma waterfalls through rainforest by the beach(all-day outing including transport)..Scuba diving between in the strait between Taveuni and Vanua Levu includes the world-class Rainbow Reef and the Great White Wall. Savusavu makes another outstanding place to base yourself with stunning rainforest/jungle and gorgeous beaches. Jean-Michel Cousteau chose Savusavu as the place to put his resort. The town is just big enough to offer diversions, and small enough to still get away from it all. | 6
mollywoo 23:20 UTC 19 Dec 2011 | I was in Fiji for my honeymoon in January 2011. We spent our time at Matangi Private Island Resort. (http://matangiisland.com/) It was a short flight from Nadi to Taveuni, and then a boat ride to the island. I can't recommend it highly enough. The island is featured in the book "1000 Places to See before You Die." They have a beautiful bay where they invite honeymooners to spend the day...plenty of snorkeling, kayaks, trails to hike, fishing excursions (they do SCUBA dives and certification, but when we were there it was the off-season, and my husband and I were the only guests for 3 days!!) The bures are great, and they even have some treehouses. (they air condition the bed - they draw curtains, and while you're at dinner they turn on the a/c and draw the curtains! It's amazing.) The time that we were there, there was a cyclone in some nearby island groups so our flight from Taveuni to Nadi was cancelled. We had to spend a night at a small B&B, and then we were able to grab the last two seats on the earlier flight the next day - we met with a travel company that the owner of Matangi recommended, and we spent a night on Denarau Island. (http://www.denarau.com/) It's close to the Nadi airport, and there are about 10-12 different hotels. You can spend the night at one, but go to the restaurants/bars/shops at any of them - there are shuttles that go between them all. That was the only place around Nadi that I saw, other than the airport. | 7
kenko 18:57 UTC 20 Dec 2011 | Fiji offers fantastic resorts. Some are upwards of $1,000 per night (Mantangi is $600 and up) For purposes of the LP forum, readers usually are looking for good value- how to get the most for your dollar. Fiji has plenty of honeymoon destinations that offer this between $100 and $200 per night. For those who are so fortunate that money is no object, they generally just use a travel agent or planner and probably aren't readers of this forum. If one really wants to break the bank- there's always Turtle Island! | 8