Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Outrigger, Fiji

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Fiji

I'm about to book 4 nights at the Outrigger but I thought I'd put this up to see if anyone has any good (and bad!) feedback on it. We are after four days of relaxation, eating, chilling out etc....is this a good place to do it? Plus, its beach frontage, is the beach nice? (white sand, blue water etc....)

This place is on the Coral Coast, has nice hiotel and pleasant beach. I prefer this place
http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/yanucaisland/fijianresort

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We stayed at the Outrigger last year for 1 week and found it very nice but not a lot to do except lay around the pool all day. The beach is ok and the food was of a good standard. I have also stayed at the Shangri-la many times and it has a lot more things to do, golf,bowls tennis and many water sports and the beach is much better. It all depends on what you are looking for in your holiday. If you want peace and quiet at a lesser price may I suggest the Bedarra inn just along the road from the Outrigger. You can check out there web-site for any special deals. If you do decide to go to the Outrigger get there meal plan on arrival to the resort,don't buy it as part of your package you will be charged more. The food in all these resorts tends to be very expensive and at the Shangri-la there is nowhere cheaper to eat unless you go into the local town. At least at the Outrigger there is a choice along the road up to the Bedarra inn.

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"food in all these resorts tends to be very expensive" - yes I agree

"at the Shangri-la there is nowhere cheaper to eat unless you go into the local town."
Whilst its true that the best value is a 10min cab ride to Sigatoka (nearest sizable town), there us a chinese restaurant right outside the entrance to ShangriLa (in the cultural centre). Its a hike from the hotel reception, so call them and theyll send a driver.

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To keep costs down at the resort, I recommend stocking up on snacks, cold drinks (to put in bar fridge), fruit etc, from the market and supermarket in Sigatoka.

Tell reception to empty bar fridge to make way for your stuff !

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I was just at the outrigger yesterday. We went for a look-see since it was our last day in fiji. We were staying at the hideaway resort 10 mins up the road and had originally wanted to stay at the outrigger. I'm glad we didn't. The pool was huge, but it was also filled with masses of people (what yo'd expect from a resort that size) and the water was also quite milky and warm. I didn't want to think why.
You couldn't see the beach from the pool and it was very noisy and busy.
We did like the resort feel of the place as you walk in reception - there were lots of little shops and things were reasonably priced. Unless you paid for the beacfront rooms, I suspect you'd be piled into one of the resort hotel rooms at the top of the resort (read quite a hike from the pool area and beach).
Anyway, I'm glad I went and had a look, but was more glad to arrive back at the more personable hideaway where the pool was clean, cool and fresh, and the ocean is there to see from whereever you are. Sometimes big is not necessarily better.

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