where to go/ what to do?

Hello,

I will be arriving in Fiji in about 10 days and I'm not sure where to go - a few people have told me to skip Nadi so I was thinking of doing this but other than that I have no idea.

I can't dive but like to snorkel - if there is anywhere with whales that would be great as I don't think I'll be able to afford to go to Samoa or Tonga. I'm on a RTW trip so money is tight so the cheaper the better but time is not a problem. I like a beer in the evening and to socialise but I don't want to be surrounded by drunk 18 year olds partying all night.

Thank for your help with a stupidly vague question.

Cheers,

Adam

Hi Adam, depends what you want to do while you're in Fiji... Nadi is crap to be honest, the beaches are fake man made beaches built on swap land so the water is murky & sand is black. The "shopping" strip (Nadi town) is one street which you can walk up in about 10mins, so not big or great... Only a few "touristy" things to do: garden of the sleeping giants, sabeto mud baths, orphanage visit, village visit and that's about it... It's good for a base though if you're heading out to the outer islands... The outer islands have awesome postcard type beaches, but not much to do on the islands other than water sports, drinking, tanning & sleeping so can get boring after a few days... I would suggest heading to Coral Coast... It's about 1.5hrs from Nadi... Beaches are blue water/white sand (although not as good as the outer islands, but still very nice)... Heaps of activities to do in Coral Coast & Pacific Harbour... It's in the middle of Nadi & Suva so bus trip will take you to either city for day trips (express coach bus is about FJ$15 each way, local buses are cheaper).... For cheap but good value for money accommodation, check out Beachouse (www.fijibeachouse.com) their website has some specials advertised at the moment... Accommodation is basic, but good for the price... I've stayed before & the crowd was mixed, 18-40 yr olds, no kids were there while I was there... I believe Diveaway use to do whale tours picking up from Beachouse, not sure if they still do, might be worth emailing them (www.diveawayfiji.com)... Or maybe email Beachouse, they will be able to let you know who does whale watching tours in the area... Good luck & enjoy your holiday!! :)

If money is really tight, then sticking to the mainland and heading to the Coral Coast is ok (although 10 days there is too much). However, if you aren't super restricted with your budget, you're much better off heading away from the mainland to the smaller islands, such as the Yasawas. Much better beaches, snorkelling, and scenery.

Beachcomber Island and Manta Ray Island are the two places to avoid if you don't want to encounter drunk 18 year olds. I believe Beachcomber is currently closed. Elsewhere you'll encounter a more mature social atmosphere.

Have a look at the website for Octopus Resort in the Yasawas, sounds like that would suit you. Good dorms and a nice mix of people. They have good snorkelling and also offer boat trips to the mantaray passage for snorkelling with mantas if they are around. Have not heard of whale watching trips in Fiji (go every year, over 20 years), but I do know that last year around this time there were whales photographed off the beach at Octopus - that's the only time I've heard of them there though.

I'm just in Fiji now and stayed at Leleuvia and they are doing whale watching now, you could send them an email to check. you could see a lot of the main island in your 10 days by taking the Sunset bus or Sunbeam around the island, stopping off at various places in the north and east of the island, to get to Leleuvia you need to go either from Suva or from Ovalau, I would also recommend the Beachhouse.

thank you for your suggestions - one more question, to get to the other islands do local boats connect them or do you have to fly and is it quite cheap to do so?

Bula Adam--
Depending on how much you want to allocate for Fiji.... boats and domestic air travel are relatively pricey.
For example, the Yasawa Flyer which is a high-speed catamaran that pretty much has a monopoly on transport
to the Yasawa Islands now charges US$294 for a 7-day boat pass with all travel to be completed in a week (AwesomeFiji.com) Fiji Airways (Fijiairways.com) charges more than US$200 for return flights between Nadi
and Savusavu, Nadi and Kadavu, or Nadi and Taveuni. On a real tight budget, my advice is to stay on Viti Levu,
bus down to the Coral Coast's Beach House, or to the Volivoli Resort (Volivoli.com) on a bus from Lautoka to the north coast. Either
trip is about a 2 hour ride and will set you back only a few dollars.

cool guys,

So my very vague plan due to constraints of budget is to first visit the coral coast then head along the south coast to to suva, visit colo-i-suva forest park and then head north before returning to Nadi, where my plan get a bit more vague; I'm going to try to visit Levuka and nanaru-i-ra as they are really close to the mainland and from what I can see (although I haven't seen an actual price) but they don't seem to be included in the ridiculously high prices for the yasawa flyer?? Any recommendations and/ornice stopovers on the way for doing this kind of route would be much obliged...

As whale watching is infrequent in Fiji I think I'm going to wait till I get there, enquire ad hope I get lucky..

You can get to Nanaru-I-Ra from Rakiraki (which is up north)... Boat transfer leaves from Ellington Wharf which is about FJ$20 taxi ride... Boat transfer costs about FJ$60 return... Boat transfer is generally booked with accommodation of where you're staying on the island as each resort has their own boat transfer... You can get to Levuka from Suva with Patterson Brothers (Patterson Bros use to also do a transfer from Rakiraki to Levuka but I'm not sure if they have stopped this services, may be worth emailing them)... Transfer from Suva (which includes bus & boat) is also about FJ$60 return... Again, I would check with resorts/accommodation in Levuka first as they may have their own boat transfer... I would probably also check with resorts where you are staying in Rakiraki as they may have day trips to these islands & may be happy to transfer you directly.... I would suggest staying at Volivoli Resort in Rakiraki (good, clean, cheap accommodation) or Wananavu (bit more expensive)... When you go to Colo-I-Suva forest park, take a photo of the map!! I got seriously lost in the forest!! For some stupid reason I decided to go at about 2pm, a 40 minute trek turned into 3.5 hours!! 1 wrong turn & I was seriously lost :/ luckily I made it out before sunset.. I ended up coming out from some unmarked exit on the opposite end of the forest... by the time I made it back to my car at the entrance, the guard at the entrance had already sent out a search party for me :) alls well that ends well :) Also, Albert Park in Suva CBD has local rugby matches pretty much every Saturday afternoon & training midweek