7 days in Fiji! Which islands and where to stay?

Hi all,

My sis and I are planing a 7 day trip to Fiji. We are fairly young so want to avoid places that are packed with families. Any suggestions on which islands to visit and where to stay that is fairly budget (twin room and ensuite)????

We are thinking of staying at Mango Resort on mainisland before heading to a beautiful island. Any thoughts on Mango Resort?

Is it reasonable in 7 days to do 2 island hops to another island or is better to stay put and do some day trips if we feel like it??

Also are the mamanuca islands more picturesque than the Yasawa Islands. We are happy to take suggestions for other islands that might suit us better.

Yvette

Since you have only a week:

1. I don't see the value in staying on the mainland AND going to an island or two -- unless it is overnight after or before a flight

2. Some of the Yasawas are quite hilly, which makes them more 'picturesque' from my own point of view -- more variation in the landscape. Some of the Mamanucas are small flat patches of tree-covered sand -- I'm only judging by the islands which the Yasawa Flyer stopped at when I was heading up the chain of islands.

3. What is reasonable to do is unfortunately a matter of personal choice. I can't help you there. Personally, I picked a medium-sized island and stayed a week. Since one of my aims was to swing in a hammock for much of the day, wasting time getting to another island to do the same did not seem logical. 'Day-trips' - if you stayed in one place - would involve one of two options. If the island is big enough, you could go hiking. Other than that, it would be taking a boat out to one reef or another to do some snorkelling etc.

However -- using the Flyer to get from one island to another is easy enough. So if you did want to have a look at two islands/two resorts, it wouldn't be overly impractical to do so.

Thanks for the advice.
Also when you say the flyer. Does it go fairly often because I cant seem to coincide travel from Yasawa (Mantaray) to Funky Fish on the Malola island. It travels only once back and forth. I am not sure how I can get to another island without having to stay on the mainland.

Any suggestions????

The situation might have changed since I was there, so I don't know the exact current schedule/itinarary of the Flyer. But, the basic logic of it was that the Yasawa Flyer headed out in the morning to the upper end of the Yasawas, then came back by the end of the day. It only stopped at the smaller Mamanuca islands on the way north (Bounty, Beachcomer). So, once a day round trip. As long as you hop from one island to another on its route, no problem. You pick up the Flyer coming or going.

But if you want to go to an island NOT on its route, then you either have to get back to the mainland and transfer there, or spend probably a lot of money chartering a boat.

I chose the convenience and didn't complicate my situation trying to make connections that needed good timing, coordination, or transfers. If you really do want to combine islands without direct connections, some inconvenience and time spend travelling is the price you have to pay.

Maybe someone else will post with a better solution for you.