Fiji, Rarotonga or Vanatu

Hi,

I am travelling round Australia and New Zeland for 3 months and have a week to spend in either Fiji, Raratonga or Vanatu. We are just looking to relax, take part in cultural activities etc but on a low budget.

Can anyone recommend an island? We will be flying from New Zealand and are hoping to get a flight for under £200. Also my friend was put off Fiji as he is Indian and heard there has been some problems between the Indian and the Fijian population and doesn't want any hassle?

Any advice gratefully received!

Vanuatu is my personal favourite, and it certainly has the most interesting traditional cultures, but it's not really cheap. However some cheap places to stay and eat do exist in the capital Port Vila, and a few off-shore islands could easily be reached by boat..

Fiji is the cheapest, and easiest to get around.
It's probably the only one where you could even reach outer islands in one week without flying.
The issues between native and Indo-Fijians are unlikely to have an effrect on foreign holidaymakers staying in tourist areas. I've met Indian tourists holidaying in Fiji quite happily. Note that many tourist services are in fact owned/run by Indo-Fijians.

I haven't been to the Cooks myself, but it's common knowledge that without somewhat pricey internal flights you'd pretty much be stuck on the small main island of Rarotonga, which I can't imagine to offer too much on the cultural activities front other than tourist-oriented dance-shows.

Of the three, only the Cooks are served by a real budget airline, Virgin Pacific, from New Zealand.
Air NZ, Air Vanuatu and Air Pacific (of Fiji) all offer special fares though, so you have to do your own research comparing these.
Virgin does fly to Vanuatu and Fiji (but not the Cooks) from Australia!

For mere relaxing any of the three should be fine.

Having returned from holiday in Fiji a month ago, I can confirm what Laszlo says about Indo-Fijian relations and also about Indian tourists being ok too.He wont have any hassles.

How flexible are you re when you need to fly? Unless you are very flexible then I think you would be struggling to get a flight for that price. £200 works out about $500. If it's at the end of your trip have you considered flying through one of those destinations on your way home instead?

As far as I know the lead in fare for each of those destinations is more than $500 (or at least, lead in one way fares total being more than $500). You may get a flight discounted but you really need to look and to be flexible with your timings.

The one thing I would say, however, is there are generally a number of package deals available for a weeks holiday from New Zealand. Even if you dislike 'packages' you may find that there's very little difference between a flight to Rarotonga (for instance) and a package including flight and accommodation for 5 or 7 nights.

That's assuming you are leaving from Auckland as well. There are a couple of direct flights from Christchurch to Rarotonga, and there's still a weekly flight from Wellington to Nadi (I think). But otherwise they are via Auckland. So cost more.

How cultural do you want to be?

For rich culture- Vanuatu. But flights out there are expensive, as are inter-island flights.

For multi-island hopping and inexpensive accomodation/ food- Fiji (you will probably be looking at the Yasawas on a budget, with the yasawa flyer- big catamaran- to get you between islands). You should be perfectly safe there- small villages and a very different atmosphere to Viti Levu, your friend's ethnicity should not matter. There is a wide range of backpacker/ flashpacker accomodation, and a mix of quiet and party islands, wirth resorts so spread out that it doesn't feel over touristed. Many places offer some kind of village visit or cultural night, and I found the local people veery friendly.

For staying in one spot and chilling- Rarotonga. I'd highly recommend somewhere in the Muri Beach area- this is the largest and loveliest beach. Get a package deal or stay at Vara's beach houses. Culture? On Raro, you're looking at an island night. Good snorkelling in places, beautiful beaches, cheap car or scooter hire if you want to explore. Island hopping prices are ridiculously high.

The airfare will be your biggest concern. Hard to get a real cheap airfare for that budget.

But Fiji is the better of the two for cultural stuff, than the Cooks, as said above you'd need to fly to an outer island for more of a real cultural experience. On Fiji you can head into the hills/mountains, or even a ferry to an island NE of Suva, fairly cheaply. But I don't think you'll get much cultural stuff in a short trip to the main areas in Fiji or the Cooks.

OK thanks for the advice. Think we will look into packages while in NZ unfortunately its not at the end of the trip but hopefully will be able to get some kind of last minute deal. I think Fiji may be our best bet because of the budget accomadation available.