Fiji Holiday Planner
Fiji Islands
Beautiful South Pacific Holidays

Planning your Holiday in the Fiji Islands

Compellingly beautiful and gracious in character, Fiji holidays offer the best of the South Pacific islands. Most evocative in appearance are its tiny uninhabited coral cayes squatting under a sky too blue to be true, surrounded by gently swaying coconut palms and with pellucid snorkelling lagoons off its white sandy beaches. But equally seductive is exploring the large volcanic islands with its lush tropical rainforests, remote traditional villages and vivid coral reefs strewn off its coastlines.

Five Ideas for a Fijian Holiday

Join the famous Beqa Shark Dive or snorkel with manta rays in breathtaking coral reefs

Explore waterfalls of Bouma National Park in the Garden Island of Taveuni

Kick back at one of the Mamanuca Island resorts and enjoy a spa or beach massage

Hike the rugged mountains and coastal trails of Waya Island for stunning island views

Take a self-drive tour of Viti Levu for sand dunes, rainforest and remote villages

What to Do on Holiday in the Fiji Islands ?

Popular for families, adventurers, romantic breaks, honeymoons and weddings, Fiji is the most varied in the South Pacific with an enviable choice of accommodation in both ambience and budget. Whilst some regions are quite commercialised with large beach resorts and lots of water activities going on, others are completely undeveloped with just a handful of thatch huts and beaches with no footprints other than your own.

Fiji is most visited by Australian and New Zealanders, especially on a family holiday during school holidays. The country has plenty of great family orientated beach resorts near Nadi International Airport (Denarau, Coral Coast and Mamanuca Islands are the most popular) with cultural events, kids clubs and sightseeing tours. For visitors from Europe, the country has a more exotic appeal and with its stunning private islands and gorgeous beaches it is no surprise that Fiji is often voted the most romantic holiday destination in the world for a honeymoon or for a wedding either on the beach or in a small ocean-front chapel.

For all-round beach holidays and watersports, the Mamanuca Islands and Yasawa Islands are the most obvious choice and are easy to get to, but there are stunning boutique beach resorts tucked into secluded bays all over Fiji, several of which are renowned as favourites amongst celebrities and the mega-rich. These more remote locations offer a secluded and truly romantic ambience with more genuine Fijian hospitality and access to traditional villages and virgin rainforests with excellent walking and birding opportunities.

Find out more about where to stay in our comprehensive Fiji Holiday Accommodation Guide

Top Reasons to Holiday in Fiji

Honeymoon / Romantic Escape

Snorkelling & Scuba Diving

Family Holiday on the Beach

Idyllic Beach Wedding

Backpacking & Exploring

Things to Do in Fiji Islands

Explore the Rainforest  — Taveuni, Kadavu

Fijian Village & Culture  —  Viti Levu, Kadavu

Islands & Beaches  —  Mamanuca, Yasawas

Dive or Snorkel  —  Beqa, Kadavu, Taveuni

Sightseeing & Night-life  —  Denarau, Nadi, Coral Coast

Most Popular Regions to Visit

Nadi & Denarau

Mamanuca Islands

Coral Coast

Yasawa Islands

Outer Fiji Islands

Visit our interactive Map of Fiji Islands to view pictures of the islands along with hotel locations and reviews - it's a fun way to plan your holiday ...

Land & Water Activities

Apart from its beautiful small islands and relaxing on the beach, Fiji is great for adventure holidays with scuba diving, surfing, hiking and exploring the local village culture.

Fiji is one of the best places in the South Pacific to enjoy land based activities. For casual holiday-makers, there are several excellent golf courses on Viti Levu and both Nadi and Suva have decent shopping. There are National Parks to explore on Viti Levu and Taveuni and plenty of organised tours based out of Nadi and the Coral Coast. The most popular land based day tours are to visit one of the many friendly Fijian villages, often to experience Yaqona ceremonies, traditional dance performances or to purchase locally made craft, and this can be done at virtually any resort in the country for a village is never far away and always open to visiting guests. Trekking in the rainforest to spot endemic birds, to relax in a cool waterfall or simply marvel the view from a lookout point is another activity with day tour companies, especially around Viti Levu which is perhaps the best and most accessible island for land based activities.

Find out more about Land Activities in Fiji

With world class scuba diving and surfing as well as exceptional snorkelling form most beach resorts, Fiji is a fantastic place to visit for watersports. The islands are also great to explore on a yacht with plenty of private yachts arriving in the sailing months of May to October with marinas at Vuda and Denarau in Nadi, at Suva and also at Musket Cove in the Mamanuca Islands. Although bareback sailing charters are hard to find, you should consider taking one of the overnight cruises that island hop up the Yasawa chain of islands stopping at snorkelling reefs along the way and anchoring at night in secluded bays.

Find out more about Water Sports in Fiji

Where to Go on Holiday in the Fiji Islands

Viti Levu is the main island in Fiji and all tourists arrive by plane at Nadi Airport before heading off to other regions for their holidays. Nadi is an excellent base for activities with a couple of excellent golf courses, good shopping and plenty of sightseeing tours from exploring villages to island day cruises. Also on the main island is the Coral Coast which has the majority of Fiji's large family hotels and is great for a mix of beaches and sightseeing. The most popular beach holiday destination is the Mamanuca Islands whilst more discerning travellers and backpackers head further north to the beaches of the Yasawa Islands, also home to several stunning luxury resorts. The Outer Islands are more geared towards adventure tourism with world class scuba diving and surfing, pristine tropical rain forests and traditional villages and are a favourite for honeymoon couples looking for an non-commercial and very secluded beach ambience. Access to these islands is by small plane from Nadi Airport with flight times between 30-minutes and and hour.

Fiji Tourist Information

With its year round warm climate and extremely hospitable Fijian hosts, holidays in Fiji are the most popular in the South Pacific amongst families as well as being one of the world's top romantic getaways. Still, tourist arrival numbers barely reach 800,000 annually so you're not going to run into crowds like you will in other popular tropical destinations like Hawaii, Bali or The Caribbean.

Variations in seasons are minimal with higher rainfall in the summer months between November and April. Temperatures range from 24°C / 31°C in January and 20°C / 27°C in July which is slightly cooler than temperatures in Vanuatu or Samoa and slightly hotter than the Cook Islands or Tonga. The high season for tourism in Fiji is between May and October when New Zealand and Australia are in the grip of a much colder winter. During this peak season rooms at the more popular resorts and regions can often be booked out well in advance, especially during the main school holiday periods of June and July.

Fiji is a relatively cheap destination to visit although not as cheap as South-east Asia. It is much closer to Australia and New Zealand though being an easy 4-hour hop.

Getting to Fiji is very straightforward being the hub of South Pacific trade and the major stopover for flights between New Zealand and USA as well as between its South Pacific neighbours. The international airport is located at Nadi on the sunny west coast of the main island (Viti Levu) and this is conveniently located adjacent to Fiji's most popular tourist destinations of the Mamanuca Islands and the developing Yasawa Islands.

Large international cruise liners visit Fiji from Australia and usually call in at Port Denarau, Beqa Lagoon or Suva Port for a day of rather commercialised sightseeing. These cruises offer limited time and little scope for experiencing the real Fiji. Several local overnight cruise companies offer more intimacy, but still on fixed routes through the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands.

•   Fiji holidays are the most popular in the South Pacific

•   Best time to visit is May to Sep

•   International Airport is at Nadi

•   There are 330 islands to explore

•   The Fijian people are exceptional hosts

Read our Frequently Asked Questions about Fiji

Fiji Package Holidays offered by the majority of travel agents in Australia and New Zealand focus on the large hotel brands only. Unfortunately very few travel agents offer package holidays for the smaller boutique resorts. If you want to stay at one of these smaller more intimate resorts it's often best to purchase independent flights through either Fiji Airways, Jet Star, Virgin Australia or Air New Zealand and then book your accommodation direct with the resort (avoid the monstrous online booking engines like Booking.com and Trip Advisor). Meals and tours can either be purchased at the time of accommodation booking, or for greater flexibility, by pay as you go. Many resorts in Fiji offer specials such as a “Stay 7 / Pay 6” or similar deals to encourage longer stays, particularly around Nadi and the Coral Coast where tourists tend to stay for shorter periods.