Here at Urban List, we think life’s always going to be better when it involves sipping a cocktail from a coconut while basking in the Fijian sun. Yes siree, those turquoise blue waters, white sandy beaches and spectacular sunsets are calling… you better book yourself a ticket to Fiji, stat, then prepare for a good time.
So without further ado, here are the best things to do in Fiji.
Bask On The Beach
The best thing to do in Fiji might just be doing nothing at all. Fiji’s beaches are some of the most beautiful in the world so pack your towel and a good book and spend the day going back and forth between the ocean and your sun lounger.
You're spoiled for choice but our favourite beaches for swimming and relaxing around are among the Yasawa Islands. Mantaray Island (one of the Yasawas) offers the added benefit of swimming with manta rays if you’re there between May and October (though they’re sometimes out as early as April and until November). Natadola Beach on Viti Levu is also a winner.
Unwind With A Banana Leaf Massage
Image credit: Koro Sun Resort | Website
If you love a good massage, you'll definitely want to try the banana leaf massage during your stay. You'll be wrapped up in banana leaves and coated in a brown sugar and coconut oil concoction before being massaged from head to toe. Unexpected? Definitely. Relaxing? Absolutely.
Fijian spas are well known for these, so you should be able to get one wherever you are, but the Rainforest Spa at Koro Sun Resort (on Vanua Levo) is widely regarded as the best, maybe because they let you pick your own banana leaves.
Give Yourself A Mud Bath
Image credit: @KatyD12345 | Instagram
If your budget doesn’t allow for banana leaf massages, the next best thing to do is head to Sabeto Hot Springs near Nadi and reap the benefits of a mud bath (which is said to be naturally beautifying, by the way).
Once you've had enough mud for one day, you'll move through three pools, each cooler than the one before, to have a good rinse and gradually cool down. Finish with a boom boom massage for ultimate relaxation.
Revel In The Most Gorgeous Sunsets Of Your Life
Image credit: Nanuku Resort Fiji | Website
There’s something about sitting on the hull of a boat, champagne in hand and canapés at the ready, while the sun melts into the horizon. It’s the perfect way to end a perfect day in paradise so it goes without saying it’s one of the absolute best things to do in Fiji.
Nanuku Resort Fiji provides a gorgeous boutique sunset cruise experience, Captain Cook Cruises offers sunset with a side of tropical buffet feast or go with Awesome Adventures Fiji to watch the sunset while floating in a rubber tube.
Take The Plunge
If diving or snorkelling is your jam, you’re in luck, Fiji has some of the best things to do in Fiji’s underwater wonderland. Taveuni’s Great White Wall is one of the best diving spots and, if you’re after an adrenaline rush, you can head to Beqa Lagoon or Vomo Island to feed or swim with the sharks.
There are so many places to explore but the Coral Coast—also known as the adventure capital of Fiji—and Monoruki are two of the best for snorkelling. The Great Astrolabe Reef off Kadavu Island is a great diving and snorkelling hot spot too.
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Spend A Cruisy Day On The Ocean
Image credit: Nanuku Resort Fiji | Website
Pull up a beanbag and soak up that vitamin D as South Sea Sailing’s 78-foot Sabre catamaran gently sails you around the picturesque Mamanuca Islands.
Enjoy a carefully curated day featuring snorkelling among curious, colourful fish and coral, a delectable dietary-friendly gourmet buffet lunch with complimentary beer and wine and a magical sand bar in the middle of the ocean to chill out on (where the bar arrives on a paddleboard). The Sabre even has a slide for ultimate ocean access.
Live It Up
Image credit: Seventh Heaven | Supplied
If paradise was a pontoon, it’d be Seventh Heaven. One of the newest things to do in Fiji, think of it as a dreamy mash-up between a cruise and an island hop in the form of a purpose-built platform where you can sound bathe in local and international jams, get an earth-shatteringly good massage, feast up, get a little…jovial, swim or simply soak up the good vibes.
And it's not just a pretty face either—Seventh Heaven is proudly carbon-neutral, powered entirely by solar panels, uses recycled and recyclable products wherever possible and is fin-free to protect coral. Yep, if you just happen to be looking for a party venue to end all party venues, you just found it babes.
Do Good, Plant Coral
Every year the world’s oceans get warmer and while that makes for a balmy ocean-bath experience, it’s having a devastating effect on the wildlife within it and causing massive problems like coral bleaching. When the water is too hot corals become stressed and expel the algae living in their tissues that they need to survive. Their stunning colours that we love are lost as they die and turn white.
Bleaching matters because while you may have heard that the world’s forests form the lungs of our planet—providing the oxygen we need to survive—the ocean’s life actually contributes more. Basically, if the ocean dies, we do too.
Bleaching isn’t a reversible process but coral planting is one of the best things we can do to help regenerate the ocean’s corals. It involves taking a clipping from a piece of resilient coral, like you would a rose bush in your garden, and planting it onto a clay ‘cookie’ which is then nurtured until it’s able to be transplanted onto a frame in the ocean.
You can help by supporting coral planters to do their thing. Places like Nanuku Resort Fiji and Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort Fiji, among others, have coral planting programmes you can get involved in.
Surf And SUP
Image credit: Vomo Island Fiji | Website
Experienced surfers probably already know that Fiji is home to Cloudbreak on Namotu Island, one of the most challenging left-hand reef breaks in the world. If you’re not quite ready to tackle that, Swimming Pools—also on Namotu Island—or Tavarua Rights on nearby Tavarua Island are for you. Swimming Pools also makes for a great SUP session, but you can SUP almost anywhere in Fiji.
Take To The Sky
Image credit: Tourism Fiji | Supplied
A helicopter tour might not be cheap, but experiencing Fiji from above is pretty spectacular and YOLO, right? Besides, a date straight out of an episode of The Bachelor is one of the best things to do in Fiji to set hearts a-flutter.
Scenic flights range from 10 minutes to an hour, or you can go all out and book a day trip which will have you transported to a luxury island via helicopter, a full day of relaxing and eating, finished off with a scenic ride home. Boujee.
Hike Through The Jungle Or Up A Mountain
Image credit: Nanuku Resort Fiji | Website
Sweatily hiking through lush rainforest might not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of a relaxing holiday in Fiji but we can’t recommend it enough. Putting in the hard yards and immersing yourself in true Fijian jungle to reach a beautiful waterfall or summiting a local mountain is an utterly soulful experience and is, hands down, one of the best things to do in Fiji.
Just be sure to wear long pants to keep your legs protected from the long grass. Some hikes are open to the public, some are reserved especially for particular resorts so do your research before you go. Favourites include the Waisese Waterfall Indiana Jones-style hike from Nanuku Resort Fiji and Mt Vomo from Vomo Island Fiji.
Explore The Garden Island of Fiji
Taveuni has been dubbed Fiji's Garden Island it's not hard to see why. A third of the island is covered by Bouma National Heritage Park, a lush rainforest which is home to more hiking trails than one holidaymaker could ever need, incredible waterfalls and some epic flora and fauna.
Tick the Lavena Coastal Walk—which begins on a secluded beach and ends under a waterfall—off your bucket list and thank us later. If you want to get off dry land, Taveuni is also home to world-class diving sites like the Great White Wall on the Rainbow Reef.
Head For The River
You’d be forgiven for thinking Fiji is all about the ocean—there’s loads of fun to be had on its rivers too. Laze on a traditional wooden longboat, live your best life tubing or put your arms (and core) to the test with a kayak safari admiring the mangroves.
And if you get especially inspired, assisting in a mangrove nursery programme, like the ones offered at Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort Fiji and Nanuku Resort Fiji, is one of the best things you can do to give back, ensuring these spectacular ecosystems are around for years to come.
Attend A Cultural Night
Fiji is stunning and there’s no doubt that the beaches, crystal clear water and luxury resorts contribute to the vibe but Fiji wouldn’t be Fiji without its people. It’s the people that give Fiji the heart that beats so strongly; it’s the people that make you feel truly welcome and there’s no better way to honour the community and their culture than by attending a cultural night.
Fortunately, culture is woven into the very fabric of all good resorts in Fiji so chances are during your stay there’ll be one if not several opportunities to engage with, learn about, and immerse in this beautiful, warm-hearted culture during your stay. VOU HUB offers a range of epic cultural shows and experiences.
Island Hop
Image credit: Prem Kurumpanai
When there are 333 islands to explore, it would be silly to spend all your time on just one. Get yourself a Bula Pass which gives you access to 27 islands in the Mamanucas and Yasawas. It lasts between five and 13 days, but you will need to book in advance even if you have the pass.
Drink Kava
For the uninitiated, kava is an iconic Fiji plant and the drink—which is made from the plant’s roots—has a mild sedative effect, just in case you weren’t already relaxed enough. The best place to experience a kava ceremony is in one of the small villages although some resorts also offer this experience.
You’ll sit in a circle on the floor as the village chief mixes the powder with water. When it’s ready to drink it will be poured into a bilo—a coconut shell bowl—and handed to the guests. Before accepting the bowl, you should clap once (a show of respect), then take the bowl, drink it in one mouthful, clap again and say bula (the literal translation of bula is life, but it’s used by the Fijians in a variety of ways). As you hand the bowl back, clap three times and everyone should join in.
Eat A Lovo
Lovo refers both to the method of cooking and the meal itself, and you’ll want to add this to the top of your Fiji bucket list. Similar to the Māori hangi or the Samoan umu, it’s essentially slow cooking in an underground oven.
Marinated meats, fish, vegetables and palusami (stuffed taro leaves) are wrapped in foil and placed over hot coals in the ground, then covered with banana leaves and hot rocks. The best place to try it is in one of the villages, but you’ll find it on menus all over and it is legit, delicious.
Whip Up Culinary Delights At A Traditional Cooking Class
Eating a lovo is one thing but cooking up your own Fijian feast from scratch? That’s next level. It’s said Fijians hiking through the jungle will only take salt, pepper and a machete with them because there’s no need for packed lunch when the jungle provides.
Attending a traditional cooking class will give you much more than the steps for creating a mouthwatering meal; your teacher will be sure to impart life-enriching wisdom about customs, cooking methods and the endless uses for coconut trees, with a lot of laughs along the way.
Alternatively, if you've decided there's no way you're cooking while on holiday (we don't blame you) you could book into Chef's Table at Kanu Restaurant where award-winning chef Lance Seetu will whip up an array of culinary delights right in front of you, explaining and demonstrating Fijian cooking techniques, and you won't need to lift a finger.
Knock Back A Cup (Or Three) Of Fijian Coffee
Really good coffee can be hard to find on holiday but in Fiji you can stay happily caffeinated thanks to Bula Coffee. The only Fijian-made coffee that’s grown locally, Bula Coffee nurtures every step of the coffee-making process from cherry to soul-quenching cup.
The company is committed to quality and sustainability, training and assisting villages to become organically certified so you can guzzle your morning brew totally guilt-free. Better still, head to Sigatoka and experience the magic for yourself on their Crop to Cup Coffee Tour, one of the best things to do in Fiji for coffee-lovers.
During the 60-minute guided tour around the Bula Coffee HQ you’ll learn a tonne while sipping as you go, sampling a whole lot of unique brewing methods along the way.
Indulge In KokoMana
The perfect match for coffee? Chocolate of course. And we can think of no better celebration of the food of the gods than by stuffing our gobs with it in the very country where it’s made. Enter: KokoMana, chocolate magic from Fiji.
Not only is this chocolate handmade from locally-grown cocoa beans, it’s done so using best-practice environmentally sustainable processes. The farm and factory, located near Savusavu town, is open to the public and there’s a great tour you can take (and yes, it ends with the all-important tastings!) but if you have a spare day up your sleeve we’d recommend doing a private ‘Chocolate Experience’ instead.
In the workshop you’ll get hands-on in the chocolate-making process roasting, cracking and winnowing, conching and refining, and tempering and moulding. At the end of the day you’ll head off with chocolate bars you made yourself, wrapped in labels you designed. Awesome.
Snag Some Actually Cool Souvenirs
When it comes to buying souvenirs for your mates it’s a fine line between cool and kitsch, and while you absolutely could find some gems in the touristic souvenir shops, one of the best things you can do in Fiji to support the local economy is looking a bit further afield.
Rise Beyond The Reef is an economic resilience and leadership development programme in partnership with remote indigenous women and their communities from Cirisobu, Yaloku, Navilawa, Abaca, Verevere, Vatawai, Nabukadra, Nanuku and Saioko villages. These artisans create beautiful, practical and sustainable pieces using traditional knowledge and skills and we’re so here for it.
Other local businesses we’re frothing over include Nama Fiji’s socially responsible skincare, South Seas Salt gourmet seasoning, and The Distillery Co. Fiji’s Blue Turtle Gin.
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Image credit: Zidhan Ibrahim
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