Top 20 Fiji Attractions

The Repub­lic of Fiji is an island nation in the south­west Pacif­ic Ocean. The arch­i­pel­ago is famous for its coral reefs, man­go thick­ets and white sandy beach­es.

Things to do in Fiji

Fiji is a par­adise in Ocea­nia, attract­ing with a wel­com­ing atmos­phere and orig­i­nal cul­ture. This is a pop­u­lar tourist des­ti­na­tion for peo­ple who want to relax in a relax­ing envi­ron­ment on the Pacif­ic coast.

The arch­i­pel­ago con­sists of 332 islands, a third of which are inhab­it­ed. A sig­nif­i­cant per­cent­age of the pop­u­la­tion lives on Viti Levu, where the main air­port and major cities are locat­ed. The cap­i­tal city of Suva hous­es the Pres­i­den­t’s res­i­dence, offices of trav­el and trade com­pa­nies, hotels and restau­rants, as well as the Fiji Muse­um, which stores exhibits from the Pacif­ic arch­i­pel­a­gos.

Peo­ple come here to relax with friends, with fam­i­ly and to spend their hon­ey­moon. Lux­u­ri­ous rooms, spas and enter­tain­ment for wealthy trav­el­ers await tourists in fash­ion­able hotels. In indi­vid­ual bun­ga­lows and small hotels, con­di­tions are eas­i­er, but prices vary in the mid­dle cat­e­go­ry.

Fiji’s mild trop­i­cal cli­mate is ide­al for a beach hol­i­day. The Great Bar­ri­er Reef is amaz­ing­ly beau­ti­ful. In clear warm water there are bright fish, shell­fish, tur­tles, dol­phins. Div­ing, under­wa­ter fish­ing, surf­ing, water ski­ing are prac­ticed here all year round. Yacht­ing is no less pop­u­lar — tourists go to sea on plea­sure boats and explore neigh­bor­ing islands, admire nature, devote them­selves to water sports or go fish­ing.

Fiji is a won­der­ful place where the ben­e­fits of mod­ern civ­i­liza­tion are har­mo­nious­ly inter­twined with nation­al col­or. In eth­nic vil­lages, you can watch tra­di­tion­al dances, orig­i­nal musi­cal num­bers and even walk­ing bare­foot on fire.

While relax­ing here, be sure to try the nation­al drink kava, which is made from the root of an intox­i­cat­ing pep­per, fish mar­i­nat­ed in lime juice, bread­fruit and rice pan­cakes with coconut milk.

Islands, cities and resorts

Viti Levu

The largest island of Fiji cov­ers an area of ​​10,388 km². This is the cen­ter of the arch­i­pel­ago, the ter­ri­to­ry of which is cov­ered with forests, moun­tain ranges and val­leys. The local pop­u­la­tion is engaged in cat­tle breed­ing, sug­ar­cane cul­ti­va­tion and is involved in the tourism indus­try.

The cap­i­tal of the repub­lic, Suva, is locat­ed here. It and the cities of Lau­to­ka, Nau­sori, Siga­to­ka have excel­lent infra­struc­ture. Trav­el­ers can enjoy well-main­tained beach­es, shady parks, attrac­tions, author’s cui­sine restau­rants, night­clubs and bars.

Vanua Levu

The sec­ond largest island in the arch­i­pel­ago, hav­ing the shape of an irreg­u­lar tri­an­gle. The south is dom­i­nat­ed by moun­tain­ous ter­rain. The high­est ranges are Bati­ni (1111 m) and Thurston (1030 m). In the north­ern part, hills alter­nate with plains and forests.

Peo­ple come here to watch birds, climb moun­tains, explore the seclud­ed cor­ners of the seashore. The land is crossed by numer­ous rivers. In the delta of one of them stands the city of Labasa. There is a big mar­ket, good restau­rants, cin­e­mas, hotels.

Denarau

The pri­vate island to the west of Viti Levu is famous for its lux­u­ri­ous resorts, pri­vate beach­es, hotels, man­go groves and a huge golf course.

The devel­op­ment of the tourism busi­ness began here in 1969, when the Amer­i­can Den­nis McEl­rath pur­chased the land and built the first hotel on it. Soon, Japan­ese investors invest­ed in the infra­struc­ture, and resorts, mari­nas, enter­tain­ment cen­ters, super­mar­kets, and restau­rants appeared on Dena­rau.

Mamanuca

The Mamanu­ca arch­i­pel­ago of 20 vol­canic islets is a great place for a roman­tic trip. The wide beach­es are lined with palm trees, flow­ers and equipped with every­thing you need for a care­free hol­i­day. Tourists go in for swim­ming, sail­ing, wind­surf­ing, kayak­ing, and snor­kel­ing. Div­ing and under­wa­ter fish­ing are pop­u­lar.

Yasawa

The Yasawa vol­canic arch­i­pel­ago includes 20 islets with an area of ​​135 km². Until recent­ly, they were closed to tourists, as the local ruler was against the arrival of for­eign­ers. In 1989, the restric­tion was lift­ed, and the tourism indus­try began to grad­u­al­ly devel­op.

Yasawa has built good resorts for a bud­get hol­i­day. Trav­el­ers com­bine spend­ing time on the beach with fish­ing, vis­it­ing lime­stone caves and hik­ing.

Savusavu

Savusavu on Vanu­ta Levu was found­ed by British set­tlers almost 200 years ago. For a long time it was used as a port for the export of fish and valu­able tree species. Now it is a qui­et resort, suit­able for a relax­ing fam­i­ly hol­i­day.

The main attrac­tion is con­sid­ered to be hot springs, beat­ing with dif­fer­ent inten­si­ty through­out the city. Hot steam and water are the echoes of vol­canic process­es that once seethed in the bow­els of the earth. The coast­line is a great beach where you can enjoy cock­tails in bars, swim, snorkel, ride water rides.

Nandi

Nan­di is the third largest city in Fiji and is locat­ed in the west­ern part of Viti Levu. This is the cen­ter of Islam and Hin­duism, in which beau­ti­ful mosques and tem­ples are built. An inter­na­tion­al air­port has been opened on the out­skirts.

All tourists arriv­ing in Fiji must vis­it the city and often stay for a cou­ple of days to explore the sur­round­ings and have fun. Not far from Nan­di are Sabeto hot springs, Nata­dola beach, Nau­sori town and eth­nic vil­lages.

Architecture and museums

government house

Suva is the offi­cial res­i­dence of the Pres­i­dent of the Repub­lic. The white two-sto­ry build­ing in the Gre­go­ri­an style was erect­ed in 1928. The facade is dec­o­rat­ed with spa­cious bal­conies, wide arch­es, grace­ful columns.

In front of the main entrance there is a square where once a month a col­or­ful chang­ing of the guards takes place, attract­ing for­eign­ers. You can’t go inside the gov­ern­ment build­ing. Tourists can admire the archi­tec­tur­al mon­u­ment from afar and walk in the park.

Suva Cathedral

The main Roman Catholic church stands proud­ly in the cen­ter of the cap­i­tal. The Romanesque church was built in 1902 on the ini­tia­tive of the mis­sion­ar­ies. The build­ing has a tri­an­gu­lar façade with orig­i­nal bal­conies and arch­es.

Four-tiered bell tow­ers rise on the sides. The roof of the church is crowned with the fig­ure of Jesus Christ, arms out­stretched. The inte­ri­or walls are cov­ered with orna­ments, the win­dows are dec­o­rat­ed with mul­ti-col­ored stained-glass win­dows.

Temple of the Sacred Heart

The city of Levu­ka has a Catholic church of the Sacred Heart, which is part of the UNESCO World Her­itage Site. The Goth­ic tem­ple in the form of a Latin cross was built under the direc­tion of Father Lujo in 1858.

Its main dec­o­ra­tion is a square stone tow­er 24 meters high. There are 4 bells on its bel­fry. The round tow­er clock counts the exact time and strikes every half hour. The spire of the tow­er emits neon light, which serves as a guide for ships enter­ing the port.

Fiji Museum

A muse­um has been opened in Suva that pre­serves the cul­tur­al and his­tor­i­cal her­itage of the Pacif­ic Islands. This is one of the best muse­ums in Ocea­nia, telling about the peo­ple of Fiji, British col­o­niza­tion, gain­ing inde­pen­dence.

The exhi­bi­tions fea­ture bam­boo rafts, dou­ble-hulled Fijian canoes, earth­en­ware jugs, woven car­pets, and hand­made jew­el­ry. A sep­a­rate expo­si­tion tells about the can­ni­bal­ism of the tribes and shows archae­o­log­i­cal finds dis­cov­ered dur­ing exca­va­tions near Siga­to­ka.

Sri Shiva Subramania Temple

Nan­di adorns the high­est Hin­du tem­ple in the South­ern Hemi­sphere — Sri Shi­va Sub­ra­ma­nia with a height of 30 meters. It is ded­i­cat­ed to three deities: Meenakshi, Muru­gan and Gane­sha. The tem­ple embod­ied the best tra­di­tions of ancient Indi­an archi­tec­ture.

To enter inside, tourists must fol­low the dress code and take off their shoes. Pho­tog­ra­phy is pro­hib­it­ed on the ter­ri­to­ry of Sri Shi­va Sub­ra­ma­nia.

Nature and entertainment

albert park

Suva is famous for its mag­nif­i­cent parks and squares. The cen­ter of the cap­i­tal is dec­o­rat­ed with a park plant­ed in hon­or of Prince Albert, the wife of Queen Vic­to­ria. The green area, designed in the Eng­lish style, attracts atten­tion with strict sym­met­ri­cal lines.

In the cen­ter is an arti­fi­cial lake with wind­ing edges. Alleys depart from it, along which ferns and sprawl­ing trees are plant­ed. The park is equipped with a hock­ey field, rug­by grounds, a chil­dren’s play­ground, and a cafe.

Sand dunes of Sigatoka

To the west of Siga­to­ka is the Sand Dunes Nation­al Park. The pic­turesque land­scape was formed mil­lions of years ago as a result of soil ero­sion. The height of the dunes varies from 20 to 60 meters.

At the end of the last cen­tu­ry, a group of sci­en­tists con­duct­ed exca­va­tions in this area and dis­cov­ered the bur­ial places of peo­ple who lived 2600 years ago, the remains of set­tle­ments and ancient ceram­ics. The finds are on dis­play at the Fiji Nation­al Muse­um.

Sleeping Giant Botanical Garden

In the vicin­i­ty of Nan­di, a botan­i­cal gar­den was found­ed in 1977. Ini­tial­ly, it grew main­ly orchids, but grad­u­al­ly the col­lec­tion increased. Now the ter­ri­to­ry of the gar­den occu­pies 20 hectares and rep­re­sents 400 species of trop­i­cal plants.

Neat paths are laid through the park. In the mid­dle is a charm­ing pond with lilies and foun­tains, and next to it are flowerbeds with exot­ic flow­ers, bench­es, pavil­ions for relax­ation. All vis­i­tors are offered a free fruity soft drink.

Big Astrolabe

The Astro­labe Reef, which sur­rounds the Kan­da­va Island Group, is con­sid­ered the fourth largest Bar­ri­er Reef in the world. Divers and ordi­nary tourists come here to explore under­wa­ter caves, hard and soft corals, col­or­ful fish.

Scu­ba div­ing is often com­bined with fish­ing and yacht­ing. Going to the edge of the reef, you can see sharks, hump­back whales, dol­phins and killer whales.

Caves of Sawa-i-Lau

The Yasawa Islands have the mys­te­ri­ous caves of Sawa-i-Lau, carved into the ocean by waves and wind. The first cave is lit by the sun and is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble for vis­it­ing. To get to the sec­ond, you need to swim through an under­wa­ter tun­nel — a spa­cious hall opens behind it, one third filled with water. Fur­ther on is anoth­er cave, which can only be entered at low tide.

Navua

A large riv­er flow­ing through Viti Leva orig­i­nates on the slope of Mount Gor­don and moves between the hills to the south, flow­ing into the sea. The shores of Nau­va are framed by cliffs and green trop­i­cal forests. The tur­bu­lent cur­rent cre­ates a favor­able envi­ron­ment for canoe­ing, kayak­ing or bam­boo raft­ing.

Active tourists come here to go raft­ing, climb moun­tains, explore the vir­gin for­est, watch herons and par­rots.

National park in Taveuni

The vol­canic island of Tave­u­ni is the most pop­u­lar attrac­tion in Fiji. In 1990, a nation­al park was found­ed here, which includes 150 km² of trop­i­cal forests with rare birds, dor­mant vol­ca­noes and water­falls. In one of the craters, at an alti­tude of 800 meters, there is Lake Tangi­mau­tia with a total area of ​​23 hectares.

Near­by stands Mount Uluikalau with a height of 1241 meters. Many plants and ani­mals of the Tave­u­ni Park are endem­ic and are not found else­where.

Ecopark Kula

The Kula Fam­i­ly Park and Eco­log­i­cal Reserve appeared on Viti Levu in 1997. It is locat­ed near Siga­to­ka and includes a well-main­tained trop­i­cal gar­den with walk­ing paths. Lizards, snakes, insects, but­ter­flies, fly­ing fox­es, par­rots live here in nat­ur­al con­di­tions.

The park has a school for chil­dren, intro­duc­ing them to the flo­ra and fau­na of the arch­i­pel­ago. There is also a breed­ing pro­gram for endan­gered crest­ed and band­ed igua­nas.