Archives: Destinations

Bliss out on Wailoaloa Beach in a modern oceanside hotel right on the beachfront, and not far from Nadi attractions and the International Airport.

This centrally located, modern beachfront property offers accommodation ranging from Small Twin to Executive Beachfront King Rooms. Ideally situated on Wailoaloa Beach – this new, non-smoking hotel boasts beautiful sunsets and offers easy access to popular outdoor activities such as hiking and horseback riding. De-stress with a massage at the spa, relax in the sun around the pool or on the beach, and enjoy delicious dining at the two restaurants and bars. Choose from the Sunset Bar & Restaurant on the beach or the rooftop restaurant and bar which offer spectacular views.

Bask in stunning views of the South Pacific Ocean while relaxing with free breakfast daily and complimentary Wi-Fi at Wyndham Garden Wailoaloa Beach Fiji. Each of the 90 guestrooms are spacious and feature a balcony, air conditioning, sitting area, flat-screen TV, safe, desk and bottled water.

Flexible meeting and event spaces are also available, as well as a business centre, dry cleaning service, convenience store, gift shop, and a 24/7 front desk. Just a 10-minute drive brings you to Nadi where you can enjoy shopping and dining out, wander the vibrant Garden of the Sleeping Giant along hiking trails with beautiful orchids, and tour the Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami Temple – the largest Hindu temple in the Pacific.

With Nadi International Airport just 15km away via convenient airport shuttle, whether looking for an amazing holiday destination or for business, from families to single travellers, all guests are catered for at Wyndham Garden Wailoaloa Beach Fiji.

Twenty kilometres north of Nadi Airport is the city of Lautoka, which is a major commercial and administrative centre. It is an important seaport and home of Fiji’s Sugar Corporation, the largest sugar mill and the South Pacific’s largest distilleries.

From Nadi you can visit the Momi guns, bunkers and gun emplacements installed to repel a World War II invasion by the Japanese which never eventuated, or take a trip to Mt Victoria, Fiji’s highest peak with three native reserves and breathe the clean, still air which is found only above sea level. There are day cruises to both island and jungle locations and cruise boats will pick you up from Port Denarau Marina and take you down the Nadi River and on to the Mamanucas Islands.

If scuba diving is one of your hobbies, why not join one of the schooners departing from the Denarau Marina at 9.30 am daily. You can choose between one or two-day dive programs. Non-divers are catered for with snorkelling equipment.

Nadi has one of two international standard 18-hole golf courses in Fiji. It lies within easy reach of the town’s hotel belt.

The Mamanuca Islands lie in a majestic arc only a short distance from the coast of Nadi, curving northwest, and almost touching the Yasawa chain of islands.

There are 20 islands and they all share in common pristine white sandy beaches, waving palms, crystal blue waters and, at night, the cooling influence of the trade winds.

The Mamanuca Islands (pronounced Mah-mahnoo-tha) are essentially volcanic outcrops pushed up from the ocean floor in a gigantic earthquake thousands of years ago. Some are especially significant in Fijian folklore.

Most islands in the Mamanuca group have resorts. Malolo hosts a handful but so does Mana and Tokoriki and smaller satellite islands like Matamanoa, Castaway, Namotu and Tavarua. Each offers bure accommodation, a relaxing holiday atmosphere and a range of water activities.

There are boat excursions, fishing trips, and watersports including surfing, SUP, jet ski safaris, parsailing, kiteboarding, kayaking and coral viewing for the kids. The islands of Malolo are the centre for most tourism to and from the Mamanucas. Because of their proximity to Nadi and plethora of watersport activities, the Mamanucas have become a day tripping hub.

There is safe anchorage at Vunabaka Marina and the Musket Cove Marina, a cosmopolitan community and an airstrip. The movie Castaway was also shot on Monuriki Island in the Mamanucas.

At the southern end of the chain, Cloudbreak is a world-class wave that hosts the WSL Fiji Pro International Surf Competition. Nearby off Malolo Island, on stunning RoRo Reef, there are two floating bars – Cloud 9 and Seventh Heaven.

The Yasawa Islands have a different ambience and are dotted with small resorts and backpackers’ accommodation. They are a chain of 16 volcanic islands and dozens of tiny islets stretching 80 kilometres in a northeast direction off the west coast of Viti Levu. They are special because their beautiful, isolated beaches, cliffs, bays and reefs and are less commercialised than the neighbouring Mamanuca Islands.

Islands in the group include Waya, the highest with amazing scenery and Tavewa, a strikingly beautiful, small island that is about two kilometres long. In 1972 Richard Evanson bought Turtle Island while others in the group include Sawa-i- Lau Island with ancient limestone caves and Yasawa Island that has small villages and a five-star resort. Naviti is the largest island while Viwa is the most remote, sitting alone 25 kilometres northwest of Waya. The Blue Lagoon movie was filmed in the Yasawas.

The limestone caves of Sawa-i-Lau is a very popular day trip as are diving with manta rays and snorkelling with sharks. There are also multi-day island-hopping small ship cruises to the Mamanucas and Yasawas with three- and seven-day itineraries.

It is quite easy to access the Mamanuca Islands via light plane that takes about fifteen minutes from Nadi. The islands are also accessible by catamarans and boats travelling between the islands and Nadi. Tourists can find several tours taking place all across the island which allow you to escape from the chaos.

At a distance of merely thirty minutes from Denarau, the South Sea Island can be a fun day trip for the family. It has many activities to offer such as a swimming, kayaking, snorkeling, coral viewing, etc.

You can explore Mamanuca’s beautiful lagoons, beaches and clear waters onboard ‘Seaspray’ which is an old sailing schooner, and takes you to the secluded island of Modriki and other places on the island.

Get lessons in Fijian craft, do coral viewing and have delicious cocktails at a brilliant bar. You simply cannot miss scuba and snorkeling when visiting Beachcomber Island.

From the air you can see that the Mamanucas group is two clusters known as Mamanuca-i-ra and Mamanucai- cake. Within the Mamanucas is the Malolo group, five kilometres inside the barrier reef, extending in a curve for 120 kilometres. A number of resort islands are scattered throughout the Malolo group, each offering bure accommodation, a relaxing holiday atmosphere and a range of water activities. There are boat excursions, fishing trips and water sports including waterskiing, windsurfing, snorkelling, diving, sailing, speed-boat rides and coral viewing. Malololailai is the centre for most tourism to and from the Mamanucas. It has safe anchorage, a cosmopolitan community and an airstrip serviced regularly from Nadi.

Tourists can find several interesting activities to do in the Mamanuca Islands including swimming, sailing, snorkeling, coral viewing (semi-submersible), kayaking, swimming next to reef sharks, hiking, windsurfing, mini-golf, village tours and exploring isolated beaches.

In addition to these activities, there are some brilliant dive sites on the Mamanuca Islands, particularly the Supermarket and Gotham City. Surfers can find several decent breaks close to the southern islands.

Lazing under the sun can be an ideal way to relax and enjoy the island’s beauty and calm. There are plenty of secluded islands such as the Monuriki (featured in Cast Away) and Bounty Island for this kind of peaceful relaxation. If you’re looking for good walks, head to the Navini and Tokoriki islands. You can indulge in some brilliant native bird-watching as well game fishing.

You can also find several tours taking place on the Mamanuca Islands which help offer you an escape from the huge crowd.

Quite naturally, seafood is a staple on the Fiji Islands. There is amazing cuisine offered on the Mamanuca Islands, particularly its seafood. A very surprising fact about the cuisine on this island is that the food is quite strongly influenced by the Indian cuisine. It was the Indian laborers who introduced several interesting dishes in the 1800’s and 1900’s.

If you’re visiting the Mamanuca Islands, you must try the rourou soup, kokoda as well as some refreshing tropical fruit.

Kokoda is known to be a popular Fijian delicacy and tastes like ceviche (Hawaiian poke). It is made with raw fish pieces marinated using coconut milk and lemon juice and is typically accompanied by onion, tomato, and pepper.

A Lovo is famous as a classic feat meal. It is prepared by cooking inside the earth and tastes similar to barbecue. It considered as an efficient mean to prepare large food quantities.

The Coral Coast is 80 kilometres of fringing reefs and beaches on the sheltered southern side of Viti Levu about halfway between Nadi and Suva. The region is named for its stretch of fringing coral reef that hugs this coastline making it an excellent place to snorkel off the beach.

The temperate climate and great variety of accommodationfrom self- contained ‘bure’ cottages to international five-star resorts make it a popular tourist retreat. The resorts offer great recreational facilities, restaurants and cultural performances while the pristine waters and reefs create an underwater paradise for snorkelling and diving. You can throw in a line with the locals or take out a charter vessel for game fishing.

There are great places to surf at Fiji Beachouse, Hideaway Resort and Natadola beach – the latter of which is arguably the best beach on the island and a great place to learn to surf. Also at Natadola is the Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course.

For those wanting to take in some nature, history and culture, visit the Sigatoka Sand Dunes national park where shifting sands and archaeological digs continue to reveal skeletons and pottery artefacts. Fiji’s only wildlife park, the Kula Wild Adventure Park in Korotogo displays rarely seen indigenous species such as the banded iguana and Fiji peregrine falcon.

Head for the hills into the beautiful Sigatoka Valley, aptly named The Salad Bowl of Fiji, a colourful patchwork of agricultural fields, Fijian villages, Indian settlements, temples and volcanic hills. It offers spectacular scenery and a fascinating history of the Tongan tribes who were the last to resist Christianity. Sigatoka River Safari jetboat and cave tours into the valley villages are very popular.

At Tavuni Hillfort near Sigatoka Town you can walk amongst the ruins of an ancient hill fort built during a period of tribal warfare. Sigatoka River Safari’s cave tour takes you inland to Naihehe Caves to see the spectacular rock formations and remnants of where people took shelter in the past. There is also a waterfall tour at Biausevu Village where you can learn about plant medicines on a rainforest trek, participate in a welcoming kava ceremony with a village chief and swim in a beautiful tropical waterfall.

Robinson Crusoe Island near Natadola is fringed with white sandy beaches and offers great snorkelling and Pacific Island entertainment.

In the bustling town of Sigatoka, locals and tourists blend when eating, shopping and socialising. Farmers barter their wares in the central marketplace and there are duty free shops, supermarkets, tailors, bars and cafes. There are quaint roadside markets right along the Coral Coast stretch, so even those just driving through will be able to enjoy this lovely area.

PACIFIC HARBOUR & BEQA LAGOON
This region, around 30 kilometres west of Suva, is distinct from the Coral Coast and renowned for its adventure type activities. Thus renowned as the Adventure Capital, this region is famous for activities such as the world-class shark dive at Shark Reef, great scuba diving in the Beqa lagoon, zip-lining, off-road buggy rides, white-water rafting in the Upper Navua Gorge, river tubing and world-class surf at the Frigates offshore surf break.

Pacific Harbour was originally established in the 1970s as a recreation oriented, residential community as well as a resort area. Not too far from Pacific Harbour is the legendary Beqa Island, home of the Fijian firewalkers who perform their ceremonies at several major Fijian hotels and resorts.