Fiji | Fiji in 5 days, in short

Before you leave

Passports and printed bookings
Book the day tours ahead — we used Valentine Fiji Tours for most of them
Bug spray and a rain jacket for the rainforest gardens
Water shoes for waterfall pools, tide pools and coral
Swimsuits and a towel for the mud pools (none are provided)
Fijian dollars in cash for massages, horse rides and village handicrafts
Motion-sickness medicine for the island boat crossings
Modest clothes for the temple and village visits (shoulders and knees covered)

Day 1 Nadi city tour

Arrive at the hotel in Nadi around 7 am. Most international flights land between 5 and 7 am.
Have breakfast at the hotel.

Our son and I making a heart with our hands on a covered jetty, backpacks on, with a calm lagoon, moored boats and palm trees behind us in the early-morning light.

Waiting for the 3-minute ferry over to the resort.

Rest at the hotel until noon. There isn’t much of a beach at the DoubleTree Sonaisali Island.

A narrow strip of grey sand scattered with driftwood and rocks, where our son and his dad stand at the water’s edge taking photos of the flat, calm sea.

Not much of a beach at the DoubleTree Sonaisali Island.

Book a half-day Nadi city tour. The tour picks up from the hotel.

The first stop is the Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami Temple in Nadi. According to our guide, this colourful temple is the largest Hindu temple in the southern hemisphere.

The outer wall of the Sri Siva Subramaniya temple, painted purple, red, green and gold, with ornate carved pillars, a deity statue in an alcove and decorative crests along the roofline against a clear blue sky.

Colourful details of the temple.

Next, the tour makes a short stop in the main town at Jacks of Fiji, one of the big souvenir shop chains, with a café for drinks and snacks.
Then a stop at the local market to learn about local produce and see kava root in its natural form, before it’s ground into powder for the drink.

A large mound of fresh turmeric roots heaped on a market table, with bunches of green bananas and other produce stalls under the market’s high metal roof behind.

Turmeric root at a local market stall.

Bundles of knobbly, earth-covered roots with long purple stalks tied together and standing upright on a tiled market counter.

Kava root.

The tour moves on to the Garden of the Sleeping Giant. The trail winds through many varieties of orchids and the region’s other plants, through lush rainforest.

Potted orchids in pink, white and yellow growing among ferns and mossy rocks under a shade-cloth canopy, beside a gravel path.

An incredible variety of orchids at the Garden of the Sleeping Giant.

Close-up of a stem of white orchids with purple-pink speckles and lips, against long green leaves.

Our son and his dad making heart shapes with their hands on a wooden boardwalk, surrounded by tall rainforest trees and pink ginger flowers.

The lush gardens.

A gravel path lined with green wooden railings curving through palms, ferns and dense tropical plants.

A path in the Garden of the Sleeping Giant.

The last stop is the Tifajek Mud Pool and Hot Springs. Changing rooms are available, so you can change into swimwear for the mud bath and the hot-spring soak. Village women offer foot and body massages here for an additional cost.

Day 2 South Sea Island

Our hotel, the DoubleTree Sonaisali Island, had an amazing breakfast spread.
Enjoy some downtime at the resort.

Our son and his dad playing table tennis on a blue table set up on the sand, under tall palm trees with the sea beyond.

Ping pong at the resort.

Half-day trip to South Sea Island with South Sea Cruises Fiji. It leaves Port Denarau at 12:15 pm and is back in port at 6 pm, with pick-up and drop-off from the Port Denarau hotels included.
Lunch and non-alcoholic drinks on the island are included. Four hours is plenty of time to explore, relax and enjoy the local entertainment — kayaking, snorkelling, and even a semi-submersible ride.

Our son standing on the wharf in a yellow T-shirt and seahorse shorts, in front of a large white catamaran.

At the marina with our catamaran.

Our son and I sitting on a giant blue wooden chair painted with a turtle and “Bula! Welcome!”, with a green one beside it and dancers in grass skirts behind.

Bula! Welcome to South Sea Island.

Our son and I sitting on a flat, rocky shelf at the water’s edge, making heart shapes with our hands, with the open sea and distant islands behind.

The rocky side of the island.

Our son and his dad sitting together on the giant blue “Bula! Welcome!” chair on the sand, grinning and throwing hand signs.

Our son and I hugging on soft white sand at the water’s edge, with calm blue sea and a pale evening sky behind.

The soft, white, sandy side of the island.

Stay on at Port Denarau afterwards to explore, shop and eat.

Dinner: Indigo at Port Denarau. Simply the best meal of the trip — we loved the food and the setting enough to eat here three times.

The entrance to Indigo restaurant along a tiled walkway, flanked by tall carved wooden tiki figures, with coloured glass lanterns hanging above and the lit dining room beyond.

Indigo at Port Denarau.

Day 3 Navua River village

Breakfast at the hotel.
An early pick-up by Jewel of Fiji tours (we booked it through Valentine Fiji Tours).
The village of Koromakawa sits on the Navua River, about 3 hours from Port Denarau and about 40 minutes from the capital, Suva.
The tour stops for snacks and a restroom break about 90 minutes out of Nadi.
At the Jewel of Fiji office, after introductions with the guide, everyone is fitted for a life jacket. You can leave your belongings here, since the boats come back to this spot, and change into swimsuits if you plan to swim at the waterfall.

A paved path leading down a green lawn between palm trees to the brown Navua River, where people are gathering at the boats.

The view from the office before boarding the boats.

From here, a 30-minute longboat ride up the lush, fast-moving river, between hills and waterfalls, brings you to the waterfall stop.
At one bend the current was too strong, so we got off and walked a few minutes over the rocks while the guide brought the boat around.

Our son in a red life jacket looking back from the bow of a green wooden longboat, on a wide brown river between steep forested hillsides under a grey sky.

The longboat through the lush forest.

A grinning selfie of me and my husband in red life jackets on the longboat, with other passengers waving behind us and the river and forest beyond.

On the longboat.

A rocky, gravel spit at a bend in the fast-flowing river, with dense green hills rising on both sides.

The bend in the river where we walked over the rocks.

The hike up to the waterfall takes about 20 minutes. The path goes over rocks, mud and stairs, and can be slippery.

Stone steps with a rope handrail climbing beside a small waterfall and clear green pool, with our son walking up the path through the rainforest.

The path to the waterfall.

The waterfall at the top of the trail is gorgeous, and swimming is allowed. The pool gets deep in places and has large rocks under the water, so water shoes are recommended.

A tall, narrow waterfall pouring down a mossy rock face into a green pool, with a swimmer in the water below.

Swimming at the waterfall.

On the way back, the guide offers an optional ride on a handmade bamboo raft, the way locals have floated down this river for centuries. It’s a lovely way to experience the local way of life.
Back at the office, the guide walks the group to the village a short distance away. After a welcome kava ceremony and a cultural dance performance, lunch is served. We found local vegetarian options like squash in coconut milk, pumpkin curry, rice and salad.
After lunch there’s a coconut demonstration, and the village women set up their handicraft stalls. We recommend buying something to support the village.
Then it’s back in the van to the hotels, with the same snack and restroom stop halfway.
After the long drive back, we had dinner at the resort.

Fire dancers in grass skirts spinning flaming batons on a stone patio at night, watched by a crowd seated around the edges.

The fire show at our resort.

Day 4 Mamanuca island day

Breakfast at the hotel — we’d moved to the Sheraton at Port Denarau, with an even bigger spread than the last one.
Pick-up from the hotel for a Captain Cook Cruises day trip to an island in the Mamanuca chain. Like Day 2, it includes pick-up and drop-off, lunch, drinks, entertainment, snorkelling, kayaking, a glass-bottom boat tour (weather permitting), a tide-pool walk, a medicine walk, Fijian massages (extra cost) and the friendliest guides.

Our son and his dad standing on the beach in matching floral swim shorts, throwing shaka signs, with calm blue water and a small island on the horizon.

The beach.

Blue sea stars in the tide pools.

Small speckled sea cucumbers on a pale, rubbly tide flat, with a sandalled foot at the edge of the frame for scale.

Sea cucumbers in the tide pools.

A long, empty beach edged with a line of washed-up seaweed, clear shallow water and a band of dark cloud over the mountains across the bay.

The view from the beach after a storm.

Port Denarau is about an hour’s ride back. There are lots of dinner options at the Port Denarau Marina, or eat at the resort.

Port Denarau marina seen over a boat’s railing, with wooden jetties, moored motorboats and sailboat masts under a sky full of clouds.

Port Denarau.

Day 5 Pottery village & Natadola Beach

Breakfast at the hotel.
Morning pick-up for Valentine Fiji Tours’ Fijian pottery village experience and Natadola Beach tour.
Drive through the lush Fijian countryside towards Sigatoka.
Visit the pottery village on the riverbank. Learn about the women who make the pottery — where they collect their clay and how they shape vessels and artistic pieces. Tour the village, join a kava ceremony, and learn about the villagers’ way of life in this special artists’ village.

A wide, still river mirroring the green hills and blue sky, seen through overhanging branches from the village bank.

The village on the riverbank.

Our son raising a small bowl to drink during the kava ceremony, as a smiling village woman in a bright green and yellow patterned dress looks on.

Taking part in the kava ceremony.

Our son and a village woman standing barefoot together on a mound of wet clay on a cloth, working it with their feet.

Mixing clay with the village ladies.

Stop in Sigatoka town for lunch (extra cost) and souvenirs.

A shelf of carved wooden model sailing boats with woven palm-leaf sails, each labelled “Bula Fiji”.

At the souvenir shop.

Drive to Natadola Beach — by far the best beach on the main island, Viti Levu. Soft white sand, shallow, clear blue water and a bay with a river mouth. Lots of tide pools show at low tide, and a small island and some sandbars can be reached at low tide too.

A wide sweep of soft white sand and gentle turquoise waves, with a low wooded headland and a few people far along the beach.

Natadola Beach.

Locals offer horse rides on the beach, and massages. The horse ride is an amazing experience — a great way to support local people, enjoy the beach and spend time with animals.

Our son, his dad and I on three horses at the water’s edge, all waving, with the beach and palm trees stretching behind us.

Our horse ride.

There’s a resort on the beach for snacks and drinks.

Me standing ankle-deep in clear, rippled shallow water in a sun hat, with a sandbar and a small, tree-covered island behind.

The small island and sandbars, reachable at low tide.

Our son and his dad leaping in the air with arms raised on wet sand, as white surf rolls in behind them.

Jumping around at Natadola Beach.

Drive back to the hotel.

Where we stayed

We stayed at two resorts in Nadi: the DoubleTree Sonaisali Island (for availability) and the Sheraton at Port Denarau. For a trip like this we’d recommend the Sheraton, for how close it is to the airport, Port Denarau and the tours. The resort on Natadola Beach would be our next choice — it’s farther from the airport and the main port, but the beach is spectacular.

We chose not to stay on the outer islands. That adds travel time and means arranging ferries or seaplanes around arrivals and departures, and those resorts tend to be smaller, with fewer food and activity options nearby. We day-tripped to islands that offer overnight stays and found ourselves wondering what we’d do if we stayed — with little to do in the evening and very few places to eat, we preferred the mainland. This trip was a perfect introduction to the culture and nature of Fiji for our family.

If you have more time

Add a day or two of relaxing at the resort. Most have beautiful pools and great spa services.
Ecotrax Fiji runs an interesting tour: riding an e-bike along old railway tracks to a hidden beach. It doesn’t offer pick-up, so we couldn’t fit it in.
Island adventures like swimming with sharks and rays also run from Nadi.

Our son walking alone across wet, mirror-like sand at low tide, with waves breaking on one side and palm-lined shore in the distance.

Enjoying the beach.