Travel in Fiji: the dry west, the outer islands and the village

How visitors reach the islands

International flights land mostly on the dry west side of Viti Levu. Nadi International Airport, 9 kilometres north of the town of Nadi, is the country's main international gateway and began as a wartime airstrip built for the Allies. Nausori, about 23 kilometres north-east of Suva, is the domestic hub; its only international routes go to Tuvalu and Nauru. Airports Fiji Limited runs 15 public airports in all, 13 of them on outer islands, and the national carrier is Fiji Airways. Labasa, on Vanua Levu, takes aircraft up to the size of an ATR 72.

The numbers are counted at the border. The Fiji Bureau of Statistics recorded 986,367 visitor arrivals in 2025, against 409,955 in 1999. Australians make up about half, 455,000 in 2024 by the Australian foreign ministry's count, and Wikipedia names New Zealand and the United States as the next sources. Britannica notes that Fiji also takes cruise ships, and that its position suits air travellers from Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Japan.

Yachts arrive by sea under their own rules. The UK Foreign Office advice of August 2026 lists Suva, Lautoka, Savusavu and Levuka as the ports of entry for yachts, with prior permission needed for other harbours such as Nadi and Denarau. Customs officers X-ray all luggage arriving at Nadi and take most fresh food, and cash worth F$10,000 or more has to be declared.

Which side of Viti Levu visitors stay on

The resort country is the dry side. Wikipedia names Nadi, Denarau Island, the Coral Coast and the Mamanuca Islands as the main tourist areas, all within reach of the airport and in the lee of the mountains, where the rain falls less. Britannica notes that many hotels sit on small offshore islands or secluded beaches and are built in local designs and materials. Honeymoons and family holidays are both common, and in 2012 three-quarters of visitors told the statistics office they had come on holiday.

The Sigatoka Sand Dunes are one of the mainland sights in the Wikipedia list, with Suva's botanical gardens and Colo-i-Suva Forest Park. The Arts Village near Deuba stages the meke and other performances as a model community for visitors, and Britannica notes that model villages and handicraft markets draw tourists across the islands.

Suva is a different kind of place, about 210 kilometres east of Nadi on the wet south-east coast. It is the capital and the main port, with the Fiji Museum in the Thurston Botanical Gardens, the government buildings of 1939 that once ran Britain's South Pacific colonies, and the main campus of the University of the South Pacific. A coastal highway circles Viti Levu and links the two sides.

How visitor numbers have risen and fallen

Tourism in Fiji has tracked the country's politics and the world's borders. Arrivals fell from 409,955 in 1999 to 294,070 in 2000, the year of the Speight crisis, and Britannica notes that the unrest of those years cut visitor numbers steeply before the sector recovered. The total passed 600,000 for the first time in the bureau's series in 2010, at 631,868, and reached 894,389 in 2019.

The border closures of the pandemic emptied the resorts. Arrivals were 146,905 in 2020 and 31,618 in 2021, and the hotel room occupancy rate fell from 55.8% in 2019 to 15.0% in 2021. Visitors returned quickly once the borders opened: 636,312 came in 2022 and 929,740 in 2023, above the 2019 figure. Provisional numbers for August 2026 put that month's arrivals at 99,963, the most recorded for an August.

What the outer islands offer

The Mamanuca and Yasawa groups, strung north-west of Nadi, are where most island resorts are. Their beaches have carried a long run of film work, from Mr Robinson Crusoe in 1932 to The Blue Lagoon in 1980 and Cast Away in 2000, and the US version of Survivor has filmed all its seasons in the Mamanucas since its 33rd season in 2016, two back to back each year.

Further out the islands are quieter. Levuka, on Ovalau, was the first colonial capital and was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2013 as a Pacific port town of the 19th century: a sea wall along Beach Street, timber and corrugated-iron stores and warehouses, the Royal Hotel founded in the late 1860s, Sacred Heart Cathedral, and the site where the Deed of Cession was signed. UNESCO counts tourism development among the main risks to it. Vanua Levu, reached by ferry or by air to Labasa, has two towns: Labasa, a sugar town with one of the three mills, and Savusavu, one of the four ports where yachts may clear in. Natewa Bay cuts deep into its north-east, and off its east coast lies Rabi, where Banabans from Kiribati were resettled after the Second World War. Taveuni lies across the 180th meridian, and geothermal activity continues there and on Vanua Levu. Kadavu, south of Viti Levu, is known for its pottery village of Nalotu. The Lau islands lie far to the east near Tonga, and Rotuma far to the north.

What visitors eat and buy

Food in Fiji reflects both main communities. The iTaukei earth oven, the lovo, bakes parcels wrapped in leaves over heated stones in a pit, and palusami, taro leaves in coconut milk, is cooked that way. Indian dishes and spices are part of most households' cooking, and Chinese and European food is common. Visitors may be invited to a kava ceremony, and kava is also drunk socially.

Shopping is part of the trip for many. Britannica names duty-free shopping and handicraft markets among the draws, alongside model villages that show iTaukei crafts. The markets sell bark cloth, pandanus mats, pottery and carving; Wikipedia's account of Fijian culture notes that carving now survives mainly for tourism, except for the kava bowls still made for use.

Festivals fall across the year and the calendars. Diwali is a public holiday. Hindu fire-walking takes place around the full moon of July or early August, and the Sawau people of Beqa keep a fire-walking tradition of their own. Britannica records the Fiji Bula Marathon each year in May or June.

The colonial past is visible in a few places. Second World War gun emplacements were built along the coast when Fiji was an Allied base, and Nadi's airport began as a wartime airstrip. Levuka keeps its 19th-century stores and cathedral, its public school, town hall, Masonic lodge and Ovalau Club, and the remnant tram tracks that ran from the customs buildings to the wharf. Suva keeps its government buildings of 1939, and as a free port it draws shoppers; it is also the seat of diplomatic missions and of regional bodies including the Pacific Islands Forum.

How people get around

On the large islands the bus is the main public transport, both within towns and between them, and in rural areas buses are hailed from the roadside. Fares and routes are set by the Land Transport Authority, which also licenses bus and taxi drivers. Taxis work widely, in towns and in rural and semi-rural areas under separate licences. The UK advice of August 2026 says to use only taxis and minibuses with yellow registration plates, because unlicensed minibuses are often uninsured. Traffic drives on the left.

The roads ask for care. The same advice describes many roads as in poor condition, dangerous at night for lack of street lighting and because of pedestrians and stray animals, and liable to be damaged, blocked or washed away in severe weather. British driving licences are accepted. Phone coverage on outlying islands can be limited or absent.

Between islands the ferry and the small boat do the work. Roll-on roll-off ferries, among them Patterson Brothers Shipping Company, carry vehicles and freight between Viti Levu, Vanua Levu and smaller islands, and buses travel on them. Domestic flights serve the larger and many smaller islands. Britannica notes that for many villagers outboard punts on the rivers are still the most practical transport, and that produce from remote areas may still be floated to market on bamboo rafts.

When the weather suits a visit

Fiji is warm all year. The warm, wet season runs from November to April and the cooler, drier one from May to October, when temperatures average about 22 °C. Suva's average summer high is about 29 °C and its winter low about 20 °C, according to Britannica, and the west of the large islands is the drier side. El Niño and La Niña years shift the rainfall noticeably from one year to the next.

Cyclones are the planning point. The UK Foreign Office advice of August 2026 gives the season as November to April, though cyclones can occur at any time, and warns that they bring flooding and landslides that close roads. Fiji also lies in an earthquake zone, and tremors can set off tsunami alerts. The Fiji Meteorological Service and the National Disaster Management Office issue the warnings.

What visiting a village involves

Most land in Fiji belongs to iTaukei clans, and a visitor in the countryside is usually on village land. The UK advice asks visitors to cover shoulders and knees in rural villages and during kava ceremonies, and notes that topless bathing and public nudity are illegal. A visitor invited to a kava ceremony follows its protocol: clap once, take the cup, drink in one draught and hand it back. The same advice notes possible liver toxicity from kava.

Some laws differ from what visitors may expect. Possession of any amount of marijuana carries a three-month prison sentence. Same-sex relations were decriminalised in February 2010, and the UK advice notes local sensitivities in rural communities. The emergency number for ambulance, fire and police is 911.

Practical details are set out in the UK advice. Most tourist hotels and many restaurants take credit cards, but not every cash machine accepts every card. A local SIM card can be bought at Nadi International Airport and in shops, and has to be registered. Travellers arriving from a country with yellow fever risk need a vaccination certificate. Hospitals usually ask for payment in cash, and Britain has no reciprocal healthcare agreement with Fiji.

What lies under the water

Fiji's reefs carry a large number of soft corals, and scuba diving is a common activity, the main attraction on the outer islands in Wikipedia's account. Britannica lists diving, snorkelling, surfing, windsurfing and river rafting among the pursuits offered mainly to visitors. Because most coasts are fringed by reef, white-sand beaches are few and the surf is limited.

The water has its hazards. The UK advice warns of dangerous rip currents along reefs and river mouths, and notes that the only recompression chamber for divers is at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva and is not always working. Healthcare is limited in range, and serious cases are often flown to another country.