Is Fiji worth the Hype? Our Honest Experience + Travel Guide
Fiji is known for being a tropical paradise in Oceania with crystal clear blue waters, and an amazing place to have a relaxing vacation. It’s is a long ways away from NYC, but we have heard good things and always wanted to go. This past year (2025) Fiji Airways launched a direct flight from Dallas to Fiji which made it much for convenient for us to go from New York! We spent a week in Fiji and loved our time there, so here’s our honest experience and travel tips for visiting!
Some fun facts about Fiji
It’s made up of 300+ islands
Their traditional drink is kava - made from the root of a pepper plant
The Fijian greeting is “Bula”, it means hello and you will hear locals saying it all the time!
Fiji is just west of the International Date Line, so it’s one of the first places in the world to welcome each new day and one of the earliest time zones!
How to get around Fiji
The main island of Fiji, Viti Levu, is the largest of all the Fijian islands. The main cities are Nadi (where the airport is located) and Suva which is the capital. There are accommodations all over the island (which is about 90 miles long and 60 miles wide) and most tend to be resorts. You can rent a car to get around and explore, but if you stay at a resort on the beach (like we did), you don’t need to rent a car and you can just book day tours that come with transportation pick up. It’s all up to how you prefer to travel and what your budget is!
Where to Stay in Fiji
We stayed at the Shangri-La Yanuca Island, which is a luxury resort located right on the beach. It’s near Sigatoka (south of Nadi) and it took about an hour to get there from the airport. The Shangri-La has tons of different packages for you to chose from, as well as 3 pools, private beach access, mini golf and tennis on premises, and many dining options.
We chose the Shangri-La because it’s on a swimmable beach. A lot of the other hotels we found were located closer to Nadi or Denarau (where most of the boat trips leave from) and the beaches over there tend to not be as nice to swim in. Shangri-La also has an adults only section (which we did not stay in because it was more expensive, but the option is there if you want it) with an adults only pool as well.
Most resorts in Fiji tend to be all inclusive or have dining on the property because they tend to be in remote locations, away from restaurants and shops. We dined most of the time at one of the 7 restaurants in the hotel, but we did not chose the all inclusive package because for us it was cheaper not to.
Best Things to do in Fiji
Sigatoka River Safari
Cruisin Fiji Boat Tour
Kava Ceremony
Mondriki Island
Cruisin Fiji Boat Tour to “Cast Away” Island - Our favorite activity we did in Fiji was the Cruisin Fiji boat tour that stopped at 3 islands — Mana Sand Island, Monu Island for snorkeling, and Modriki Island where they filmed the movie “Cast Away” with Time Hanks! This tour was amazing and inlcuded a lovo lunch (with vegan options). This tour left from Port Denarau and we paid extra for them to pick us up and drop us off at our hotel!
Sigatoka River Safari - a jet-boat cruise through Fiji’s longest river, the Sigatoka. You get on a jet boat tour of the island and get to visit a local village as well. We learned so much about the history of Fiji on this tour which we loved!
Experience a kava ceremony - the traditional Fijian drink made from the root of the pepper plant. It’s considered sacred and participating in a kava ceremony is seen as bonding. We got to attend a kava ceremony in a local village on the Sigatoka River Safari tour!
Try lovo food - traditional Fijian way of preparing a meal, kind of like an underground barbecue
Find more tours & activities in Fiji here on Expedia!
Is Fiji Worth The Hype?
We are so glad we got to visit Fiji because it’s somewhere we have always wanted to go. It’s a very unique destination, and we even visited during the rainy season (March) and still had such a great experience with mostly sunny days. We definitely think Fiji is worth the hype, but we recommend trying to get out of your resort to explore more of the island. There is so much more to Fiji than just sitting on your hotel beach! Make sure you do day tours if you can, and try and see some of the other islands (like we did with Cruisin Fiji) because they are some of the most beautiful in the country.
If you want to see everything we did on our trip to Fiji, make sure you check out our Fiji YouTube vlog below!
As always, all opinions are honest and our own. Some links on this post are affiliate links of which we receive a small commission, but the price is the same for you.