Fiji, Fiji

300 islands, soft coral capital of the world, and the friendliest welcome in the Pacific. Dry May to October.

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Best time to visit

Month	High	Low	Rain	Season
Jan	29°	22°	374 mm
Feb	29°	23°	323 mm
Mar	28°	23°	290 mm
Apr	28°	22°	204 mm
May	26°	21°	143 mm	prime
Jun	25°	20°	109 mm	prime
Jul	25°	19°	91 mm	prime
Aug	25°	19°	130 mm	prime
Sep	26°	20°	151 mm	prime
Oct	27°	20°	207 mm	prime
Nov	28°	21°	217 mm
Dec	28°	22°	319 mm

30-year averages (1995–2024) from ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo. Rain is the monthly total.

Serves travellers at Backpacker→Ultra-luxury level. Typically around $200 a day on the ground.

Ranges are typical costs, not quotes. Check the real price before you book.

Cards work at resorts and in Nadi; cash for villages, markets and boat crews. Tipping is not traditional.
money · editorial
Village visits expect covered shoulders and knees, and hats come off. Boat timetables, not flight times, shape your first and last day.
know before · editorial
The wet season runs through the southern summer and carries the cyclone risk along with the worst of the humidity.
when not to go · editorial
The Coral Coast and Denarau for easy access and family resorts. The Mamanucas for short boat transfers. The Yasawas for quieter and simpler places further out. Taveuni and Vanua Levu for diving and rainforest, and a longer journey to reach them.
where to stay · editorial
Boats and small planes between islands. On Viti Levu, buses and taxis along the coastal road. On a small island you walk, and there is nothing to drive.
getting around · editorial
Nadi on Viti Levu is the international airport. Most islands are another leg: a catamaran ferry to the Mamanucas and Yasawas, or a light aircraft to the outer groups.
getting there · editorial

Denarau harbour
Where almost every boat to the islands leaves from.
Nadi municipal market
Kava, taro and stacked fruit. The side of the island that is not a resort.
Yasawa Islands
The line of islands to the north, four hours by catamaran.
The Mamanuca Islands
The nearest islands, with the shallow reefs between them.
Sigatoka sand dunes
Two-thousand-year-old dunes with archaeological sites inside them.

Eat kokoda, the fish cured in coconut milk
Eat a lovo cooked under the ground
Hot stones, banana leaf, and hours of waiting.
Eat kokoda, raw fish in coconut milk
Citrus and coconut. It does not look like much, and it is.

Sit through a kava ceremony in a village and drink when it is offered
Join a kava ceremony in a village, with your shoulders covered
Clap once before, three times after. Ask before taking photographs.
Spend a whole day with no phone signal
On several of the islands it is not a choice.

Snorkel over a soft coral reef
Fiji is known for them, and soft coral is the most colourful kind.