10 DAY FIJI ISLAND HOPPING ITINERARY

Get ready to explore tropical paradise as I unveil the beauty of Fiji through this epic 10 day island hopping itinerary. Dive into the heart of this South Pacific paradise, explore its cultural richness and idyllic weather. The best time of the year to enjoy its wonders is usually between May and September. Fiji is renowned for its warm hospitality and vibrant culture, and I can confirm that this is true. Fijians are some of the most happy, curious, respectful and welcoming people I have met!

WHEN TO VISIT FIJI

• MAY – SEPTEMBER – This is known as the dry season in Fiji when temperatures are a bit cooler, humidity is less and the skies are generally clear and blue. It is also manta ray season in Fiji.
• JULY & AUGUST – June- July is peak season and it is also when New Zealand and Australian school holidays are so if you don’t have to travel during school holidays, I would avoid this time.
• APRIL & OCTOBER – Lodging prices are reasonable during shoulder season and it is coming to the end of manta ray season in October, this is when I travelled and got mostly good weather and still spotted some manta ray.
• NOVEMBER TO MARCH – This is Fiji’s wet season, humidity increases, chances of thunderstorms and rain increases but prices of activities and accommodation decreases (except for during Christmas holiday period).

HOW TO GET TO FIJI?

Direct flights depart from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Auckland, Vancouver, LA and several other North American airports and Pacific Island airports. I flew from Sydney with Virgin Australia and the flight is about 4 hours long. Both Fiji Airways and Virgin Australia operate direct daily flights from Australia to Fiji’s main airport, Nadi International.

Fiji does have a second international airport, Nausori Airport, located in the capital city of Suva. However, if you plan on visiting Fiji’s most popular tourist regions of Denarau Island, the Coral Coast and the Mamanuca Islands, a direct flight to Nadi International Airport is the way to go.  

HOW TO GET AROUND FIJI?

Despite having over 300 islands to explore, getting around Fiji couldn’t be easier. If you wish to explore beyond your resort, there are plenty of ways to get around Fiji’s main islands of Viti Levu and Vanuatu Levu.  

Public Buses are available on the two main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu and are the most affordable mode of transport in Fiji (and probably the most adventurous too!). This being Fiji, don’t expect the buses to follow any set schedule, generally stopping wherever and whenever they like. However, they will get you to your destination safely.  There are also mini vans near the bus station in Nadi that go when they are full and will drop you out anywhere. They are the cheapest way to travel but not the most reliable as you don’t know when they will go, they wait until they have enough people on board.

For a slight extra cost, Fiji’s Express Coach Services are modern, comfortable and air-conditioned, offering a much more pleasant way to get from one side of an island to the other. Express services usually run every half hour along Viti Levu’s Queens Road, which takes you from Nadi to Sigatoka.  

If you’re staying on Denarau Island, one of the best ways to get around is via Hop-On Hop-Off Bus. The open-air Bula Bus runs every 10 to 15 minutes and stops at all of the main resorts and key tourist hotspots on the island.  

Taxi services are available on the islands of Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Taveuni and Ovalau. You can usually find taxi depots alongside bus stations in major towns – keep an eye out for number plates that start with ‘LT’, which all licensed taxis have. If the taxi has a meter, ensure you ask the driver to put it on to avoid being over charged.

Of course, hiring a car offers the most flexibility to explore Fiji at your own pace. Car Rentals are available across Fiji, including with familiar companies like Thrifty, Avis and Budget, so you can simply pick up or drop off your car at the location most convenient to you.  

Reaching other Fiji Islands

With eight different island groups to explore, no Fiji holiday is complete without a bit of island hopping! With 28 airports across the country, there are plenty of Domestic Flight options to get you where you want to go. Alternatively, there are several other ways to reach Fiji’s outer islands.  

The easiest way to travel between the Fijian Islands is via Ferry. There are several services from the main island, Viti Levu, to other island groups regularly departing each day. From Port Denarau Marina, you can reach the popular Mamanuca Islands in between 45 minutes to an hour, while the slightly more remote Yasawa Group can be reached in approximately four hours.  

Note that there is no transport directly from the Yasawa Island group to the Mamanuca Islands. You need to come back to the Port Denarau Marina to jump on to the ferry to other group of islands.

The Yasawa Flyer is the ferry that runs once a day through the Yasawa Islands. The company that takes care of the bookings of the ferries is Awesome Adventures Fiji. I used Cheap Az Travel to plan my itinerary for me and they took care of booking my airport transfer, ferry, accommodation on the islands and accommodation back on Viti Levu. You can use my discount code: IRISHONTHERUN for the best prices on any Fiji packages.

10 DAY FIJI ITINERARY

DAY 1-2

Arrived in Nadi, Fiji’s main gateway to the islands and check into one of the resorts near Denarau Island. Denarau Island is only a 20 minute drive or less from the airport and means you are close to the Port to take off on your island hopping adventure. There is a complimentary shuttle from the resorts to the Port included in your ferry ticket.

I stayed in the Sofitel Fiji Resort and I highly recommend this hotel. It has recently undergone a massive refurbishment and the rooms are so beautiful. The hotel has plenty of activities for adults and kids, three restaurants, two swimming pools, an adults only beach club (this is an additional cost), a fully equipped gym and the best selection at the buffet breakfast I have ever seen. It is right on the beach and the staff are some of the nicest people I met in Fiji.

This hotel isn’t cheap but it is well worth the splurge for a few nights. I paid $710 for two nights in superior king room with breakfast included.

DAY 3- 5: BLUE LAGOON RESORT

The complimentary shuttle bus will arrive to your hotel early to pick you up at approximately 8 am to check in to the ferry. The ferry north bound departs Port Denarau at 8.45 am. I headed to Blue Lagoon as my first stop. I preferred to get the big ferry journey out of the way on my first day and only have shorter periods on the ferry for the rest of the trip. The ferry from Port Denarau to reach Blue Lagoon Resort takes 4 hours, which is the furthest stop on the Yasawa Flyer. I arrived to Blue Lagoon at 1 pm in time for lunch. The resorts have a range of accommodation from beach cabins overlooking the water to dorms beds which are very reasonably priced. As I was travelling solo on this trip, I booked into dorm room accommodation for my time on the islands. You must pay for a meal package when you reach the resorts, note there is no shops or other restaurants on the islands and it is mandatory to purchase a meal package from the resort. This can be expensive for backpackers trying to explore Fiji on a budget but for three meals a day and dinner being a five course meal in some resorts, I thought the meal packages were good value. The meal package in Blue Lagoon was $180 Fijian Dollars ($122 AUD).

After lunch, have a look at what activities are on the board. The activities change daily and some of the must do activities from Blue Lagoon are:

• Mountain summit hike
• Local village visit
• Sawa-I- Lau cave tour
• Snorkelling off the reef

The village visit tour was on the afternoon I arrived departing at 2.30 pm from the resort. This well worth going on to support the local villages and appreciate a similar way of life. If you have time, pick up some stationary and games or a football before getting on the ferry. These will be appreciated so much more than bringing candy to the children in the village.

Dinner is served between 6-8 pm and the food is of an extremely high standard in Blue Lagoon, it and its sister resort, Octopus Resort, have the best food of all the resorts. They often have some entertainment- live music, trivia night or Kava making ceremony in the evenings. Everyone from the dorms tends to sit together on a dorm table so I found it really easy to meet people.

DAY 4- BLUE LAGOON RESORT

I went on a sunrise mountain summit hike with another fellow traveler. The view from the summit is a 360 view of the island and truly beautiful. I recommend doing this for either sunset or sunrise (I did both!) when the weather isn’t as warm. The trail is well marked out and steep in some sections and I recommend doing in trainers and not flip flops. The hike is relatively easy and took us 40 minutes. If it has been raining the day before, the path will be very muddy and slippery.

After the hike I had breakfast which is excellent in Blue Lagoon. There is a buffet breakfast of cereals, bread, fruit, juice and coffee and a menu where you can order one dish of the hot breakfast menu.

After breakfast the boat was departing for the Sawa- I- Lau cave tour. This tour is $89 Fijian dollars and one of the few resorts that offers tours to the caves as it is one of the closest islands to the caves. The boat ride alone to the caves is beautiful, the tour is worth it for that alone. You can jump off the inner walls of the cave and snorkel there so bring swimmers and a snorkel from the resort. The tour took about 3 hours so we were back for lunch time.

Lunch here is a la carte and chosen off the menu. The food here is one of the best of the resorts in the Yasawa Islands. After lunch there was a snorkeling tour a ten minute boat drive from the resort but the snorkeling is just as good if not better from the reef right on the beach outside the resort. I saw a spotted eagle ray and I heard others saw a turtle to the far left of the resort along the reef. Blue Lagoon also has an overwater trampoline which was great fun.

DAY 5 BLUE LAGOON TO BAREFOOT MANTA

I woke up to the most stunning day on the island so far and made the most of some beach time after another delicious breakfast. The next stop on the island hopping itinerary is Barefoot Manta. The ferry south bound departs at 1.30 pm from Blue Lagoon and takes about two hours to get to Barefoot Manta. Barefoot Manta’s dorm accommodation is safari tent style with no air conditioning and right on the beach. Thankfully due to the sea breeze it was nice and cool and I didn’t notice any mosquitos. The food in Barefoot Manta is a mix between buffet for dinner and three course meal that you chose the night before. It is not as expensive as the meal packages at Blue Lagoon and the quality is noticeably lower but it is still good food and a great selection at the breakfast buffet.

DAY 6 BAREFOOT MANTA

The snorkeling and diving on Barefoot Manta is some of the best. Barefoot Manta Island Resort is the only resort in Fiji with a dedicated Marine Conservation Centre. It is managed by our in-house Marine Biologist who is extremely passionate about conservation. They have the option of doing a conservation dive and planting coral. Since the inception of Barefoot Manta Island Resort over 4000 square metres of coral has been planted by the Marine Conservation Centre. The centre’s conservation programme extends to it’s resident Fiji Manta Ray population, it’s an ongoing contributor to the Manta Ray Trust, a global organisation dedicated to research and the conservation of Fiji Manta Rays. 

You can visit the Marine Conservation Centre on the island where a free scheduled presentation is made daily. I took part in a conservation dive where we planted coral in the nurseries. This is a very different dive to what I have ever done before. Later that afternoon I did another dive where we saw lots of coral, tropical fish, turtles and some reef sharks.

If you are not a diver, the snorkeling right off the beach is beautiful and you can see nearly as much. There was a resident reef shark along the beach while I was there.

DAY 6 BAREFOOT MANTA TO OCTOPUS RESORT

Barefoot Manta Island Resort is perfectly located on one side of the deep natural channel that runs between it and Naviti Island funnels strong nutrient rich currents through it’s waters. This provides a favourite feeding ground for migrating Pacific Manta Rays between the main months of May to October. With nature there are no guarantees but the Manta Rays are usually there every day during the season. It is one of the few locations in Fiji where you can be up close and personal with these majestic creatures of the sea. I was there in October which is coming to the end of the season and we had been warned that the beating of the ceremonial drum and calls of “Manta Rays, Manta Rays’ could occur at anytime. The conservation team have drones up throughout the day to spot the manta rays. We heard the drums beat at 6 am and within a few minutes, were on the boat to the middle of the channel and swimming with a resident manta who is well known to the conservation team.

The afternoon I boared the ferry south to Octopus Resort, a sister resort of Blue Lagoon on the island of Waya. The ferry journey takes 45 minutes from Barefoot Manta on the South Sea Cruises ferry. This is one of the more luxury resorts of the Yasawa Island group that can be accessed with the Awesome Adventures pass and has dorms style accommodation up to beautiful beachfront bungalows. The meal package here is a bit more expensive than Barefoot Manta but well worth it as the food is exceptional.

The resort has a lovely pool and two bars with plenty of activities on the board. I relaxed the by the pool for the rest of the afternoon when I arrived and enjoyed some cocktails at the sunset bar.

Island activites on offer:

• Mountain summit hike (paid)
• Reef shark snorkeling (paid)
• Scuba diving (paid)
• Local village visit (free)
• Movie night (free)
• Quiz night (free)
• Kava ceremony (free)

DAY 7 OCTOPUS RESORT

The mountain summit to the highest peak on the island is a challenging hike that takes approximately three hours and cannot be done without a guide. I set off as part of an earlier group at 6 am, which I was very grateful that the resort were running two groups as it got so hot later in the morning. The hike is difficult but could be done by most fitness levels, there is a part towards the end where you are using a rope to pull yourself up but that makes it all the more interesting. In my group there were a couple in their late 60s and they managed fine. The views from the summit give you a beautiful 360 degree view of the island. This activity was F$50 which was paid to the guide.

After a delicious breakfast of french toast and eggs, I went on the village visit to the local village located on the island. The majority of the workers in the resort live in the village. A few times a week visitors are invited to walk across the hill to visit nearby Naulawaki village. To visit the village, women must have their shoulders and knees covered so bring a sarong or some long pants with you. The ladies from the village gather on the local field to sell a variety of handmade local art and crafts and the kids sell coconuts so bring some cash with you. Nalauwaki is the home of roughly 300 people and you must be with a local guide and cannot visit alone. As the village is private property, you must make sure that the elders have been warned of your visit and that you are accompanied by someone from the village. We visited the school on the island and met the teacher and learnt about how the children gain an education on the island. Octopus Resort built the kindergarten for the children. When they get too old to attend, the children attend a boarding school on another island. Octopus Resort takes care of the transportation, the cost of education and the food. During the visit, visitors are given the chance to contribute to the education of the children of Nalauwaki by giving a bit of money to a donation box.

After feeling very privileged and humbled on the village visit, I had another great group dinner in Octopus Resort with some other people I had met in the dorms and finished the evening with a movie night. A large screen was set up around the pool and there’s free popcorn and ice cream.

DAY 7 OCTOPUS RESORT TO BAREFOOT KUATA
After a leisurely breakfast and most of the day relaxing on the sillica sand beach in front of Octopus Resort, I caught the ferry to Barefoot Kuata. Barefoot Kuata is only a short 25 minute trip on the ferry and leaves Octopus Resort at 3.45 pm south bound. I had prebooked the one activity and sole reason I wanted to visit Barefoot Kuata- diving with bull sharks.

Activities on the island:

• Snorkeling with reef tip sharks
• Scuba diving with bull sharks
• Island summit hike

The accommodation on the island is very similar to Barefoot Manta, dorm accommodation in safari tents and also luxury glamping beach front accommodation. The meals here are buffet style with a beautiful view of the ocean and several small pools in this hangout area for guests only.

This is one of the few islands that can be visited on a day trip from the mainland as the ferry north bound will arrive at 10.30 am and can pick you up on the way back at 4.30 pm giving you plenty of time to explore the island and also join on the 11 am scuba dive with the bull sharks.

Island Summit Hike

The island summit hike is a relatively short and easy hike to the highest peak on the island which gives 360 views of the island. I woke up and did this for sunrise before the bull shark dive. It takes about 40 minutes one way.

Snorkeling with Fiji Sharks

Barefoot Kuata Island Resort operates snorkeling with Fiji Sharks tours (pending sea conditions) daily. The sharks you will encounter are white and black tip reef sharks that are completely harmless. You’ll travel 20 minutes on a boat to Moia Reef where you’ll encounter resident Reef Sharks. This is an escorted tour where Barefoot Kuata Island Resort’s experienced and knowledgeable dive team will look after you and introduce you to Moia Reef’s resident population of friendly and inquisitive Reef Sharks.

Bull Shark Scuba Dive

Departing twice a day, 8 am and 11 am, the shark dive with bull sharks is a thrilling adventure that both certified and introductory (non-certified) divers can experience. Ecological best practice ensures the dive has no negative impact on the sharks combined with strict OHS best practice to ensure diver safety. The dive site is about 30 minutes via boat from the resort and before we reached the shark feeding area, the coral was beautiful to see and admire on the safety stop on the way back up too. The shark are hand fed here in what is known as ‘the arena’. Once down near the arena, you sit behind a small stone wall to observe the sharks. Behind us we had the guides with aluminum rods to guide the shark away from the divers if they got too close and curious. The dive lasted about 40 minutes and you can bring down under water camera but you must be careful to keep them close to your person and not extend your arm. As the shark feeders feed the shark tuna heads by hand, they may mistake your GoPro as a snack. Ecological best practice ensures the dive has no negative impact on the sharks combined with strict OHS best practice to ensure diver safety. The tuna being fed makes up less than 1% of the sharks diet so it doesn’t interfere with natural hunting habits.

DAY 8 BAREFOOT KUATA TO PACIFIC HARBOUR

After the morning dive, I relaxed for the rest of the day before catching the ferry back south bound to Port Denarau. I met a guy at one the resorts early in my trip who convinced me the best shark diving was in Pacific Harbour on the Coral Coast, almost a three hour drive from Nadi. After hearing from several people that the sharking diving experience was far superior to what I had experienced in Barefoot Kuata, I rearranged my plans and only stayed one night in Barefoot Kuata, and made my way towards Pacific Harbour when I arrived in Port Denarau. There are several ways of getting from Port Derarau to the Coral Coast; my public bus, my shared mini van or by taxi.

As I was traveling solo I opted for the mini van, I was told it was going to be quicker and cheaper than the bus but this wasn’t the case with the former. It took close to four hours and the minivan driver almost feel asleep at the wheel and swerved off the road at one point. Several screams from everyone in the van and he sharply woke up. The mini vans don’t depart at set times like the buses, they leave when they are full, quite is good and bad. You won’t miss the last one but you might have to wait around for 45 minutes until it fills up before it leaves.

I stayed in Uprising Beach Resort and the mini van dropped me right to the door. The hotel is a very basic 3* resort with nice private rooms but very very basic dorm rooms. I stayed in a private room for the price of a dorm as the dorms were booked out for a rugby team at the time. The breakfast here was basically juice and different types of bread so I wouldn’t advise this hotel if you are coming for anymore than one night. It was perfect for what I needed it for, a bed the night before being picked up for diving with Beqa Adventure Divers.

DAY 9 PACIFIC HARBOUR

Beqa Adventures Diving offer a free pick up and drop off shuttle bus service to hotels in Pacific Harbour. I was picked up at 8 am and after getting our gear, we boarded the boat to take us to the first dive site and had a briefing on board. This was hands down easily one of the best diving experiences of over 50 dives I have done. This a much for up close and personal experience with many species of shark compared to the day the previous day. For this dive, you must be a certified and experienced diver as the dive takes you to 30m depth. And this is where the action begins at 30m, where you will spend 10-12 minutes overlooking The Arena. The bull sharks rule the arena and are aerial fed where tuna heads are dropped from a suspended bait bin. We didn’t see any on our dive but Tiger Sharks are known to make an appearance from time to time. This was completely safe with plenty of guides protecting the divers with aluminum rods to discourage the sharks if they got too close to the divers. Sharks don’t have a the best eye sight, they are not interested in attacking or eating humans, they are just curious as to what we are.

Once the first level has concluded, we swam up the slope to 10m.  Here there are Lemon, Slivertip, Grey Reef and Whitetip reef shark. There is a hand feeder who controls the action and hands out pieces of bait. During the safety stop at 3 meters there is amazing coral and smaller White and Blacktip Reef sharks. It was only of the most interesting safety stops I’ve ever made.

The dive is a two tank dive, the second one was similar but the Bull Sharks were more aggressive the second time around and jostling for a better position under the aerial bin with the food. We went to another location and this time there wasn’t a wall that the divers sat behind, the sharks were less than a meter a way at times. The dive before lunch time and we arrived back to the dive shop by 12.30 pm. This left us with some time to shower, grab some lunch and head back to Nadi. I met two others on the dive who were also heading back to Nadi so rather than risking my life and spending hours longer than necessary in a mini van, we shared a taxi back which was $200 AUD between us for the three hour drive. I stayed in Club Fiji Resort for my final night in Fiji, a budget friendly beach front resort with two pools, a bar and restaurant and just a ten minute drive away from Nadi city centre and the airport. It was perfect for those on a budget or traveling solo but it wouldn’t be my pick if I was coming for a holiday in Nadi or looking for any kind of luxury.

If you have time, I would recommend staying an extra night and not coming all this way just for one night on the Coral Coast. There are plenty of beautiful resorts and beaches on this part of the island.

DAY 10 NADI

I had a half day in Nadi to kill and there is a few things to do there along with some beautiful resorts.

Things to do in Nadi:

Walk the Garden of the Sleeping Giant

The Garden of The Sleeping Giant gets its name from the mountain that, from a distance, looks like it has the outline of a sleeping giant! The garden itself is a large property with incredible landscaping. The gardens have over 2000 varieties of orchids! Throughout the gardens are pathways that take you through different scenes including a rain forest, a lily pond, a swing area, and even a lookout point (for a more strenuous walk).

Take A Mud Bath at Sabeto Hot Springs

Just up the (dirt) road from the Garden of the Sleeping Giant are the Sabeto Hot Springs! The beautiful grounds include a changing area and a kind Fijian guide to walk you through mud bath and the 5 different pools. Begin with slathering warm mud all over your body. They say this mud includes antibiotic properties and other minerals beneficial to skin – you will leave feeling younger AND looking younger!  After letting the mud dry you will enter into the first hot pool to rinse it off. There are a total of 5 pools to go through, and you can stay in each as long as you’d like (or bear!). 

Buy Fresh, Local Fruit From the Namaka Market

The Namaka Market is located in the heart of Nadi in a large open-air building lined with tables of fresh, local items: fruit, vegetables, herbs, some baked goods, and even some seafood items! Make sure you have cash on you.

Visit The Beautiful Sri Siva Subramaniya Temple

You can’t miss this colorful Hindu temple in the center of Nadi. Not far from the Handicraft Market and Namaka Market, this is a quick stop to see more of another dominant culture in Fiji. There is a small admission fee to enter, and you must be wearing clothes that cover your knees, if not they will provide you with sarongs. You can take pictures outside the temple, but pictures are not allowed on the inside which is filled with beautiful artwork.

Take A Boat To Cloud 9

For a unique experience, check out Cloud 9! Cloud 9 is only accessible by boat as it, well, is floating in the middle of the ocean. I didn’t have an extra day but this had come highly recommended to me by plenty of friends who had visited Fiji. It has a pizzeria, cocktail bar, DJs, day beds, and incredible 360 views! It is a great day trip from Nadi relaxing in one of the few floating bars/pizzerias in the world! You do need to make a reservation ahead of time, you can book trough most hotels in Nadi or directly through Cloud 9 itself.

I booked my Fiji trip with Cheap Az Travel and they took care of booking my airport transfers, accommodation and ferry to island hop between the islands. If you are looking for a stress free and affordable way to visit Fiji, get in touch with Cheap Az Travel and use the code: IRISHONTHERUN for discount off your next trip.

I hope my Fiji travel guide has inspired you to visit this beautiful Pacific Island.