My girlfriend and I took a trip to Fiji in October of last year, and were lucky enough to visit 3 great resorts along the way. I never did make a review of my trip, so I am going to give you short review of what I experienced during my trip and let you know about the resorts I visited.
The first resort we went to was Castaway Island Resort out in the Mamanuca island group of Fiji. The resort offers some beautiful white sandy beaches, and some crystal clear blue water. Their beachfront bures are just that, and some of the closest to the water I have seen in Fiji. They are a little small on the inside, but make up for it with the traditional Fijian decor on the inside and the location right on the sand. There are a ton of activities to do there during your stay like kayaking, snorkeling, windsurfing, scuba diving, and even banana boat rides. The resort is very child friendly, so if you are a family traveling it would be a perfect fit. The food was really good there, and the staff is very friendly. We stayed here for only two nights, but my girlfriend could have stayed for many more!
Here are a few pictures from this part of the trip.
Next we headed down to Beqa Lagoon and to Lalati Resort and Spa. This is a smaller resort than Castaway was and offers a bit more privacy and a tropical setting. They have a total of only 10 bures total and 4 different categories at this resort. We stayed in their Beachfront Honeymoon Villa which was huge and very unique. My favorite part was the huge enclosed courtyard that has an outdoor shower, daybed, and even a private jacuzzi. You can open up some sliding doors in front of the jacuzzi to also have a view of the ocean as you sit in it. I also really liked the huge front deck that had a table and chairs, and also a very relaxing hammock. This resort also offers a lot of activities including kayaking, private picnics, hiking, nature walks, snorkeling, scuba diving, and some great Fijian cultural demonstrations. My favorite would be the Beqa Firewalkers! The diving in this area is excellent and I was able to go out diving with the crew one day. Also, the snorkeling right off the shore there was very good. One great surprise I had was that the food there was very good, and the fresh cookies delivered to your room every morning were often gone within minutes. We had a great time here, and I will be going back again to do some more diving!
Here are a few pictures from this part of the trip.
The third and final resort we headed to up in the Northern Islands was Matangi Private Island Resort, which is one of my favorites to visit. This was my third time at Matangi and the staff there is now like a part of my extended family. You will see in the last picture below the greeting and farewell you get from the them when you arrive and depart. The resort has white sandy beaches, luxurious but traditional Fijian bures, excellent food, and a ton of things to do during your stay. They have recently redone the interior of their Deluxe Beachfront Bures and Honeymoon Treehouse Bures to now offer 4 poster beds with a built in cooling system that is designed to keep you cool at night, but still allow you to keep your windows open to hear the ocean. They are really nice! Another thing I really like about Matangi is how spread out all the bures are from each other, which makes the resort very private. The snorkeling and diving in this area is also very good. We did plenty of snorkeling and I did a few days of diving, and it was great. We also did some deep sea fishing and I did catch a pretty good sized Wahoo, which the resort cooked special for us that very same night for dinner. It was amazing! Another great thing about Matangi is their private cove called Horseshoe Bay. Here they have now built a new bure full with bathroom and shower, and even a build in BBQ. They dropped us off here for a private picnic with some snacks, a bottle of champagne, some snorkeling gear, and a cell phone to call them when we were ready to return to the resort. The service here is some of the best I have experienced in Fiji, and you can tell the staff really enjoys working there! We stayed for a total of 6 nights here to end our trip, and I could have stayed 6 more. I love it there and I can’t wait to go back again!!
Here are a few pictures from this portion of the trip.
Until next time!
Gregory Cole
South Seas Adventures, Travel Specialist