Malamala Beach Club island in the Mamanca Islands of Fiji
The words “easy” and “affordable” usually don’t go in the same sentence as “Fiji islands”, but after my recent solo travels there, I have some solid travel tips to make that a reality!
Full honesty: I normally can get collaborations in most countries, but Fiji was not one of them! So I paid for everything out of pocket, and I’m very frugal yet also a bit bougie, therefore I did everything on an “adventure luxury” budget!
That being said, if you appreciate all of these free travel tips, PLEASE use my affiliate links in this post to book your trip so I at least make a little bit of my moolah back! It costs nothing for you but at least gives a little back to me! Thank you!
PS! Don’t forget there’s a lot more travel tips, videos, photos, and behind-the-scenes on my social media accounts! It’s @MyLifesATravelMovie on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter!
Ok now on to the good stuff!
Fiji is located in the South Pacific Islands, just east of Australia and close to other small country islands like Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Samoa, and Tonga. It is made up of 332 islands! So that being said, make sure you try to see a few of them!
That being said:
There’s not much to do in Nadi besides the airport. Sure, there’s a beach area, but it’s nothing compared to the beaches of the nearby islands! There’s also some day trips in Nadi, but again, nothing compared to Yasawa or Mamanca Islands!
Denarau is considered an island, but it’s pretty much still part of the main island. It’s about a ten minute drive from Nadi, and it’s where all the fancy expensive resorts are.
Another tip I have for flexible travelers is to combine your Fiji trip with other travels in the South Pacific Islands or Australia. I was already traveling in Papua New Guinea, and it was extremely easy and cheap for me to find one way flights from PNG to Solomons, then to Vanuatu, then to Fiji!
The more expensive part was getting back to USA, but I found a pretty decent one way flight for around $800 to Los Angeles direct on Fiji Airways, and then I got a $150 flight from LA to Miami!
I always use this website to play around with the dates using flexible dates option, in order to find the cheapest flights!
The airport to fly into/out of is Nadi International Airport.
Taxis in Fiji are pretty expensive, especially from the airport, but most hotels do not offer free airport transfers, so you have to pay for one or arrange through your hotel.
A taxi from the airport to my hotel which was only about 7 minutes away was $20 (eye roll).
But I found a cheaper options if you book online: $7 Private Transfer with Supermarket Stop!
Use the above option if you need to stay at a hotel for the night you arrive/depart, otherwise if you book a tour, you get a transfer included!
Here’s some other Fiji Travel Tips for when you arrive in Nadi:
If you’re staying in Nadi or anywhere else, and you need to get to Port Denarau for the ferry or tours, you have a few options.
Well if you’re doing a tour like the ones below, your transfer is included, which is mostly ideal! The only non-ideal part as I mentioned above, is there are set pick up and departure times. Plus you have to wait while the bus stops at all the hotels.
I did the tour transfer to get to Port Denarau and it wasn’t too bad, only about a 30 minute ride.
However on the way back, I was worried about getting to the airport on time, so I paid around $25 for a taxi, which I negotiated, and I thought it was a good deal. Especially since they charged me $20 to get from the airport to my Nadi hotel…
Unless you arrive super early in Nadi to catch the 9am tour transfer pickup, you’ll likely need to stay in Nadi or Denarau the first night. Same thing applies if you don’t have a late flight on your departure day, because all tour transfers back depart at 6pm and take 1-2 hours to get you to your hotel.
Nadi is a lot more affordable, but still expensive. You have some options by the beach, but my goal was to stay near the airport to make it easier to do the island hopping trip.
Although it’s nothing fancy, I really appreciated the Mercure near the airport! Please use this link when you’re ready to book it! I mostly liked that they let me store my luggage there for the 3 nights I was away, and again the proximity to the airport.
If you want to splurge for a fancy hotel in Denarau, check out some of the deals below!
When I say the “best outer Fiji islands”, I’m talking about the closest ones to get to from Nadi/Denarau. There’s still hundreds of other islands, but they require flights or very long ferries!
The islands you want to aim for that are close by, are the Yasawa Islands and Mamanca Islands. That’s where you’ll find the crystal clear water surrounding drops of islands, with really beautiful coral and sea life!
Below you’ll find the tours that will take you to those islands!
As I mentioned, my top tip for Fiji is to GET OUT OF NADI ASAP! There are so many beautiful islands, try to see as man as possible!
TRAVEL TIP: there are three types of islands; ones with lush greenery and accommodations, ones that are basically just sand islands, and ones that are man-made floating barges! I’ll get to them all!
Important Things to Note About These Tours:
Alright here’s my top recommendations:
Costs Starting at:
This is the tour I did and I really liked it! I stayed at a beautiful bula on South Sea Island, but there’s not much to do there, which is great if you want to relax. They also have unlimited drinks only on this island! Then I spent the other two nights on Manta Ray island, and paid extra to add on the shark dive on Kuata Island so I got to spend a day there. Then I did the free pass to Malamala Beach club on the last day which was AMAZING!
Costs Starting at:
This shorter tour also takes you to South Sea Island, and then also to Kuata Island where it includes snorkeling with reef sharks. I’d highly recommend upgrading to do the bull shark dive though, it was absolutely amazing! And you don’t need to be certified to do it, but it’s cheaper if you are!
Costs Starting at:
If you’d like to plan your own accommodations, which is recommended if you want to spend more time on certain islands, or stay longer than 8 days, you can just get a hop on hop off ferry pass. It only includes the ferry and transfers to/from Denarau port.
Costs Are:
If you’re short on time, or read this post too late and already booked your hotel in Nadi or Denarau the whole time, you can still do some day trips to the islands!
It’s much more expensive than doing the multi day trips, but in my opinion it’s still worth it!
Here’s some Fiji Islands Day Trips I’d recommend:
Malamala Beach Club Island : Cost: $75 (half day) I REALLY loved this beach club on its own private island! It was just so fabulous, fun, and relaxing! There were amazing snorkeling areas, free paddleboards and canoes, and the food/drink pricing wasn’t that bad! A beach chair and towel is included, and there’s pretty good wifi! The main infinity pool is stunning, but get there fast for photos, as it quickly gets taken over by children. To avoid them, walk farther past the main pool to a small adults only pool area!
Kuata Island Shark Snorkel : Cost: $176 (Additional $200+ for the shark DIVE) If you’d like an adrenaline rush, do this day trip to Kuata Island where you can snorkel with reef sharks! Again, I recommend upgrading to do the dive with bull sharks! You don’t need to be certified, but book far in advance!
South Sea Island : (Cost $115) This is a less fancy version of Malamala, it’s also a lot smaller, no infinity pools, BUT, the food AND alcohol are included. That’s basically the main perk. I still preferred Malamala!
Cloud 9 Floating Barge Club : This is a pretty popular place according to reviews! I didn’t have time to go to it, but it’s a two-story floating day club type thing, with wood-fired pizzas! It’s surrounded by beautiful waters perfect for swimming and snorkeling, and $26 of the fee can be used for food and drink. Cost: $109
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xx, Alyssa
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