Fiji is 10 hours from Hong Kong.  In my opinion there’s a lot better beaches and hotels in SE Asia.  If you’re thinking about Fiji and live in Asia, I’d give it a miss as you can find much better destinations and service in Asia.  This is one of the most important bits of Fiji travel tips and advice you can get!

If you’ve already made a booking and can’t refund, the only direct flight is Fiji Airways.  On the way back it’s a codeshare with Cathay, BA and something else. The flight from Hong Kong to Nadi is freezing, ask for two blankets when you get on and bring long pants and a sweatshirt.

Don’t stay at the Shangri-La, it’s an hour from the airport, is packed with families, has no privacy, and the service is painfully slow.  The Intercontinental is twice the price but probably worth it. It’s half the distance, a lot nicer and has a better beach. You can read more about the Shangri-La here, but honestly, save yourself some time and don’t stay there unless you love massive family resorts where you have to cue up for breakfast, lunch and dinner and wait 45-60 minutes to get food.

Fiji can get a bit chilly. Not chilly, but when it rains, the temperature can get to around 15-18, so bring a light jacket and/or rain jacket.  It’s also humid and damp and not like most resorts where if you leave your togs out overnight of a few hours during the day they’ll be dry. They don’t actually every dry unless you have them in the sun. I washed a pair of shorts, hung them outside and 3 days later they were still wet.

The snorkelling isn’t that great, the coral has been stood on as there’s quite a big difference between low and high tide. In a few more years, all the coral is going to be dead near the shores.  It’s already unhealthy. There’s way better places in Asia for snorkelling.  So if you’re coming here to dive or snorkel, my Fiji travel tips for you would be look somewhere else.

Everything happens in slow motion in Fiji so if you’re impatient twat like myself, you’re going to find Fiji very frustrating.  Most of the people are nice and friendly enough but I’ve been to other places where people are nicer, more efficient and well, actually grasp the concept of hospitality and the fact people have choices these days.  

Most of the Island tours leave from Nadi so unless you plan on staying at your hotel your entire visit, I strongly suggest you pick a hotel not too far from Nadi.  The Intercontinental looked nice, twice the price as the Shangri-La but a much better beach.

Food in Fiji was ok, pretty typical of what you’d expect on an island resort – nothing great but edible.  We had four restaurants at the Shangri-La, the Italian was probably the best, Beach Bar & Grill was pretty ordinary and painfully slow, and the Asian nearer our room was pretty average. Usually it starts off tasting pretty good because you’ve waited so long to to get your dish it makes you hungry and appreciative of any food, but the more you eat the more you realise that actually the food isn’t that great.