Accommodation
As you’d expect, the capital has a decent variety of accommodation, although it’s the one place in Fiji you won’t find palm-fringed resorts, thanks to the lack of nearby beaches. The only time it’s difficult to find a room is at Christmas or during the Hibiscus Festival (usually the school holidays in Aug). Suva South and Central are the best options for most visitors, being close to the top restaurants and bars as well as the Fiji Museum. Suva North is distinctly seedier, with several hotels offering rooms by the hour. Heading out of the centre the suburbs offer a few more characterful options. Note that most of the budget motels and inns are quite shabby and serve the local clientele only. For long-term rentals, the classified pages of the Fiji Times or Fiji Sun, especially on Saturdays, are your best bet, with a good selection of houses, apartments and rooms. When enquiring, try and get a local to call as they are more likely to get a discount.
Around Suva
There are plenty of attractions around Suva worth exploring on day-trips or by staying overnight. Off Suva Point is Nukulau Island, which has the only sandy beach and snorkelling reef in the vicinity. Inland, the tranquil forest park of Colo-i-Suva forms a boundary between Suva and the wet mountainous interior of Viti Levu. The mountains feed the impressive Rewa River, which drains to the north of Suva through Nausori town and into the vast, mangrove-lined Rewa Delta. This region, and the coast to the north, is home to the chiefly villages of Rewa and Bau – the latter once home to Cakobau, the only King of Fiji – and remains the most influential power-base in Fiji.
Colo-i-Suva Forest Park
Around 25 kilometres north of Suva is Colo-i-Suva Forest Park, a pristine area of low-altitude rainforest. It’s a pretty place, dominated by mahogany trees, their trunks thick with parasitical tree ferns. There’s a good chance of spotting wild orchids in the park as well as endemic birds, including the Pink-billed Parrotfinch. An easy one-hour nature trail leads to a couple of small waterfalls with pools good for swimming and nearby picnic benches.
Unfortunately, the park has a reputation for theft from cars and occasional muggings – the attendant at the park entrance can arrange a guide, and can look after valuables.
The Rewa River Delta
East of Suva, the landscape is dominated by the snaking tributaries and mangroves of the Rewa River delta, dotted with small fishing villages. At the eastern end of the river is Kaba Point, where the great war between Rewa and Bau came to its bloody conclusion in 1855 with a battle involving five thousand warriors and a hundred war canoes.
The rise of Bau Island and KingCakobau
Despite its modest size Bau Island played a key role in the history of Fiji. Up until the eighteenth century, Verata, 10km north of Nausori, and its rival Rewa had ruled the archipelago, the latter being the head of the aristocracy of Burebasaga, one of the three founding clans. In 1760, a tiny island named Ulu-ni-Vuaka (“the head of the pig”), barely 300m from the shore of Viti Levu, was settled by warriors of Verata lineage and in time became known as Bau. The island’s first chief erected sea walls to protect it from invasion and built stone canoe docks, making the island a powerful seafaring base. In 1808 a Swedish “beachcomber” named Charlie Savage – who five years later would end up in the cannibals’ pot – visited Bau and brought with him firearms, until then never possessed by Fijians. Using these new, terrifying weapons, the ruling chief, Naulivou, fought a series of wars with Verata, 15km to the north. When Verata was weak Rewa grew in strength and between the two, they battled the upstarts from Bau for supremacy. Bau grew more powerful under the rule of the brutal cannibal chiefs of Tanoa and later Cakobau. The chiefs seized upon the right of vasu, claiming wide support from villages throughout Fiji. At its peak, the island boasted three thousand inhabitants and twenty temples.
By 1871, with the backing of the European merchants of Levuka, Cakobau had proclaimed himself King of Fiji. Three years later he ceded the islands to Britain. Today, the chief of Bau remains one of the most powerful in Fijian political life. As for Rewa, the aristocrats managed to retain their hold over their far-flung subjects and the Burebasaga Confederacy remains the largest and most powerful of Fiji’s three ancient confederacies.
Toberua Island
Three kilometres off Kaba Point is the four-acre Toberua Island, home to one of Fiji’s first boutique island resorts (see below). There are colourful coral formations and reef sharks at nearby Toberua Passage, which is excellent for both snorkelling and scuba diving. The resort will organize your transport to the island, as well as twice-weekly boat trips to Mabualau, a tiny limestone islet 5km to the east, dedicated as a nature reserve and packed with large white fluffy boobies.
City centre
The lively hub of the city, Suva Central, is not even half a square kilometre in size and runs south of Nubukalou Creek to Gordon Street. This is where the best of the city’s eating, shopping and strolling opportunities are focused.
Drinking, nightlife and entertainment
One of Suva’s most enduring charms is its lively nightlife. Most of the bars and clubs are in one block around Victoria Parade and Carnarvon St, making it easy to hop from one to another and sample the different atmospheres. Fijians like to drink communally, as if drinking yaqona – if you buy a Fiji Bitter “long neck”, which is more economical, it will be shared by passing round a small glass to down in one. It’s a quick way of getting drunk and brawls occasionally break out in the wilder places. However, the locals are very protective of foreign visitors and on most occasions you’ll be well looked after. Taxis are advisable for the ride back to your hotel.