Somewhere out there, thousands of kilometers to the east of the "green continent" of Australia, among the warm waves of the Pacific Ocean, the magical, inaccessible islands of Fiji are basking under the gentle sun. . . Are they so inaccessible to a Russian traveler? It turned out - quite within reach. Flying to Nadi Airport via Seoul by Korean Airlines with an indispensable stop in South Korea for two nights on the way back turned out to be quite affordable and not even too tiring.
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Somewhere out there, thousands of kilometers to the east of the "green continent" of Australia, among the warm waves of the Pacific Ocean, the magical, inaccessible islands of Fiji are basking under the gentle sun. . . Are they so inaccessible to a Russian traveler? It turned out - quite within reach. Flying to Nadi Airport via Seoul by Korean Airlines with an indispensable stop in South Korea for two nights on the way back turned out to be quite affordable and not even too tiring. I had to get a Korean visa, but Seoul was eventually inspected on the way back. In Fiji, a visa is affixed to Russians upon arrival in their passport for free, so a hotel can easily be booked on the Internet without any intermediary firms much cheaper than the price indicated in these firms. I booked two hotels in Fiji myself on the booking website. com, namely the first 8 nights on one of the islands of the Mamanuca group - about. Mana, Mana Island Resort & Spa, and 4 more nights on the main island of Viti Levu in the Denarau tourist area Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa. First, because the flight to Seoul was at 9.55, and. It was almost impossible for Mana to get to the Nadi airport by this time, and secondly, I wanted to compare the rest on the small island with the rest on the main island, the big one. In addition, on excursions to the islands of the Yasawa group, you can sail only from the port of Denarau, and I also wanted to see these islands. Arriving at Nadi airport, we got Fijian visas for free without any problems, went through customs and took a taxi to the port of Denarau for 30 F&, from where we sailed on a large boat (regular service 102 F& per person) to about. Mana, swim 1 hour 15 minutes. Attention Bacchus fans - alcohol in Fiji is not very cheap. The only reasonably priced place is the Nadi Airport Duty Free, don't miss it. If you are going to minimize your costs, then it makes sense to buy and take juice in a large package or Coca-Cola with you to the island, you can also use the famous Fijian water. Specifically on about. Mana has a shop in the hotel where juice and water are sold for twice as much as at the airport, and more expensive than in the port of Denarau. From alcohol on the island, there is wine and beer in the store, the rest is in the bar. On about. Mana is good tap water, you can easily make coffee-tea or drink boiled water from it, we haven’t tried it raw. Mana Island turned out to be quite large, beautiful and safe. In general, Fiji is a safe country in every sense. On about. There are two hotels in Mana - Mana Island Resort & Spa, and another one behind the fence - Backper's, I don't remember the name, a very cheap and simple type of hostel with quite calm guests, whom we have never met anywhere. There are several types of accommodation at the Mana Island Resort & Spa, I chose the most favorite - a detached bungalow in the garden of Island bure, which is also the cheapest, but not at all bad. Fijian-style house with outdoor shower, spacious, high ceilings, fully packed - air conditioning, fan, electronic safe, refrigerator, electric kettle with tea and coffee set, hairdryer, iron and ironing board, slippers, telephone, internet wi-fi for additional fee (7 days 50 F &), large comfortable bed, sofa, wardrobe, chest of drawers, coffee table and desk, at the entrance there is a verandah with a table and two chairs, there is a TV set deliberately, linen and towels, including beach towels, are changed daily. Cellular communication on about. Mana, as on all the islands of the Mamanuca group, is beautiful. Food in this hotel, as in general in hotels in Fiji, is quite expensive. We bought half board for 8 nights on the spot, breakfast buffet per person 30 F&, buffet dinner 57 F& (but there was an off-season discount and dinner cost 50F&). Breakfast includes scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, beans, pasta, stewed and raw vegetables, fruits (watermelon, papaya, pineapple, orange, etc. ), toasts, cakes, cereals, juices, milk, tea-coffee, in general , no special frills, but edible. Dinners are much more interesting and richer, a lot of seafood, poultry, cows and pigs, a lot of vegetables, fruits, cakes, from drinking - tea and coffee, the rest - through the bar. Children under 12 eat free at the hotel! In general, this hotel is family-friendly, there are many children of all ages from infants, there is a good kids club. Resting Australians, New Zealanders, Japanese and a few Koreans. Russians are exotic. The staff speaks only English, but is very friendly, trying to help and please in everything. . The hotel has two equipped beaches - north and south, it takes 3-4 minutes to walk from one to the other (the width of the island in this place), there is also a sunset beach, it is "wild" and an open bus brings it to it for free. At low tide, you can still swim, the bottom is mostly sandy, the island is surrounded by a coral barrier, there are no dangerous sea creatures. There are different fish very close - 2 meters from the shore, and the farther away, the more colorful. Constantly swam in masks with snorkels (free at the hotel) and looked at them. The water is very warm and clean, but not as clear as in the Red Sea, the beaches are deserted, the choice of sunbeds is not a problem. I never understood where families with children go - but they are not on the beaches, sometimes they come across in pools. There are two pools, they are not big, one with a jacuzzi section, very clean, we were in them twice, since the sea is better. There is a diving club, internet club, tables for tennis. In the evenings, twice a week, guests are entertained with songs and dances by Fijian employees of the hotel; on other days, contests, crab races, karaoke, and dances are organized. In general, the stay in this hotel is very calm. . It is possible to sail on excursions, we sailed on the Sea Sprey schooner to Modriki Island, where there is a beautiful reef with fish and Yanuya Island to the Fijian village (terrible poverty). Fishing and other water activities are available. The weather was cloudy, which is good - the sun is burning there, once it rained, very warm, did not prevent us from swimming at all. There is an airfield on the island, you can fly in and out by plane or helicopter. Fly 15 min. to Nadi airport, price 95 F&. But since our next hotel was located at the port of Denarau, we sailed away by boat. On the main island of Viti Levu, my husband and I stayed for 4 nights at the Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa 5*. From this hotel, I intended to make excursions, which I learned about on the website http://www. ssc. com. fj/. Denarau hotels turned out to be very expensive, and I chose Sofitel because of the most reasonable price and a good description of the beach. Inter-island and excursion shipping company South Sea Cruises provides all its passengers with a complimentary shuttle bus service to Denarau hotels, the Coral Coast and Nadi Airport. Therefore, sailed from about. Mana to the port, we arrived at the Sofitel Hotel on such a bus, where we presented our reservation at the reception through the booking website. com. We were greeted warmly, and an hour before the check-in time, they offered us the same room with two double beds instead of the booked superior room with a king size bed. We decided not to insist and agreed, after which the hotel immediately deducted from my card (rather, reserved) the amount indicated in my booking + 400 F$ of the deposit. After the magical Mana hotel Sofitel seemed to us very large and urban. No traces of secluded virgin nature and romance were found in this hotel - long concrete open corridors with endless nests of doors, sleek landscape, a pretty pool filled to the brim with the public, an absolutely deserted unsightly beach with gray rolled sand and "dead" sea. The room itself turned out to be normal for hotels of this level, it was smaller in size than the room in the Island bure on about. Mana, the bathroom was small and didn't have a flexible shower hose. The room had the same amenities as the room o. Mana - air conditioning, electronic safe, refrigerator-mini-bar, electric kettle with a set of tea and coffee, hair dryer, iron and ironing board, slippers, telephone, wi-fi internet for extra. fee (up to 37 F$ per day), two large comfortable beds, wardrobe niche, chest of drawers, table and two chairs, a balcony facing the sea. There were also bathrobes and a TV. Linen and towels were changed daily, beach towels were issued by cards at the pool. Meals at the hotel turned out to be quite expensive - a buffet breakfast of 42.5 F$, a buffet dinner of about 80 F$, but the breakfast itself was of course more varied than on about. Mana, went to him once, did not have dinner at the hotel. For dinner, we went to the port twice on an open bula-bas bus, which goes around all the hotels in a circle and a ticket for it is sold in hotels and costs 6 F$ per day. Dinner at the port is three times cheaper than at the hotel, but drinks are still expensive. The hotel had a tour desk to the left of the reception, in which we purchased two excursions - the first to the Octopus Resort Hotel on the Yasawa Islands, the second to about. Beachcomber, located 45 min. boat ride from the port. All excursions are essentially trips to existing hotels on the islands with the provision of beach services and lunches, sometimes with drinks. We sailed 2 hours 30 minutes to Octopus, saw very beautiful islands, the Octopus reef turned out to be wonderful, we saw rich underwater life there, lunch was delicious. There were many Europeans among the guests of the Octopus Hotel, but there is no cellular connection there. On the advice of an employee of the bureau, the next excursion was taken to about. Beachcomber, he is one of the closest to an inexpensive hotel, but his reef also turned out to be very good, although it was further from the coast, they fed us well there too. At the Sofitel hotel, we were struck by the impudence of the maids - they broke into our room for the purpose of cleaning, although they clearly saw that we had not left yet. The hotel has shops with souvenirs, beachwear, food such as ice cream and chips. When leaving the hotel, we were calculated the accommodation taking into account the 25% off-season discount and returned the extra money to the card, which made us very happy (that is, we paid less than indicated in our booking). As a result of our research, we came to the conclusion that you need to relax in Fiji on the islands of the Mamanuca or Yasawa groups, and not on the main island of Viti Levu, otherwise you simply won’t notice any exclusivity and exoticism of your vacation. We left the hotel for Nadi airport by taxi for 30 F$, travel time is about 30 minutes. At the customs at the exit, there were no problems and questions. The stunning beauty of the Pacific Ocean with fabulous, magical, pirate islands, the rich underwater world, available for viewing in simple masks with snorkels, the amazingly friendly and musical Fijian people, combined with good service and safety, all this made an indelible impression on us, we literally felt like pioneers of unknown worlds, really broke away from annoying civilization and had a very good rest.
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