The Best Fiji Beaches for a Picture-Perfect Day

Unfurl your towel at these palm-fringed sands that are undoubtedly the best beaches in Fiji.

Fiji is festooned with glittering islands of hyperbolic beauty, each offering its own sandy sweep of paradise girt by shimmering waters. Whether you’re looking for a beach that is close to the action on Viti Levu or a lesser-known, further flung bay where you’ll barely encounter another soul, there is a beach that whispers your holiday dreams. From dive sites teeming with marine life, to Hollywood blockbuster locations, vibing beach clubs and sunset-ready shores, these are the best beaches in Fiji.

In short

If you only get to one beach, make it Qalito Island in the Mamanuca Islands. This double-beach beauty is your tropical island screensaver come to life. Spend the day or stay for a few and enjoy the serenity.

1. Blue Lagoon, Yasawa Islands

Best for: Film fans

The star quality Nanuya Lailai’s Blue Lagoon is evident the moment your vessel approaches the tropical dreamscape. As one of the locations for the 1980 movie of the same name, the beach has become a pin-up of Fiji’s coastal beauty and attracts plenty of visitors to slip into the translucent waters. You can cruise here or linger at the Blue Lagoon Resort. If you’re a fan of the film, you can also tick off some other filming locations at the Sawa-i-Lau Cave, where you can dip into a limestone-walled grotto, and on the exclusive Turtle Island. However, the latter requires a more considerable investment.

2. Natadola Beach, Viti Levu

Best for: Mainland swims

Frequently topping the ‘best beach’ lists, Natadola Beach on Fiji’s largest and most populated island of Viti Levu deserves the title not just for its beauty, but for its ease of access. It also has beach culture down to an artform with coconut, cold beer and cocktails pedalled from resort bars along the sand. There are also massages available and handicrafts for purchase and gentle surfing is best out front of the InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort and Spa. While it’s a free and public beach, you can also get day passes from the resort to use their facilities.

3. Malamala Beach Club, Mamanuca Islands

a white-sand beach at Malamala Beach Club, Fiji — Set foot on the private island of Malamala Beach Club. (Credit: Andrew Lewthwaite/Tourism Fiji)

Best for: Easily accessible island vibes

Claiming ownership as the world’s first beach club, there is a reason it all started here at Malamala. This Mamanuca Islands hub has cocktails and cabanas at the ready for the boatloads of day-trippers that come to swan on its white sands and flit in the pristine waters. It’s island perfection just 30 minutes from Port Denarau.

4. Monuriki (Modriki) Beach, Monuriki

Monuriki Beach in Fiji — Monuriki Beach is a tiny, uninhabited volcanic paradise nestled within Fiji’s Mamanuca Islands. (Credit: Brook Sabin/Tourism Fiji)

Best for: Daytrips from Mamanuca and Yasawa resorts

Another one for movie buffs, this speck of an island is where Cast Away was filmed. While Tom Hanks’ character endured this idyllic isle alone with just a coconut for company, you’re likely to encounter a few boats of tourists coming to live out their own marooned moment. There’s no resort here and you can’t spend the night, but this beauty is well worth the journey

5. Fulaga (Vulaga), Lau

Best for: Intrepid sailors or cruise line passengers

For those who’d happily forgo a resort buffet breakfast for a less path-beaten beach, head to Fulaga in the southernmost Lau group of islands. The lagoons of this horseshoe-shaped island are almost otherworldly with limestone outcrops mushrooming out of the Windex-blue waters. With little access and no formal accommodation on the island, you will need a yacht or a charter to visit this isolated beauty. However, some Seabourn cruises do stop at Lau.

6. Papageno Beach, Kadavu

Best for: Experiencing the real Fiji

A slip of perfect beach on the barely touched island of Kadavu, this far-flung Fijian beauty sits adjacent to the Great Astrolabe Reef, making it an ideal launchpad for dives in this biodiverse marine reserve. The water is clear, the feeling is remote and if you’re keen to get away from the bustle of the big resorts, bunker down at Papageno Resort, an eco-retreat on Malawai Bay.

7. Qalito Island, Mamanuca Islands

Qalito Island or Castaway Island, Mamanuca Islands — The verdant Qalito Island, or Castaway Island, is encircled by dazzling waters. (Credit: Getty/Mlenny)

 Best for: Classic island beauty

This idyllic island is perhaps better-known as Castaway Island, after the single resort that occupies it. Part of the Mamanuca archipelago, Qalito is verdant with lush jungle and encircled by dazzling waters. The resort, which you can visit on a day trip with South Sea Cruises if you’re not a guest, sits between two of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful beaches you’ll ever have the chance to step barefoot onto. Only 20 non-guests are permitted to enjoy the island each day, so it’s never overrun.

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8. Beqa Island, Coral Coast

Royal Davui Island Resort on Beqa Island, Fiji — Beqa Island is a world-class shark diving destination and the birthplace of Fijian firewalking. (Credit: Royal Davui Island Resort)

Best for: Diving with sharks

Set off the Coral Coast, once you land in Nadi, you’ll take a two-and-a-half-hour drive to Pacific Harbour Marina. From here, a boat will transfer you to this untouched island of beauty that is impossible to exaggerate. By the time you disembark, you’ll be wholly disconnected from daily life and ready to reset to island time. While here the beach beckons, but there is also the astonishing Beqa Lagoon, both of which offer some of Fiji’s best dive sites. In the lagoon, shark enthusiasts can take a dedicated shark dive to glimpse around nine species, including whitetip and blacktip reef sharks, tiger sharks, nurse sharks and bull sharks.

9. Liku Beach, Mamanuca Islands

Best for: Sunsets and upscale escapes

This west-facing beach on Tokoriki Island in the Mamanuca archipelago is made for sundowners. When the day ebbs, position yourself with a drink in hand to farewell the tropial sun for the day. Behind you rises a lush wall of rainforest, setting up the cliché for postcard vistas. To experience this stunning spot, you’ll need to stay at the five-star, adults-only Tokoriki Island Resort.

10. Volivoli Beach, Suncoast

Best for: Diving

For those keen for beach action that goes deeper than the surface, head to Volivoli on the Suncoast of the main island’s north coast. This beach has sand as soft as icing sugar, a crystalline lagoon and about 90 dive sites scattered about. The Volivoli Beach Resort presides over this beach and is well-known for its scuba offerings, but if you’re not one to go below, there’s plenty of other action to be had here, from snorkelling to fishing and just flopping on that pure-white sand.

Wellbeing means different things to different travellers. Here’s how to pick a hotel that gets it right for you.

The best wellness holidays aren’t necessarily spent wrapped in a spa robe. Sometimes they’re found around a dinner table in Cambodia, on a hiking trail in New Zealand or after finally beating jet lag on the other side of the world. The hotel you choose is what makes them happen.

1. Easy access to good food

meals from Novotel Bangkok Sukhumvit 20 — Taste delicious meals at Novotel Bangkok Sukhumvit 20.

One of the quickest ways to derail healthy habits on holiday is to spend half of it working out where to eat instead of digging into the culture around you. Thankfully, Novotel has done much of the hard work already, with chefs building menus that lean into the flavours, ingredients and traditions of each destination.

In Sihanoukville, Cambodia, Korkor soup – often dubbed ‘Cambodian ratatouille’ – sits alongside raw blue crab dressed with lime and chilli, best enjoyed with views across the Gulf of Thailand.

In the lovingly chaotic city of Bangkok, the presence of food cranks up the sociability. At Novotel Bangkok Sukhumvit 20, you can settle in with mango sticky rice and stranger-turned-friends beside the pool at Sky on 20 rooftop bar, or bring them along to tackle river prawns and stir-fried crab with holy basil at the buzzing Crab Paradise Dinner Buffet.

Then Novotel Dubai Al Barsha welcomes you with a laidback twist on the level of indulgence the Middle Eastern city is best known for up on Deck Se7en. Looking towards Burj Al Arab, the rooftop lounge has everything from Mediterranean-style dishes like seabass ceviche to Italian prosecco sundowners.

At the other end of the scale, in the hills that surround the Novotel Bali Ubud Resort, calm comes from nature. At Siralada restaurant, Balinese traditions shape the menu while thunder rumbles over the surrounding jungle – proving the setting is as nourishing as the food itself.

While at Novotel Nha Trang, chef Kieu Thi My Hanh and her team showcase Vietnam’s knack for balancing freshness, texture and fragrant herbs. Pho remains a favourite, while seafood salad with pomelo and mango brings those flavours together in one bright dish.

It’s all an approach backed by partnerships with expert food creators such as Alfie Steiner, whose plant-forward recipes prove healthy food should never taste plain.

2. Better sleep options

Novotel Bali Ubud Resort room — Sleep deeply with Novotel.

There are few travel experiences more disappointing than arriving in a new country, determined to seize the day, only to fall asleep fully clothed by 3pm.

For Australian travellers, jet lag is often an unavoidable part of the journey. That’s one reason Novotel runs sleep-focused initiatives that help guests adjust quickly without compromising on health. We’re talking partnerships with Sydney-based sleep specialist Olivia Arezzolo, known for her advice on everything from better sleep habits to beating jet lag, alongside features like pillow menus, in-room yoga content and tailored sleep guidance.

The sooner you’re operating on local time, the sooner you can get back to more pressing matters – like deciding which spa treatment to book.

3. More ways to move

woman hiking around queenstown new zealand — Stay at Novotel Queenstown Lakeside and explore local hiking trails. (Credit: GettyI mages/ naruedom)

Every place in the world has its own way of getting you moving: whether that’s hiking up ice-bitten mountains before a sauna or gentle stretching by the pool before a facial. From fitness centres to spas, Novotel recognises that wellbeing rarely looks the same.

At Novotel Queenstown Lakeside, activity is inescapable. Here, hiking trails, ski fields, bungee jumps, and white-water rafting have made the region famous. The hotel’s location on the shores of Lake Wakatipu means less time spent organising yourself and more time out there experiencing them. To top it all off, you can book a private hot tub for the evening before heading back into the wilderness tomorrow.

Bali, of course, takes a softer approach. At Novotel Bali Ubud Resort or Novotel Bali Nusa Dua, movement is less about conquering a mountain and more about a dance class between the tropical gardens and lagoon pools. Afterwards, the spa takes over, with traditional treatments like a Lulur body scrub: a combination of rice, turmeric, sandalwood, ginger and jasmine that’ll soothe muscles already relaxed by the Balinese heat.

4. Better connections

Kids will love a stay at Novotel Sharm El Sheikh.

One of the best things about travel is that it gives your family stories you’ll be telling for years. Novotel helps create them with activities that bring everyone together, whether that’s trying something new, learning a local skill, or simply spending more time together.

Go for a distinctly Thai twist at Novotel Phuket Vintage Park, where many of the family activities draw on local culture. Kids can try everything from beginner Thai boxing and language lessons to umbrella painting and – a pastime beloved by children the world over – pool foam parties. Everyone is welcome to join in, whether that’s getting splashed, covered in paint, or simply watching their children discover a new side of Thailand during the dedicated Family & Kids Day.

A different adventure awaits at Novotel Sharm El Sheikh. Kids could be perfectly content with discos, drawing classes and new holiday friends, but the Red Sea has other ideas. Sitting on the edge of Naama Bay, days here might involve snorkelling colourful reefs, taking a boat trip to Ras Mohammed National Park or heading into the desert by quad bike or camel for a Bedouin-style dinner beneath the stars.

5. Location is everything

Surin Beach, Choeng Thale, Thalang District, Phuket, Thaiföld — Explore Phuket’s gorgeous beaches. (Credit: Bence Biczo)

Everyone’s idea of wellness looks a little different. With more than 600 hotels across 65 countries, Novotel gives guests the freedom to choose the destination that suits them best. Whether that’s a beachside escape in Phuket, an alpine expedition in Queenstown or a city break in Bangkok, there’s a good chance a Novotel isn’t far away.

All that’s left? Choosing your version of wellbeing.

Discover stays to inspire your everyday at novotel.accor.com.

The best Fiji beaches for a picture-perfect day