beaches in Suva, Fiji

We will be in Fiji for two days on our Transpacific cruise in October and need help in finding a beach close to the cruise port. Are there beaches we could walk to or a short cab ride or should we do an excursion thru the ship? Thank you for your help.

We stopped here on a cruise and unfortunately the port is not that great. It is a decent sized city but IMHO pretty gritty. Not very pretty and no close by snorkeling. You would need to rent a car or arrange for an excursion to get to a good beach.

Be aware of the vendors selling wood carvings when you get out of the port gates. They will ask your name and immediately begin to carve your name on a mask or other pretty worthless item. They then expect you to purchase this customized object.

Thank you so much for the info.

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We will be in Fiji for two days on our Transpacific cruise in October and need help in finding a beach close to the cruise port. Are there beaches we could walk to or a short cab ride or should we do an excursion thru the ship? Thank you for your help.

The thing to do for great beaches in Fiji is get off the main island, which is where Suva and the other main city, Nadi (where the international airport is) is located, both are. Or, perhaps go for a long ride far out from the main cities, which I did, had a beautiful bungalow on the beach which was lovely BUT...I left the very next day. There was security all over the place which was NOT reassuring - at times it can be - in this case, hearing about an "incident" only the night before and my own finely honed big city radar told me (it takes A LOT to make me nervous) I ought not spend the week I planned there. Very disappointing but...I'd not have had the additional time I had in Australia...just was sorry to not have had my South Pacific dream fulfilled. Can't have everything!

See if there is a tour or excursion you can join that gets you to an outlying Fijian island - there are SO many of them - as this is where the exotic Fiji beach-y Fiji one imagines will be. Or, perhaps see about getting a day pass to a resort at a resort you can get to...something along those lines.

Otherwise, beyond heading to another Fijian island, I learned (oddly enough from reading the book "Happy Isles Of Oceania" by Paul Theroux whilst on my trip, that probably the islands I ought to have head to were the Cook Islands - I'd been staying in NZ prior to arriving in Fiji, might have made sense to visit islands that are NZ territories. Nothing against Fiji - I botched the planning by relying on my guide book. My bad.

Have a wonderful and safe TP crossing and enjoy your voyage.

The best beach on Viti Levu is at Natadola which is about 50 minutes by road from Port Denarau. The best place to be there is the Intercontinental but may not allow day visitors.